New to VTT and BGE.

[Zapazach]

If this was previously answered or sounds stupid, please forgive me.

I'm planning to do more face to face with this VTT and a projector. My question as to do with resolution. Does someone have a recommended resolution of a projector or any advice prior to buying one?

Thank you for your time.
Eric

[Omnidon]

Display: 24-bit color
Resolution: 1024 x 768

From the PC's point of view, there is no difference between a projector and any other monitor.

Higher resolution will create nicer looking images, but will make things smaller and harder to see if you have a small monitor/projector screen.

On the other hand, a huge screen with a low resolution will make things look fuzzy and will not fit much of your map on the screen at a time.

So the goal is to try to keep a balance between the size of your screen and your resolution.
If you get a medium sized projector screen, then go for a medium scale resolution.

Keep in mind that many projectors out there are very low resolution since they were designed for watching TV. I personally would never use anything smaller than 1280x1024 and if I was shopping for a PC projector I'd probably aim a fair bit higher than that.

I don't have any personal experience using BG with a projector so I can't give first hand impressions of that. There are some other people here who have though, so hopefully they'll share their thoughts.

[heruca]

Welcome, Zapazach .

Not much I can add to what Omnidon already said.

However, I find it curious that you plan to use BGE, rather than BRPG, with a projector. You plan on playing boardgames, correct? Not RPGs?

[Zapazach]

Sorry, I miss spoken. I am planning on using BRPG mainly, however my group was thinking on playing with BGE with some war games and see if we like it .

[Dark Lord Galen]

I would also add resolution can be effected by the "throw distance" of your projector as well. The resolution may be high, but if the focal length (throw, distance from projector to surface) is not optimal it will be fuzzy as well. I have ran into just this. My set up is a projection from ceiling to table top, (distance 6') The higher resolution projector I have wont work because the MINIMUM distance to the screen for it is 8.5 feet. So had to utilize a lower resolution projector with a shorter throw.
FYI

[heruca]

Would it be possible to mount your hi-res projector horizontally on the ceiling and use a ceiling-mounted mirror to redirect the image down onto the tabletop? That would increase the throw distance so you can focus properly.

Wondering if the image would be flipped so that text would be reversed, though.

[Omnidon]

Wondering if the image would be flipped so that text would be reversed, though.

I've seen software out there that can do horizontal flips (mirroring) on your PC video output, though I don't know one off the top of my head.

Would likely need to be a pretty big mirror though to catch the whole image. Also might be hard to keep the image from stretching on the tabletop due to the odd reflective angle.

[Dark Lord Galen]

Omnidon is correct on multiple points.... the mirror would have to be proportionately large (depending at what point you reflect the image) and "keystone" would be a real pain as well.

After multiple various means I abandoned the projector and the LAN method for BRPG as the images were too light if we had the lights on and the LAN kept locking up on the secondary machines....
So I totally changed the setup to one machine with two instances of BRPG and inset two 47" JVC LCD TVs in the gaming table and access them as secondary monitors running the second BRPG (As BRPG Table) this seems to be more stable, and can play with the lights on :O)

Most of my difficulties now are around resizing the maps I have to stretch across two TV Monitors... which BRPG doesn't like.... so will be re-modding the images via views but there is no quick easy way to do that within BRPG

*Edit* Had wrong abbreviation for BRPG (BGE) and didn't wish to confuse readers

[zohaa3492]

If I make the game in the demo, and then purchase the full version, will I have to make the game over again or can I port it over?

[heruca]

The game would technically port over, since the program and save format are one and the same. However, given that the Demo is limited to a dozen components at a time, you probably won't be able to make a complete game conversion, short of something super-simple like TicTacToe.