tweaks: zoom, third-person camera, custom resolutions, lock cursor

[Ilsyde]

http://i.imgur.com/KnbUg33.png

Here is a quick overview of the tweaks you'll find in this post:

-    skip intro videos
the one you can't seem to get rid of no matter how hard you keep smasing the Esc key
-    set a custom resolution
you don't have to make due with the in-game defaults
-    snap cursor to window boundaries (recommended in windowed mode)
confines mouse cursor inside the game window

---

Before we start:
The configuration file titled config.xml is by default found under C:\Users\<username>\Documents\BattleForge
You may open this file by right-clicking on it, then selecting Open With > Choose Default Program… and selecting Notepad, though you may use any other text editor.
- do not try to edit this file while Battleforge is running, otherwise the settings you made might get overwritten
- do not make the file read-only otherwise the game won’t start
- do not forget to save the file after you’ve made changes to it, and before you start Battleforge again
 

---

-    Skip intro videosThe Battleforge intro is unskippable and gets annoying rather quickly. Open the config.xml file as described above and find the following entry:
skip_intro_movies="0"
Then change the number between the two quotation marks to 1, as the example shows below:
skip_intro_movies="1"

The third-person camera (click to preview) is included in all three modded files as a bonus. I’ve lowered the default minimum camera angle so you can zoom in real close with the mouse wheel to admire those… assets… *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*

-    Set a custom resolution

Since the game engine only supports hor+ and can't handle ver+ (to utilise 16:10 and other vertical widescreen ratios), the wider screen you have, the better.
Having a larger horizontal viewing area will give you an advantage in both PvE and PvP at the expense of vertical image size. You have to make a decision whether this trade-off is worth it.

First, open the config.xml file as described above and find the following two entries:
screenheight="####" and screenwidth="####"
Between the quotation marks you'll see numbers, instead of # signs. These are the current vertical and horizontal resolutions (respectively). Change these to whatever you're comfortable with but don't reduce screenheight below 650, as GUI elements that don't scale will be partially cropped. My advice is to always maximise the horizontal resolution, then decide on the vertical number of pixels depending on your preference.
Note that if you were to use the in-game Settings menu after this step, Battleforge will reset the resolution to default (screenheight="768" and screenwidth="1024") therefore you'll be required to modify the config.xml file again.

Next, find the following entry:
fullscreen="1"
This might already be set to 0, buit if it isn't then change the number between the two quotation marks in order to enter windowed mode, like so:
fullscreen="0"

By using a smaller vertical resolution nothing gets lost or cropped, however everything on the screen will be that much smaller to allow for additional horizontal screen space.
Here is an example of a 24:10 window ratio that - in essence - gives you 50% more horizontal viewing area by reducing vertical image size by 33% (i.e. running the game in 1920x804 instead of 1920x1200).

-    Snap cursor to window boundaries (recommended in windowed mode)

Whether you have to, or choose to play Battleforge in windowed mode, you'll notice how awkward it is to scroll around the map by using either the arrow or WASD keys. Moving the mouse cursor to one of the screen borders requires way too much precision, as there is nothing to keep the cursor within the boundaries of the game window. Fortunately there is an application called Cursor Lock created by SnakeByte Studios. It's purpose is to confine the mouse cursor inside a specified window.
You may download the tool by clicking on this link: http://www.snakebytestudios.com/download/cursor-lock/
Once downloaded and installed, double-click on CursorLockSetup.exe to launch the application. You need to change some of the settings before running Battleforge:

1) While on the Shortcut tab, click Program Mode. This should be selected by default.
2) Under Program Options, tick the box next to Open Program and click the browse button on the right to navigate to the location where you've installed the Battleforge client. Select BFRebornLauncher.exe then press OK.
3) Under Program Options, tick the box next to Lock Program and click the browse button on the right to navigate to the location where you've installed the Battleforge client. Select BattleForge.exe then press OK.
4) Under Standard Options, tick the box next to Lock Region and select Window Interior from the drop down box.

Finally, click the Create Shortcut button in the bottom right corner of the window. Save the shortcut to your Desktop, or to your preferred location. You'll need to run Battleforge using this shortcut from now on.
However, you don't need to run Cursor Lock ever again (it starts and shuts itself down automatically as required).

The mouse cursor will now snap to the inner part of the game window, allowing you to scroll around the map by moving the mouse cursor to the edges - just like in full screen.
Below is a snapshot to guide you with setting up Cursor Lock:
http://i.imgur.com/wOeDQ6I.png
click here to view this image

[Ceekay]

great guide will try changing to german soon.

[Ultrakool]

one problem with wider resolutions than 1920x1080 is that the text gets smaller though, I wonder how you can workaround that

[Ilsyde]

If you have a fairly good size monitor (24" or so) this shouldn't be a problem. You're essentially asking the game to cram everything into a smaller vertical area. Large text wouldn't fit the GUI elements, unless you scale the GUI, in which case it would cover a large part of the gameplay area.
Try 1024x768 in full screen. Text and other elements will be huge. Then try 1024x768 in windowed mode. You'll get the same result i.e. smaller text and GUI.

You can only change the font size by modifying the client files:
The brute force approach is to resize the fonts BF is using. Below is a quick, 20% upscale I've done to demonstrate:

It's not pretty.

You could also replace the standard fonts with a larger, but different font. Or with something that's easier to read:

This would be my preferrred method, because...

...the third approach is to modify every single entry that specifies the font size. And there are A LOT of those, trust me.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Ilsyde

[Ultrakool]

2 hours ago, Ilsyde said:

If you have a fairly good size monitor (24" or so) this shouldn't be a problem. You're essentially asking the game to cram everything into a smaller vertical area. Large text wouldn't fit the GUI elements, unless you scale the GUI, in which case it would cover a large part of the gameplay area.
Try 1024x768 in full screen. Text and other elements will be huge. Then try 1024x768 in windowed mode. You'll get the same result i.e. smaller text and GUI.

You can only change the font size by modifying the client files:
The brute force approach is to resize the fonts BF is using. Below is a quick, 20% upscale I've done to demonstrate:

It's not pretty.

You could also replace the standard fonts with a larger, but different font. Or with something that's easier to read:

This would be my preferrred method, because...

...the third approach is to modify every single entry that specifies the font size. And there are A LOT of those, trust me.

I'm basically talking about like having a 4K resolution for example, everything fits nicely in the screen but the text and GUI becomes much smaller and is not scaled.

[Ilsyde]

I remember seeing presets in the client files that govern the scaling of the static GUI elements, so - again - this is possible. There are only two image sizes for everything though: small and medium.

EDIT:

OK, presets only work when you're first installing the client. But we're not doing that. Image sizes don't matter, you can alter the client to resize each GUI element by changing the pixel dimensions but this is done on an individual level thus will take a while.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Ilsyde

[Ilsyde]

To celebrate the beta testers' access to BF, I've added a new tweak:

Larger field of view and third-person camera.

This is similar to what @Ultrakool wanted: extended gameplay area without affecting the text and GUI size. Enjoy.

[Ladadoos]

@Ilsyde Very nice, I changed my field of view, looks very good. Also, from the picture you added in the beginning of your post, it looks like Frost mage has legs. I never knew that  

I guess it was worth the wait, thanks for sharing  

[Ultrakool]

Dem hax 

[Ladadoos]

 

I guess I went a bit too far  Looks funny though

[Ilsyde]

Thank you @MephistoRoss for moving the topic to a public area.

Wiped "how to set language" guide, as it's now defunct due to the custom launcher.

[Devilwarrior1699]

Is there way to open/play Battleforge/Skylords Reborn in a "borderless window" mode?

Nice Job (Ilsyde) 

[Ilsyde]

@Devilwarrior1699 Yes there is. That information is another guide I didn't ask Ross to move into the public area, as I thought demand will be low
Here it is:

 

Quote

Hey guys,

Some of you have a problem when running Battleforge in windowed mode, as there is no true borderless setting. Therefore if your screen is not capable of displaying a vertical resolution larger than 768 (e.g. 1366x768 or 1024x768) then the bottom of the gameplay area will be chopped off, due to the title bar adding another 27 pixels making the image 795 tall.

I found an application that is able to fix this, by allowing you to reposition the window (therefore hiding the title bar).

1) download this file
2) extract the contents (swru.exe) anywhere
3) run swru.exe
3) start Battleforge Reborn (make sure it's running in a window)
4) select the resizing utility, then find and highlight Battleforge 1.2 retail
5) now you need to play around with either or both x and y coordinates (horizontal and vertical positions)
Try setting y to -27 first, then press <enter> or Set Size in the bottom left corner. This should move the window up, hiding the title bar by placing it outside the display area.
(changing the x coordinate will move the window left or right, in case the edges are cropped and are not fully visible)

credits go to Scott who created this handy tool

Try other settings if you're not 100% happy with the result e.g. Ultrakool replied that -29 worked best for him.

[Eirias]

@Ilsyde

Do you have any idea of how to change where the replays are saved? Not sure why, but after the open stress test was pushed, my replays started saving in my admin's My Documents.

Would rather have the ease of moving files in and out of that folder by myself, instead of deleting them in-game or typing in the admin password each time.

[Ilsyde]

On 10/1/2018 at 5:14 PM, Eirias said:

@Ilsyde

Do you have any idea of how to change where the replays are saved? Not sure why, but after the open stress test was pushed, my replays started saving in my admin's My Documents.

Would rather have the ease of moving files in and out of that folder by myself, instead of deleting them in-game or typing in the admin password each time.

If there is a way, then it's not immediately apparent to me.
You could create a folder junction from the command prompt (Start menu, type cmd to open the command prompt). The correct syntax is

mklink /j from to

if I remember right. So for example

mklink /j "c:\Users\Eirias\Documents\BattleForge\replays" "d:\replays"

would create a link for the default replays folder to your D drive. You can amend the quotation marks of course, if there are no spaces in the path.
Before doing the above, don't forget to either delete or rename the original folder (...\Battleforge\replays), otherwise you'll get an error message.

All files should then be accessible from the D:\replays folder.

[Ultralord]

Hello everyone,

i know this topic is old, but the information here helped me till the launcher update today ?

I normally play in window mode with cursor-lock-link on to the luncher.exe.
(because if I use the SkylordsRebornUpdater.exe it doesn’t work)

But since the updated the direct launcher start don’t work (Exit code 10)

Has someone an idea how I can start the game in window mode with locked cursor?

MFG Ultralord

 

Update:

i found a solution: The Poll Rate to max (2000 ms)

+ run as Admin

sorry for the confusion. 

Edited February 26, 2019 by T1421

[Ultralord]

Yes i have multiple monitors. I´m using 1920x1080 in windows mode (default BF settings)

My problem was that the window mode added the “Window-Title-Bar” (don’t no the correct name xD )
so some of the bottom part of the BF-Window were not visible / outside the screen.

Because windows is wired, you cant move the window upwards. so I use a tool to set the BF-Window to -27 on the y aches.
(http://www.scottandmichelle.com/scott/program/swru.html)

My BF is always on top of my taskbar, so I have no problem with that at the moment.

[Klizzix]

Thanks for the great guide.

 

Unfortunately increasing the FOV doesnt work for me. I deleted the named filed and replaced it with the FOV 80 file, but after starting the game the FOV is at its default state and cant be increased

[Loriens]

1 hour ago, Klizzix said:

Thanks for the great guide.

 

Unfortunately increasing the FOV doesnt work for me. I deleted the named filed and replaced it with the FOV 80 file, but after starting the game the FOV is at its default state and cant be increased

System was changed, now you can change it manually, 

Edited January 27, 2021 by Loriens

[DalieaDelilahDolma]

On 1/27/2021 at 11:03 PM, Loriens said:

System was changed, now you can change it manually, 

I have change the distance min zoom but how do you make the camera look forward when you zoom in?