[feature-request] Scale Mode: option to "keep original aspect ratio"

[Technologov]

Scale Mode is a very useful feature for gamers alike. This is because many older games have fixed resolution (such as 640x480), which cannot be modified at all.

Aspect Ratio: There must be some checkbox option to "keep original aspect ratio" (such as 4:3).

Currently Stretching works in any direction killing the experience of old games. (Starcraft I, Diablo I)

-Technologov, 10.12.2010.

[Frank Mehnert]

That feature is currently work in progress. This will be most probably added in the next major release because the code for achieving this is unfortunately quite complex and can cause regressions.

[twipley]

Same for me. ​http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/5875 -- Fullscreen stretch would be nice. Especially 2x stretch, thus maintaining a 4:3 aspect ratio, would be a treat to see. Because 480 times 2 equals "fitting in a 1050 or 1080p." Scaling mode however seems to slow things down a bit (anyone else noticed that in Diablo?).

Although, nice to see that a work in progress.

Absolutely a treat for some of us.

[twipley]

By "slowing things down a bit," I am referring to the general "stuttering" of the game -- nothing to prevent the game to be played, but enough for it to be noticed.

Playing the game under XP (native) remains ideal, though -- stretched by the monitor, for it to take the full space of it, also no "mouse bugs" upon the pressing of the skill buttons, etc.

VirtualBox is nice software, by the way. I would recommend it to friends any day.

[Technologov]

(anyone else noticed that in Diablo?).

Yes, I did, and opened bug #7823.

thus maintaining a 4:3 aspect ratio

It is now possible using the newest VirtualBox 4.1.0.

FIXED.

-Technologov

[twipley]

thus maintaining a 4:3 aspect ratio

It is now possible using the newest VirtualBox 4.1.0.

Maintaining that ratio while choosing exactly 960 lines of vertical resolution, with tiny black bars on top and on bottom?

[Frank Mehnert]

Not completely fixed. So far this works only for Windows hosts and Mac OS X hosts.

[Technologov]

devs: DOSbox has a nice 2x scaler for Linux hosts, so you can take a look at their code.

[twipley]

What I really would like to see is, text extracted from ​http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_7.html, something resembling to NVIDIA driver options under native Windows:

No scaling (VirtualBox default): The image will be displayed at its original resolution and aspect ratio, with no expansion or distortion through rescaling. This results in the most accurate and crispest image, but if the image's resolution is not identical to your screen's, then it will sit in the center of your screen with black bars/borders around it.

Aspect Ratio (feature request): The image is rescaled to fill as much of the screen as possible, while also maintaining its aspect ratio. This ensures that the image will not appear distorted (squashed), but can result in black bars appearing around the image if its aspect ratio is different to that of your screen. It may also result in a reduction in image quality and crispness due to rescaling.

That second option is what I really would like to see implemented in future versions of VirtualBox. It is pretty much the same than doubling the resolution using the type of scaler mentioned in the above post, though.

Just offering the option to double the resolution, while remaining in fullscreen mode, that is, with black bars on all four sides, would be very nice a feature to see someday implemented. Same thing than scale mode, just with black bars instead of host background on the sides -- kind of an intermediate between "no scaling, crisp but tiny" fullscreen mode and the current scaling mode.

[twipley]

I think I have found a workaround:

under Ubuntu, go to resolution (monitor) options, then choose half of your resolution on each axis. For example, instead of 1680*1050, choose 840*525, which in fact is still "native," because it uses four pixels instead of just one as it did before.

[crushdwa]

I noticed with both version 4.1.4 that the aspect ratio calculations seem to take the entire guest window size into account. The aspect ratio should be calculated using only the display area of the window and not include the windows borders. This is visible when trying to scale to a 1:1 scale and comparing to another VM with no scaling but the same resolution.

[Steve Lemke]

Any updates on this issue? If I'm running a 16:9 or 16:10 guest, the "scaled" window is very squished since the host window defaults to (and attempts to maintain) a 4:3 aspect ratio. I did just discover that I can resize to what appears to be a proper aspect ratio by resizing the window while holding the shift key down, so at least there's a workaround for now.

Still, I think VirtualBox needs a VM option to force the initial window to open with the same aspect ratio as the guest even when used in scaled mode (which is very convenient on a MacBook Retina with a small but high resolution display).

[twipley]

I believe this is one of the most important issues affecting the current versions of VirtualBox.

"Integer" scaling is the only sound solution for preserving the authentic (originally-intended) experience of such games. Here is a ticket suggesting "automatic" scaling: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/10852