What makes "modded" widescreen (16:9) so great to prefer it over 4:3?

[psxdriverplayer]

Hello, as you know you're on GTAForums and this is Mr. PSX.

In today's society, 16:9 screens are the norm for whatever reason. In the old days, it was 4:3. Now, GTA games. These have been in 4:3 during those top down games (as far as I understand, some resolutions are not 4:3 but they're all meant to be seen in 4:3) and up to San Andreas (or Stories games on PS2) there's the obvious 4:3 and then 16:9 is an afterthought (if not it seems that way) because it's top and bottom cropped. This obviously has changed with IV methinks, having 16:9 as the normal thing.

But here's the thing - there are these moddings to make 16:9 "proper" in SA and earlier 3D ones on PC side. The thing is, I've gotten original PC disc versions of SA and VC and both have issues with their widescreen, thus I settle for 4:3. But in some places, especially on YouTube comment section, people keep telling me that "ye are aware there's a fix" and I say "yes, but I don't care about it" and they all lose their minds.

So the question here is the following (sort of): WHAT MAKES THE "MODDED" WIDESCREEN SO GREAT THAT IT IS PREFERRED OVER HAVING THE GAME IN 4:3? (<- Ed. Note: I SAY ""MODDED" WIDESCREEN" BECAUSE I KNOW HOW THE GAME HANDLES IT NORMALLY, NOBODY LIKES IT THE NORMAL WAY, NOT EVEN ME WOULD DO IT.)

 

So. Let's PRESS the issue, eh?

 

On our panel right now, are the every single members of GTA Forums. Welcome.

 

Now, the reason of "modern standards" doesn't count. These change, and if the reason is that, the ratio could be 2.35:1 (21:9 to ye who don't get it) and the reason wouldn't change.

And "just because" also doesn't count. That would be the same with any other screen as well. And doing it for the sake of it isn't enough of a reason.

What I'm trying to ask here is basically this: WHAT MAKES THIS "MODDED" WIDESCREEN BETTER THAN HAVING 4:3? It all seems to me to be the two reasons stated just above there.

Now mangs, do not get me wrong, I don't mind having 16:9 resolutions, if they're there, I usually set one to me 16:9 display I have (the only exception so far is Vice City), but if there aren't any, I just settle for 4:3 (display itself is set to correct aspecting naturally, stretching suks). And this is what seems to annoy some people. I don't mind others doing that widescreen thing that much (NOTE: something to do with personal principles, enough of that) and me reaction is usually "huh some people do that OK fine, I don't, instead I don't bother" and this is a thing, people go insane and wonder why I don't make it so that I have a "better" experience, but I never get the defining of what makes it "better". It really makes it seem to me it must be widescreen'd "just because for the sake of it" and "modern standards". Which to me, seem odd as "just because" is odd reason to do anything, also "old game" and "[current] modern standards" (or vice versa) just doesn't make sense to me (read: these change, so it gets to more work having to change everything old and new when time passes on).

And no, before ye ask, I don't mind those black areas when they're there, be it a game, a movie, a vidya, whatevers. I also believe that simply getting rid of them doesn't automagically make stuff better, but a bit different.

 

Let's ask our other panelists: WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES THIS "MODDED" WIDESCREEN ACTUALLY BETTER THAN PLAYING IN 4:3?

 

(Ed. Note: Edited to be a bit more specific, am aware of some technical specs)

Edited March 1 by psxdriverplayer
Mr. PSX here got a bit more specific dammit

[Ash_735]

29 minutes ago, psxdriverplayer said:

WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES THIS "MODDED" WIDESCREEN ACTUALLY BETTER THAN 4:3?

Tech wise, Modded handles the expanded resolution "properly" as HOR+ so you get MORE picture information on the sides instead of some cheaper trick some developers did called VER- where that cuts INTO the 4:3 aspect ratio, meaning you LOSE picture information.

 

That's why sometimes people say Widescreen "zooms in" or crops into the 4:3 frame, that's doing VER-, the reason this is done (apart from it being faster) is also to make sure the render budget remains intact, say a console developer specifically calculated how much can be on screen at any given moment, going HOR+ might push over the set budget as more stuff needs to be rendered. This isn't an issue on PC so the modded versions of widescreen will go for HOR+ and properly expand the range. 

 

Another reason mainly for the 3D Trilogy is that UI elements are also not handled properly in Widescreen, so Widescreen Mods correct this so they display accurately too.

[psxdriverplayer]

On 2/27/2022 at 7:09 PM, Ash_735 said:

Tech wise, Modded handles the expanded resolution "properly" as HOR+ so you get MORE picture information on the sides instead of some cheaper trick some developers did called VER- where that cuts INTO the 4:3 aspect ratio, meaning you LOSE picture information.

 

That's why sometimes people say Widescreen "zooms in" or crops into the 4:3 frame, that's doing VER-, the reason this is done (apart from it being faster) is also to make sure the render budget remains intact, say a console developer specifically calculated how much can be on screen at any given moment, going HOR+ might push over the set budget as more stuff needs to be rendered. This isn't an issue on PC so the modded versions of widescreen will go for HOR+ and properly expand the range.

Certainly, that proper 16:9 resolution shenanigan.

 

On 2/27/2022 at 7:09 PM, Ash_735 said:

Another reason mainly for the 3D Trilogy is that UI elements are also not handled properly in Widescreen, so Widescreen Mods correct this so they display accurately too.

Yes, that stretching of everything 2D as a result of anamorphically stretching the cropped 4:3 to 16:9. Stories games at least scale the UI on PS2 depending on the setting, still that VER-...

 

But is there anything that makes gameplaying better so to speak (as in what makes playing in 16:9 better than playing in 4:3 - that's what I'm mostly after here), outside perhaps moving the UI a bit out of the way? Would imagine that having more in the sides would break the scenery of some scenes, as I'm pretty sure they're all composed for the normal HOR of the game. Would imagine in III and VC those cinematics would look even more "cinematic" since those black bars are always there - unless they're gotten rid of.

Edited March 1 by psxdriverplayer
Specifics