BVE 2 in new display resolutions, too

[reschanger]

This is version 1.0.0.1 of the Resolution Changer for BVE Trainsim 2.6.0.3.
This version comes in English, Italiano (Italian), Deutsch (German), 日本語 (Japanese), 简体中文 (Simplified Chinese) and 繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese) languages.

This tool allows you to change the display resolution in BVE 2 for both window mode and fullscreen mode to anything above the default 640x480, which is undoubtedly too small for the present day monitors.

As BVE 2 doesn't use the full display size for the 3D view but places various indicators like signal preview, station preview, handle indicators and ATS lamps on the right and bottom, those elements will move accordingly in higher resolutions. As there is no one way to do that, the tool allows you to select from four different layouts and also allows you to switch all the various elements on and off individually, to select a different background color and even to switch the cab itself on and off.

You can also enable a custom route and train selection dialog, in which you can not only select the route (as in BVE), but also select the train of your choice.

In the default configuration, the cab will not be resized. In higher resolutions, you will have a smaller cab, which will be at the lower-left corner in its original size. This is not a problem for 480x200 cabs (which arent't overlayed over the 3D view), but the 480x440 cabs (which are) could look silly if they are not "open" at the top and right side.

You can also play with resized cabs. In this mode, each time you load a route/train, a copy of the train will be created to match the resolution and layout you specified and you will play with this new, resized train then. There are nearest neighbor, bilinear and bicubic filters available, which affect only the speed of conversion, not the speed of the game. However, playing with resized cabs requires more system memory in general, especially if the trains have animated handles, and loading these trains can take a little longer.

Here are some screenshots from various routes:

Classic layout / Condensed layout / Compact layout / Full screen layout:


High resolution without cab / with cab / resized cab (bicubic), the custom route and train selection:


The compact layout for original sized cabs is somehow similar to what BVE looked like in its beginnings: http://mackoy.cool.ne.jp/trifle/history.html

This program is to be distributed in a decentralized fashion. If you want to host it on your website, I would be glad if you did. If you want to modifiy the tool to your needs, the source code is included.

In the attachment you can find the current version to download. Please make sure you read the readme before using the program. Have fun, and please respond.

 

[jacknottm]

I Get an error message that says cannot initiate direct x 3d

Jack
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
That was in Full Screen Mode, if i run it in windowed mode, it works great, Thanks for the Program

Jack

 

[reschanger]

I Get an error message that says cannot initiate direct x 3d

First, try the new version 0.9.0.8. This is a bugfix which should fix a problem with certain higher resolutions in window mode when BVE would instead go fullscreen, but maybe it also solves your problem. If the problem remains, tell me details on which exact settings you use (width, height, bit depth, frequency), which desktop resolution you have and which operating system. Also make sure that the resolution you selected is compatible with your monitor and graphics card, because although there should only be compatible settings available in the drop down, Windows sometimes reports settings that are not. Try different settings in any case.

--- new post below ---

The official release 1.0.0.0 is available now. This version introduces bilinear and bicubic filters for resizing the cabs, so you can play with properly resized cabs and not only with cabs in the lower-left corner. Also, this version enabled willing authors to create high-resolution cabs. The process is described in the High-resolution cabs.txt file inside the source code folder.

 

[jacknottm]

BVE 2 Lives on !

Thanks very much

Jack

 

[reschanger]

The new version 1.0.0.1 is available.

This fixes a few problems that were reported.

• First of all, when using the custom route and train selection, the train did not load correctly when using a train from one BVE folder (e.g. from BVE 2) and a route from another BVE folder (e.g. from BVE 4). This is now fixed. You can choose whichever route and train you like, regardless of where it is on your hard drive, even across different drives.

• Secondly, if you changed the background color, then it previously was applied correctly but read incorrectly when you opened the ResChangerBve2 again. This is also fixed.

• A minor adjustment has been made to the compact layout, which now shows the smiley and information bars with original sized cabs when the display width is at least 1280. The bars are shown anyway when turning the cab off or using interpolation.

By the way, for those interested in custom stop tolerances or higher drawing distance, I have tried, but haven't achieved anything yet.