Widescreen Letterbox Issues

[karamazovapy]

So I've *finally* downloaded 013e, with the plan of update-fixing some old levels. Generally, it works quite well, but there are issues with widescreen letterboxing.

1) Less important, but there, I get the weird strobing effect. The contents of the "black" bars are generally whatever was stretched to those portions of the screen before the switch. The strobing is more distracting than my normal desktop.

2) When I enter letterbox mode, my keyboard stops working with bitfighter. Yes, I'm playing with a controller, but I can no longer enter text commands like /next. Instead, the keyboard seems linked to my desktop. For example, hitting enter executes whatever icon I may have had highlighted.

It's nice to see progress on a request I myself made, but it doesn't seem usable just yet. Of course, I am running Windows 7 with release-013e.

Oh - major problem I just noticed - if I exit in fullscreen, the next start up is in fullscreen by default...but since I have joystick enabled and the keyboard is dead, I can't get past name entry. I fixed it by killing the application and modifying the .ini, but sheesh!

[watusimoto]

And yet everything works in windowed or stretched mode?

[karamazovapy]

And yet everything works in windowed or stretched mode?

Hm...stretched (old fullscreen) always worked fine, so I didn't even check...but now it doesn't anymore. Both fullscreen modes give me the same issues.

It should be noted that the mouse functions as it's supposed to. Only the keyboard loses focus.

However, this also highlights the problem that the joystick hasn't had a functioning "select" button in several versions.

[watusimoto]

You say the black bars are "flickering" -- can you see what's being drawn there? Bitfighter stuff, or the desktop leaking through?

Also, do you think another program is grabbing keyboard focus, or do you think your keystrokes are going into the void?

Note that I've tried 013e on two different Win7 machines, and have not seen any of the reported symptoms.

[karamazovapy]

The content in the black bars is a snapshot of whatever occupied the stretched space before.

...but I think I have it nailed down!

The problem only occurs when I have a Windows 7 Theme loaded. Anything that uses the Aero desktop. It makes fullscreen bitfighter panic so that you get occasional black flickers, occasional (1 frame) flashes of the hidden taskbar, some window frames...and it seems that the keyboard is interacting with the desktop itself. The arrow keys highlight different icons. Enter will attempt to open/load/run whatever you have selected on the desktop.

I figured the theme issue out because I was going to record a video of what I was seeing and Camtasia Studio automatically disables the Aero desktop. When I had the cam software running, everything in bitfighter ran like clockwork. From there, I went back and tested themes. By the looks of it, semi-transparent windows and taskbars don't play nice with fullscreen.

[watusimoto]

That's an important clue, but still leaves several mysteries. When I switch to an Aero theme, I still see no problems, so perhaps there is some aspect of the themes that I have disabled and you not; I normally run without transparency, but even with it enabled there is no problem here.

Also, when running in letterbox mode, Bitfighter should still possess the entire screen, though it's not writing to the entire thing when it draws the game. There's no reason why keystrokes should be leaking to the desktop. That said, I have seen Age of Mythology take over the screen when it didn't have focus, and it created an odd flickery effect and did not respond to keyboard or mouse events. Perhaps Bitfighter doesn't actually have the focus at all, and that's the problem. Try cycling to the app using alt-tab and see if you can fix it that way, or otherwise ensuring that it has focus. The joystick will work even when the window does not have focus (which is why two players can play side-by-side on the same machine using joysticks).

[karamazovapy]

It looks like something else is fighting with the application to steal focus. It blinks once or twice slowly when I alt+tab back and forth. Interestingly, when I switch back to windowed mode, bitfighter does not have focus. In the alt+tab menu, bitfighter remains first in order, as if it's selected. I am also able to see the standard white arrow cursor, which is especially weird with joystick enabled...but makes sense if bitfighter doesn't have focus.

Ooh - important note, I'd guess - the window actually loses focus when the mode change is made, not randomly. Occasionally (sometimes if you're just on the main game menu) you can switch to fullscreen without a problem. If you join a game from there, you're fine. If you switch back to windowed and then to fullscreen again, you're screwed.

I'm running Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 6.1.7600 Build 7600 on an X86 PC. Once stolen, keyboard focus goes directly to the desktop, no matter what other windows or applications are open.

[watusimoto]

Can you try to figure out what aspect of the aero desktop is causing the problem?

[ZoombeR]

So I've *finally* downloaded 013e, with the plan of update-fixing some old levels. Generally, it works quite well, but there are issues with widescreen letterboxing.

1) Less important, but there, I get the weird strobing effect. The contents of the "black" bars are generally whatever was stretched to those portions of the screen before the switch. The strobing is more distracting than my normal desktop.

This isn't just you, I have the same problem.
Luckily for me, I can just use stretched and its fine.

@watusimoto
this was what I was talking about with the screenshots I sent you earlier.

[watusimoto]

Zoomber & Unknown Joe: Can you confirm (or deny) that the flickering happens with Aero themes and disappears when a "normal" theme is selected?

(Zoomber, I am assuming you experience this on Windows 7, not Mac.)

I'll add that this issue is particularly baffling as there really is no difference between letter box and stretched-full screen, except that there is a different GL matrix transformation that defines different corners of the rendered area of the screen. The app still owns the entire screen.

I will try an experimental test release that actively fills in the black bars every time the screen is redrawn, and see if that fixes the problem.

[karamazovapy]

The flickering is actually kind of like the old flourescent light bulbs that would hum constantly and subtley change brightness at x cycles per second.

[ZoombeR]

The content in the black bars is a snapshot of whatever occupied the stretched space before.

This is exactly what I get, on fullscreen mode, on Mac.

[watusimoto]

I just did some googling on this issue, and it turns out that it affects a lot of games on Windows 7. Some users reported success upgrading their video drivers.

[ZoombeR]

Strange. I wonder what causes it on my mac then.

[karamazovapy]

I just did some googling on this issue, and it turns out that it affects a lot of games on Windows 7. Some users reported success upgrading their video drivers.

Hm...that's possible...I don't *think* I've upgraded video drivers since installing the new OS.

[watusimoto]

I experienced this briefly last night; I was running in full screen when my email notifier popped up, then went away. Bitfighter somehow lost focus (maybe I clicked on the notifier), but then the display got flickery and my mouse seemed to react to both game menus and the window below. I've seen this before in other games, and what is happening is that the system gives focus to something else, but Bitfighter is still drawing to the screen, and appears to be in control, though it's not.

Could this account for the problems you are experiencing?

[karamazovapy]

It's a lot like that.

[watusimoto]

If that's the problem, there's not much I can do about it.

[karamazovapy]

I don't have anything popping up though...

What you're describing in effects sounds more or less spot on though.

There could be some process that's stealing focus, but killing Aero is a pretty reliable fix.

[watusimoto]

I'm not sure there's a lot I can do about that, either

[karamazovapy]

Well at least you've seen what it looks like now!

[watusimoto]

Yes. It would be helpful to know what aspect of Aero is the problem. When you have some time, can you try systematically dismantling an Aero theme and see if you can figure out what aspect of it is problematic?