***Official Halo 2 Discussion Thread*** (1 Viewer)

[Jean D]

I found this in annother forum maybe it will help someone

 

[Jason Goodmanson]

My television (Toshiba 57HX93) shows the Dashbord in 16:9 with no issues. All other 16:9 games show up fine. As soon as I pop in Halo2, the TV switches back to 4:3 automatically. Using the FULL picture size, I can force the game back to 16:9 - the graphics look just as good in that "stretched" mode as they do in the default mode - no loss of any information on either the top or bottoms of the screen. The only issue there is that the targeting circle and the motion detector are no long circular, but slightly oval.

Slightly annoying, but I can live with that. It doesn't look like a lot of 4:3 games that aren't desinged for 16:9 - no artifacts (at least that I saw) that usually demonstrate the artifical zooming.

 

[Kyle Richardson]

Ahhhh, the hell with it. I'll end up picking it up and taking my chances with it not displaying all of the HUD information in HD mode. If I have to I'll play in SD.

I'm running a Toshiba 65H82 (or something like that - its been a while since I've checked). It's been forever since I've checked, but I think my overscan is in the 5% range IIRC so who knows how it will turn out.

I also read this on X-Box's forum from somebody that claims to get it to display properly (round radar, no cut off information) on 16:9 in HD on several different TV's: "All I know is that I've made 4 50" HDTVs play halo 2 perfectly, and I did that by disabling all video modes except for 480p, and then setting it to widescreen. (After you do this you may have to do the '480p trick')

the 480p trick is where, while your in the dashboard, after setting it to 480p and widescreen, take your controller, and click in both thumbsticks and pull both triggers at the same time, this will configure it correctly.

 

[Mike~Sileck]

I have LE and it works great in 480p WS.

My GMr TAG is " Chosen 1 Love " so add me to your friends list!

We should start a HTF clan, clans can apparently have 100 members!

Lets do it

Mike

 

[Philip_T]

Well, from what I can see from Scott's pictures (thanks btw), the native screenshot appears to be 4:3 mode with a circular radar and target. In stretch mode with 480p, we get the same ammount of visual data, but stretched out (ie; oval shaped radar and target). This is exactly how Halo1 acts on my set-up. Yet other games I have boasting 480p ability, show as squeezed (from side to side, yet fill up the entire 4:3 screen) until I activate the 480p input on my 4:3HDTV, then it shows normal 16:9 format with circles as circles, not ovals. So, I know that regular 480p games work fine on my set, but Im not so sure H2 will after looking at those screenshots. I doubt Im even making any sense, so, Ill just buy it tonight and fiddle around with the settings to see what I can see. Will report my findings.

 

[Kyle Richardson]

So Jason, you're running your Toshiba in "Full" mode, with the Xbox set to 16:9, and 480p enabled correct?

 

[Kyle Richardson]

Mike, what TV are you displaying it on?

 

[Carlo_M]

quote:Well, it sure didn't take long for the complaints to start. Hours after launch of a game that has received critical acclaim on its single and multiplayer gameplay. How is the actual game?

Well Jay, in all fairness, if the problem is for WS users in some modes that the HUD is cut off (even partially) that does affect gameplay.



I'm one of those who is also saying to hell with it and buying it anyway. Now that I'm live enabled I hardly ever do splitscreen anyway, and my best friend who also will play H2 will buy it, so I'll just have to lug my XBox and game over to his place and play over 2 TVs rather than splitscreen it.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

quote:As soon as I pop in Halo2, the TV switches back to 4:3 automatically. Using the FULL picture size, I can force the game back to 16:9 - the graphics look just as good in that "stretched" mode as they do in the default mode - no loss of any information on either the top or bottoms of the screen. The only issue there is that the targeting circle and the motion detector are no long circular, but slightly oval.

As you'd expect with a 4:3 game.

quote:Is there an official word out from Bungie? It just really strikes me as odd that through internet and published reviews (all of which will likely have used widescreen or at least 480p capable gear) that this has never come up.

It appears an overscan (and a problem with the "stretch" modes on some TV's) issue, and not a game issue as such...perfect on mine. As Scott's pics show, you'd need some pretty severe overscan to cut off the HUD...no?

 

[Carlo_M]

Now that issue is more cloudy, maybe we can get a little bit of clarification (which I'll attempt tonight after buying the game):

The problem of losing parts of the HUD happen in splitscreen mode, correct?

What we see with Scott's screencaps are that the single player / online mode is 4:3, and does not support 16:9. If this is the case, then all is fine in those modes (note how the circle becomes an oval in stretch mode).

However according to the quote someone posted above:

quote:In addition to supporting normal television resolutions, Halo 2 will run in 480p resolution when connected to an HDTV. It does not run in 720p or 1080i, but will support 16:9 widescreen modes with a vertical split screen mode for cooperative play.

That should mean that the game supports 16:9 when playing splitscreen, and that the HUD should stay entirely within the viewable screen. Since all TV sets have some level of overscan (and any veteran videogame maker knows this) they should not have placed the HUD to where you need zero overscan to see it. Even ISF'ers don't recommend zero overscan because geometry of TVs often get all whacked out when you try to set it to zero.

 

[Kyle Richardson]

But Jack, this is a 16:9 game is it not? Or am I confused by

quote:In addition to supporting normal television resolutions, Halo 2 will run in 480p resolution when connected to an HDTV. It does not run in 720p or 1080i, but will support 16:9 widescreen modes with a vertical split screen mode for cooperative play.

 

[Keith_R]

Just my recieved my copy from Fedex. I have yet to play it yet I'm so dying to. The pics look really good and I'm getting excited to play it.



Shame for those of you with WS Tv's, it's pretty sad that such a critical flaw is appearing on the most anticipated game of the year, I wouldn't let that stop me from getting it though since I'm sure the gameplay is going to be great. I don't have a WS television though.



Hope to see some of you on Live soon.

 

[Ken Chui]

quote:

Does anyone have access to IGN's 16x9 review?

I do. I downloaded the 640x480 WM9 file (192MB). Any particular reason?

 

[Mike~Sileck]

I'll have to doublecheck again on the oval issue, to be honest I didn't notice it because as someone said this game looks beautiful even when stretched (if mine indeed is)...I was just saying that I have zero overscan problems. I'm on a sony 60" Rear Projection LCD (model # escapes me at the moment).

I have all modes enabled and WS, and its the LE ... Be back in a few minutes to say if its stretched or not

Mike

(what do you guys think about my clan idea....)

 

[Carlo_M]

Apparently (and again I'll clarify tonight when I have my copy in hand) this is ***not*** a widescreen game ***EXCEPT*** in the case of splitscreen cooperative mode. It is in this mode that the HUD (part of them) is off the screen.



Keep in mind, I'm just interpreting that one line:

"In addition to supporting normal television resolutions, Halo 2 will run in 480p resolution when connected to an HDTV. It does not run in 720p or 1080i, but will support 16:9 widescreen modes with a vertical split screen mode for cooperative play."

 

[Jason Goodmanson]

Kyle wrote:

quote:So Jason, you're running your Toshiba in "Full" mode, with the Xbox set to 16:9, and 480p enabled correct?

Correct. Like I said, it looks good - to my eyes at least. Playing the game in 4:3 mode reminded me of watching an anamorphic DVD on a DVD player set to widecreen, but on a 4:3 set. Something about the "world" looked odd.

 

[Kyle Richardson]

Found this on the Bungie forum:

"For those that have the Toshiba 57H82 (or 50H82, or 42H82) Widescreen HD TV:

If you have the HD pack, set your xbox settings to Widescreen, turn on all the scans (480i, 480p, and 1080i), and set your tv Pic Size to FULL SCREEN....
You will have NO PROBLEMS!
Mine looks beautiful. The HUD is not stretched, there is no cutoff, and it displays in 480p, as far as I can tell.

I am sorry to all those people that are having problems though. I feel extremely lucky to have one of the apparently few tvs that does everything correctly.

So for those that have the Toshiba, Don't Worry! It works, and Halo 2 IS the greatest and most fun game ever made."

Interesting that he says the HUD is not stretched?!?!?!

 

[Jack Gilvey]

quote:But Jack, this is a 16:9 game is it not? Or am I confused by

I can't see where it says 16:9 anywhere except for co-op. Many, many people assume 480p = widescreen...it does not. As Carlo states, it's 16:9 in co-op...that's it. I can't verify co-op, but I can say that it doesn't appear 16:9 in single-player, the circles are ovals in that mode. It looks fine stretched, but that's not the point...true widescreen would have a wider field of view than 4:3...this does not. I leave it in "Native" mode on my PJ. Scott's pics show how stretched it looks in 16:9.



Some TV's force a stretch mode when receiving a 480p signal...that could cause some cropping I suppose.

 

[Mike~Sileck]

Well after checking it again I realized that it is stretched. and the 'nade and HUD are awfully close to the edge, but I see everything perfectly. Changing to 4:3 view just seemed weird...widescreen by nature or not, I dont care, Im playing it WS .. there are no image problems at all, it looks beautiful, and I can deal with a oval (esp. since I didnt even notice it at first).

Happy Halo-ing!

Mike

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

quote:Well Jay, in all fairness, if the problem is for WS users in some modes that the HUD is cut off (even partially) that does affect gameplay.

What I'm wondering, though, is if this is even a true 16:9 game? There are so many mixed reports of those who are having problems and those who aren't that it's hard to say. First instinct is that the TV is cropping because its using a zoom mode on an otherwise 4:3 game. Very weird.