Widescreen Gaming Forum

Game Information

American McGee's Alice is a third-person puzzle/shooter computer game, which takes place in the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland universe. It was developed by Rogue Entertainment and published, distributed and marketed by Electronic Arts, and under the Sold-Out Software label as well. Alice was designed by American McGee, and featured music composed by former Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna.


Version

Retail game, original version. There are currently (as of March 17th, 2008) three patches:

1) Patch for Matrox graphics
2) Patch for Macintosh version
3) Patch to add Dutch subtitles

None of these patches were used in tested version.


Method

Game doesn't support widescreen resolutions through Options. To use such resolution you have to edit config.cfg according to this post.


Screen change

Main menu is using 2D graphics and therefore is Stretched. Video (pre-rendered) cut-scenes are also Stretched. In-game cut-scenes are Vert- except 2D subtitle frame (an image), which is Stretched. The game itself is Vert-.

4:3 screenshots:


16:10 screenshots:



Supported resolutions

The game supports following resolutions by default: 640×480, 800×600, 960×720, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×1024, 1600×1200

List of widescreen resolutions the game successfully ran at: 1280×720, 1280×800, 1920×1200, 2560×1600
List of widescreen resolutions that were not tested: All others


Singleplayer anomalies

In-game Vert- view also clips the bottom of two energy bars and Alice herself (see screenshots). Other 2D graphics is Stretched. Also in main menu there are some mysterious black lines (also in non-wide game-supported resolution), but they have no effect on functionality whatsoever.


Multiplayer support

N/A; This game doesn't have multiplayer.


Aspect ratio support

The game clips the viewable size (Vert-) for each AR differently (4:3, 16:9 and 16:10).

16:9


16:10



HUD stretch

In-game 2D HUD elements are stretched and cut off at the bottom.


Cut-scenes

Pre-rendered video cut-scenes are Stretched.
Cut-scenes using in-game engine are Vert- against normal resolution.


Grading

Calculated grade: C+

CCE: 100%

I could have sworn someone already did a DR for this game. All the info in the rubric is already filled out.

Anyway, all resolutions are supported. So:
C+, 100%

I went to try this today, so I installed but there's no cfg file anywhere to be found. Any ideas?

You may need to run the game once. Many games don't write a config file until they have been run. Also, make sure you're looking at hidden files.

thanks for the idea, but unfortunately that didn't work... I'm puzzled.

The file should be in there somewhere. Otherwise your game would never be able to know what your last selected resolution was.

Try changing the resolution in game and see if it sticks.

So the first post here on the full report suggests changing the resolution and moving the camera out.
The "Confirmed" solution is Vert- (just setting the new resolution).
Frankly, I don't understand the confusion here.

Alice is built on a modified Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.² engine.
So use the Heavy Metal answer: Hor+ with FOV!

Don't believe me? Ok.

The same
-----------
Go to Base, open the config.cfg file with notepad and change the line:
seta r_mode "-1"

Add the lines:
seta r_customwidth "1920"
seta r_customheight "1200"
(or your resolution of course)

And Now
----------
Bop on over to the FOV calculator:
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/fovcalc.php

Alice's default FOV says "0", but it's actually 90.

Now here's the problem: you can't set the FOV in the .ini file.
In fact, if you try to set it that way, the game will lock out your ability to adjust it from the console.

Go up to the bindings, pick your favorite key, and bind your new FOV.
If you have a 16x10 panel like I do:
bind M "fov 100.39"

Now run the game. After every save game and level load, hit your bound key. (Yes, it stinks, but it beats Vert-).

The HUD is still clipped and stretched. The cut scene videos are still stretched.

Screenies:
4x3

16x10



I think this should upgrade Alice to a B-.

Hopefully with this info someone can figure out a launcher applet, patcher or something.


Btw, while I was working on this I also created a pak3.pk3 replacement file that disables the opening splash videos.
I don't know what forum rules are on posting it, but I can guess.

Thanks for the info. But the grade is actually dropped - the grading system is harsher to games with a high-maintenance solution than to games that are simply vert -. Also, this DR is now mostly outdated - every aspect of the game needs to be re-tested with the new solution. The grade is now D-, potentially D+, with a CCE of 96.5%.

I don't have the game, but always wanted to try it. I think the solution of DoctorM, if it works as he/she says, is quite good, grade aside.
Now, anyone has a spare copy of the game?

That is a game from the big-box era. Good luck getting anyone to part with that. 8)