Future Gears of War update to fix 1280×1024 VGA issues

The last time Patchy the Pirate talked to residents of Sera, things were all agog with then-patched Gears of War playing on 1280×1024 monitors. It was, essentially, a choice between picture quality and aspect ratio. Epic Games engineers are on the task, though, and Mark Rein dropped by the GoW forums to say that the next update for Gears, when it Emerges, shall fix the 1280×1024 problem by offering true 720p in 1280×720 – letterboxed within the screen.

It was the preferred choice of users: better to have the high quality in the proper aspect ratio than going full-screen. In going full-screen, Mark explains, “we had to render at 900×720 (the next usable 5:4 resolution below our maximum of 1280×720) and then let the Xbox 360 scale to fit.”

Since there’s no date for the patch’s release, the Epic engineers suggest a temporary fix which involves setting the Xbox 360 to 1024×768. “The aspect ratio is pretty close but the actual resolution is about 45% higher.” It ain’t perfect, but it works, and should hold until the patch is ready.

The last time Patchy the Pirate talked to residents of Sera, things were all agog with then-patched Gears of War playing on 1280×1024 monitors. It was, essentially, a choice between picture quality and aspect ratio. Epic Games engineers are on the task, though, and Mark Rein dropped by the GoW forums to say that the next update for Gears, when it Emerges, shall fix the 1280×1024 problem by offering true 720p in 1280×720 – letterboxed within the screen.

It was the preferred choice of users: better to have the high quality in the proper aspect ratio than going full-screen. In going full-screen, Mark explains, “we had to render at 900×720 (the next usable 5:4 resolution below our maximum of 1280×720) and then let the Xbox 360 scale to fit.”

Since there’s no date for the patch’s release, the Epic engineers suggest a temporary fix which involves setting the Xbox 360 to 1024×768. “The aspect ratio is pretty close but the actual resolution is about 45% higher.” It ain’t perfect, but it works, and should hold until the patch is ready.