Jim's Widescreen Wallpapers - Tri triple three screen backgrounds for eyefinity and nvidia surround

NEWS 26th October 2011

2011-10-26T15:47:00.001+11:00

Don't worry, I haven't dropped off the face of the planet or been teleported into a Tron style world of crappy graphics and bizarrely clothed programs, NO! Just a lot of uni work on my plate at the moment. In the mean time, how about downloading my widescreen template and have a go creating some backgrounds of your own and sharing them with everyone here. You could also F12 some screens in Steam and send them over to me!

Be back soon,

Jim.

Rage

2011-10-19T13:12:00.000+11:00

UPDATE 3: The new patch adds extra video settings so there isnt the need to edit the cfg if it runs without glitches

UPDATE 2: I THINK I'M ADDICTED TO THIS GAME NOW!!!!

I know, I know... it's been a whole half a day and I haven't added any RAGE pics. Well here they are.

Now there are many questions that RAGE may force some of you to secrete, but here's one you may not have heard...

WHY???

This is the biggest question in my mind when playing 'Borderlands 1.5'... ahhh I mean 'Fallout New Engine' oh crap... I mean 'Another buggy console port'. As most of you have already heard, the game is quite, quite buggy. The only one I've experienced so far is that textures take too long to load and as such pop in and out of focus... much like my own focus when trying to justify Bethesda's decision to make RAGE. If you ignore that and run around fast enough, the motion blur hides the texture bug a bit and you are transported to the wonderfully rendered world of Borderlands. It's nearly identical, right down to the way vehicles look... christ, even the fonts are similar.

Either RAGE is stepping on Borderlands toes, or BL2 will fall over RAGE on its way out the door. I'm left asking 'What is the point?' Don't get me wrong... a patch or two and this going to be the gaming equivalent of a T-Rex with frikin Lasers, but we already got the T-Rex of games in the Fallout series and Borderlands had a lot of laser pistols (OK the same one with different coloured stats, but you know what I mean).

Did the Borderfans get sick of all the DLC and want to fork out new cold hard cash for what at first glance looks like the same game? At least it plays in multi-mon (insert pokemon joke here) straight away and the hud is fine (AS IS THE CASE WITH SKYRIM!!!!! YES?????). Also it should run fine on most decent systems as there are little to no video settings available. 2xGTX 480's and it was almost perfect on 5760x1080 and x8 AA.

Just found a graphics tweak guide HERE. Might give that a go... but then again, the zombies in Dead Island are still calling me.

UPDATE 1.5:

1.5 cause I hit the wrong button and have to type all this out again... ahhhhh

Ok so I have tried out some of the config file settings and I must say that they are definitely worth using. To apply them you need to create a file called 'rageconfig.cfg' in rage/base/ and fill it with your loathing and contempt for console ports and the developers who have yet to add these simple settings to the SETTINGS MENU! Sorry, it's just a bit stupid to have to go to this length dont you think. Anywho, try these settings:

vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly2 8192
vt_pageimagesizeuniquediffuseonly 8192
vt_pageimagesizeunique 8192
vt_pageimagesizevmtr 8192
vt_restart
vt_maxaniso 4
image_anisotropy 16
image_usecompression 0
cvaradd g_fov 12
com_skipIntroVideo 1
g_showplayershadow 1
m_smooth 0
com_AllowConsole 1
vt_usecudatranscode 2

The last 17 shots in the series are with these settings.

After trying these out I found my way to the next town and started to do some of the races. NOW I can answer the question as to WHY this game should be. I had to drag myself away to take comparison shots, write this... f*** it up... and write it again.

Here are the comparison shots:

Old settings:

New Settings:

UPDATE 3: 2 new pics in widescreen, that's right, my setup is back to landscape!!!

Portrait 2

2011-10-16T21:26:00.002+11:00

Two things. 1) I'm waiting on a call back from Acer as someone needs to be bitched at for five minutes over their dodgy viewing angle claims. With anything less than BRIGHT, blacks on these screens in portrait mode are terrible. At 3 ft viewing, the distance between my eyes is too great, so much so that each eye is seeing a different shade of black and it bugs your eyes out.

Acer V243HL = Bad for portrait viewing!!!

So in short... Be very particular about your monitor purchase if you are thinking about portrait mode. It does look cool, some games are awesome on it, there's little FOV issues with games, BUT it does have its down sides.

PRO's

Like a big screen TV
FOV not really an issue in game
3rd person and driving games are great
Things look tall in game! (Buildings, Sky etc)

CON's

Some programs wont like your res
Vertical viewing angle of your monitors might not be adequate
Monitors might not be in sync (seriously, vertical bob watching movies in vlc was out)
Some websites (Ha, like mine) need greater than 1080 pixels to be viewed correctly
NO BLU RAY! That's right, I'll get to that

2) BLU RAYS WONT PLAY IN PORTRAIT!!!

That is right people. Corel Windvd 11, ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 5, Cyberlink PowerDVD 11.
None of these will play back Blu Rays properly on a surround setup in portrait mode. They either have strange artifacts, wont play on one of the screens or just simply refuse to start. The only thing I found that worked was to use AnyDVD and open the disc, find the movie file and play using VLC, but now my copy has expired and I cant afford another just yet... also, this is a huge pain in the ass just to play a Blu Ray.

SOOOOO, I think I will rejoin the realm of landscape surround gaming. It was a fun idea and definitely worth it if you have better screens than me, but too much of a hassle. Should be receiving my 3rd GTX 480 sometime this week and looking forward to playing BATMAN AC (fighting crime and heatwaves across Gotham) and Skyrim, both of which I have on pre-order.

I shall leave you with some dodgy shots of my now obsolete portrait setup.

Batman - Arkham Asylum SLI FIX KINDA

2011-10-13T16:55:00.001+11:00

NOPE!!! Before you get your hopes up, these methods only worked once. Reinstalling vanilla bats didn't fix it either. If anyone has a better solution I would love to hear it. I'm still playing around with this as it DID work on both copies ONCE!!!

This is just to let those of you out there who have tried and failed to play Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY (Game of the Year) edition in SLI and failed, that I have found a work around. TWO in fact!

The first is the crappy way (You've been warned)

1) 'Borrow' a friends copy of the non GOTY edition and install.

Use your GOTY GFWL key to activate vanilla batman ed

Let GFWL update,

Get a no-cd key from GameCopyWorld (I would think)

Play

Now for the better option:

2) Right click on your desktop

Go to Nvidia Control Panel

Click 'Manage 3D settings'

Add ShippingPC-BmGame to your list from ...Steam/steamapps/common/batman arkham asylum goty/Binaries

I clicked on EVERYTHING and set to the highest setting

Except for Max pre-rendered frames = 3

Antialiasing - Setting = 16xq CSAA

Run the Launcher

Portrait

2011-10-12T03:13:00.003+11:00

Well well well... Looks like I can't even use my own site now. The reason being is that I've rearranged my monitors to a portrait setup and my resolution is now 3500 x 1080. Once again I've managed to get away with a 130 bezel correction as it's the same width the whole way around.

I made the stands today out of 2x4 and cut vesa 10x10 sized holes out of an old computer case side. I'll post some pics tomorrow to show you all.

I've tested it out with RAGE and DIRT 3 and so far its pretty cool. Even made a 6 screen grid that i can place windows in with a hot key using Winsplit (inc bezel correction). E-mail me if you would like to know how I did this.

The only issue I have is that as all the screens have been rotated 90 deg clockwise and therefore the top of the sets are now the right edge. With me so far? Now the problem is the vertical viewing angle of the screens. Try sliding down in your seat and look at your screen. Looks crappy and blackish doesn't it! Well that's what happens when I lean to the left. Thankfully my bed is to the right and the image looks great from there, but sitting here playing games, there is a distinct colour difference when playing games in a low light situation (bright scenes are ok). For example, when playing RAGE (AWESOME!) the gun is darker on the right screen than it is on the centre one. Soooooo my question:

IS THERE ANY WAY OF CORRECTING VERTICAL VIEWING ANGLE OF LCD SCREENS OR IS THIS A MANUFACTURING THING???

UPDATE 1: How LCD makers lie to you about viewing angles (2007 but relevant)

In the mean time, here is a small selection of portrait backgrounds for people to use.

News 11th October 2011

2011-10-11T02:11:00.001+11:00

Yep, two news posts in two days... shock horror. Just thought I should share my You-Tube promo vids for the site:

News 10th October 2011

2011-10-10T18:19:00.000+11:00

Well it's almost complete so here are a few more shots of my computer. I've been assured that my new card has has been put through its paces over the weekend and should be mailed to me on Tuesday.

News 7th October 2011

2011-10-08T00:01:00.003+11:00

Hello Widescreen Gamers!

A while since I've made a news post, MANY MANY changes having taken place since the last one. I'm continuing to re-arrange the layout of the page to try and make it look and work better for everyone. Hope this has been more of a help than a hindrance (any suggestions are welcome).

SmugMug has been sooooo amazing to work with as an image server. If you are a die hard fan (ooh, I should make a die hard wallpaper) of displaying your pics online, then this is without a doubt the best solution. I'm not being paid by SmugMug to say this either (I paid the $40 for sign up thank you very much!). Their support 'Heroes' are awesome, with responses to all my inane questions answered quickly and pleasantly! No Joke!!!

Next on the agenda... 'People making torrents of my wallpapers'... YES! Shock horror, someone has made and started distributing a torrent pack of images from this site. Who would do such a thing? ME! Yep, just a sample pack for people to download and distribute. Hoping it might drum up a few more visitors. You can download it HERE.

Zombies are a calling... must run!

Jim.

TJdehya

2011-10-07T20:19:00.000+11:00

Cheers to TJdehya @ WSGF for these sweet BF3 custom papers.

UPDATE 1: 3 new sexy wallpapers, Thanks again!!!

Fallout 4 - New Vegas

2011-10-06T14:09:00.000+11:00

A couple of extra shots added in today

Well after working through the Fallout NV forum @ WSGF I have managed to get the game running... kinda. Not exactly about to buy the new DLC till this is fixed though.

PROS:

6020x1080 (which is a bezel of 130/130 for surround)
Terminals working (although fuzzy)
Pipboy visible
Looks Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

CONS:

Mouse Horizontal speed in menus too fast
V.A.T.S Slow / virtually unusable
Pipboy font kinda fuzzy

Here's what you need to do:

Download my ini files HERE

Start the game with the launcher

Make some changes to the settings so it saves ini files

Probably best to setup character and leave the start house and save

(menu's are still glitchy here I think)

Place my files in the correct folders (make backups, make sure fallout.ini is read only)

Start the game using the FalloutNV.exe

Play

Take screenshots

Send them to me!!!!

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

2011-10-04T01:38:00.000+11:00

Battlefield 3

2011-10-02T01:28:00.004+10:00

BETA IMAGES OMG!!!!!! AHHHHHHHGGGGGGG!!!!!!

Driver San Francisco

2011-09-30T23:41:00.000+10:00

Thanks once again to the peeps at WideScreen Gaming Forum for THIS INFO to play kinda properly in WS

Lego - Pirates of the Caribbean

2011-09-30T23:31:00.001+10:00

So Lego - Pirates will work right out of the box, however as you can see, the hud is a bit screwed up. Would love to know how to fix this.

Nvidia

2011-09-30T18:48:00.001+10:00

Just so we're clear, I AM AN NVIDIA FANBOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NEW SHOTS NOW UP including Just Cause 2, WOW, Resident Evil 5, Need for Speed.

For these and the AMD shots, please let me know if you would like different variations as it would be easy to do in photoshop.

Need for Speed

2011-09-30T18:47:00.000+10:00

AMD

2011-09-30T16:29:00.001+10:00

Just so ppl have a direct link to these images, here is a post dedicated to AMD/ATI

Bulletstorm

2011-09-24T19:45:00.001+10:00

A highly under rated, over the top, tongue an' cheek first person shooter. Just started playing through in widescreen with corrected FOV (not in the cut scenes though) thanks to the members of Widescreen Gaming Forums. Click HERE for the info needed to play this game in WS

Zero Punctuation

2011-09-24T03:45:00.001+10:00

In honour of boosting the legitimacy of my web site (by proving my amazing copy & paste skills), here are the Zero Punctuation wallpapers I photoshopped a few months ago.

Now you'll see Zero Punctuation reviews below corresponding game backgrounds. I've checked on the Escapist that it's ok to post the vids here, but even if its not who cares! At least I'm all the way down here in Australia while Zahtzee lives...

...Ah ****

Fallout 1+2+3

2011-09-22T22:30:00.001+10:00

Xotic

2011-09-22T22:02:00.000+10:00

Hard Reset

2011-09-22T21:54:00.000+10:00

Battlefield Bad Company 2

2011-09-22T04:00:00.001+10:00

Dead Island

2011-09-22T01:30:00.003+10:00

So I heard rumours that this wasn't very good, but after playing a few minutes I don't know what people are talking about. It gets an 8/10 from IGN with an editors choice so...

Oh did I forget to mention the 2 1/2hrs of modding I had to do in order to play in widescreen with the best settings for my system... Maybe those not committed to geekdom as much as I were justified in bad mouthing it. One shouldn't have to scour the net to make a game run 'properly' BUT I did, and it does, so there!!!

Here's what u need to do

Get this and follow the instructions:
Dead Island - HUD and Menu FIX

If this doesn't work properly, use this:
Dead Island Helper and use the custom config folder button to select the doc's\dead island\one folder.

Then watch this:

That's right, the tute is by ViciousXUSMC (click HERE for his wallpapers)

For my 2 x GTX 480's I had to tone down some of the mods Vicious gives in the tute, but my housemate put EVERYTHING on full with a GTX 570 @ 1920x1080 and it ran sweet. I'll be getting my 3rd 480 in a week so will be able to play with everything on super-max settings!

NEWS 18th September 2011

2011-09-18T23:30:00.002+10:00

AWESOME BANDWIDTH CHEWING LAYOUT!

NEW SERVER!

NEW TITLE IMAGE (SORTA)?

1078 WALLPAPERS!

61,000 HITS!

$40 POORER!?!

That's right kiddys, the move to SmugMug is now complete. You can stilll access MediaFire if you must, but I will no longer be hosting new material there (and will probably delete everything there soon). As you can see, SmugMug offers slideshows and badges, which I'm sure has crippled a few peoples bandwidth whilst I figured out the right amount for my homepage. This has taken the number of posts from 900+ down to 132 as each topic is a post (instead of every photo). As topics will expand horizontally not vertically, from now on I will repost the topic to let you all know of additions (So if an old topic is on the homepage... scroll through for more pics).

You'll also notice that I've sourced a few more images from people out in the community and a big round of applause must go to them for letting me host their images. I've also created/snapped shots from Arkham City, Dead Island, Space Marines, Juice-Ex (lol) and a few others.

Please remember that this site has cost me real money and effort (not credit/stars) and even though I'll bitch and moan about no one DONATES or no one's offering sponsorship, I appreciate each and every hit to the site. More than that, I really enjoy reading peoples comments (which have all disappeared with the old posts) and the ever sporadic e-mails that come my way.

So, continue to spread the word about this site... at least contemplate the notion of DONATING and have a go at creating some wallpapers of your own (Download my PS template HERE)

Oh, one last thing.

SCREENSHOTS

I really, really, REALLY need people to start sending me screenshots of the games they are playing as I have a limited amount of time and money... so here are two ways I do it...

In Steam I just hit F12 to take screenshots (you can too!!!)
Everything else I do with FRAPS.

Ok, that's all. I hope you enjoy the new layout...

Thanks,

Jim

LeandroJVarini

2011-09-18T21:56:00.000+10:00

A massive thank you to LeandroJVarini @ Deviantart for these custom papers.

If you really want to show your support for people like this, click on the links and let them know you like their work... It's always appreciated!!!

Warhammer 40,000 - Space Marine

2011-09-18T05:42:00.001+10:00

Well the FOV and HUD are all skewed, cut scenes are zoomed in and play on the centre screen only and it feels like yet another console port but there's something about stabbing an Orc with a chainblade and having blood fly in all directions that kinda makes up for it... KINDA!!!!

Who Framed Rodger Rabbit

2011-09-18T00:08:00.000+10:00

Deus Ex - Human Revolution

2011-09-17T23:55:00.001+10:00

Splinter Cell

2011-09-17T22:39:00.003+10:00

Call of Duty 8 - Modern Warfare 3

2011-09-17T22:34:00.001+10:00

Half Life

2011-09-17T22:30:00.002+10:00

Hitman Absolution

2011-09-17T22:26:00.000+10:00

Star Wars

2011-09-17T22:20:00.000+10:00

Assassins Creed 2

2011-09-17T22:16:00.003+10:00

Diablo III

2011-09-17T19:01:00.000+10:00

Vipeax

2011-09-17T03:47:00.000+10:00

We can all thank Vipeax for sending me this wicked Battlefield wallpaper!

Anime

2011-09-17T03:16:00.002+10:00

ViciousXUSMC

2011-09-17T03:12:00.001+10:00

Many thanks to ViciousXUSMC at ViciousXUSMC's Technology Database

Super Mario Bros

2011-09-17T03:11:00.002+10:00

The Mindcircus Biz

2011-09-17T02:58:00.000+10:00

Many thanks to Andrei from The Mindcircus Biz

MinimalistiqZ

2011-09-17T02:50:00.000+10:00

MinimalistiqZ from deviantART has edited this great space shot taken by the European Southern Observatory. Thanks!!!

MapleRose

2011-09-17T02:34:00.002+10:00

MapleRose from deviantART has been kind enough to let me post these sunset photos. Click on the link to check out her other work!

Life in Megapixels

2011-09-17T02:15:00.000+10:00

Many thanks to Will from Life in Megapixels

Weeds

2011-09-17T01:38:00.002+10:00

Ergo

2011-09-17T01:36:00.000+10:00

Big thanks to Ergo who contacted me through Widescreen Gaming Forums for shopping these cool Weeds pics together.

Random Art

2011-09-16T21:49:00.001+10:00

Can someone please tell me what this comic is!?!?!?!

Hellgate London

2011-09-16T21:43:00.000+10:00

Halo

2011-09-16T21:37:00.003+10:00

Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2

2011-09-16T21:35:00.003+10:00

Crysis

2011-09-16T21:33:00.004+10:00

Enzu

2011-09-15T17:22:00.000+10:00

These awesome shots were provided by Enzu from enzudesign. Check out his web design page today!

RenoxRayneFTW

2011-09-15T12:55:00.002+10:00

Digital Lizard Photography

2011-09-15T04:05:00.001+10:00

Much appreciation to Snarkasm from Digital Lizard Photography for his great shots.

Dragon Gaming Central

2011-09-15T03:40:00.001+10:00

Big thanks to Raptor from Dragons Gaming Central for these resized pics and gaming screenshots.

Doug Stanhope

2011-09-15T03:28:00.002+10:00

Cthulhu Ftagn

2011-09-15T03:27:00.001+10:00

CrazyFalco

2011-09-15T03:15:00.001+10:00

Thanks to CrazyFalco for these pics

Mortal Kombat

2011-09-15T03:11:00.001+10:00

League of Legends

2011-09-15T03:08:00.000+10:00

Colour / Pattern

2011-09-15T03:01:00.001+10:00

Battlefield Vietnam

2011-09-15T02:58:00.003+10:00

andrewe1

2011-09-15T02:39:00.000+10:00

Thanks to andrewe1 @ deviantART

Random

2011-09-15T02:32:00.000+10:00

Cause I cant think of where they should go...

Sexy

2011-09-15T01:56:00.000+10:00

Animals

2011-09-15T01:52:00.000+10:00

Cityscape / Landscape / Nature

2011-09-15T01:48:00.003+10:00

World of Warcraft

2011-09-15T01:37:00.001+10:00

True Blood

2011-09-15T01:30:00.000+10:00

Too Human

2011-09-15T01:24:00.002+10:00

Marvel

2011-09-15T01:22:00.002+10:00

DC Comics

2011-09-15T01:19:00.003+10:00

The Witcher 2

2011-09-15T01:15:00.001+10:00

Team Fortress 2

2011-09-15T01:12:00.002+10:00

Stargate Universe

2011-09-15T01:11:00.000+10:00

Shogun Total War 2

2011-09-15T01:09:00.002+10:00

Resident Evil 6 - ORC

2011-09-15T01:06:00.003+10:00

Resident Evil 5

2011-09-15T00:59:00.003+10:00

Rescue Me

2011-09-15T00:55:00.001+10:00

Red Faction Armageddon

2011-09-15T00:52:00.001+10:00

Portal 2

2011-09-15T00:43:00.003+10:00

Portal

2011-09-15T00:40:00.001+10:00

Metroid

2011-09-15T00:39:00.003+10:00

Mass Effect 3

2011-09-15T00:26:00.001+10:00

Mass Effect

2011-09-15T00:20:00.003+10:00

Mad Men

2011-09-15T00:00:00.001+10:00

Limbo

2011-09-14T22:20:00.001+10:00

Lights Out

2011-09-14T22:07:00.002+10:00

Damn you FX!!! Will someone please pick up this show for a second season as it was awesome.
Click on the links below and show your support!!!!

Bring Lights Out Back For Season 2 Facebook Page

LightsOutFX Facebook Page

Left 4 Dead 2

2011-09-14T22:03:00.001+10:00

Just Cause 2

2011-09-14T21:55:00.002+10:00

Hydrophobia

2011-09-14T21:42:00.002+10:00

Futurama

2011-09-14T21:18:00.000+10:00

Fringe

2011-09-14T20:46:00.001+10:00

Family Guy

2011-09-14T20:22:00.001+10:00

Fable 3

2011-09-14T19:42:00.002+10:00

Dungeon Siege III

2011-09-14T18:26:00.000+10:00

First, let me put on my pointiest 'Yahtzee' cap of cynicism. Ok done, now to tell you about the game...

'Dungeon Siege III is shit! The End.' Thank you for reading my wonderfully insightful, and completely accurate review. Ok, to be fair I only played five minutes of it. To be fair, I only WANTED to play five minutes of it. It's action RPG by numbers style must be aimed at those who cant count past 4, because that's about as many buttons as you'll need.

On a tri screen 6020x1080 setup with 2 x GTX 480's at the beck and call, the game dipped to 30fps the minute any semblance of interesting lighting effects perchanced to cross the screen. Not that it looked any better than it would on an Xbox 360 mind you. Aim controls were designed for you to mash at, which is rather annoying as I chose Katarina, who seemed more at home shooting barrels for loot, than actually aiming at those trying to stab her in the face. Views come in two flavors; kinda close, slow and annoying OR far away, slow and annoying... and the few times I did get a glimpse of things off in the distance, it looked like someone spilt a box of duplo on my doona cover.

The only good parts about this game is the fact that it ran in tri screen mode without the need for me to call upon voodoo shaman and it was Xbox controller enabled. Both of which I consider STOCK F**KING STANDARD. Speaking of settings, would you like to change your keyboard controls? Well too bad! You can't!! 'Death to the demoness Allegra Geller'... ah I mean SHITTY CONSOLE PORTS!!!

Dragon Age II

2011-09-14T18:21:00.001+10:00

Dirt 3

2011-09-14T18:17:00.001+10:00

Dexter

2011-09-14T17:57:00.003+10:00

Deadrising 2

2011-09-14T17:53:00.002+10:00