Swat 4, no widescreen support for Windows 7?

[LearninToBuild]

Any Swat 4 players here?

I'm trying to force a resolution of 1440x900. The "Widescreen Gaming Wiki" suggests editing the Swat4.ini file.

Swat 4.ini lines (On Windows 7, .ini is hidden in ~/appdata/virtualstore/sierra)

FullscreenViewportX=xxx
FullscreenViewportY=xxx

This doesn't work on Windows 7. I've even saved the .ini as a read-only file to no avail. Sierra has such poor legacy support, it's ridiculous, though I suppose they get a pass for a 2005 game.

Does anyone running Windows 7 use a custom res? I play on 1600x1200 because it looks the best for my graphics card, but the bottom of the round clock is cut off. Even if I got a better monitor, unless it was exactly 1600x1200, it wouldn't look good.

I wanted to run Swat on a 27'' monitor, but 1600x1200 would be stretched awfully. I read a post on another site saying that you can edit the .ini file to support 'windowed mode' to prevent the contrast ratio stretching, but who knows if that would work.

 

[YeuEmMaiMai]

1. swat 4 matts the image (loss of vertical resolution) when you set a non 4:3 resolution and that is why the top and bottom are missing
2. Enable GPU scaling in the ATi Control Panel and your problem will be solved (make sure maintin aspect ratio is unchecked if you want it strected to the whole screen). you will get 2 black bars when you do this (one on each side)

back in 2006, vast majority of PC displays were 4:3 and wide screen pc monitors had not gained popularity....

 

[LearninToBuild]

Hi YeuEmMaiMai,

Thank you for addressing my post. Unfortunately, I use nVidia (my current system is a Macbook Pro). I've attached a screenshot of the section I believe pertains to your GPU scaling suggestion.

Would I click 'Use Nvidia scaling' instead of use my display's built in scaling (the default method)?

This would 100% make the game look playable on a 27'' monitor with a native res much higher than 1600x1200 (S4's highest setting)? I primarily play this game and if it looks awful, I'll be sad.

 

[Azureth]

I love S4, still have it and its expansion installed and play now and then. Wish more people played.

 

[Q-BZ]

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/SWAT_4

Might help the OP.

I love S4, still have it and its expansion installed and play now and then. Wish more people played.

I wish they'd make a part 5. Desperately.

 

[LearninToBuild]

Hi YeuEmMaiMai,

Thank you for addressing my post. Unfortunately, I use nVidia (my current system is a Macbook Pro). I've attached a screenshot of the section I believe pertains to your GPU scaling suggestion.

Would I click 'Use Nvidia scaling' instead of use my display's built in scaling (the default method)?

This would 100% make the game look playable on a 27'' monitor with a native res much higher than 1600x1200 (S4's highest setting)? I primarily play this game and if it looks awful, I'll be sad.

Nvidia's scaling feature is buggy, at least my version. When you click anything aside from the default 'use my display's built in scaling', after you click apply/ok it reverts back to that. The workaround is to lower your resolution, which I tried, but the bottom of the Swat 4 game still has the round omitted. I googled it and other users reported a similar bug with the scaling.

I also can't get the resolution to be forced to 1440x900 in-game, it doesn't appear as a selectable option from the resolutions, so I'm using 1600x1200... but the game looks great (on my little 15'', 1440x900 laptop), so maybe the resolution is working its just that the bottom of the round is cut off for the reasons you touched on.

Just don't want to get a 27'' monitor if I'm not 100% sure it'll look good on a much bigger resolution.

 

[simonizor]

Try setting it to NVIDIA scaling with fixed-aspect ratio. That should keep it at 16:9.

 

[YeuEmMaiMai]

set it to use nvidia and fixed aspect ratio to maintain original aspect ratio. It will look blurry but better than matte

 

[Viper87227]

I still play Swat 4 from time to time, and its an absolute boar to try and get a proper resolution on. I really wish they would make another one of these games. It was a fantastic franchise.

 

[Q-BZ]

I still play Swat 4 from time to time, and its an absolute boar to try and get a proper resolution on. I really wish they would make another one of these games. It was a fantastic franchise.

Overall, it's really aged well. Even reading about it here make me want to reinstall it yet again.

 

[Litfod]

Funnily enough I just reinstalled it yesterday after not having played it for years. I had an inexplicable urge to play that serial killer mission again for some reason.
Great game, and I would love to see a new one too.

 

[LearninToBuild]

I agree! I read an article recently though saying that whilst Sierra wanted to publish Swat 5, the game developers are not interested (citing the Bio Shock game & other projects).

FWIW, I found the fix to my issue that didn't resolve playing with the problematic .ini file. If you google Gez Swat 4 mods, there's a mod version 13 that fixes the round time by placing it more prominently at the bottom of the screen.

 

[Q-BZ]

I agree! I read an article recently though saying that whilst Sierra wanted to publish Swat 5, the game developers are not interested (citing the Bio Shock game & other projects).

That new Bioshock game is going to be incredible but someone needs to get on the ball here.

FWIW, I found the fix to my issue that didn't resolve playing with the problematic .ini file. If you google Gez Swat 4 mods, there's a mod version 13 that fixes the round time by placing it more prominently at the bottom of the screen.

Nice!