Everything I seem to do looks like it's been done in 8 bit GFX. What settings allow for a high resolution output. I know the engine is capable of the higher resolution. What do I need to do to get my stuff to look like the pro's...

well resources like graphics and models are the key to a great looking game. You can then fine tune them with shaders and other settings.

As for programming, i can suggest you take a look at some of the graphics settings of the engine. Most of these start with "d3d_".

For example, to get smoother looking curves in your game use d3d_antialias.

Other things like shadows and lighting are a must to get that level looking the way you want. Gamestudio may not have the best lighting/shadow system, but with a little time and effort you can achieve that eye-candy you want.

Of course a lot of these settings come with a loss in performance on how well the engine runs. You should use a mixture of different things instead of all of the same type.

Well when I get the terrain into my map it looks very stretched and pixeled. I have also tried using some nice gfx and they are all look like 8 bit images.

screenshots?

Ok i assume you have an terrain model ? do you have 2 textures on it or just 1 ?
if you have 2 textures delete the second textures and check again.

If not,
Try to make your texture file 1024x1024 and assign it to your model.
or if it becomes to blurry make it 2048x2048

Also try to adjust your settings and your world sun.

Here some page's to modifie your setting's:

http://www.conitec.net/beta/ad3d_alphadepth.htm
http://www.conitec.net/beta/avideo_depth.htm
http://www.conitec.net/beta/avideo_switch.htm
http://www.conitec.net/beta/d3d_antialias.htm

with these setting's you will come pretty far

Let me know if it works else post some screenshots with information what you exactly want to accomplish.

Greetzzz,

click to view image

d3d_anisotropy = 2;
d3d_antialias = 9;
d3d_alphadepth = 32; // set all TGA alpha images to 16 bit mode
d3d_texdepth = 16; // compress all except TGA based textures
d3d_texdepth = 24; // render PCX and BMP images in 24 bit mode

shadow_offset = 2.5;

video_set(1680,1050,32,1);

Hi there fellow,
whats the resolution of your entity skin?
(the texture of your terrain).

Im pretty sure that your low output has something to do with your texture and its resoltuion.

cheers

yeh i agree with zwecklos, looks like the texture is being stretched too far over the terrain to show any detail. I'd suggest using a 1024*1024, you might be able to get away with 512*512, depends on how you scale the texture and apply it.

Like i said before


Your skin is to blurry because the problem of being stretched out.
Look at my model it is much sharper and nicer to see.
http://www.nigelbloemendal.nl/pictures/uploaded/image3.jpg (copy paste the link else it will not work)
(It is a bit over colored here but you must look through it the newer version is much better but don't have it uploaded yet.

When do I "strech or scale" the map? Cause read somewhere that you can generally get away with 5x scale for 512x512. I have been doing it inside of WED. Do I need to do it when I create the HMP?