Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hello,

Both Thief3 and Deus Ex2 have been developed by Ion Storm, both use the same engine (Unreal2) and were released about the same time.

"NotCarolKaye" came up with a nice hor+ solution (http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/index.php/Deus_Ex:_Invisible_War) for Deus Ex2 after a long time. In his solution you edit the "Engine.d2u" file in the /system folder of the game with a hex editor and replace the 3 parts/values (AA 42) that concern the Field Of View. This worked perfectly.

Now I know that there is no hor+ solution for Thief3 available. I thought however, that it would probably be the same solution.

I opened the "Engine.t3u" file in the /system folder. And guess what I found. There are also three AA 42 parts, so I guessed that they concern FOV in Thief too. But when I changed them to CC 42, which is 16:10 in Deus Ex2, nothing happens. WS Resolutions work as usual, but the game is still -vert.

Can anybody out there make something out of this? I don't think that the AA 42 values are just a coincidence.

thanks for reading 8)

No, they aren't a coincidence, but nor do they seem to be relevant in this game. In other words, it looks as though the DX2 FOV variables still exist in TDS, but simply aren't used. In TDS, the FOV seems to be controlled by a single variable, BaseFOV. This is normally 90. However, editing the obvious B4 42 value in Engine.t3u doesn't have any effect on it...

Does that mean hor+ TDS is a lost cause? Far from it! It just complicates things a bit. If you thought the DX2 solution was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet. :)

The obvious-but-nasty hor+ solution for TDS is as follows:
[list][*](edit) Apply the existing vert- solution to get the game widescreen. Ignore the third-person camera hack bit, it won't be necessary![/*:m]
[*]Install T3Ed, the TDS editor.[/*:m]
[*]Modify the game scripts, so that at appropriate points it executes an action like "Set [BaseFOV] to [100.00] on linked objects of [PLAYER]".[/*:m]
[*]Change the value of LoadFromResourceBlockFiles in user.ini to false, so that the modified scripts are used.[/*:m][/list:u]This is obviously pretty laborious -- but in my initial tests, it seems to work!

The 4:3 first-person Thief we know and love:


The vert- widescreen first-person Thief we get with the existing solution:


The hor+ widescreen first-person Thief we've been longing to play!


Sorry that the pics are rather dark, I chose the very start of the game for my test because it's easier to match up the camera position that way. Interesting how the HUD seems to be stretched... I wonder if that can be fixed easily?

Anyway, I'm confident I've proven that a solution exists. Filling in the details (or, better still, finding a more elegant approach!) is left as an exercise for the reader. :)

Complications I've thought of already:[list][*]Not all levels have a suitable script at the start, so if the value needs resetting at the start of every level (not sure yet), it may be necessary to modify the levels themselves to add scripts.(edit) Good news -- the BaseFOV value is carried from level to level and stored in saved games. So it's sufficient to hack one script at the very start of the game, and it should carry through! It may be possible to hack saved games to change the FOV in an existing game. So the only other issue is that:[/*:m][*]Some scripts in the game already modify BaseFOV (e.g. entering/leaving the stitch in the Cradle), so those will also need finding and fixing.[/*:m][/list:u]

Nice :D

Now I know that there is no hor+ solution for Thief3 available.

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/thief

[quote]Now I know that there is no hor+ solution for Thief3 available.

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/]
But that solution is fundamentally vert-, not hor+ -- the camera hack doesn't work well in first-person. Modifying the FOV directly produces perfect results whether you prefer first-person or third-person gameplay. We just need to figure out how to make it a bit easier to do! :)

(I forgot to note that my hack is built on that solution, though - you need to do the Resolution=-2 bit to get the game into vert- widescreen at all, before you start playing around with BaseFOV.)

But that solution is fundamentally vert-, not hor+

Before solution ...


After solution ...


How is that Vert - ? ... it looks very much Horz + to me ... it may be a little Vert + too ....

-- the camera hack doesn't work well in first-person.

Agreed.

Modifying the FOV directly produces perfect results whether you prefer first-person or third-person gameplay. We just need to figure out how to make it a bit easier to do! :)

Agreed ... a better way to do it would be great.

How is that Vert - ? ... it looks very much Horz + to me ... it may be a little Vert + too ....

Yeah, sorry, I guess I was nitpicking a bit there... please don't think I was criticising it, because I do think it's a really neat solution for third-person players... I just think of it as "fundamentally" vert- because I always play in first-person. :) But you're quite right, I guess I should have described it as a hybrid hor+/vert- really.

No problem ... I just didn't want people to get misinformation.

8)

Before solution ...


After solution ...


How is that Vert - ? ... it looks very much Horz + to me ... it may be a little Vert + too ....

Poor man's hor + friend. 8)

See the change in perspective behind the legs?

Now that is nitpicking .... :P
I did say ...

... it looks very much Horz + to me ... it may be a little Vert + too ....