Skip to content

Doesn't look like 1989 pc/verson, resolution too low #87

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Open
ghost opened this issue Dec 17, 2020 · 7 comments
Open

Doesn't look like 1989 pc/verson, resolution too low #87

ghost opened this issue Dec 17, 2020 · 7 comments

Comments

@ghost
Copy link

ghost commented Dec 17, 2020

The graphics output does not look at all like the game on a pc monitor.

Example youtube video from the pc version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A54blk-ojA4

@Bengrs
Copy link

Bengrs commented Dec 18, 2020

Hi,

micropolis is based on the unix version of the game. You won’t get the DOS interface of the original game, nor the Macintosh or Windows version.
If you want to experience the game like it was on DOS in 1989 you can use DOSbox with an original copy of the game.

As far as I know this project doesn’t aim to recreate the look and feel of those old versions. Just to make the game available on today’s computers.

@ghost ghost changed the title Doesn't look like pc monitor verson Doesn't look like pc monitor verson, resolution too low Dec 19, 2020
@ghost
Copy link
Author

ghost commented Dec 19, 2020

Found another video of Don Hopkins playing a unix version of simcity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fVl4dGwUrA
I think the problem is actually that the resolution is too low. Here is another video of Don Hopkins showing a multiplayer X11 linux verson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fVl4dGwUrA I have updated the bug header post to reflect this.
I also realize this is because it uses graphic assets from the OLPC program that was created to run with limited powered hardware.
Texture Packs, SVG or upscaling
. Some solutions might be to create svg graphics or find a way to properly upscale the game for higher resolution monitors.
Create higher resolution textures. might cause problems such as having to rewrite code or wasted disk space.
I've looked at screenshots on the web and the textures look good upscaled. I typically use 1080p and 4k switching to 1024x768 helped when installing . Example of high resolution gameplay on apple that is hard to see text and objects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2flOZ96_fM

@ghost ghost changed the title Doesn't look like pc monitor verson, resolution too low Doesn't look like 1989 pc/unix verson, resolution too low Dec 19, 2020
@ghost ghost changed the title Doesn't look like 1989 pc/unix verson, resolution too low Doesn't look like 1989 pc/verson, resolution too low Dec 19, 2020
@Bengrs
Copy link

Bengrs commented Dec 19, 2020

So to put it in simplier words, you'd like to have a scalable interface.
Since micropolis use the operating system UI it not that simple, but the game view itself could be easly modified to scale up the graphics.

Unfortunatly this repo is still waiting for 5-yo pull request to be merge. I suggest you to seek a more active repo.

@senpay
Copy link

senpay commented Dec 19, 2020

I have a little bit more active repo for Micropolis - feel free to create a PR

@ghost
Copy link
Author

ghost commented Dec 19, 2020

So to put it in simplier words, you'd like to have a scalable interface.
Since micropolis use the operating system UI it not that simple, but the game view itself could be easly modified to scale up the graphics.

Unfortunatly this repo is still waiting for 5-yo pull request to be merge. I suggest you to seek a more active repo.

Yes for the future possibly but for now a solution may be to inform the user to set the computer monitor to a lower resolution. Example: 1024x768 under windows10, probably applies to other platforms.
Ok found MicropolisJ, thanks Senpay but its for platform independant Java not specifically windows or linux but probably has fixes ; still learning how to use github to post correctly. I don't see an updated private repo for windows... found 5yr old https://github.com/andreasbalzer/MicropolisForWindows/issues and it has possible related bug fullscreen issue
Developers could use a program such as DXWND (foss) to hook the micropolis executable with a different resolution. just tested snapd on linux manjaro-- still too small on 720pEdit: Looked and played fine on 640x480. Thanks everyone for feedback and clarification.

@andreasbalzer
Copy link

sorry, was posting in wrong repo

@xga-cga
Copy link

xga-cga commented May 4, 2024

Found solution but might have to be coded: I think micropolis, (before Micropolis Windows) supported 320x200 vga after looking at the Will Wright olpc micropolis video (has name smcity in title), and LGR videos on Smcity Classic. Now dosbox staging emulates or simulates these features: https://dosbox-staging.github.io/getting-started/advanced-graphics-options/

with 24 shaders for the video.

also found out the game was a commercial project for the c64/c128 maybe we could ask for the rights to that source code. The manuals would be helpful too.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment
Labels
None yet
Projects
None yet
Development

No branches or pull requests

4 participants