I’m confused, do you understand aspect ratios?
A square will still be a square no matter how much you stretch it, it will never be a rectangle. Therefore a 150" 16:9 monitor will have less viewable in-game area than a 34" 21:9 monitor.
But if you mean sheer size, then obviously a larger screen has bigger picture.
And black bars are not limitations to you? That’s exactly the limiting factor. Perhaps I don’t understand what do you mean. Could you elaborate a bit more on this?
I do, and I also understand scaling. And I develop graphics systems that work on everything from phones to tablets to all shapes and sizes of monitors and deal with fitting views of one aspect ratio to an output area of a different aspect ratio. There are multiple techniques that can be used depending on what the designer or the user wants - contain, fill, cover, are 3 of the most relevant algorigthms for this particular use case. D2 has used a cover algorithm by default when it could also choose a contain or a fill algorithm if the user was able to request it. Cover makes good sense as a default because it fills the user’s screen without distorting the game graphics.
Take a look at https://api.flutter.dev/flutter/painting/BoxFit-class.html for examples of many ways to fit content to output areas. (That isn’t necessarily an exhaustive list, but it shows many of the potential algorithms offered in doing layout box fitting.)
Only if you require the in-game view to fill the monitor without distortion or black bars. I’m suggesting that they might use that technique by default, but give players the option to see the full in-game area on their monitor if it doesn’t match.
With a 21:9 monitor that has 3440x1440 pixels (the most common hi-res 21:9 monitor resolution) the game will scale the 21:9 in-game view to an output rectangle of 3440x1440 pixels and that will fit a 21:9 monitor perfectly.
If they sent the same 3440x1440 rectangle of pixels to a 4k 3840x2160 monitor, then it would only fill 60% of the screen by area, but it would all be there. You could see every pixel that someone with a typical 21:9 monitor could see. It would have black bars on all sides, though.
Alternatively, they could render the same 21:9 in-game area to a larger 3840x1645 pixel output rectangle and it would have more detail (showing only the same in-game area) than the 3440x1440 rendering mentioned above and it would fill over 75% of the 4k monitor. Now you have a 21:9 image on your 4k monitor that has more pixels than the same 21:9 image on the 21:9 native monitor.
The 4k monitors all have higher pixel resolutions than 21:9 monitors even if you only consider the middle 21:9 portion of them.
Yes, it could have that as well.
The point, though, is that you can show any in-game view on any output monitor by scaling it and choosing from one of a few box fit techniques.
There might be a very popular preference for a particular technique (Cover), and that makes a good default, but why lock out the other choices?
Whether black bars are limitations to you or I has no bearing on the fact that they may not be a limitation to someone else - especially if that person doesn’t want to get sniped in PvP.
The point is: Choice
The point I am making here is no matter what aspect ratio monitor you use, you should always have the maximum in-game view not being limited by any black bar or stretching.
What you are saying, to put it simply = if a game is not optimized for different aspect ratios, then of course the image will be either stretched or with black bars. A prime example of this is D2, where even if you have a 16:9 monitor, you will get a stretched 4:3 image of the game on full-screen mode. So as you are saying, it will indeed fill the whole screen, but become distorted. The same goes backward if you cram 21:9 onto a 16:9 monitor, it will look like crap, but it will all be there with either black bars or stretched / distorted.
So my point still stands firmly rooted as it is a fact. If the game supports it, you will always have a bigger viewing angle in-game if you have bigger aspect ratios ie = 4:3 < 16:9 < 21:9 < higher ARs.
There are 5K+ Ultrawides which have the same pixel density as regular 4K monitors. And they are, well, wider physically. So there are some arguments to be made. But I’m not here to debate tech.
5K2K UW - https://www.msi.com/Content-Creation-Monitor/Prestige-PS341WU
There is nothing else I want to say about this, I just wanted to let the first guy know, that he is a hypocrite for saying that:
Same like saying: The problem isn’t the car, but it’s the fast traveling speed it provides.
The whole point of a wider monitor is to get a wider image.
Maybe focus on the problem, instead of the tools we use. In this case, the problem is game mechanics not functioning properly in higher resolutions + ARs. Not our monitors, keyboards, or frequencies of our CPUs, just to name a few.
I fully support that that should be an option and I think it would make a great default. I just don’t see why “fill your screen without black bars or distortion” should be the only option.
That is not what I’m saying at all. The game doesn’t have to be “optimized” for different aspect ratios and nothing I have said requires that. They should optimize it for a target “in-game” aspect ratio if that gives them predictable performance on computing aggros and attacks. Once they have that target aspect ratio, it is a simple matter of adjusting a few numbers at the start of a frame to tell the GPU how to display all of those graphics on the target screen.
All game graphics undergo a transform and a clip for all screens. Providing just a tiny bit of flexibility on choosing them for a given monitor takes almost no design or code.
It is easy to adapt how you show the in-game view on the monitor with just a few numbers, so no “optimization” is needed.
Arbitrary stretching can look like crap. But…
While black bars are often misunderstood, people have been living with them for quite some time when watching movies on their TVs. They don’t take advantage of every pixel on the panel, but they do a good job of allowing people to see the full film frame on a TV that didn’t match the film’s cinematic aspect ratio.
Your fact has quite a bit of qualification to it. It is only a fact if you require the game to fill the screen with no black bars and no scaling distortion.
That doesn’t disprove the viability of an option for the player to choose black bars to see the full in-game angle.
That’s cool. I did a number of searches and found a ton of 1080 and 1440 line 21:9 monitors and one 1600 line one, but I didn’t turn that one up. Of course, that monitor’s resolution is still a subset of the resolution of the typical 5K 16:9 monitor. 16:9 monitors will have more flexibility on resolution and size for a bit more time.
And my main point isn’t necessarily about debating the tech or finding the optimal monitor to play D2 at the expense of everyone else either. But as I try to point out that it’s all just a simple matter of allowing choices of scaling, the arguments are dismissed by people who think that 21:9 is fundamentally better and so any argument that suggests that they shouldn’t have an advantage is flawed.
So, this is actually more about “there is very little reason not to provide the player the choice of how the game field is presented” whether or not some hardware is considered “better” by some players.
And I throw in these observations that challenge the concept that 21:9 is inherently better than 16:9 because it’s not really supported by the underlying pixels anyway.
I don’t necessarily agree with the OP assessment either.
I’m more from the position that they are just ratios. One is not inherently better than the other, but they might provide better options for some use cases. Some games may be starved on width (FPS for instance?), but I think the Diablo family tends to be more starved on height. Why aren’t these monitors viewed as monitors of “different heights” where the 16:9 is considered an advantage?
The answer is probably a mix of the number 21 being larger in value than 16 even though they are ratio factors, not absolute measurements - and the fact that they are marketed as “widescreen” when someone’s first impression upon seeing the smaller versions might just as well be “shortscreen” - and FPS really wanting wider screens for better approximation of peripheral vision.
The problem I see is that there is no option in D2 and limited options in D3 to say “I accept black bars and want to see the full game view”. This requires an hour or two of an engineer’s time and simply modifying the scaling and clipping parameters sent to the GPU at the start of each frame render.
Given that simple solution, why are we debating whether some monitors are inherently better than others or that your choice of hardware should give you, or lock you out of, an advantage?
Newer games were designed around this issue though.
Diablo 2 was a game designed for an old-school perfect square box interface.
The widescreen does a lot to break how the game was intended to function.
I’m so excited to play this game in 21:9. Man that will be fun!!
Agreed. I do think they will tinker with max casting range though, and possibly aggro/vision, which is perfectly reasonable.
So, we already have release date and still no comment from devs on this gamebreaking issue… really disappointing
Even though I have a 21:9 display and had been looking forward to playing D2R on it, this topic is kind of disturbing. I would like to think that Blizz would limit the Zoom so it could only zoom out so far, and/or add a dark Fog of War effect, consistent with your Light Radius, especially at night and in dungeons.
This makes Light Radius completely pointless if you can simply zoom out to satellite range and see all the torches and fires. Part of the immersive quality of the game gets thrown out the window right along with Light Radius. What’s the fun of going through a dark dungeon when you can zoom out beyond the ceiling and see everything around you? Even though the point of view in the original game was beyond the ceiling, your field of view was limited by your Light Radius.
Sure because it is NOT gamebreaking. you know what gamebreaking means? Some kind of Bug or other thing that is REALLY geamebreaking because you CANT do anything against it. But here, you CAN do something against that.
Play in 16:9 then or buy a new monitor or play diablo 2 original, problem solved. Im really hyped to play D2 RE on my 21:9 Monitor. 
It is gamebreaking.
It basically means that anyone who wants to be competitive has to buy a 32:9 screen.
I prefer big 4k tv for these games. It is more immersive for me and I can watch from more distance, which is better for my eyes. I have more pixels there than 32:9 screens do, so why should I see less than someone with 32:9 ? With your logic, I should be able to see twice as much in vertical direction than you. You still think that would be ok ?
I woudn’t care about PvM much, although its still a unfair advantage, but for PvP this is completely retarded. PvP is the endgame for D2 for a lot of players, me included and with non-equal field of view for everyone it will be ruined.
And for PvM, it will be broken too, you think its okay to be able to attack enemies without them attacking back ? And there is no solution to that, if they increase aggro range, monsters will attack players with normal monitors from offscreen. Still unfair.
This game was never made and never will work correctly for ultra wide resolutions.
Who doesn’t see this is just blind, sorry.
Of course for single player, it is not much problem if they tweak the aggro range (but will still be unbalanced compared to the original game, they would also have to tweak with monster skill ranges etc.) But for multiplayer, it is completely broken.
Edit: Me and some other people have already explained this problem in detail in previous posts, but it looks like we are talking to a wall
Seriously a joker my guy, you know 16:9 was actually bannable on d2 right??? Everyone was forced into 4:3, and you had to “hack” to get 16:9. Literally bannable… but nah you know best lmfao
This is what David Brevik said on Twitter.
The Mechanics cant technically be exactly the same as they ware.There need to be small modifications on the AI radius and skill ranges because the game whas build for 4x3 screens and not 16:9,and you guys talck here about 21.9?
Ceck video below at min1.36 and a good explanation from Asmogold
Min 1.36
Bumping this thread again, just a reminder on how important this issue is.
It is basically legal cheating in the current state, if left untouched, the PvP and general competition in the game will become a joke. It will be nothing like the original game.
At least allow us to set different fields of view (including the 32:9) on any screen if You insist on allowing it for ultra-wide screens. Which is still horrible decision, but at least ‘fair’. Maybe when You find out then that everyone is using the 32:9 FoV with giant black bars on their 16:9 screens just to stay competitive, You will realize that something is wrong about it…
This subject is dead. Let people enjoy their monitor.
You can force different aspect ratios on any screen. Google it.
And let people provide suggestions without mis-characterizing them as somehow seeking to take away from someone else’s enjoyment.
Yes, do let everyone enjoy their monitors, but the game restricts maximum enjoyment to specific monitors in its current state.
This thread is not about taking away from anyone, it’s about making the fun available to everyone.
And, yes, one can achieve a lot by forcing changes to your video environment, but these tweaks which amount to just changing a few numbers in the game, should be easily chosen in the game’s options rather than seeking workarounds on the internet.
Nothing is dead. This is by far the most annoying issue in the game.
This has the potential to ruin an otherwise amazing game. It cannot go ignored.
The solution to this would be that the wider the resolution you use, the more pinched the view should be.
That way you’re always looking at the same amount of Area. A 4:3 aspect ratio area might be more squarish, while a ultra wide screen would be more rectangle.
Know what, limit the screen ratio IN PVP to 16:9.
Let me enjoy my 21:9 in PvM and please fix monster aggro matching the used resolution.
I have no problem to switch to 16:9 for PvP ONLY