[NFS] Console HUD mode breaks placement

[xan1242]

Image courtesy of anyway#8157 on Discord/nfsmods server

Possible solutions:

1. Scale movies down (vote with👍 )
2. Do it only for the HUD (as the name implies) (vote with ❤️ )
3. Remove feature altogether (vote with 👎 )

The reason for it existing is because of this: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/design/devices/designing-for-tv#tv-safe-area

TLDR: TV safe area for overscan

This was an enforced feature back in the 360 days, causing the UI to be drawn within the safe zone only. This was never needed on PC because most people played on monitors which didn't have these issues. Likewise, this feature did not exist on PlayStation 2 (both PS2 and PS3) because that was handled at a lower level.

The issue is that this mode causes problems in movies and, on top of that, the HUD elements are too closely placed together, revealing cut off edges of textures that you're not normally supposed to see.

@ThirteenAG @AeroWidescreen requesting your comments here as well.

[AeroWidescreen]

Likewise, this feature did not exist on PlayStation (both PS2 and PS3) because that was handled at a lower level.

I'm not sure what you mean. Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii all have this safe zone applied. The only console excluded is PS2 because PS2 has never used a safe zone, even in previous Need for Speed games, unlike Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3, Gamecube, and Wii.

The issue is that this mode causes problems in movies and, on top of that, the HUD elements are too closely placed together, revealing cut off edges of textures that you're not normally supposed to see.

The only issue that I've seen so far is with FMVs, because the FMVs aren't scaled down along with the text as you pointed out. Disabling this safe zone while an FMV is playing is probably the easiest way of handling it. That appears to be what the consoles are doing, at least visually.

[xan1242]

I stand corrected, it was only the PS2.

In any case, what you're saying is solution 2 is the way to go.

The only issue that I've seen so far is with FMVs, because the FMVs aren't scaled down along with the text as you pointed out.

Look at the tachometer in the screenshots you sent. The cutoff at the bottom shouldn't be visible in a normal view.

[AeroWidescreen]

Look at the tachometer in the screenshots you sent. The cutoff at the bottom shouldn't be visible in a normal view.

Sure... but that's the point though lol. It's there for people who want the same experience as console, which would include its blemishes. Another example would be the Scaling feature: the Xbox 360 option makes the game look stretched, but that's exactly how it is on an actual Xbox 360 as well. It's there for people who want that same look.

In any case, what you're saying is solution 2 is the way to go.

Sounds good to me then. 👍

[AeroWidescreen]

By the way, ConsoleHUDSize was initially enabled by default because it appeared that Black Box designed the frontend based on that size. You can see how the 2D UI matches up with the 3D elements when both Xbox 360 scaling and the smaller HUD size are used together.

This is only one example:

But I disabled by default later on because of that same tachometer problem you mentioned. I just felt like this was something worth mentioning, because it was the primary reason I added ConsoleHUDSize to Generic Fix in the first place.

[xan1242]

Eh, I might've overreacted because I opened this during developing Pepega Mod.

I'll just disable it during FMVs and that's it.

[xan1242]

Fixed in #1398

Can't disable it in FMVs as that requires shader reinit to trigger the FE rescaling, so I've scaled the movies down together with the FE scale.