Smart PSX aspect Ratio: Beetle PSX vs PCSX vs CRT+PS1

Libretro Cores
#22

So, back then, I used to think that 4:3 and removing overscan should be the perfect aspect ratio wise, which is what PCSX ReARMed do. Today definitively the ultimate aspect ratio is 4:3 choping horizontal overscan if having any and cutting of 8px top and bottom which is pretty much the Expanded mode of my CRT and the most common standard old CRTs. There are a ton o games that still display garbage textures and just removing the letterbox is not accurate like I used to think.

And I’m not entirely sure if the Heart of Darkness’s black bars really was an artistic choice, at least in the original PAL version. I didn’t find any footage of the original PAL, not that I really searched too, but what I found was this italian box…

HEART-OF-DARKNESS...-2
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In the screenshots there’s no black bar and the aspect ratio are squared… And the NTSC’s manual there’s no black bars too, but the screenshots are more rectangular…

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The letterbox could be intentional or could just be a lazy port, to really confirm you need a PAL version running on a real PAL console in a real PAL CRT TV.

But anyway, this don’t change the fact that the really accurate way to display the NTSC version is with black bars, since is that way that the NTSC version of the game in the original hardware on a real CRT TV is displayed

Just ratifying.

#23

Hi, thanks for your new insights. I’ve been thinking about this lately, and I came up to the conclusion that in a late stage of production, they somehow decided to give the game a cinematic look. But unfortunately, most backgrounds were already made, so the only way was to add “void” to simulate black bars. You’re right, correct aspect ratio is 4:3 with no bars at all. It’s obvious during the intro cinematic and the moon eclipse.

And that could explain the screenshots from PAL box and NTSC manual, because those screenshots are usually taken from the engineor game editor, not from a CRT.

The only way to sort this puzzle out is to call Eric Chahi himself!

Anyway, even if full 4:3 screen respects the ratio of drawings and arts, it “breaks” the feel and look the studio wanted the game to have.

Amazing game by the way :slight_smile: despite all this haha

#24

The development of Heart of Darkness took a long time, featuring some platform changes and cancellations, including the jump from DOS to Windows PCs. That probably explains inconsistencies and seemingly odd aspects about the graphics.

#25

Hello! I have registered just because I can’t find a solution of the issue in any place on the internet. In fact, this is the only thread where this is examined.

I want those black bars to show up in PAL version of PCSX rearmed. Why? Because even if the difference is small, the “smart aspect ratio” is stretching the image just a bit. I’m very sensible to that kind of change and drives me nuts. In the original post you can see this crearly in the Crash images.

However I’m don’t have any idea of how to turn this off. I’m trying to set this up in various SBC devices without succeeding. I want those black bars! Does anyone know how can I get them to show up, and how to disable this strange smart stretching?