Background doesn't look right
 

Hi all,
This is my first post so firstly let me say a big hello to everyone! These are fantastic products and as my partner won't allow me an aquarium, its the next best thing!

I'm having a graphical problem with the Marine Aquarium 2. Essentially, the background just doesn't look right although the fish seem okay. Its as if the background is in 16-bit colour not 32, even though I have selected 32bit in the options. I bought the bundle offer from the UK site and am not having problems with the Goldfish screensaver. It happens with both Marine Aquarium 2 (also the 2.1 download) and the Time version.

I have taken some screenshots in jpeg format (10% compression) to show the problem:

Marine Aquarium 2.01 Screenshot

Aquarium Time Screenshot

My computer is using the latest drivers and seems fine with all other applications and games. Its an AMD64 3200+ CPU, 1GB DDR400 RAM, Geforce GT6800GT (with Nvidia's latest v66.93 Driver) and Asus A8V Deluxe Motherboard (latest BIOS & latest 4in1 motherboard drivers). I am running Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2 with latest updates.

I have a 17" TFT LCF Monitor running at 1280x1024@75hz standard setting. My parents have the same monitor and their background is much crisper and colourful, not as blocky. I tried both the desktop resolution and setting it manually to 1280x1024, but it still the same. Again the Goldfish version seems fine.

I've tried to give as much detail as possible, has anyone else seen this problem as I'm sure the background doesn't look right and its spoiliing my enjoyment!

Thanks!
Graham.

Welcome.

The background is designed for a resolution of 1024x768. It was the state-of-the-art resolution when the author created this awesome program. Since it's a bitmapped background, resolutions above 1024x768 result in a bit pixeled look. Perhaps with a better resizing method (interpolation), the background could look better.

The author (Jim Sachs) is working in a true 3D background, so you can expect a huge improvement.

To all: let me know if i'm wrong with this explanation.

Some cards don't do interpolated stretching of the background from 1024 to 1280, so it can look blocky. On these cards, the best results are obtained by setting the Aquarium to 1024x768.

16-bit color is actually plenty for this.

First off, Welcome OLD MAN to the forums. This is the place to get help. I would say too, set it to 1024x768 and you will see how great it is. :TU:

Hi! Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated, especially for the explanation that its a 1024x768 background.

I switched it to 1024x768 and yes it didn't look quite as pixelated, however the fish didn't look as good, perhaps becasue the native resolution of my 17" LCD monitor is 1280x1024.

I have found a better workaround by switching to Widescreen 1280x1024x32bit colour. It looks much better!

Thanks again.
Graham

That's great. Glad you got it to work. :TU: