GOW VGA bug fix is done, but not available
by Richard Mitchell 
{ Nov 30th 2006 at 5:15PM }
Epic head honcho, Mark Rein, dropped into the Gears of War forums to let players know that a fix for a VGA aspect ration problem has been developed. Normally, this would be great news. Unfortunately, the fix still has to go through certification before it can be rolled into the next update -- which should also include some other new features (ranked friends?). For those who don't know, the VGA bug created a problem for players without widescreen TV sets, resulting in a squished picture. Rein intimates that the reason for this error was actually because Epic only tested Gears on widescreen monitors. He assures us that Epic now owns a regular 4:3 monitor for future testing. We're glad for the correction, but it seems like more than a few developers aren't testing all the media configurations out there. Maybe Microsoft needs more specific testing guidelines.Have any of you been affected by this problem?
[Via Joystiq]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DanielV @ Dec 3rd 2006 9:39PM
Yeah, my monitor gets a squished picture with gears of war- only game that does it- but nothing that a few button presses to stretch the picture can't fix
Dan B Ham @ Nov 30th 2006 5:56PM
Mine has always worked fine on a 4:3 TV. So I hope they don't change it to letterbox and have Black Bars on the top and bottom of the screen.
Paul @ Nov 30th 2006 6:02PM
FANTASTIC! Nice one Epic. thanks for not just ignoring it like every other developer that has had VGA vertical squish/stretch issues. cant wait to get used to everything being the right height tho i've kinda gotten used to it. guess its a good excuse to play through it for a 3rd time. Insane maybe?...
Ryan @ Nov 30th 2006 7:02PM
All I have to say is I'm really fiending for some Gears of War patches/DLC. It's not even been a month yet though :[
James @ Nov 30th 2006 6:49PM
I noticed this on launch day when I brought the game home. I had my 360 hooked up to my 19" LCD at it's native 1280x1024 and it seemed ultra-wide. At first I thought, "did they make this in some even wider spec?" but quickly snapped out when I noticed the even-wider characters. Good to know they'll fix it.
Bumping the console down to 1024 x 768 fixed the problem a little better, and I've already finished the game on all three difficulties. But at least I can look forward to playing at a high resolution "as it was meant to be seen". Shame on you Epic for not testing with 4:3 LCDs :)
Skeeve @ Nov 30th 2006 7:38PM
"Shame on you Epic for not testing with 4:3 LCDs :)" I see no reason at all to put a smiley behind that at all.
The 4:3 bug doesn't affect me most of the time, 'cuase I use a 16:9 32" HDTV at home, but I use a 19" 4:3 TFT at work sometimes to play 360 during my break.
The issure still stands, though...I think it's a shame how 4:3 owners get treated by MS and the developers. I know that the 4:3 bug in Gears is not MS's fault, but they are still to blame for not including 4:3 support/testimg into their certification process.
I think a lot of people use their 360 on their 4:3 computer screens with the VGA cabele 'cause they can't or don't want to afford a HDTV but want to run the games in high res.
The 4:3 ratio bug has been known since PGR 3, a launch title, almost one year old and should not happen today, after other games suffered from it (Tomb Raider, for example), and it should definitely not happen in Gears, a game that's supposed to show of the 360s capabilities (which it still does, no doubt about it) and is supposed to be THE killer app and system seller. That's just weak. Honestly. How can't anybody think about testing the game on VGA screens using the VGA cable?
I still love the game...imo it's one of the very best gaming experiences I've ever had and is by far the most beautiful video game I've EVER seen. But flaws as this strike me as unnecessary. Sorry for my raving.
Franky Digital @ Nov 30th 2006 7:34PM
Huh. Call me stupid, but I never even realized this was a problem. I'm using the VGA adapter at 1280x1024 and I just figured this is how the game scaled to non-widescreen.
Horray for making the game look even better.
VeHeMeNcE @ Dec 4th 2006 2:46PM
I haven't heard too many people mention this but....there's a voice chat glitch where new players that join your game, nobody can hear them but they can here you....it's extremely annoying since communication/teamwork is key for multiplayer....I really hope they patch it as soon as possible.
FiredCylinder @ Dec 1st 2006 1:20AM
I didn't really notice it right away, but I'm playing through the single player a fourth time and it's starting to bug me just a bit. It'll probably bug me even more knowing that the fix is done but not available yet. I hope it doesn't take too long to get it certified and out there.
Kilian @ Dec 1st 2006 9:06AM
Hmmmm... I just finished the game for the first time in my 19" Sony LCD screen using the VGA cable @ 1280x1024. The black bars at the top and bottom of the image were annoying as hell.
Is the patch supposed to make the letterboxing go away? Can we play in fullscreen after applying the patch, when it gets finally released?
If that's the case I think I will wait for the fix and then check the Insane difficulty. If the letterboxing is fixed with a simple patch, shame on Epic for not bundling it with the original game, it's the only annoyance I found in their superb game.
The Natural @ Dec 1st 2006 10:32AM
You guys need hardware upgrades not software lol.
FiredCylinder @ Dec 1st 2006 6:48PM
#8: It'll probably still be letterboxed, sorry.
#9: Why should I upgrade my monitor when it's perfectly capable of displaying 720p?
EdgeOne @ Dec 2nd 2006 7:12AM
Me and a buddy play online on our Dell 4100 DLP projectors (100" screen y'all) at native 1024x768 and it was very noticable, especially during cut scenes- like watching Ben Hur in anamorphic wide screen. Glad they're fixing it. Still not sure how they miss this stuff? Like stories of the new TIVO 3G IR not working due to interference if placed under a Plasma screen... us silly customers wanting to hook our Hi-Def sources up to Hi-Def display devices (what were we thinking?).