Epic Games is fixing the VGA bug in Gears of War.

[Intruder]

For all of those who use the VGA cable while hooked up to a 4:3 or 5:4 LCD monitor, your prayers have been answered. The dreaded VGA bug which has plagued games such as PGR3, Oblivion, and most recently Gears of War has now been fixed, or soon will be actually.

Epic Game's Mark Rein confirmed (http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=555287&page=53) yesterday that the bug has been fixed and barring any complications, will be added to the next Gears patch. This will mark the first time that a game shipping with this bug, will have been fixed.

Mark also noted that from now on Epic will be testing games on 5:4 LCD monitors in the future.

[mightbe]

Hey, good find trudy. Now post without your sig and get a haircut :P

[Kamalot]

What bug is this? I play Gears of War through a VGA connection and haven't noticed anything strange.

[fitbabits]

Hey, good find trudy. Now post without your sig and get a haircut :P
Haircuts are optional. Removing your signature is MANDATORY! Failure to remove your signature from news submissions will result in me unbanning Player1. You have been warned.

[Codicier]

What bug is this? I play Gears of War through a VGA connection and haven't noticed anything strange.

I think (judging from a brief glance at the forums through the link in the original post) that the problem stems from using a VGA cable in conjunction with a non-widescreen monitor. So if you've been playing on widescreen Kamalot then that's probably why you haven't had any problems.

[Kamalot]

I think (judging from a brief glance at the forums through the link in the original post) that the problem stems from using a VGA cable in conjunction with a non-widescreen monitor. So if you've been playing on widescreen Kamalot then that's probably why you haven't had any problems.
Ah! Gotcha. I either play on the projector (widescreen native) or on a CRT which has been configured to show widescreen. I never run the 360 in 4:3 mode.

Glad to know the issue is being addressed.

[51|RandoM]

What bug is this? I play Gears of War through a VGA connection and haven't noticed anything strange.

A. Use the VGA cable.
B. connect it to a non-widescreen monitor.


C... experience the bug.

[51|RandoM]

I consider this very, very, very good news.

Not because it fixes a bug.

Because it shows that the Epic we're used to in the PC world is going to be the same Epic in the 360 world. Good news all around.

[bone_matrix]

I have the bug, but to be honest, it doesn't really bug (haha) me that much. It will be nice to have it fixed though. I'm starting to really really like Epic.

[Rook34]

Hopefully they'll also have fixd then the communication bug.

[SPBTooL]

A. Use the VGA cable.
B. connect it to a non-widescreen monitor.


C... experience the bug.
B. should read:

B. Connect it to a non-widescreen LCD monitor.

CRTs were not effected.

[51|RandoM]

Hopefully they'll also have fixd then the communication bug.

Not likely, the bug is live-specific. Multiple games suffer from it.

[AniAko]

Haircuts are optional. Removing your signature is MANDATORY! Failure to remove your signature from news submissions will result in me unbanning Player1. You have been warned.

DEAR GOD NO!!!!! FOR CHRIST'S SAKE NOT THE UNBANNING OF PLAYER1!!!!!! DO WHAT THE SCOT SAYS!!!!! :eek::eek::eek:

[Kamalot]

B. should read:

B. Connect it to a non-widescreen LCD monitor.

CRTs were not effected.
That's what I thought. I play on an LCD projector and / or CRT. Yes, I mean and / or since I have the signal going to both at the same time. Sometimes, I play on one or the other, but sometimes, I play on both, just cause I can. :D

[bone_matrix]

B. should read:

B. Connect it to a non-widescreen LCD monitor.

CRTs were not effected.

I think they were. I play on a 17" flat screen CRT and I have the bug.

[Intruder]

Sorry about the sig, so damned early and I was already late for work, I forgot about it. Ohhh please forgive me almighty keepers of the Avatar. ;)

[cookyshark]

That's what I thought. I play on an LCD projector and / or CRT. Yes, I mean and / or since I have the signal going to both at the same time. Sometimes, I play on one or the other, but sometimes, I play on both, just cause I can. :D
Wow, that sounds pretty impressive. It's almost hard to believe.

can you post some pictures of your setup? I'm trying to get into the projector as a main display arena and would love to see some good examples.

how often do you use your projector, which consoles/systems are hooked up to it?

how are you spliting the signal to 2 different outputs at the same time?

[agentgray]

Haha.

I just thought it was letterboxing my game.

This is indeed good news.

[Captain Awesome]

This is why I like Epic, they dedicate themselves to all their titles, like Valve.

[pomeroy]

WOO! THE COLE-TRAIN DEMANDS ALL BUGS BE FIXED. WOOO!

also...WOO!

[SPBTooL]

I think they were. I play on a 17" flat screen CRT and I have the bug.
What exactly are you experiencing? Most people that though they had the problem were just using the widescreen setting instead of normal. They though that the black bars seen on normal were wrong when they aren't.

If you are smarter than that I apologizes. I spoke to a 360 tech once that told me that about 80% of their VGA calls are due to what I stated above.

On a sad note. Until I get a reply from someone at epic on the forum, it has been mentioned that the patch will remove the letterboxing and force a 4:3 image on all non-widescreen monitors.

[mightbe]

Haircuts are optional. Removing your signature is MANDATORY! Failure to remove your signature from news submissions will result in me unbanning Player1. You have been warned.
I know! What kind of blatant fucktard wouldn't remove their signature from a news post?

*imsosorrybootsypleasedon'tkillme*

[Intruder]

What exactly are you experiencing? Most people that though they had the problem were just using the widescreen setting instead of normal. They though that the black bars seen on normal were wrong when they aren't.

If you are smarter than that I apologizes. I spoke to a 360 tech once that told me that about 80% of their VGA calls are due to what I stated above.

On a sad note. Until I get a reply from someone at epic on the forum, it has been mentioned that the patch will remove the letterboxing and force a 4:3 image on all non-widescreen monitors.

No it is a bone-ified (get the pun?) bug. What happens is that the games are improperly coded. The game displays widescreen bars, however it then goes on to squish a 5:4 image into that area, or something of that nature.

I too have talked to some 360 techs cause I thought the problem was on my end, it is not. It is a game bug, and exists on many different games. Oblivion, Tomb Raider, PGR3, Gears, and the Saints Row demo. The 360 techs are not that helpful and know little about it, and seem to always insists that it is the users fault.

Game devs have simply been sloppy or lazy in testing their game on 5:4 monitors with the VGA cable. Hopefully they will start getting their acts together, and doing some serious QA work. I mean us 5:4 users noticed the problem upon booting Gears for the very first time. They didn't catch it in no telling how many weeks of testing?

[Intruder]

I know! What kind of blatant fucktard wouldn't remove their signature from a news post?

*imsosorrybootsypleasedon'tkillme*

You are dead to me mightbe.... :(



;)

[mightbe]

Lets just say that the "dallas clark" story had one extra line at the end for a minute.

I was tired though.

YOU HAVE NO EXCUSES THOUGH!

In other news, I picked up R6Vegas last night and am looking to cause some trouble online later.

[Knightsaber]

Woo hoo no more switching my resolutions on certain games! Woo hoo!!!! /beer

[bone_matrix]

Questions

No, I'm not in widescreen mode, I'm just in 1280x1024. It makes doorways more square, so everyone in Gears is a bit more Cartman looking. it doesn't really bother me, I figured all space marines are bulky. :D

(and yes, I am smarter than you think. :D )

[LilEvilFish]

I'm not bad mouthing the guys at Epic here, but this could've easily been avoided by some more thorough testing procedures.

This is slightly off topic but has anyone else noticed a certain decline in the quality control side of things when it comes to a game launch? This little problem would've taken 2 minutes to notice, had they plugged the console into a TV or monitor that an average Joe might own.

I feel it's the same for many mainstream games now. If it doesn't have a patch released within the first few days after launch, something's wrong. Even Neverwinter Nights 2 had a patch released on launch day which fixed bugs and missing features, even adding in the Dungeon Master Client. It didn't fit on the DVD?

Again, not bad mouthing Epic, just seeing if the feeling about quality control is a mutual point.

[Evil Avatar]

B. should read:

B. Connect it to a non-widescreen LCD monitor.

CRTs were not effected.

CRT's are bugged. It will show the letterbox black bars on a CRT, but the image will still be "squished" over what it should be showing.

Part of this problem was addressed in the last Xbox 360 patch.

However, I have not seen this bug on Oblivion. I have only noticed it on Lego Star Wars II and Gears of War.

[Sarconix]

(Long time reader, first time poster.)

I just started up GoW last night, using a Dell 19" LCD monitor with a native res of 1280x1024, normal aspect ratio (not wide). I don't think I am seeing this problem during gameplay. Strangely enough, I only seem to see it with the loading screen, i.e. the rotating gear is squished and there is more black at the top and bottom of the screen.

LilEvilFish: To hear the folks at Epic speak about this problem, they are quite embarrassed that the problem made it through QA, but at least they are going through with a fix. Not sure why the other developers can't follow suit. Regardless, the ability to patch console games after release is definitely making the devs / QA less thorough, and coupled with the increasing complexity of these game (and display choices!), you can expect lower quality in general.