Widescreen mod crashing if 4K resolution chosen?

[gregp]

I recently bought and installed the GOG version of PS:T. I use a 3840x2160x30Hz monitor. When I specify a resolution of 3840x2160, I get the following error (I've attached the DEBUG file):

ERROR: BIFF [D:\Games\PST\data\/AR0105.bif]: unable to extract tileset 0
ERROR: [widescreen/areas] -> [widescreen] Patching Failed <COPY> <Invalid_argument<"String.create">>

I see that in the Common Problems post, it's suggested that errors similar to this one may be fixed by doing a 'full install', but given that I'm already using the GOG version, I believe I already have a full install. I also cross-checked with an older install of PST that I had laying around, and verified that the size and date of the AR0105 file is identical between installations, thus seeming to verify that it's not a problem with the file itself.

 

I then tried my monitor's next lowest resolution: 2880x1620. The widescreen mod accepts this resolution, and PST will run fullscreen at 3840 with the PST window shown at 2880 resolution with black borders around the outside. However when I try to start a game, I get a crash with the following error:

An Assertion failed in F:\Torment\Source\baldur\ChUI.cpp at line number 917

If I then try running in windowed mode by changing to Full Screen = 0 in Torment.ini, I get a crash with this error:

An Assertion failed in F:\Torment\Source\baldur\ChUIControls.cpp at line number 527

Pretty much the only thing that will work is to use 1920x1080 resolution in full screen -- but this obviously looks pretty bad since it's being stretched across 3840 of screen space.

 

So any suggestions?

SETUP-WIDESCREEN.DEBUG.txt

[jjech]

I have the same problem. Seems like a bug somewhere, but I'm not sure how the widescreen patcher works yet. I'll give a shot at tracking this down and fixing it, but hopefully someone with more expertise hops in and beats me to the chase.

[gregp]

Finally, somebody else with the same problem! Well that's very validating.

 

I put PS:T aside because of this problem, so I'm definitely hoping this gets resolved some time soon.

[Omeganian]

Same problem here.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Same problem here.

AKA, you can't set the resolution to 3840x2160 cause the the game doesn't start correctly ?!?

You should use 1920x1080. Or any off these -1920×1200, 2048×1536, 2560×1600, 2560×2048, 1680×1050, 2560×1440, 3200×2048- the standard resolution options you have, and how it looks in the monitor should dictate which one you would use.

The Widescreen mod was not made with a 4K resolutions in mind as there were no 4K monitors yet when it was made, so there was no way to make sure that it would work.

And what goes to looking bad at 1920x1080 ... well if you disable the postprocessing and use the 1680x1080 resolution, you ought to(it's 1/2 out of both the dimentions of 3840*2160), you bypass the streaching, and it should look pretty sharp on your retina distance, that you probably have to be at most cause the item pickup becomes a pure hell otherwise.

 

There was a bad typo I had there, and the above number after switching. made no sense.

[Omeganian]

 

The Widescreen mod was not made with a 4K resolutions in mind as there were no 4K monitors yet when it was made, so there was no way to make sure that it would work.

 

 

 

Yes, but the latest mod update is from only half a year ago.

[the bigg]

Unfortunately, the installer cannot patch files that are larger than 16MB (it's an intrinsic limitation in the programming language the installer is written in); the error message given when choosing 4k means that such a resolution (on PST and/or BG1) would require editing such a file, hence there is no way to install 4k resolution on PST and/or BG1.

 

Since I have a plain 1080p monitor I can't attempt to run Widescreen at 2880x1620, hence I cannot figure out the cause of those bugs; the usual wisdom is:

- install PST outside of the Program Files directory (E.G. install on C:\games\Torment, not on C:\Program Files (86)\Torment)

- disable all security software (Windows UAC, antivirus, ...) when installing mods

- install Ghostdog's PST UI mod *after* Widescreen is correctly installed

 

I can't speak for personal tastes, but 1920x1080 (not 1680x1080 as incorrectly stated) is exactly half the resolution of 4K, hence there should be no aliasing involved and the images won't look outrageously bad.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Unfortunately, the installer cannot patch files that are larger than 16MB (it's an intrinsic limitation in the programming language the installer is written in); the error message given when choosing 4k means that such a resolution (on PST and/or BG1) would require editing such a file, hence there is no way to install 4k resolution on PST and/or BG1.

 

Since I have a plain 1080p monitor I can't attempt to run Widescreen at 2880x1620, hence I cannot figure out the cause of those bugs; the usual wisdom is:.

Is there any chance you/anyone else could use a custom software to downsample the Windows background and the game graphics so that you/they would theoretically run the game at 3840x2160 resolution in your/their 1920x1080 monitor , and so be able to get a 4k example to work with. An example of software I came accross is the Custom Resolution Utility(currentlty at v1.2.2, should work on both NVidia and AMD cards). Install instructions for v1.1.1 here.

Yes, this approach would eventually break due to the weidu's file size restriction ... and yes, the games interface could probably look horrific during testing, but that's a small problem considering it allowing further study, and it's a little CPU intensive work, or not, I have not got a clue about it.

Hmm, what file is the one that breaks the 16Mb limit by the way ? Cause if it's one of the interface ones, those can be provided ... yes, that's further extra work for each setting but it could be worth it, eventually, as it it with the BG1 Widescreen GUI beta mod. But then again if it's one of the map ones... that can hardly be fixed...

 

Ups... yeah, I am very bad at copy pasteing the important info... which leads to the above idiot mistake, my bad. The burdon of being an idiot and all that.

[the bigg]

I don't know what you're trying to talk about; however:

 

- according to Google, the specified assertion failures are caused by improper installation (E.G. installing to C:\Program Files, installing PST GUI before Widescreen) and are fixed by a reinstall

- the 16MB limitation is intrinsic in OCaml (and, thus, in WeiDU), so there's no realistic way around that. The crash is happening on AR0105.tis (as per the debug file), and chances are that the failure might happen on multiple TIS files.

[Jarno Mikkola]

I don't know what you're trying to talk about;

Well here's the meat, of one such rendering hardware technology: "DSR

Dynamic Super Resolution renders a game at a higher, more detailed resolution and intelligently shrinks the result back down to the resolution of your monitor, giving you 4K-quality graphics on an HD screen."

 

That's their words. Mine:

Now that's for some NVidia hardware dedicated tech system in the given generation that features the DSR tech, but a program that uses the same tech (CTU in the link above, for example) should allow the same in any AMD/NVidia GPU card, as long as you don't mind the quality.

So the down sampling program will allow you to customize your resolution settings by then downscaling the pictures it shows, via graphic card algoritms. Aka, in this exaple you can play the game in a 4k resolution, with those settings in Widescreen mod, as the program will count what the output is in a 3840x2160, and then re-counts the result is in a reduces it's size by 50% halving the pixels count and displaying it in 1920x1080. In a sufficticated system, downsampeling can be used to reduce ...something, anti-aliasing problems to "Get slittely better visual quality". If you listen a minute from this spot( https://youtu.be/lAq9YU2FhIM?t=15m50s ) of this Total Biscuit's video, you'll know that it's the silly thing I am refering to is. And in the BG2, you'll likely get worse visuals quality.

 

(yeah, it won't work on PST nor BG1, due to the .TIS file size issue, but you can at least use it to confirm the BG2's working in 4K with a HD monitor, and even higher if you won't mind seeing the game in tiny squares that you ultimatelly have to know what each of them mean, as the reduction can be from 200x100 pixel picture to 20x10 pixel).

 

Here's a video about up&down sampling and how to use it to play at higher resolutions.

 

's a video about up&down sampling and how to use it to play at higher resolutions. Took this with a GTX 550 TI:

In 2560x1600 mode, even though my display is only 1920x1200 ...