High resolution patches - new life of old games
Good Friday, dear Habr!
I think many habravchane spend some of their leisure time at computer games. And when it comes to games of recent years, there are no problems, if only the computer’s power is enough. But with the old games it's not that simple.
It often happens that the game simply does not want to run on modern operating systems and hardware, or it does not work correctly (too fast, graphic artifacts, etc.) This is a sad situation, but now it is not about it. First of all, popular games are usuallywritten straightforwardly , but they work. And secondly, this is a topic for a separate volume article.
')
Suppose your favorite game is still running. At first there is no limit to joy. But only until you find that the maximum available resolution is 1024x768, or even 800x600. On a modern monitor, this means huge GUI game elements, a blurred picture, and if the widescreen monitor is also a heavily distorted, “bellied” aspect ratio. Some fans such trifles, of course, do not bother. But why deny yourself the maximum enjoyment of the game, if you solve the problem is not so difficult?
Under the cut - a way to run with a modern resolution, some popular games of the early 2000s.
Remember that same "Age of Empires"? Many fans still spend sleepless nights for online battles. But, besides the inability to set the resolution above 1280x1024, the glitches with a palette - the notorious “pink spots” darken the game picture. Who launched the game on new Windows, will understand what it is about.
But a blessing in disguise: in 2010, a Dutch disassembler with the nickname BoekaBart released a patch that is installed by replacing the executable files of the game. This patch fixes a bug with colors and adds in the game settings all the resolutions supported by the system. Since the graphics in the game are pixel, but with higher resolution you see a larger piece of the map, which can give a strategic advantage.
The game looks like this:
The bottom corner of the interface panel is a bit flawed, but this is a small price to pay for the opportunity to play at 1920x1200, right? :)
Download the high-resolution patch on the BoekaBart homepage .
It would be great to make a similar patch for the first part of Age of Empires, but unfortunately my knowledge of assembler and reverse engineering was not enough.
Arcanum - one of the best classic RPG with an unusual steampunk setting, where magic fights technology. Despite the universal admiration of critics and the audience, Troika Games masterpiece failed in sales, and did not see the official patch, treating numerous problems of the game.
But the active community did not stand aside and did everything with their own hands, including the high-resolution patch. Unfortunately, this patch is compatible only with the latest licensed English version 1.0.7.4 and you will not be able to put it on a localized game. After installing the patch in the game directory, you need to run the Setup-HighRes.exe utility, which will ask the user for the desired resolution and generate a modified Arcanum.exe binary. After that, traveling around the world of Arcanum will become much easier:
The patch (and much more for Arcanum) is located on the most famous fan site - terra-arcanum.com .
In each new version of Civilization, the overall gameplay remains unchanged, but in detail the game varies greatly. And in them, as you know, lies the devil;) Therefore, from time to time there is a desire to start the old part and plunge into the long-beloved gameplay. In order to go beyond the standard 1024x768, you do not even have to modify the game files. All you need is to find the * .ini file of settings in the game folder and add one line there. If you have a full edition of the game (for example, the Steam version), then this will be the file Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete \ Conquests \ conquests.ini. Add the “KeepRes = 1” line to it and save. After that, the game will run in the same resolution as your desktop:
The series “Heroes of Might and Magic” needs no introduction. And its third part is still considered by many to be the best. But if in 1999, 800x600 was a typical resolution wave, now you cannot call it anything other than archaic, right?
It was also decided by Russian modders, led by baratorch, and created HoMM 3 HD Mod . This mod, in addition to supporting any resolutions, adds a few nice little things to the game interface, without affecting its balance.
With a resolution of 1920x1200 and a small map, it almost all is in the game screen :)
As in the case of Arcanum, after installing the patch, you need to run the setup utility, which will generate * .exe for the game in high resolution. Learn more, as well as download the patch itself, you can on its website .
This game is not as famous as the ones listed above, but the first part of the strategy of building castles and a medieval war also loves its small but close community of players. And where there is a community, there will be developers of a high resolution patch!
In this case, the game developers, FireFly Studios, were directly involved in creating such a patch. They made a patch for both the original game and the Crusader add-on. In addition to executable files, the patch also replaces graphic resources, so the archive for download weighs more than 100MB.
Contrary to the caution of the developers, the patch works great with the Steam-version of the game:
You can download the patch on its page on the FireFly website .
Unfortunately, within the framework of one article it is impossible to write about all the masterpieces of past years. But in one line I will mention that there are also high-resolution patches for games like Fallout, StarCraft, Planescape: Torment, Space Rangers and many others. To find out if a patch has been made for your favorite game, it’s enough to add the phrase “high resolution” to its title in the all-knowing Google. The Widescreen Gaming Forum site is also very useful in modernizing games. I hope that you will find on the Internet a treasured file for the desired game. And if not, you can try to make a patch yourself;)
UPD: perezalil screenshots. Now in the article reduced versions to save traffic. But they are clickable, you can open larger screenshots.
Enjoy the games!
I think many habravchane spend some of their leisure time at computer games. And when it comes to games of recent years, there are no problems, if only the computer’s power is enough. But with the old games it's not that simple.
It often happens that the game simply does not want to run on modern operating systems and hardware, or it does not work correctly (too fast, graphic artifacts, etc.) This is a sad situation, but now it is not about it. First of all, popular games are usually
')
Suppose your favorite game is still running. At first there is no limit to joy. But only until you find that the maximum available resolution is 1024x768, or even 800x600. On a modern monitor, this means huge GUI game elements, a blurred picture, and if the widescreen monitor is also a heavily distorted, “bellied” aspect ratio. Some fans such trifles, of course, do not bother. But why deny yourself the maximum enjoyment of the game, if you solve the problem is not so difficult?
Under the cut - a way to run with a modern resolution, some popular games of the early 2000s.
1. Age of Empires II
Remember that same "Age of Empires"? Many fans still spend sleepless nights for online battles. But, besides the inability to set the resolution above 1280x1024, the glitches with a palette - the notorious “pink spots” darken the game picture. Who launched the game on new Windows, will understand what it is about.
But a blessing in disguise: in 2010, a Dutch disassembler with the nickname BoekaBart released a patch that is installed by replacing the executable files of the game. This patch fixes a bug with colors and adds in the game settings all the resolutions supported by the system. Since the graphics in the game are pixel, but with higher resolution you see a larger piece of the map, which can give a strategic advantage.
The game looks like this:
The bottom corner of the interface panel is a bit flawed, but this is a small price to pay for the opportunity to play at 1920x1200, right? :)
Download the high-resolution patch on the BoekaBart homepage .
It would be great to make a similar patch for the first part of Age of Empires, but unfortunately my knowledge of assembler and reverse engineering was not enough.
2. Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magic Obscura
Arcanum - one of the best classic RPG with an unusual steampunk setting, where magic fights technology. Despite the universal admiration of critics and the audience, Troika Games masterpiece failed in sales, and did not see the official patch, treating numerous problems of the game.
But the active community did not stand aside and did everything with their own hands, including the high-resolution patch. Unfortunately, this patch is compatible only with the latest licensed English version 1.0.7.4 and you will not be able to put it on a localized game. After installing the patch in the game directory, you need to run the Setup-HighRes.exe utility, which will ask the user for the desired resolution and generate a modified Arcanum.exe binary. After that, traveling around the world of Arcanum will become much easier:
The patch (and much more for Arcanum) is located on the most famous fan site - terra-arcanum.com .
3. Civilization III
In each new version of Civilization, the overall gameplay remains unchanged, but in detail the game varies greatly. And in them, as you know, lies the devil;) Therefore, from time to time there is a desire to start the old part and plunge into the long-beloved gameplay. In order to go beyond the standard 1024x768, you do not even have to modify the game files. All you need is to find the * .ini file of settings in the game folder and add one line there. If you have a full edition of the game (for example, the Steam version), then this will be the file Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete \ Conquests \ conquests.ini. Add the “KeepRes = 1” line to it and save. After that, the game will run in the same resolution as your desktop:
4. Heroes of Might and Magic III
The series “Heroes of Might and Magic” needs no introduction. And its third part is still considered by many to be the best. But if in 1999, 800x600 was a typical resolution wave, now you cannot call it anything other than archaic, right?
It was also decided by Russian modders, led by baratorch, and created HoMM 3 HD Mod . This mod, in addition to supporting any resolutions, adds a few nice little things to the game interface, without affecting its balance.
With a resolution of 1920x1200 and a small map, it almost all is in the game screen :)
As in the case of Arcanum, after installing the patch, you need to run the setup utility, which will generate * .exe for the game in high resolution. Learn more, as well as download the patch itself, you can on its website .
5. Stronghold
This game is not as famous as the ones listed above, but the first part of the strategy of building castles and a medieval war also loves its small but close community of players. And where there is a community, there will be developers of a high resolution patch!
In this case, the game developers, FireFly Studios, were directly involved in creating such a patch. They made a patch for both the original game and the Crusader add-on. In addition to executable files, the patch also replaces graphic resources, so the archive for download weighs more than 100MB.
Contrary to the caution of the developers, the patch works great with the Steam-version of the game:
You can download the patch on its page on the FireFly website .
Unfortunately, within the framework of one article it is impossible to write about all the masterpieces of past years. But in one line I will mention that there are also high-resolution patches for games like Fallout, StarCraft, Planescape: Torment, Space Rangers and many others. To find out if a patch has been made for your favorite game, it’s enough to add the phrase “high resolution” to its title in the all-knowing Google. The Widescreen Gaming Forum site is also very useful in modernizing games. I hope that you will find on the Internet a treasured file for the desired game. And if not, you can try to make a patch yourself;)
UPD: perezalil screenshots. Now in the article reduced versions to save traffic. But they are clickable, you can open larger screenshots.
Enjoy the games!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/164675/
All Articles