Creating a World - High Resolution Screenshots

[Gigantus]

This is a condensed form of my thread that is slowly sinking into the forgotten depths of the Third Age Forum: High Resolution Screen Shots

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Not sure if it has been mentioned somewhere before:

- interested in high resolution pictures?
- tired of screenshots with native resolution?

add this line into the [video] section of the CFG file:

tga_width = 1650

This will create a picture (TGA format) with the measurements of 1650*1237 when using the PrtScr button, to be found in the tga folder of the game. Beware! It will weigh in at 6MB! You can obviously change the value, just keep the size in mind.

Another note: if the value is greater then your native resolution, your screen picture will 'jump' a couple of times. Don't worry, the game is paused while this happens.

Underneath a cut out (no enlargement!) of the initial view when choosing Gondor in Third Age Total War. Like the detail?

The advantage of this entry is, that you can choose a resolution that is bigger then your screen. I did the same screenshot at a width of 3000 (2250 height - 20MB)

The cut out is actually bigger then a regular screen (1125*1071) - it is in a spoiler due to the size. Notice the detail of the forest in the background?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Problem: Sometimes there are problems to actually get the tga files. You press the PrtScr button but there is no picture in the tga folder.
I found this only happens when you:

(1) rename the files in the tga folder and leave them there
(2) when you break the sequence of the files (when you have for example 5 pics in there and you delete one of the files)

Don't know if this happens to anyone but for me it helped to move all of the take tgas to a new folder when no screen shots are taken. or you should just leave all of them in there - unchanged.

Answer: You are correct with the assumption about renaming and order of the screen shots. The names have to be in sequence. I usually move them somewhere for editing and delete the contents of the folder

Lines through screenshots
Work out your screen's native ratio, eg 1680:1050=1.6 and then add this line to the [video] section n your CFG file:

tga_aspect = 1.6

This will give you a full size battle screenshot without the line.

[Swagger]

do you have any idea why all my high res screenshots have a line at the bottom?

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...72#post8987872


my native resolution is 1920x1080, and my cfg entry is tga_width = 1600, so well within the limits...

[Gigantus]

It's because your screen size is bigger then your screen shot (at least that's what I think). Increase the width to your screen size.

[Swagger]

i thought it could be any value within the our native resolution, as i find 1920 would be too big for the average pc.. i put 1600


anyway, thanks, i'll see if it works

[Gigantus]

1900 is a fairly big screen, what you could do is to reduce the size of the screen via M2's options, or put it straight into your cfg file (setting for my 22' screen):

[video]
tga_width = 1680
campaign_resolution = 1680 1050
battle_resolution = 1680 1050

[Swagger]

no i like 1920 , what i meant is that 1920x1080 screenshots could be too big to be vizualised by an average pc (since the screenshots goes out of the screen border)


anyway, to fix that line it either has to be my monitor resolution, or it has to be vanilla.. oh well

[Gigantus]

It should be vanilla, equal or BIGGER then your native resolution.

[Ishan]

You will have problems imo as your screen is a wide screen(16:9 aspect ratio) and this method only produces standard 4:3 aspect ratio pics. Toggle off the wide screen option in game options and the line should go away. Worth a shot i guess.

Anyways this method is useful for those who want bigger pics and own a small monitor. You already have a big screen so use fraps to get 1920*1080 pics.

[Gigantus]

I added this to the OP:

Lines through screenshots
This will usually only happen with screen shots from the battles, not from the campaign. To correct these lines, you will need to adjust the entry for tga_width as it is linked to your native desktop resolution.
Open one of those screen shots in a graphic editor and determine the position of the horizontal line. Multiply that number by 1.33 and set the tga_width to that new figure. In the example picture the horizontal line is at approximately 1050 = 1396. Rounding it down to 1390 and entering it as the tga_width will fix the issue and still give a picture of 1390*1045

[AnthoniusII]

My pc's 20'' screen has highest resolution 1600*900
I added
tga_width = 1600
Now tgas come in 1600*1200 and there is a line that apears in the pictures.
Example:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

With the GTS 250 every sceenshot had the right size but after the modernisation tgas had 1024*768 size.
Painting after my W7 install "refuses" to paste the screenshots and shows a black monitor....

[irishron]

My pc's 20'' screen has highest resolution 1600*900
I added
tga_width = 1600
Now tgas come in 1600*1200 and there is a line that apears in the pictures.
Example:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

With the GTS 250 every sceenshot had the right size but after the modernisation tgas had 1024*768 size.
Painting after my W7 install "refuses" to paste the screenshots and shows a black monitor....

Use Howie's Quick Screen Capture. It does what you wnat it to do, and it's free.

[Gigantus]

I responded to your wall message. To fix this line, have a look at the bottom of the first post where I explained how to get rid of it.

[Ishan]

My pc's 20'' screen has highest resolution 1600*900
I added
tga_width = 1600
Now tgas come in 1600*1200 and there is a line that apears in the pictures.

Yeah that is because this algorithm in the .exe was written for 4:3 aspect ratio size not for widescreen monitors which use 16:9 aspect ratio.

Use Howie's Quick Screen Capture. It does what you wnat it to do, and it's free.

This method is more cool coz it captures more pixels leading to greater file size and more quality. Fraps can knock it though as it captures 24 bit PNG images.

I responded to your wall message. To fix this line, have a look at the bottom of the first post where I explained how to get rid of it.

Yeah i have 1600 in my config file and i get no such problems bet it is for Nvidia Users only. ATI FTW!
Could be also coz i use Crossfire mode so maybe this issue won't be there for SLI users.

[Ruprecht]

The Forest looks so luscious i want to eat it like a fine spinach!


I'm going to try this to see if i can increase the UI resolution.

[Gigantus]

An update on the 'line through screenshot' issue: if you still want to use oversized screenshots, work out your screen's native ratio, eg 1680:1050=1.6 and then add this line to the [video] section:

tga_aspect = 1.6

This will give you a full size battle screenshot without the line.