Can you run Diablo windowed/in 4:3 ratio?

[Kenshindono]

Im on my old system since my laptop died. ITs pretty dated but i got ahold of an old copy of Diablo 1. I wanted to play it but i cant seem to get it to run in a proper 4:3 ratio without being stretched out. It auto stretches when i start it up no matter what. I dont see any option for windowed mode either. Is there any way to either run this game in windowed mode, or to force it to NOT scale the image to fill the monitor? I checked in my display settings and theres an option to center the image instead of stretching it for non native resolutions, but clicking and unclicking it does nothing.

Im one of those people who can not stand an improper ratio image. I need to play it in the proper 4:3 aspect ratio, hopefully someone has a solution. I did some searching and people suggest setting up a virtual box to run it in windowed mode but that seems like a big hassle. Plus theres a lot of options out there and i dont know which is best

BTW old systems specs are: AMD 64 4000+, ati Radeon 9800XT, win XP. Monitors an older acer 16:10 with a native 1680X1050 resolution



^_^x KD

 

[m6oo]

D2 has a command line switch to run in windowed mode. A quick google search didn't reveal any similar switch for D1.

Both your PC AND your Monitor need to cooperate to show low res content in the proper aspect ratio. Check your monitor settings so see if there's anything you can do about the stretching.

Other than that, a virtual-box is probably your best bet, or find a 4:3 monitor to run it on.

 

[Ruahrc]

Yeah on my monitor (Dell Ultrasharp) there is a function to display things as 4:3. It squishes everything on the screen to 4:3 no matter the original aspect, so the standard 16:9(10) desktop gets scrunched too. But this way, 4:3 games stretched out get squished back to their normal aspect ratio.

I have used this to play old games like SC2 and even the odd youtube video that shows a 4:3 image stretched out. Ironically, the most recent videos I did this with were screen recordings of a D1 play through .

 

[Kenshindono]

Ya i know how 4:3 and 16:9 work with regular tv's i just wasn't sure with monitors/PC's. Theres no setting i can see on the monitor at all for full screen, wide, stretch, or anything like that. And like i said, the only setting on my gfx card i saw had an option to center the image or stretch to fit for not standard resolutions.. i set that to centered and it still did nothing.

I guess i can dig an old CRT out or maybe hook it up to my old 4:3 sony that i use for my older games through S-video or something.

If i go the virtual box route, whats the best one to use? There seem to be a lot out there and i dont know which is the best

^_^x KD

 

[pete5883]

NVIDIA graphics cards have options so that if you're running a full screen game at less than your native resolution, it'll be displayed at the game's natural resolution centered on the screen with black around it. I'm pretty sure an ATI card would have a similar option, I'll let you know if I find anything.

Edit: I think this is what you want.