LargeStyle Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 (edited) I have created this new thread to state how to setup a cinematic aspect ratio while retaining the full use of the Skyrims HUD. I created a thread a few days ago asking how to set this up, no-one answered so I've persisted with it myself and eventually found out how to do this. This guide is only (directly) for nVidia GPU users as I don't have an ATI / AMD GPU. FYI, this original thread can be found here: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/673740-widescreen-hud-fix/ Using my method I've regretfully had to apply Skyrim patch 1.3.7.0 in order for the HUD rescaling program to work properly, but it was a means to an end so I applied it. The benefits of running Skyrim in a cinematic aspect ratio (in my opinion) are: 1) A more cinematic experience!!!2) By following one of my 2 methods below, you can chose to gain either a slight perfomance gain, or have a slight resolution / clarity increase instead. Note: any line that starts with a "-" symbol denotes an actionable process that you will need to do if you want all this to work! Step 1: Preparation: - Patch Skyrim to 1.3.7.0 - Download "Skyrim UltraWide Fix" program (I'm using version 0.91). I beleive this can be located on Widescreen Gaming Forums' website. Step 2: Creating Cinematic Aspect Ratio - Open nVidia Control Panel (NCP) by right clicking mouse on an unused area within Windows' desktop and select "NVIDIA Control Panel" from pop-up menu. - Select "Adjust Desktop Size and Position". In scaling options, set scaling mode to "Fullscreen", set Perform Scaling on "GPU" and tick the box stating "Override the scaling mode set by games and programs" - In Size options, tick "Enable Desktop Resizing", then click the resize option. This should bring up a display which will effectively allow you to change aspect ratio. This resizing display mode should be based around your monitors native resolution setting, but don't worry too much about resolution at the minute, we're just dealing with aspect ratio for now. My native resolution is 1920 x 1080, so in order to achieve the cinematic widescreen aspect ratio I resized this down to 1920 x 874. Note that 874 is 45.52% of 1920. Providing you're running a 16:9 monitor / tv then if you have a different native resolution to myself then just set the vertical resolution (the smaller of the 2 numbers) to 45.52% of your horizontal resolution (the bigger of the 2 numbers). The calculation to determine 45.52% is horizontal resolution DIVIDED by 100, then multiply by 45.52. If you are using a 16:10 (or different) aspect ratio monitor then manually resize the vertical resolution to a setting that suits you, and work out the percentage that this vertical resoltion is based from your horizontal resolution, and use this percentage number instead of 45.52%. - Confirm your new resized desktop resolution. The cinematic aspect ratio has been created. Step 3: Creating the correct resolution: In order to do this all properly, you will now need to create a custom resolution within NCP, but some more maths are required first! As mentioned earlier in the post you can chose from either a slight performance increase (Step 4 below) or alternatively have a slight resolution / clarity increase (Step 5 below). Refer soley to the required Step of your choice below (and ignore the other method). Step 4: Perfomance Increase: If you want a slight performance increase then this is how this works: by having resized the desktop, this has effectively created "dead areas" at the top and bottom of the screen which is not included within the resolution, therefor is not being rendered / processed in any way. You can utilise this fact as your visable /usable screen space can now effectively run at a LOWER resolution to compensate for this dead space - hence why this method should improve performance. To set this method up you will then need to create a custom resolution within NCP using a percentaged screen resolution for your normal gaming resolution. For example: My native monitor resolution: 1920 x 1080Cinematic aspect ratio resoltion: 1920 x 874My normal (non-cinematic aspect ratio) gaming resolution: 1280 x 720 (yes this is low, but I'm used to this from my PS3)!My new cinematic aspect ratio resolution: 1280 x 582 (582 being 45.52% of 1280). Demonstration of rendering performance difference: 1280 x 720 = 921,600 total pixel count1280 x 582 = 744,960 total pixel count. This means that by adding the cinematic aspec ratio (dead area) onto the screen, the game only needs to render 80.83% of the total pixel count - so using a direct calculation that's pretty much a 20% performance gain! - In NCP go to "Change Resolution" option, and in the window click "Customize". Enter your new (cinematic aspect ratio) horizontal and vertical resolutions settings. Note, I also had to change "Timing" mode to automatic for this to work. - Test this custom resolution, and once it's (hopefully) passed the test then apply the resolution. - Now edit SkyrimPrefs.ini file (normally found in My Documents - My Games - Skyrim folder) and input your new cinematic aspect ratio resolution using the lines "iSize W=" and "iSize H=" for repsective width and horizontal resolutions. You will now have Skyrim set to cinematic aspect ratio, but the HUD will probably not work properly as yet, so please refer to Step 6 below for this last fix. Step 5: Resolution / Clarity inrease:: If you want a slight resolution / clarity increase then this is how it works: by having resized the desktop, this has effectively created "dead areas" at the top and bottom of the screen which is not included within the resolution, therefor is not being rendered / processed in any way. You can utilise this fact as your visable /usable screen space can now effectively run at a HIGHER resolution than "normal" to compensate for this dead space as it will run the visable / usable screen space at the same pixel count as a non-cinematic aspect ratio reslution (more pixel to space ratio basically). To set this method up you will then need to create a custom resolution within NCP using a percentaged screen resolution for your normal gaming resolution. For example: My native monitor resolution: 1920 x 1080Cinematic aspect ratio resoltion: 1920 x 874My normal (non-cinematic aspect ratio) gaming resolution: 1280 x 720 (yes this is low, but I'm used to this from my PS3)! Extra maths part: 1280 x 720 = 921,600 total pixel count You will now need to do some trial and error with a calculator to find a resolution the has the correct cinematic aspect ratio and that matches the 921,600 total pixel count. For myself, I wasn't too bothered in matching the total pixel count accurately, so I settled on 1400 x 637 as: 1400 x 637 = 891,100 total pixel count (yes I could've squeezed more out of it but again, not bothered)! Note: Using this new cinematic aspect ratio resolution, if I were to restore the 637 vertical resolution back to a non-cinematic 16:9 aspect ratio, the vertical resolution would be 56.25% of the horizontal resolution, so final resolution would be 1400 x 787. Using this information we could compare the effective resolution per screen space ratio increase: 1400 x 787 = 1,101,800 total pixel count. This effectively results in a screen space pixel ratio increase of 16.35% - hence clearer image! This percentage would also be higher again if I bothered being more accurate with matching pixel count, so I'd guess it could achieve an approximate total of 20% pixel ratio increase. - Once you have worked out your custom resolution settings, open NCP and go to "Change Resolution" option, and in the window click "Customize". Enter your new (cinematic aspect ratio) horizontal and vertical resolutions settings. Note, I also had to change "Timing" mode to automatic for this to work. - Test this custom resolution, and once it's (hopefully) passed the test then apply the resolution. - Now edit SkyrimPrefs.ini file (normally found in My Documents - My Games - Skyrim folder) and input your new cinematic aspect ratio resolution using the lines "iSize W=" and "iSize H=" for repsective width and horizontal resolutions.. You will now have Skyrim set to cinematic aspect ratio, but the HUD will probably not work properly as yet, so please refer to Step 6 below for this last fix. Step 6: HUD Fix: In order to fix the HUD display (as in have a full HUD with no missing information) this is my follwing method. - Install the Skyrim UltraWide Fix program (drop the required files into Skyrims MAIN directory, not DATA directory). - Run Skyrim UltraWide Fix - Untick "Auto-Detect Resolution" - Set GUI width to 1000 - Click "Inject Patch" - this will now be waiting for you to launch Skyrim game - Launch Skyrim, but DO NOT adjust either resolution or aspect ratio settings in OPTIONS window (this will reset some settings) and run the game!!!!! You may need to experiment with GUI width settings, but 1000 works perfectly for me. You may also need to tweak adjust FOV settings either within the UltraWide Fix program, or manually within Skyrims console command (load Skyrim, hit the ` key - normally next to the 1 key on left of keyboard - and type FOV x - with x being FOV amount). That should be it!!! You will now have a more cinematic Skyrim experience with either extra performance, or extra resolution gains! You will need to launch and inject UltraWide Fix every single time you launch Skyrim (just by re-pressing the Inject button), and you'll probably need to manually activate and deactivate desktop resizing in NCP before and after running Skyrim, but this all takes a matter of seconds to do and will give you potentially hours of benefit, so I think it's worth doing. There may well be better programs, fixes, and methods in general, but my way is the only method I've tried that actually works for me! If I find improvements with anything then I'll update this thread asap. I know some total purists may agrue that manipulating image space like I have would force a non 1:1 pixel ratio which may impact on clarity, but if you don't want to use or try my methods, then don't! I hope all this effort (and typing) will improve someones Skyrim experience! Good luck and enjoy. EDIT: Forgot to mention, this fix will resolve HUD scaling issues, but seemingly totally borks loading screens. Personally not too bothered about this as I'm more concerned with the game itself! Edited May 19, 2012 by LargeStyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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