Help required displaying MSTS

As some of you may be aware I have  bought a new monitor - ASUS  VE228HR - which displays at 1920 x 1080, and after an inordinate time fiddling I have managed to get a reasonable picture.

HOWEVER I cannot get MSTS to display in its native 4:3 ratio despite repainting the air multiple shades of blue!!!      It doesn't seem to matter what display setting I adopt in MSTS it still displays in 16:9 ratio!      

I have tried to find a display that allows me to get "Maintain Aspect Ratio" based on something I did with my now defunct widescreen laptop and a UKTS thread that ran between 2007 and 2009!

When clicking on graphics properties this screen can be reached but I don't know what if anything can now be done. I should mention of course that the current graphics card is part of the motherboard, and that next week I should have a new graphics card - ASUS Radeon HD 6670 2GB memory.



Can anyone shed light, of whatever brightness, on what I need to do, and secondly should I wait until the new graphics card is installed?

In the meantime I will carry on with other tasks.

Hi Alec.

I have been trying to fix that on my computer for ages without success, I did manage to get the aspect right in windowed mode but the screen was either too big or too small so I went back to normal full screen again.

Open rails handles the aspect ratio a lot better, and in its current incarnation is much less resource hungry than MSTS, as you know my computer is knackered and will no longer run MSTS, but I can still run the latest version of Open rails on less resource hungry routes, if Open rails will run on my knackered old computer it should run fine on yours.

Other than that, the only suggestion I can make is to wait till you have fitted the new graphics card and see what settings are available for that.

Hi Alec,
On the Intel Control Panel, in the bottom right is "Maintain Display Scaling". It appears to be a drop-down list - what are the other options?

When you get your HD 6670, you will, no doubt, be using the Catalyst Control Center; that can be a bit of a pig to get the 4:3 aspect ratio, until you know the secret! We'll cross that bridge when we get there!!

Cheers,
Ged

The alternative is as shown below:-



I'll be off-line for most of the evening, as I'm due to go out for a meal with the family very soon. Eating at 4pm as SWMBO loves her "Strictly . . . .", and I hope to watch the highlights of the Rugby Union against Argentina. Not sure when I'll get to watch the Rugby League that I'm recording?

Hi Alec,
Hope you have a good birthday tea - jelly & blancmange, eh?!

What happens if you click on "Customize Aspect Ratio"?
If you just get the horizontal and vertical scaling sliders, it doesn't seem much help!

Cheers,
Ged

The birthday tea was a very pleasant affair. No jelly or blancmange although I wouldn't have objected! The main ingredient was Ilma's family who have always made me feel part of it. Got Longworth's latest book on Mk1/Mk2 carriages; it's one of those books for dipping in and out of.
Clicking on "Customize Aspect Ratio" gives the two sliders as shown, but so far haven't tried "fiddling" with them!

Hi Alec,
Have a look here : http://communities.intel.com/message/212139
It might help! If it doesn't, it may because you're not using a digital connection between the PC and monitor - DVI or HDMI.

Cheers,
Ged

Have you edited the launch icon on your desktop?

Right click on it and see what it says.

This is what mine says. 1280 x 1024 is the maximum allowed for MSTS to be in a 4:3 ratio, so I always play MSTS in a window now. Open Rails is different kettle of fish.

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Train Simulator\train.exe" -vm:w,1280,1024,32

Hi Niall,
It shouldn't be necessary to run MSTS in a window. My internal display setting is 1280x1024x32, but the aspect ratio is configured in the AMD Control Panel.

By the way - Noting where your Train Simulator is located, I hope you're running XP!! (Or you've created the correct permissions).

Cheers,
Ged

Sure is XP. Someone got it working again for me. Not sure how long it'll last this time, but it beats working on the W7 machine which has that awful graphics problem (smeary edges on tiles). I only use the W7 machine for Open Rails, which does look good on it.

I don't mind a windowed MSTS display, I work mostly from home so I keep my email client next to it on the screen so I can get straight to work if need be!  

Alec,

Bit of a long shot, but have you checked the instructions for your new monitor? Some monitors have an option to automatically rescale everything to widescreen. If your monitor does this, you need to turn it off.

Bob.

OK I have "fiddled" with the display and got it to display in 1280x1024; i.e. 4:3!! The normal working display has the black borders! (I have used the DVI cable this time instead of the VGA cable.)

However despite this MSTS still displays in widescreen, and hence perhaps Bob's idea needs looking at! Mind you the "so called manual" is a folded sheet of paper sized at A2, and is not as helpful as one would like!

Alec,

Google is your friend.

Bob.

I would say that the DVI cable is your friend as well.

I've got a lovely 23inch screen here that only accepts VGA connections; so am stuck with running MSTS in a Window (1280*1024).

OK I had already swapped the VGA for the DVI cable but it makes no difference. When the monitor menu screen appears, on the Image menu the second line down refers to Aspect Control but it is effectively greyed out with a reference to "Full", and I can't alter it. I therefore assume that it always want to put things in widescreen mode?         

Have I bought the proverbial "pig in a poke"?          

It would appear that I perhaps need to wait until the new graphics card is installed and then see what happens!       

Hi Alec,
Although you're using a DVI cable, is it plugged into a DVI socket on both the monitor and PC, or are you using an adapter at the PC end to use the VGA socket?  If so, you're not using the digital output, so won't get the chance to select the aspect ratio option.

Cheers,
Ged

EDIT : If you're referring to the monitor as a "pig in a poke", I doubt it very much! It's a modern monitor, and has digital connections (probably DVI and HDMI).

The DVI cable is connected to the correct terminals on both the desktop and monitor, and the monitor menu states that it is DVI. When making the porcine reference I was merely referring to the MSTS element, and my inability to sort the aspect ratio!

Slightly off topic, but sorting the display has been put on hold as my new graphics card doesn't fit into my small tower case.      

I have therefore had to order a bigger one, at which time the computer can be rebuilt!

Well I now have the new graphics card installed with a new PSU together with the other hardware bits in a new case, and I had hoped that with some judicial changes I would be able to get MSTS to display in its correct 4:3!

BUT will it display in 4:3 NO IT WON'T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I leave the recommended display resolution at 1920 x 1080 then within the Catalyst Control Centre the box labelled maintain aspect ratio is "greyed" out. Other resolutions allow the box to be ticked but MSTS still fails to display in 4:3.

OBVIOUSLY I'm doing something wrong, but for the life of me I don't know what, THEREFORE if anyone can offer me some help or advice or . . . .

Did you check the monitor's own menu again Alec?

I have at last managed to get MSTS to display at 4:3.

Firstly I turned off the computer and then had a large mug of tea!  

I then opened the screen resolution and set it at 1600 x 900 and then re-opened Catalyst Control Centre and the maintain aspect ratio was available to "tick" as follows:-



Thanks Bob for your help!

Hi Alec,
Sorry I wasn't around earlier - I was 'messing' with Win 8.1   

As you've discovered, as far as AMD is concerned, you have to set both the horizontal and vertical resolution values to be less than the monitor's native values. It's a pain and it took me some time to figure it out; the original instruction I read said to set to resolution lower than the monitor's native resolution, but didn't specify that BOTH values had to be lower!!
I don't know if the same procedure applies to NVidia cards.

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Ged
Yes I discovered that by pure unadulterated luck!
Other than that things don't look too bad.

Not a problem for me.

My LG monitor has a "4 : 3 - Wide" button on the front.