Screen Resolution

[docj101 100]

I have posted this poll in an attempt to understand the lowest common resolution that players use.  I need this info in order to make certain modifications to my future custom UIs (user interfaces).  For instance:  I could use the entire length of a 1920 screen to place UI elements, allowing me to get rid of the sidebars and have everything emerge from the bottom of the screen.  Of course if I do use a width of 1920 that would not work on a more narrow resolution (it would simply disappear off screen).  This is why I am after the lowest common resolution; so I can have max compatibility for my modded UIs.  Eventually there will be some UIs made that will only work on 1920x1080 since that is my particular resolution.

 

Thanks for your vote!

[z1 566]

1920x1200 is also a common resolution, and is what I use; you might want to add that to your list.

[docj101 100]

1920x1200 is also a common resolution, and is what I use; you might want to add that to your list.

Good call, consider it added.

[krbe 193]

1920-width screens are either desktop computers, or high-end big-screen Samsung laptops. SInce I need a new computer, and am a student, I can't afford something lightweight with that kind of resolution - the cheaper models hover around 1366x768 resoultions.

 

Also note that older laptops, and also standard desktop computer screens won't support 1920-widths. Since this is an old game, one can also suppose that quite a number of older computers run it.

 

What kind of information in SC4 needs so much screen space by the way?

[docj101 100]

1920-width screens are either desktop computers, or high-end big-screen Samsung laptops. SInce I need a new computer, and am a student, I can't afford something lightweight with that kind of resolution - the cheaper models hover around 1366x768 resoultions.

 

Also note that older laptops, and also standard desktop computer screens won't support 1920-widths. Since this is an old game, one can also suppose that quite a number of older computers run it.

I am already accounting for everything you say here before I even asked the question.  I assume that most users play on desktops.  I also assume that in the 10 years since game launch most people have upgraded their desktop monitors to widescreens wider then 1280.  I ,of course, understand that some users are on laptops and older PCs, this poll helps me determine what group actually is the majority instead of going on my assumptions.  I intend to only cater to the majority for certain UI overhauls.

 

 

What kind of information in SC4 needs so much screen space by the way?

As I stated above:  one use is to relocate all of the elements of the sidebars onto the bottom of the screen.  Another is to rearrange and minimize the height of the elements that already appear in the mayor panel so they all hug the bottom edge of the screen; allowing them to take up less then an inch of the screen's bottom while mayor mode is selected.  Currently the news ticker, information boxes, and buttons all stack up to about a 3 inch height;  those things can all be placed horizontally.  In effect I'm talking about turning the SC4 UI into something similar to the SC2013 UI.

[Magneto 316]

I think you should add 1366x768 too.

[docj101 100]

I think you should add 1366x768 too.

K, sorry I left you guys out.  I guess I didn't think about the poll enough in the first place.  I should have structured it different.  I'm going to end up adding 30 more resolutions with the way I structured it. 

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

1920 x 1080.  My 24" screen is DIV and runs the standard 1080p.

[Mr Baseball 0]

1680 x 1050. That's my monitor's native resolution.

[krbe 193]

Apologies, I thought you were creating something new.

 

As for the computers, I think it's dangerous to assume anything really; distribution of systems vareis with demographics and geography. I for example rarely see desktop computers except in corporate enviroments or for special purposes (like music producers, etc.).

 

One way of ascertain a common screen resoultion could be if you could gain access to site statistics. Your sample would be much bigger, and probabøy much better than a poll that require active participation in one specific thread.

[Haljackey 17,398]

Once you go above 1920x1080, you'll run into some graphical issues with the game. The region-view bug is the most famous one with the bottom 1/4 of large city tiles being cut off in region view.

 

I used to run the game at 1920x1200 and pretty much got used to it. I now have a dual-monitor setup and use my primary monitor (1920x1080) for SC4 and my old 1920x1200 as a secondary monitor.

[docj101 100]

Apologies, I thought you were creating something new.

 

As for the computers, I think it's dangerous to assume anything really; distribution of systems vareis with demographics and geography. I for example rarely see desktop computers except in corporate enviroments or for special purposes (like music producers, etc.).

 

One way of ascertain a common screen resoultion could be if you could gain access to site statistics. Your sample would be much bigger, and probabøy much better than a poll that require active participation in one specific thread.

No problem, you brought up a very fair point.

 

My assumption regarding desktops in this scenario, is because the demographic is "gamers"; most "gamers" tend to play on desktops.  This is true because of a few reasons, but foremost is you get more performance per dollar spent.  It is true that since this is an older game it is probably played much more commonly on laptops then anything newly released is.

 

You make a good point about the site statistics having good aggregated data about screens that visit the site, however it doesn't necessarily mean that is the resolution people choose to run the game.  People could like lower resolutions for larger text or better performance.

[docj101 100]

Once you go above 1920x1080, you'll run into some graphical issues with the game. The region-view bug is the most famous one with the bottom 1/4 of large city tiles being cut off in region view.

Interesting, I didn't know that.  I also wouldn't have been able to discover that on my own since I have a smaller monitor that doesn't do x1200.  The height isn't as much an issue as width is for what I have in mind.  At the end of the day: I am really trying to get a feel for how wide can I go while not alienating the majority of people that may want to use it.

[AcronShinra 60]

Other: 1280x800 Windowed Mode

[simcity1999 34]

1920x1080 on my Samsung S22A350H.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

The 1200 vertical resolution bug doesn't lose anything, it just inserts those annoying bars.  Easily avoided by rendering at some vertical resolution less than 1200.  If this happens to you, close the game, set your vertical resolution to less than 1200, open the game and open and save each city with the problem.  You can then exit and set your resolution back.

[Haljackey 17,398]

The 1200 vertical resolution bug doesn't lose anything, it just inserts those annoying bars.  Easily avoided by rendering at some vertical resolution less than 1200.  If this happens to you, close the game, set your vertical resolution to less than 1200, open the game and open and save each city with the problem.  You can then exit and set your resolution back.

 

Yup this is true and the bug only applies to large city tiles too.

 

If you're super picky about this, do not render a region playing SC4 at a res greater than 1080p. All the large city tiles in the region will have this and you will have to open and save every city at a different res to get rid of them.

 

---

 

Oh and Noony, you said you run at 1920x1080 yet you voted for other? (I love public polls )

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Silly of me.  Fixed it.

[MandelSoft 2,775]

1280x1024 on windowed for me, but I have a wider screen (1600x1050). I can keep an eye on the chat while playing

[Haljackey 17,398]

Wow a lot of votes for 1920x1080. Why do I not see more pics of this resolution on the site? Full resolution = best resolution!

 

1280x1024 on windowed for me, but I have a wider screen (1600x1050). I can keep an eye on the chat while playing

 

Ever thought of getting a second monitor? That way you can play SC4 with windowed fullscreen on one and do ST chat / web browsing on the other.

 

Of course, space / money / computer power can be an issue with dual monitors... but it works very well with SC4!

[MandelSoft 2,775]

Space is the issue. I have room left for like only 1/3rd of a monitor... if the boxes weren't in the way too... So no, I can only play on one screen. But so far it has never been a real problem for me

[Cougar2004 128]

The game plays for me best at 1440x900.

[docj101 100]

Wow a lot of votes for 1920x1080. Why do I not see more pics of this resolution on the site? Full resolution = best resolution!

When I try to link a full resolution picture I get an error msg "You are not allowed to use that image extension in this community".  I use photobucket, it might work linking to other hosts, but idk.

[Cyclone Boom 17,032]

 

Wow a lot of votes for 1920x1080. Why do I not see more pics of this resolution on the site? Full resolution = best resolution!

 

When I try to link a full resolution picture I get an error msg "You are not allowed to use that image extension in this community".  I use photobucket, it might work linking to other hosts, but idk.

 

 

By linking, do you mean posting an image using:

 

[img=http://www.example.com/image.jpg]

 

There could well be limits on the file size / resolution of posted images. So instead, try using a direct link to the image, as you would with a website address.

[docj101 100]

By linking, do you mean posting an image using:

[img=http://www.example.com/image.jpg]

 There could well be limits on the file size / resolution of posted images. So instead, try using a direct link to the image, as you would with a website address.

No, I mean by using a direct link.  I always use a direct link, but if I have it set on photobucket's end to deliver original image size the direct link causes the error.  The direct link looks like this https://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t7/docj101/banner01_zps7ed66520.jpg~original.  It works when I insert image using the link, but when I hit 'post' I get the error. So I always just insert the link without the ~original setting. 

 

edit: (8:50pm EDT)

 

I had never really looked much into it, but I went to my host website and realized it has confusing settings.  The max resolution it allows me to upload might be 1024x768, since that is the max resolution it will display on their own site.  I don't really understand the original option now that I read it.  Originally I thought it was saying even though the max displayed resolution on the site is 1024x768 it could link out my picture in it's original dimensions.  Perhaps it means the already degraded 'original' of 1024x768 that's on their site.  Either way, with that option selected, my links trigger the site error msg when I press post.  I also noticed that screenshots I upload directly onto ST for the STEX will display in any resolution I upload.  So I think for the most part lack of resolution in screenshots is due to hosting limits.

[Cyclone Boom 17,032]

All right, I think we can conclude that the error must be due to the ~original tag at the end of the file extension. The forum software must not realise it's just a .jpg image, mistaking it for a file format that doesn't exist.
 
With resolutions, PhotoBucket does have restrictions unfortunately. Based on this, you should be able to post full resolution using a host that doesn't auto-resize. A good one worth looking at is Majhost. With this, although the storage tools are fairly limited, there are no restrictions on individual file size or image resolution.

[Turjan 1,048]

Wow a lot of votes for 1920x1080. Why do I not see more pics of this resolution on the site?

 

That's mostly due to image size limits on upload sites. Photobucket scales everything down to 1024x768 or smaller. Imgur does something similar for albums, but allows single larger files. My solution is usually to use the Photobucket image as "thumbnail" and link to an Imgur image. I only do that when I feel like juggling several sites at once.

[Ltw 401]

 

Wow a lot of votes for 1920x1080. Why do I not see more pics of this resolution on the site?

 

That's mostly due to image size limits on upload sites. Photobucket scales everything down to 1024x768 or smaller. Imgur does something similar for albums, but allows single larger files. My solution is usually to use the Photobucket image as "thumbnail" and link to an Imgur image. I only do that when I feel like juggling several sites at once.

 

 

Imageshack doesn't resize. The only limitation is that your images can't be larger than 5MB, but when you save as jpg you won't reach that limit.

[paeng 2,527]

My actual screen resolution is 1920x1080  (and yes - I do have a dual monitor setup as well)...

 

However - I play SC4 in windowed mode at 1280x1024, I never felt I need more just to play SC4, and I like the quick access to other desktop items (seeing that my second monitor is always plastered with plenty open windows from other things I'm working on).

 

* Also, to be honest - I never got a satisfying SC4 setting at 1920x1080, there always seems to be some quirk, or distortion or whatever... probably because I'm too lazy to fiddle for endless hours with my general settings. Again - 1280 is plenty enough SC4 for me...

 

 

If there will be a choice of interfaces, I'll surely take the one that is as tiny as it can get and 'eats' the least screen property... but that's just me, preferences may vary ;-)

 

 

 

Wow a lot of votes for 1920x1080. Why do I not see more pics of this resolution on the site?

 

Well, maybe a lot of votes - but still barely one third of all users (who voted, at least)... I think it is a smart move to figure out (and satisfy) the smaller resolutions used.

[timmie 988]

1440*900. I play the game on my 15" MacBook Pro. I do play the game in windowed mode, however. Must be 1200*800, or something like that.