fix(view): Adjust default camera height to compensate for screen aspect ratio #1711

Mauller · 2025-10-18T16:39:45Z

Merge with Rebase

Merge after: bugfix(view): Fix and improve map border camera constraints behavior to allow see all areas of the map comfortably #1752
Fixes: Camera height does not scale properly along with aspect ratio of game resolution #78
Closes: [ZH] Adjust field of view based on aspect ratio #518

This PR adjusts the default max camera height to compensate for different screen aspect ratios.

Previous work fixed the vertical field of view to match retail and adjusted the horizontal fields of view.
But this resulted in significant distortion being observed in the periphery of the view and lower corners.
This distortion was also observed at the 16:9 aspect ratio and became significantly worse as the aspect ratio increased.

By maintaining the original 60 degrees horizontal field of view, while allowing the game to narrow the vertical field of view, increasing the camera height results in minimal to no distortion being observed.

~~This PR does not fix any other known camera issues and focuses on giving a playable default view.~~

TODO

Implement in generals

ElTioRata · 2025-10-18T18:34:46Z

Comparison

GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameLogic/System/GameLogic.cpp

xezon · 2025-10-19T11:08:18Z

At 4:3 "This Change" gives identical view to "Original Game + GenTool" ✅

At 16:9 "This Change" gives a bit more view than "Original Game + GenTool" ❓

Is this correct? I do not recall if GenTool view is correct.

Mauller · 2025-10-19T11:16:50Z

At 4:3 "This Change" gives identical view to "Original Game + GenTool" ✅

At 16:9 "This Change" gives a bit more view than "Original Game + GenTool" ❓

Is this correct? I do not recall if GenTool view is correct.

My goal was to try match the vertical view as close as possible to retail, I think it's slightly less than compared to 4:3 but slightly more than 16:9 gentool + retail.

I think it has a reasonable tradeoff considering the extended horizontal view.

It also gives a reasonable view for aspect ratios between 4:3 and 1:1 as well. Giving a little more vertical view.

Under 1:1 things are still quite broken but a lot needs changing in the view handling to properly support portrait mode.

xezon · 2025-10-19T11:21:40Z

Yes GenTool did take some vertical view away to compensate for the wider view, perhaps in an attempt to keep conditions fair. Additional camera height does give a competitive advantage. Are we ok with giving advantages to Wide Screen?

Mauller · 2025-10-19T11:31:30Z

I wouldn't consider it an issue since most screens have been wide aspect For the past decade. If anything widescreen is the standard now.

Ultrawide is where it becomes more of an issue. But we could look at implementing a locked aspect mode for the tactical view in future.
This could give a standardised view to all players in a competition etc.

Or another option could be implementing tactical zoom to let people zoom out to view the entire map etc.

xezon

Simple implementation, but man the EA code is confusing.

GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DView.cpp

Mauller · 2025-10-19T19:11:49Z

Tweaked the code so setDefaultView is now setDefaultCameraHeight with a default argument of 1.0f for the heightScale.

Still need to look at the zoom default handling.

Mauller · 2025-10-19T19:38:17Z

Updated with tweaked max and default zoom handling code.

Mauller · 2025-10-19T19:56:57Z

Small tweak to comments

GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Include/Common/GlobalData.h

GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameLogic/System/GameLogic.cpp

GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DView.cpp

xezon · 2025-10-22T18:33:37Z

Core/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DView.cpp

+	}
+
+	m_maxHeightAboveGround = TheGlobalData->m_maxCameraHeight * aspectRatioScale * heightScale;
+	m_minHeightAboveGround = TheGlobalData->m_minCameraHeight * aspectRatioScale;


On map Defcon6 with 16:9 resolution, I can see black top edges when scrolling quickly. These are the edges of the rendered height map (a rectangle). Can you also look into scaling the terrain draw area? I do not yet know how this code works exactly but you can start looking around m_drawEntireTerrain, class WorldHeightMap. When zooming out more, it becomes more obvious (there is a Debug Command to zoom out).

If you do not want to do it in this change, then a follow up is also ok.

This should be possible, i think i have seen it in the camera code elsewhere.

So i have implemented a 1.5x scaling factor to the world height map draw area when a wide aspect ratio is used.
This works all the way up to 32:9 aspect ratios with the camera height scaling code.

I used a fixed scaling factor since when using an aspect ratio based scale it would often increase the draw area well beyond the size of the map itself.

GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DView.cpp

Mauller · 2025-10-23T18:34:39Z

I have updated based on feedback and extended the functionality of this PR to fix some other issues that crop up with the camera.

The camera extent limits have now been reduced by half at the edges of the map, allowing the camera to move closer to the edge of the map. This fixes the view at the bottom of the map experienced by quite a few maps.

It also extends the rendering distance from the camera of the terrain by 50% if a wide aspect ratio is in use. This works all the way up to 32:9 aspects. Originally i was going to scale based on aspect ratio but it always produced values higher than the fixed scale.

Mauller · 2025-10-24T13:44:00Z

Last one was a quick rebase with main

Mauller · 2025-10-26T09:59:46Z

Tweaked naming, should be good now

xezon · 2025-10-25T11:49:41Z

GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/WorldHeightMap.cpp

 		m_drawHeightY=m_height;
 	}
+	else {
+		//TheSuperHacker @bugfix Mauller 23/10/2025 Increase the terrain draw area for wide aspect ratios


@tweak or @fix, because in original game this is not a bug, because the widescreen camera can not see that far.

xezon · 2025-10-25T11:50:10Z

GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DView.cpp

 		center.y -= bottom.y;

-		Real offset = center.length();
+		// TheSuperHackers @bugfix Mauller 22/10/2025 Halve the camera offset to allow the camera to move closer to the map edges


removing this for now till after this and your camera extents PR's are done

xezon · 2025-10-25T11:58:33Z

GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/WorldHeightMap.cpp

 		m_drawHeightY=m_height;
 	}
+	else {
+		//TheSuperHacker @bugfix Mauller 23/10/2025 Increase the terrain draw area for wide aspect ratios


I think this does not work correctly in Shell Map. When changing aspect ratio from 4:3 to wide, then this code is not called. Can we run this after the WorldHeightMap was created?

yeah i am just looking a bit more into this and it's not very straightforwards, the heightmap is nested inside BaseHeightMap inside TheTerrainVisual within TheTerrainLogic.

Just muddling through a way to cleanly get at the height map inside it all from the terrain logic which has a singleton.

xezon · 2025-10-26T17:33:24Z

GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DView.cpp


-		Real offset = center.length();
+		// TheSuperHackers @bugfix Mauller 22/10/2025 Halve the camera offset to allow the camera to move closer to the map edges
+		Real offset = center.length() * 0.5f;


I tested this behavior and I suspect this was done to address #1270. However, the black area that this creates is quite substantial. I have created new change #1752 to address #1270 without extending the constraints area into blackness.

There still is merit to experiment with a greater viewable area, for example center.length() * 0.9f, but I suggest to do that after #1752.

i will revert the offset change for now and we can look at that after this and #1752 are merged.

Mauller · 2025-11-01T14:16:43Z

Reverted this to just have the camera height adjustments and nothing else.

xezon · 2025-11-15T15:01:30Z

Note for future:

When raising up the camera, the following things need to be scaled as well:

farZ in W3DView::setCameraTransform

m_x, m_y in HeightMapRenderObjClass

greptile-apps · 2026-01-16T16:54:34Z

Greptile Overview

Greptile Summary

This PR adjusts the default camera height to compensate for different screen aspect ratios by scaling the max and min camera heights based on the ratio between the current aspect ratio and the base 4:3 (800x600) aspect ratio. The implementation replaces the old setDefaultView() method with setCameraHeightAboveGroundLimitsToDefault() and introduces a new setZoomToMax() method to handle zoom separately from camera state resets.

Key changes:

Aspect ratio-based camera height scaling prevents visual distortion on widescreen displays
Separated zoom functionality into setZoomToMax() and setZoomToDefault() for better control
Camera limits now recalculated on resolution changes and game initialization
Script action doCameraSetDefault() refactored to set height limits, pitch, and angle separately

Issues found:

Critical logic bug in View::setZoomToMax() that adds max height to current height instead of setting to max
Syntax errors: typo heighScale instead of heightScale in ScriptActions
Unnecessary fabs() calls wrapping already-positive expressions in aspect ratio calculation

Confidence Score: 2/5

This PR has a critical logic bug that will cause incorrect camera behavior
Score reflects the critical bug in View::setZoomToMax() that incorrectly adds to current height rather than setting to max height, plus syntax errors in parameter naming that need correction before merge
Pay close attention to Core/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/View.cpp (logic bug), GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Include/GameLogic/ScriptActions.h and GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameLogic/ScriptEngine/ScriptActions.cpp (typos)

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
Core/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/View.cpp	Added `setZoomToMax()` with incorrect implementation that adds max height to current height instead of setting height to max
Core/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DView.cpp	Implemented aspect ratio-based camera height adjustment with unnecessary `fabs()` calls and refactored zoom methods
GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Include/GameLogic/ScriptActions.h	Updated `doCameraSetDefault()` signature with typo: `heighScale` instead of `heightScale`
GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameLogic/ScriptEngine/ScriptActions.cpp	Refactored `doCameraSetDefault()` to separately set height limits, pitch, and angle with typo in parameter name

Sequence Diagram

sequenceDiagram
    participant GameLogic
    participant InGameUI
    participant OptionsMenu
    participant TheTacticalView as W3DView
    participant GlobalData
    
    Note over GameLogic,W3DView: Game Initialization Flow
    GameLogic->>TheTacticalView: setCameraHeightAboveGroundLimitsToDefault()
    TheTacticalView->>GlobalData: Read m_maxCameraHeight & m_minCameraHeight
    TheTacticalView->>TheTacticalView: Calculate aspectRatioScale from viewport dimensions
    TheTacticalView->>TheTacticalView: Set m_maxHeightAboveGround = maxHeight * aspectRatioScale * heightScale
    TheTacticalView->>TheTacticalView: Set m_minHeightAboveGround = minHeight * aspectRatioScale
    GameLogic->>TheTacticalView: setAngleAndPitchToDefault()
    GameLogic->>TheTacticalView: setZoomToDefault()
    TheTacticalView->>TheTacticalView: setZoomToMax()
    TheTacticalView->>TheTacticalView: Calculate terrain height and desired zoom
    TheTacticalView->>TheTacticalView: Set m_zoom and m_heightAboveGround
    
    Note over InGameUI,TheTacticalView: UI Initialization/Reset Flow
    InGameUI->>TheTacticalView: setCameraHeightAboveGroundLimitsToDefault()
    TheTacticalView->>TheTacticalView: Recalculate height limits based on aspect ratio
    
    Note over OptionsMenu,TheTacticalView: Resolution Change Flow
    OptionsMenu->>TheTacticalView: setCameraHeightAboveGroundLimitsToDefault()
    TheTacticalView->>TheTacticalView: Recalculate height limits for new aspect ratio
    OptionsMenu->>TheTacticalView: setZoomToMax()
    TheTacticalView->>TheTacticalView: Adjust zoom for new height limits

greptile-apps

_{10 files reviewed, 4 comments}

_{Edit Code Review Agent Settings | Greptile}

greptile-apps · 2026-01-16T16:54:32Z

Core/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/View.cpp

+void View::setZoomToMax()
+{
+	setHeightAboveGround(getHeightAboveGround() + m_maxHeightAboveGround);
+}


logic: incorrectly adds m_maxHeightAboveGround to current height instead of setting height to max

Suggested change

void View::setZoomToMax()

{

setHeightAboveGround(getHeightAboveGround() + m_maxHeightAboveGround);

}

void View::setZoomToMax()

{

setHeightAboveGround(m_maxHeightAboveGround);

}

Prompt To Fix With AI

This is a comment left during a code review. Path: Core/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/View.cpp Line: 129:132 Comment: **logic:** incorrectly adds `m_maxHeightAboveGround` to current height instead of setting height to max ```suggestion void View::setZoomToMax() { setHeightAboveGround(m_maxHeightAboveGround); } ``` How can I resolve this? If you propose a fix, please make it concise.

greptile-apps · 2026-01-16T16:54:32Z

Core/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DView.cpp

+	if (currentAspectRatio > baseAspectRatio)
+	{
+		aspectRatioScale = fabs(( 1 + ( currentAspectRatio - baseAspectRatio) ));
+	}
+	else
+	{
+		aspectRatioScale = fabs(( 1 - ( baseAspectRatio - currentAspectRatio) ));
+	}


style: unnecessary fabs() wraps expressions that are already positive by construction

Suggested change

if (currentAspectRatio > baseAspectRatio)

{

aspectRatioScale = fabs(( 1 + ( currentAspectRatio - baseAspectRatio) ));

}

else

{

aspectRatioScale = fabs(( 1 - ( baseAspectRatio - currentAspectRatio) ));

}

if (currentAspectRatio > baseAspectRatio)

{

aspectRatioScale = 1 + (currentAspectRatio - baseAspectRatio);

}

else

{

aspectRatioScale = 1 - (baseAspectRatio - currentAspectRatio);

}

Prompt To Fix With AI

This is a comment left during a code review. Path: Core/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DView.cpp Line: 1942:1949 Comment: **style:** unnecessary `fabs()` wraps expressions that are already positive by construction ```suggestion if (currentAspectRatio > baseAspectRatio) { aspectRatioScale = 1 + (currentAspectRatio - baseAspectRatio); } else { aspectRatioScale = 1 - (baseAspectRatio - currentAspectRatio); } ``` How can I resolve this? If you propose a fix, please make it concise.

greptile-apps · 2026-01-16T16:54:33Z

GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameLogic/ScriptEngine/ScriptActions.cpp

 /** doCameraSetDefault */
 //-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-void ScriptActions::doCameraSetDefault(Real pitch, Real angle, Real maxHeight)
+void ScriptActions::doCameraSetDefault(Real pitch, Real angle, Real heighScale)


syntax: typo: heighScale should be heightScale

Suggested change

void ScriptActions::doCameraSetDefault(Real pitch, Real angle, Real heighScale)

void ScriptActions::doCameraSetDefault(Real pitch, Real angle, Real heightScale)

Prompt To Fix With AI

This is a comment left during a code review. Path: GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameLogic/ScriptEngine/ScriptActions.cpp Line: 4611:4611 Comment: **syntax:** typo: `heighScale` should be `heightScale` ```suggestion void ScriptActions::doCameraSetDefault(Real pitch, Real angle, Real heightScale) ``` How can I resolve this? If you propose a fix, please make it concise.

greptile-apps · 2026-01-16T16:54:34Z

GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Include/GameLogic/ScriptActions.h

 	void doCameraTetherNamed(const AsciiString& unit, Bool snapToUnit, Real play);
 	void doCameraStopTetherNamed(void);
-	void doCameraSetDefault(Real pitch, Real angle, Real maxHeight);
+	void doCameraSetDefault(Real pitch, Real angle, Real heighScale);


syntax: typo: heighScale should be heightScale

Suggested change

void doCameraSetDefault(Real pitch, Real angle, Real heighScale);

void doCameraSetDefault(Real pitch, Real angle, Real heightScale);

Prompt To Fix With AI

This is a comment left during a code review. Path: GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Include/GameLogic/ScriptActions.h Line: 114:114 Comment: **syntax:** typo: `heighScale` should be `heightScale` ```suggestion void doCameraSetDefault(Real pitch, Real angle, Real heightScale); ``` How can I resolve this? If you propose a fix, please make it concise.

Mauller self-assigned this Oct 18, 2025

Mauller added Bug Something is not working right, typically is user facing GUI For graphical user interface Major Severity: Minor < Major < Critical < Blocker Gen Relates to Generals ZH Relates to Zero Hour labels Oct 18, 2025

Mauller added this to the Major bug fixes milestone Oct 18, 2025

Skyaero42 reviewed Oct 18, 2025

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GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameLogic/System/GameLogic.cpp Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

xezon added Enhancement Is new feature or request and removed GUI For graphical user interface labels Oct 19, 2025

Mauller force-pushed the fix-default-camera-height branch from 02a64e0 to 57fe78d Compare October 19, 2025 15:37

xezon reviewed Oct 19, 2025

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Mauller force-pushed the fix-default-camera-height branch from 57fe78d to 271ca5b Compare October 19, 2025 19:09

Mauller force-pushed the fix-default-camera-height branch from 271ca5b to f6c96d8 Compare October 19, 2025 19:36

Mauller force-pushed the fix-default-camera-height branch from f6c96d8 to c3c7b85 Compare October 19, 2025 19:56

L3-M modified the milestones: Major bug fixes, GenTool features replication, Important features Oct 20, 2025

L3-M added this to the GenTool features replication milestone Oct 20, 2025

xezon reviewed Oct 22, 2025

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Mauller force-pushed the fix-default-camera-height branch from c3c7b85 to 7acc71b Compare October 23, 2025 18:30

Mauller changed the title ~~fix(view): Adjust default camera height to compensate for screen aspect ratio~~ fix(view): Adjust default camera height to compensate for screen aspect ratio, reduce camera map limits and increase terrain render distance. Oct 23, 2025

Mauller force-pushed the fix-default-camera-height branch from 7acc71b to c5fbb86 Compare October 24, 2025 13:42

Mauller force-pushed the fix-default-camera-height branch from c5fbb86 to 52f7de7 Compare October 26, 2025 09:56

xezon mentioned this pull request Oct 26, 2025

bugfix(view): Fix and improve map border camera constraints behavior to allow see all areas of the map comfortably #1752

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2 tasks

xezon reviewed Oct 26, 2025

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L3-M mentioned this pull request Oct 27, 2025

Replicate relevant GenTool fixes and improvements #850

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34 tasks

Mauller force-pushed the fix-default-camera-height branch from 52f7de7 to ab0b316 Compare November 1, 2025 14:15

Mauller changed the title ~~fix(view): Adjust default camera height to compensate for screen aspect ratio, reduce camera map limits and increase terrain render distance.~~ fix(view): Adjust default camera height to compensate for screen aspect ratio Nov 1, 2025

Mauller force-pushed the fix-default-camera-height branch 3 times, most recently from 968ad71 to e497ba8 Compare November 7, 2025 16:15

Skyaero42 mentioned this pull request Nov 7, 2025

[ZH] Adjust field of view based on aspect ratio #518

Closed

Mauller force-pushed the fix-default-camera-height branch from e497ba8 to a0b7db7 Compare January 16, 2026 16:48

greptile-apps bot reviewed Jan 16, 2026

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fix(view): Adjust default camera height based on aspect ratio

22e6c6b

Mauller force-pushed the fix-default-camera-height branch from a0b7db7 to 22e6c6b Compare January 28, 2026 18:25

	void ScriptActions::doCameraSetDefault(Real pitch, Real angle, Real heighScale)
	void ScriptActions::doCameraSetDefault(Real pitch, Real angle, Real heightScale)

	void doCameraSetDefault(Real pitch, Real angle, Real heighScale);
	void doCameraSetDefault(Real pitch, Real angle, Real heightScale);

fix(view): Adjust default camera height to compensate for screen aspect ratio #1711

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fix(view): Adjust default camera height to compensate for screen aspect ratio #1711

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Greptile Overview

Greptile Summary

Confidence Score: 2/5

Important Files Changed

Sequence Diagram

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