Widescreen Gaming Forum

Sorta wish I didn't buy this game on Steam so I could sell it to someone who will play it. I held off playing it because they were going to fix this. Honestly have lost interest in waiting. I am playing Bad Company 2 and Dragon Age Awakening now in full 3 monitor glory. Maybe I've been spoiled but going back to single monitor just feels wrong now.

:(

Not a quick or simple change = more than 10 lines of code, so we don't want to do it.

Each patch Bioware puts out costs them somewhere around $4600 according to one of their staff.

They have to submit it to EA's QA before they can release it.

Money is probably the big thing no matter how quick or simple the fix it self is.

$4600 is a drop in the bucket for a company like BioWare, too bad HardOCP wasted the "Don't buy .... for not supporting EyeFinity" on Global Agenda instead of ME2 (who last time I checked didn't add EF support anyway, but that's ok, they probably got more press out of it than they would have otherwise).

This is a disappointing turn of events, but an understandable one.

Adding in comprehensive widescreen support isn't always as simple as it may seem. You have to think of all of the menus in ME2; none of which were designed with widescreen gaming in mind. For instance, what would they do for the mineral-mining-minigame? It is entirely possible that their space background texture(s) are simply not large enough to cover three monitors. The same could apply for the main menu with it's 3D effects and layout. Another consideration is that the HUD that the game uses during combat is quite "integrated". It would look rather odd if they just left the side monitors unfiltered. If only it were as simple as adding in larger resolution options in the video settings tab. :(

[H]ardOCP's controversial editorial on Global Agenda was not so much about the developers failing to support widescreen gaming, but for their stance (excuse?) that it offers certain players an unfair advantage. BIOWARE seems to be saying something a little more honest (IE. it isn't worth the additional investment of resources).

I thoroughly enjoyed playing ME2 on a single monitor so it isn't a major loss for me. For others, there is always the hope that ME3 will be built with widescreen support in mind.

Sigh. Stupid bastards. Well i guess it's a good thing i got my copy for super-cheap...

But i was also waiting for this not-to-be patch to start playing. So I guess I can, now.

I am really frustrated that there not going to implement ultra wide .. I already beat it once and am playing it again the game is just my kind of game.. I love it but I will not be purchasing any of the dlc for this game.. I got the "experiance" out of it and enjoyed it but I sorta feel like saying FU bioware/ea because.. Mass Effect 2 would be so awesome in triple wide. And it runs like a dream even with 8x super sampeling.. yes fu guys for not supporting are elite hardware...

This is a disappointing turn of events, but an understandable one.

Adding in comprehensive widescreen support isn't always as simple as it may seem. You have to think of all of the menus in ME2; none of which were designed with widescreen gaming in mind. For instance, what would they do for the mineral-mining-minigame? It is entirely possible that their space background texture(s) are simply not large enough to cover three monitors. The same could apply for the main menu with it's 3D effects and layout. Another consideration is that the HUD that the game uses during combat is quite "integrated". It would look rather odd if they just left the side monitors unfiltered. If only it were as simple as adding in larger resolution options in the video settings tab. :(

I thoroughly enjoyed playing ME2 on a single monitor so it isn't a major loss for me. For others, there is always the hope that ME3 will be built with widescreen support in mind.

Do you even believe that BS yourself? All they have to do is change their algorithms for any drawing any UIs so they only consider the middle monitor. And instead of drawing everything at 0,0 they would shift it to e.g. 1920,0 (for 3x1920x1200) and then everything would get drawn to the middle monitor. The rest of the screen can be black or render the 3D part of the game. Oh and I've programmed UI from scratch before (blitting pixels) so I think I would know how easy it is ;).

To reiterate, all that needs to be done is to change the offsets the UI is drawn at globally and change the UI width bounding box to 1/3 when detected at EyeFinity resolutions.

Do you even believe that BS yourself? All they have to do is change their algorithms for any drawing any UIs so they only consider the middle monitor. And instead of drawing everything at 0,0 they would shift it to e.g. 1920,0 (for 3x1920x1200) and then everything would get drawn to the middle monitor. The rest of the screen can be black or render the 3D part of the game. Oh and I've programmed UI from scratch before (blitting pixels) so I think I would know how easy it is ;).

To reiterate, all that needs to be done is to change the offsets the UI is drawn at globally and change the UI width bounding box to 1/3 when detected at EyeFinity resolutions.

If it were that easy I'd assume they'd spend the time to implement it.

My point was more along the lines of the artwork they'd have remake/generate. The backgrounds for many of the menus would need remaking. They might even have to alter some models to work with the increased FOV. Those are all issues that require significantly more time and effort to reproduce than a few altered lines of code.

I assumed this would happen because of the different engine... sucks though, sorry guys.

For those if you who say you are passing on the game entirely now though, realize this is one of the best games of all time you are giving up on.

[quote]
Do you even believe that BS yourself? All they have to do is change their algorithms for any drawing any UIs so they only consider the middle monitor. And instead of drawing everything at 0,0 they would shift it to e.g. 1920,0 (for 3x1920x1200) and then everything would get drawn to the middle monitor. The rest of the screen can be black or render the 3D part of the game. Oh and I've programmed UI from scratch before (blitting pixels) so I think I would know how easy it is ;).

To reiterate, all that needs to be done is to change the offsets the UI is drawn at globally and change the UI width bounding box to 1/3 when detected at EyeFinity resolutions.

If it were that easy I'd assume they'd spend the time to implement it.

My point was more along the lines of the artwork they'd have remake/generate. The backgrounds for many of the menus would need remaking. They might even have to alter some models to work with the increased FOV. Those are all issues that require significantly more time and effort to reproduce than a few altered lines of code.
Yeah, what, you're not making any sense here. If they render the UI only onto the middle monitor, it's the same UI as if for a single monitor.

The fact of the matter, yes it is that easy, and the reason they aren't going to do it is because they think it's too low priority and the risk is too high for the benefit of a very niche population of users.

Unfortunately I already have ME2 because someone gifted to me, so I guess I'll play it at some point, but there is no way I would've bought it for PC given lack of surround support had I not already had it.

I assumed this would happen because of the different engine... sucks though, sorry guys.

For those if you who say you are passing on the game entirely now though, realize this is one of the best games of all time you are giving up on.

Somehow I doubt it's another Baldur's Gate or even Dragon Age.