Most Authentic Resolution

[starfiretbt]

I notice DXX Rebirth for Descent 2 has many resolutions to play the game at. What is the most authentic resolution? I don't want the game to be distorted.

Also resolution only distorts the main menu and the cockpit correct? The actual level remains the same and wider resolution just allows for more to be seen correct? If that's the case I might just put up with a distorted cockpit in favor of more environment to be seen.

[Krom]

The original Descent 2 DOS version was mainly designed with 320x240 and 640x480 resolutions in mind which was fairly standard for software rendered games of the time. However it could be run at almost any resolution via command line switches if the monitor supported it, all the way up to 2048x1536.

[starfiretbt]

Thank you, I get the impression the title menu gets distorted as well as the cockpit (at least the image of the ship), but the actual level doesn't does it? Wider resolutions just means more side view doesn't it?

[Krom]

I'm not sure how DXX rebirth implements widescreen resolutions. D1 and D2 had no support for it initially and would just stretch or flatten the default 4:3 aspect ratio to fit. There was one view mode in D1 that gave a wider horizontal viewport, the cockpit view and the one with the visual status bar on the bottom I seem to recall, D2 may behave the same way. Descent 3 actually has widescreen aspect support but it works by clipping the vertical viewport so in widescreen it actually displays a smaller view than if you pillarbox it to 4:3.

[Parabolicus]

The original Descent 2 DOS version was mainly designed with 320x240 and 640x480 resolutions in mind which was fairly standard for software rendered games of the time. However it could be run at almost any resolution via command line switches if the monitor supported it, all the way up to 2048x1536.

It's slightly more confusing than that. Both D1 and D2 320x240 is actually 320x200 that is stretched vertically to 4:3 (the technical term is Mode 13h). The graphics were designed with this in mind. The 640x480 mode in D2 on the other hand is true 640x480, as far as I can tell.

To make it even more confusing, the automap screen does have true 320x240 ("Mode X"), if it isn't 640x480 of course. (Edit: I'm not sure if it's 320x240, it might've even been 320x400, but it likewise is stretched or perhaps shrunk to 4:3)