Baldur's Gate games are not supposed to look like Age of Empires!
Oh, and for future reference, if you don't want to sound negative... try avoiding profanity and hyperbole. All it really does is make people like me more determined to point out how utterly ass-backwards wrong you are.
To discuss whether or not BGT or BGEE look better... you CAN'T simply compare BGEE to BGT. You have to compare the ORIGINAL game to both, and determine whether or not BGEE or BGT better represents the original game at high resolution.
Baldur's Gate games are not supposed to look like Age of Empires!
Oh, and for future reference, if you don't want to sound negative... try avoiding profanity and hyperbole. All it really does is make people like me more determined to point out how utterly ass-backwards wrong you are.
I don't think your comparison worked as you intended. The BGII Wide-screen screenshot is superior in most ways (to me!), and the BG-EE one is the worst (zoomed in, blurry mess with large, blurry buttons). The only downside to the BGII Wide-screen one is the poorly scaled button placement, which BG-EE developers could implement and fix if they wanted. I think the best of the bunch is playing BG-EE with the wide-screen 'hack' implemented in the baldur.ini file; that way, you have a customizable level of zoom for the playing area, and the UI and icons look MUCH crisper. Can't wait until the officially implement it.
That being said, the fact everyone is disagreeing with what looks best means this is a case of 'different strokes for different folks.'
BGEE UI is really low res and hopefully will be fixed. However, the game graphics themselves are much better on BGEE than vanilla/widescreenmod anything because BGEE is actually using proper image scaling algorithm. With 1.5x zoom the characters don't look like ants and the game remains still very sharp.
That being said, the fact everyone is disagreeing with what looks best means this is a case of 'different strokes for different folks.'
And in this case those "different strokes" are people who A) understand what BG is supposed to look like, and people who only care about fidelity.
You're not supposed to see the fog-of-war when the camera is centered over a party member. At all. The widescreen mod zooms the camera out to two massive detriments: first, you CAN see the full fog of war (which can be construed as unfair advanatage--or cheating--and more importantly it renders around 75% of the game screen pointless. You either see black unknown map, or fogged map with no NPCs or enemies... making it pointless.
Baldur's Gate was meant to be played with a certain "window." Widescreen mods completely break that. Complaining that the UI is scaled up and looks slightly blurry is quite possibly the least valid point anyone could possibly make.
Even the SS that @Arsene_Lupin posted of BG1 looks better to me than his SS of EE. This proves my original point here that the graphics aren't so bad in BG2 (or the older BG1 for that matter) that you can't even play it again after playing the superior graphics of EE.
Thanks again @Arsene_Lupin for that screenshot, you are better at getting my point across than I was lol.
That being said, the fact everyone is disagreeing with what looks best means this is a case of 'different strokes for different folks.'
And in this case those "different strokes" are people who A) understand what BG is supposed to look like, and people who only care about fidelity.
You're not supposed to see the fog-of-war when the camera is centered over a party member. At all. The widescreen mod zooms the camera out to two massive detriments: first, you CAN see the full fog of war (which can be construed as unfair advanatage--or cheating--and more importantly it renders around 75% of the game screen pointless. You either see black unknown map, or fogged map with no NPCs or enemies... making it pointless.
Baldur's Gate was meant to be played with a certain "window." Widescreen mods completely break that. Complaining that the UI is scaled up and looks slightly blurry is quite possibly the least valid point anyone could possibly make.
Hey now, I've played BG since the 5-disc set came out, so I'm well aware of what it should look like. It's just that I prefer the more zoomed out feel of the widescreen mod. I will concur that BGEE with the widescreen beta enabled is the best of the bunch--not as zoomed out as the widescreen mod and the UI scales better; plus, everyone can customize the level of zoom that way.
@MikePXP : sorry, but Widescreen mod looks horrible. The textures repeat themselves like 200 times and many times it looks like bad crop out of MSPaint. You'd also need half a meter worth of space to get the mouse cursor from the inventory button to the portraits button, the lower UI buttons are insanely off center and reading text in the dialogue window is like reading a notepad file of 200 words without any second paragraphs on a triple monitor with resolution 5760x1080.
How Widescreen mod looks in comparison to BGEE and in fact even to BG1 isn't gorgeous - it's a crime.
You're not supposed to see the fog-of-war when the camera is centered over a party member. At all. The widescreen mod zooms the camera out to two massive detriments: first, you CAN see the full fog of war (which can be construed as unfair advanatage--or cheating--and more importantly it renders around 75% of the game screen pointless. You either see black unknown map, or fogged map with no NPCs or enemies... making it pointless.
Baldur's Gate was meant to be played with a certain "window." Widescreen mods completely break that. Complaining that the UI is scaled up and looks slightly blurry is quite possibly the least valid point anyone could possibly make.
Well done, I thought I was the only one who felt this way. While high resolutions are a nice feature, it's ultimately unnecessary. I can't understand what all the hype was about.
Because everything looks clearer with the widescreen mod. Let me put this in a very simple way. What happens when you upscale a bitmap? Take any small bitmap, put it in an editor and make it twice as big. What happens? It looks pixelated.
This is what happened with BG:EE. There are not enough pixels to look clear while zoomed in.
The UI needs to be done with vectors, and the game screen needs to be zoomed out to a point where it looks clear on your native resolution.
@valky I should say it clearer, i want to obtain as much info as i can from the text box without blocking too much of the action (map). I just think they should make it showing at least two lines for minimizing the box (the golden bar is just too thick in my taste). or make miss/damage using floating text...or put it into another small box...
Personally I don't get this whole battle to decide which has the better 2001 era graphics. The game looks nice now, I like the zoom feature, and I don't get why such a big deal is being made over gameplay graphics. The UI is one thing just because it is new, but going into this we all knew there was only so much the development team could do.
Personally I don't get this whole battle to decide which has the better 2001 era graphics. The game looks nice now, I like the zoom feature, and I don't get why such a big deal is being made over gameplay graphics. The UI is one thing just because it is new, but going into this we all knew there was only so much the development team could do.
I agree, but for different reasons.
Overhaul cannot improve the graphics to a modern standard without redrawing every single model. Thankfully, those of use who want to can fix this by zooming out.
Overhaul can make a large UI and then downscale it. It would be a relatively easy fix. I would not be surprised if the person who originally drew the UI has higher quality versions laying about anyway, as most artists draw in very high quality.
Even the SS that @Arsene_Lupin posted of BG1 looks better to me than his SS of EE. This proves my original point here that the graphics aren't so bad in BG2 (or the older BG1 for that matter) that you can't even play it again after playing the superior graphics of EE.
Thanks again @Arsene_Lupin for that screenshot, you are better at getting my point across than I was lol.
Are you really trying to argue that unmodded BG looks better then BG:EE?
@MikePXP : sorry, but Widescreen mod looks horrible. The textures repeat themselves like 200 times and many times it looks like bad crop out of MSPaint.
To be honest I can see the textures repeating themselves 200 times in BGEE too.
Guys... you are actually comparing a BGI redo with a BGII mod? And a mod intended for people with powerful Pc's (for the time)? And you are not giving the developers credit with bringing BGI to par with the more advanced BGII, and that is with BGII running at - maximum fo it's time - resolution and modded? It seems to me you are actually complaining they didn't redo all the graphics from scratch to take advantage of modern G-cards. Well, it is an enhanced edition, not a complete makeover.
Btw, 1920x1080 wasn't even a supported resolution for BGII. Given that, the BGEE user interface in the picture posted here does seem blurry, but only because the image is cropped to the point that equals looking at the monitor from 2cm away. If you take a look from an normal distance while playing, it's fine, and large enough. The BGII interface does seem sharper, but in reality it was so small tha the game was almost not playable. Trust me. I know.. I still have my old BGII installation and i just run it at 1600x1200, just to make sure.
It was very playable. The last three times I went though BGT was with widescreen mod and on a 1680*1050 tft. Sure, everything is a bit small, but it beats looking at pixels the size of a fist any day.
Because everything looks clearer with the widescreen mod. Let me put this in a very simple way. What happens when you upscale a bitmap? Take any small bitmap, put it in an editor and make it twice as big. What happens? It looks pixelated.
so your solution to the issue of BG being native to an era when 640*480 was a normal resolution is downscaling by factor 4x and then pretend it looks better? It's basically the same, it's sharper, but tiny. The very same thing we had in Age of Empires 15 years ago.
There is a difference. BG:EE does indeed have a more polished look to it (I don't have a widescreen, so no wide-screen mod), and it's definitely much smoother. Not saying BG2 is bad though, it's just less smooth. At higher range zooms, BG:EE is just awesome, as you get closer to the same approximate zoom, they start looking similar, but EE does have a touch better smoothness. It's only when you're maxed zoomed in right on top of the characters that that 2 is definitely better.
Ok I get what you mean about the widescreen mod now. I found putting it in my normal desktop resolution it looked better and is pretty smooth. And with a mod to increase font size it helped too.
But it's too zoomed out. The good thing about BGEE is it is in closer but not blurry textures.
Exporting a blackguard to BG2 won't work because paladins and rangers automatically fell based on reputation regardless of kit. Other exports should work fine.
Comments
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/7008/bgtk.png
This is how the game is suppposed to look (unaltered vanilla BG1):
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/4702/bg1y.png
And this is BGEE playing the game the way it's supposed to look:
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/9045/bgee.png
Baldur's Gate games are not supposed to look like Age of Empires!
Oh, and for future reference, if you don't want to sound negative... try avoiding profanity and hyperbole. All it really does is make people like me more determined to point out how utterly ass-backwards wrong you are.
EDIT: and the three-in-one version:
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/9684/bgcomparison.png
To discuss whether or not BGT or BGEE look better... you CAN'T simply compare BGEE to BGT. You have to compare the ORIGINAL game to both, and determine whether or not BGEE or BGT better represents the original game at high resolution.
That being said, the fact everyone is disagreeing with what looks best means this is a case of 'different strokes for different folks.'
Still seeing a blurry interface and you just proved my point. Even vanilla BG1 interface isn't blurry.
Thanks for the screen shots.
You're not supposed to see the fog-of-war when the camera is centered over a party member. At all. The widescreen mod zooms the camera out to two massive detriments: first, you CAN see the full fog of war (which can be construed as unfair advanatage--or cheating--and more importantly it renders around 75% of the game screen pointless. You either see black unknown map, or fogged map with no NPCs or enemies... making it pointless.
Baldur's Gate was meant to be played with a certain "window." Widescreen mods completely break that. Complaining that the UI is scaled up and looks slightly blurry is quite possibly the least valid point anyone could possibly make.
Even the SS that @Arsene_Lupin posted of BG1 looks better to me than his SS of EE. This proves my original point here that the graphics aren't so bad in BG2 (or the older BG1 for that matter) that you can't even play it again after playing the superior graphics of EE.
Thanks again @Arsene_Lupin for that screenshot, you are better at getting my point across than I was lol.
How Widescreen mod looks in comparison to BGEE and in fact even to BG1 isn't gorgeous - it's a crime.
Well done, I thought I was the only one who felt this way.
While high resolutions are a nice feature, it's ultimately unnecessary.
I can't understand what all the hype was about.
This is what happened with BG:EE. There are not enough pixels to look clear while zoomed in.
The UI needs to be done with vectors, and the game screen needs to be zoomed out to a point where it looks clear on your native resolution.
I should say it clearer, i want to obtain as much info as i can from the text box without blocking too much of the action (map). I just think they should make it showing at least two lines for minimizing the box (the golden bar is just too thick in my taste).
or make miss/damage using floating text...or put it into another small box...
nevermind, just a drunken person talking
Overhaul cannot improve the graphics to a modern standard without redrawing every single model. Thankfully, those of use who want to can fix this by zooming out.
Overhaul can make a large UI and then downscale it. It would be a relatively easy fix. I would not be surprised if the person who originally drew the UI has higher quality versions laying about anyway, as most artists draw in very high quality.
Btw, 1920x1080 wasn't even a supported resolution for BGII. Given that, the BGEE user interface in the picture posted here does seem blurry, but only because the image is cropped to the point that equals looking at the monitor from 2cm away. If you take a look from an normal distance while playing, it's fine, and large enough. The BGII interface does seem sharper, but in reality it was so small tha the game was almost not playable. Trust me. I know.. I still have my old BGII installation and i just run it at 1600x1200, just to make sure.
I remember trying to go back to BG1 a while ago and was shocked how blurry the textures are, BGEE has smoothed this out alot.
The problem with the widescreen mods is the text and other stuff is too small, it'd be good if there was a way to fix that.
And blurry buttons, I don't see what you're talking about. I play in 1920*1080 and the UI looks fine to me. so your solution to the issue of BG being native to an era when 640*480 was a normal resolution is downscaling by factor 4x and then pretend it looks better? It's basically the same, it's sharper, but tiny. The very same thing we had in Age of Empires 15 years ago.
But it's too zoomed out. The good thing about BGEE is it is in closer but not blurry textures.