Obviously rendering 8bpp fonts is far less troublesome than 9bpp.

I.e I can't switch to fullscreen with output=surface as 720x400 isn't a supported fullscreen resolution (it e_exits for me).

heh, 720x400 works for me (listed in xrandr and all; Intel 965GM graphics).

How is it less troublesome btw? I realize that you need special cases for which characters to copy the 8th column and which you don't (192 < n < 223; figured this out before making a patch for Chocolate Doom, heh), but it doesn't seem like it's all that much trouble.

Yeah then it's no trouble (as it's already implemented).

> xrandr

As this is no standard graphics mode resolution not all operating systems or video card drivers have it...

Heh, indeed. It was basically a simple expanded version of the typically useless "works for me" response 😜

Also if anyone's concerned on the aspect part (text mode graphics like post-game messages) and won't be able to use it full screen, it might simply be configurable with an option like vgatext={normal,thin} or some variation to that extent for the (S)VGA modes.

Of course this is only brainstorming ideas about it.

the reason h-a-l-9000 is an important reason.
(graphics cards not supporting 720x400 anymore)

If that's a reason then why would vgaonly already have the feature? 😀 (Would you disable 320x200 fullscreen too because some video card drivers don't have the mode?)

I actually understand why it may not be visually desirable, which is also why I suggested that perhaps it could be toggle-able in addition to being in all the svga modes. 😒

vgaonly is not selected by default, so no problem that it uses an exotic mode.
Aside from that I don't consider it important enough to have its own option in the configfile.

is also why I suggested that perhaps it could be toggle-able in addition to being in all the svga modes

This won't happen, if you want 9bit wide fonts use vgaonly, if you want svga then use the default.

Qbix wrote:

the reason h-a-l-9000 is an important reason.
(graphics cards not supporting 720x400 anymore)

Modern cards that claim to be VGA compatible should support this mode. Many people still see text modes when booting. For example, on my ASUS P2B-F motherboard, the boot screen will start in the EGA text mode and switch to the VGA text mode if a VGA card is found in the adapter after the initial bootup screen.

720x400 is the default resolution of a modern LCD if you send it any lower resolution other than 640x480. Also, the Hercules mode should have the 9-pixel character cell by default, just like any true Hercules or MDA card would.

Unfortunately, 720x400 does not scale on most LCD screens as well as 640x400. Nonetheless, it should be the default for VGA or SVGA cards.

TEXT mode. DOSBox needs graphics mode. 720x400 graphics mode is rare.

wd wrote:

is also why I suggested that perhaps it could be toggle-able in addition to being in all the svga modes

This won't happen, if you want 9bit wide fonts use vgaonly, if you want svga then use the default.

Might I ask why the SVGA modes won't include this even as an option?

Quite frankly the 8-pixel-wide rendering looks ugly as hell but there's programs that need the extended capabilities of svga 😒

Quite frankly the 8-pixel-wide rendering looks ugly as hell

I like it.

Might I ask why the SVGA modes won't include this even as an option?

There won't be hundreds of options for every little detail. If you want 9bit
wide fonts use the respective option.

It's really a case of being more accurate to how PCs really were. I guess I've just used PCs for so long that I can't stand the squished text, but whatever.

I'll just have to make a patch myself then if I really want this. 😒

It's really a case of being more accurate to how PCs really were.

That's what =vgaonly is for.