Ingame / cinematics screen in 16/9 for WC3 *1.26a* (thanks to ZUKMAN's dll)

pyf

pyf

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(continued from my Animated 3D portraits in 16/9 tutorial)



First and foremost : *all* the credit for the file below belongs to @ZUKMAN, from D3Scene.
http://www.d3scene.com/forum/members/zukman.html

I only advertise his work here, since it seems not to be widely known (that file exists since february 2014)



Caveat : like the 2 previous ones, this tutorial is a temporary workaround for (somewhat) proper 16/9, until Blizzard offers us true native widescreen support for the entire game.


Goal : to make Blizzard's ingame (and cinematics using the game engine) screen fit for 16/9 resolutions (tested in 1280x768 with XP SP3 and Intel i915 graphics). See attachments below for comparisons.

This works with WC3 1.26a. It does *not* work with WC3 1.27a, because 1.27a now uses D3D9 instead of D3D8.
Also this dll is designed for 16:9 resolutions.

It is not perfect, but I hope it will encourage ZUKMAN, or someone else, to work some more on it.
Hopefully someone might want to work on a new dll, suitable for WC3 1.27a



File used :

- ZUKMAN's D3D8.dll (version 3), available here
d3d8_v3.zip — RGhost — файлообменник
GitHub - ZUKMAN/WC3WIDESCREENFIX: Fixing stretch in warcraft 3 on widescreen resolutions (source)


1) Extract the file D3D8.dll into your installed WC3 *1.26a* directory.
Do *not*, I repeat, do *NOT* try to put this file in your system32 directory

2) Launch the game, and select a 16/9 resolution
(I personally use 1280x768, which is pretty close to 1280x720)

3) (hopefully) Enjoy :)


A Void already posted pics
Patch 1.27

... but for some reason, he gets strange results compared to mine. Not sure which version of the dll he is using. I personally use version 3, with XP SP3 and an Intel i915 graphics, and for me all is great (see attachments below). Feedback welcome, though I can do nothing to fix bugs.


This dll v3 still has a few flaws :
- if you click on an object that is far away from the center of the screen, you will miss it. A workaround would be to have the object as much as possible in the center of the screen, before clicking on it. Another workaround would be to learn to not click exactly on the object if it far away from the center of the screen. One can get used to it. I played the entire TFT solo campaign that way.

- in order to maintain aspect ratio, the dll makes you lose a bit of image on top and bottom. This is good because it can not be considered a hack giving the player unfair advantage. But there is a drawback : when playing the solo campaign cinematics, sometimes heads get chopped. This is because Blizzard designed its scenery to have full vertical view.


A few links :

http://www.d3scene.com/forum/warcraft-3-hacks/93156-project-warcraft-3-widescreen-fix.html
Warcraft 3 Widescreen fix

(2 ill-fated threads - now, do people really care about true widescreen support in WC3 ?)
 

Attachments

  • WC3 E2M6 800x600 - Blizzard.png
    WC3 E2M6 800x600 - Blizzard.png
    234.7 KB · Views: 825
  • WC3 E2M6 1280x768 - Blizzard.png
    WC3 E2M6 1280x768 - Blizzard.png
    388.6 KB · Views: 855
  • WC3 E2M6 1280x768 - Cursor Portrait Ingame D3D8_v3.png
    WC3 E2M6 1280x768 - Cursor Portrait Ingame D3D8_v3.png
    397.1 KB · Views: 1,290
  • WC3 E2M6 1280x768 - Portrait Cinematics D3D8_v3.png
    WC3 E2M6 1280x768 - Portrait Cinematics D3D8_v3.png
    258.4 KB · Views: 962
Last edited:
Level 2
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Hello, maybe someone have that d3d8.dll (ZUKMAN's D3D8.dll (version 3)? can u share plz.
 
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