I've been trying to get Splinter Cell to run in 16:9 resolution, but when I try to save over the .ini file it gives me an "Access is denied" message. Does anyone know why this might be happening?

Here is the guide that I've been following.
http://www.wsgf.org/dr/splinter-cell

Any help would be much appreciated :)

This worked, I edited the file and it let me save, but I'm not sure that it did anything. I should mention that I have a problem with the game running in any resolution higher than 1024x768. If I try to run it at the two higher resolutions, the game will play but I only see a black screen and some light sources.

I've attached comparison screenshots before and after I made the change. It seems that nothing happened. Any ideas?

Hmm, it seems that your PC can't output higher resolutions. Widescreen should work with the .ini change. What are your system specs?

HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook PC
AMD A8-3500M APU Quad Core @ 1.5GHz
4GB RAM
AMD Radeon 6620G
Windows 7 x64
Monitor is 1366x768
Running DX11

I see. Unfortunately, integrated graphics cards always cause a lot of problems. A good start is to update your graphics card drivers to their latest version. You should also update DirectX. Hopefully it works okay after that.

Have you tried other games on that notebook and did you notice any problems?

I updated my graphics card drivers and checked again but the problem is still happening. I can set the game to my native resolution, but I only see blackness on the screen (aside from the HUD) and hear in-game audio. I'm not sure how to update my version of DirectX.

This is the only game that I have a problem with, every other one that I try can run in my resolution. I haven't installed any mods or made any changes to the game.

EDIT: Got it working by running it in compatibility mode for Windows XP :) Unfortunately, I lost my game saves as well, but that's not a big deal. I will try modding the .ini file again and post the results :)

EDIT Part 2: It seems that the problem comes back when I change my FOV. I was able to get it working in high detail in high resolution, but had to change the FOV back to the default 75.0 rather than the 85 that the site suggests. This will work fine for me though, thank you for the help :)

Hello again. Glad you got it working. :)

You can visit the official DirectX page to update your DirectX. Download the web installer, and run it.

About your missing saves, you can check out this thread. Look for the files in one of those folders and then try moving them from the empty directory to the other. Sometimes, Windows stores the settings and saves for a specific game in one location, but after running it in various compatiblity and/or administrative modes, that location may change.

When I tried to update DirectX, it told me that my current version did not require the use of the installer. And I couldn't find my saves in either of the locations in the thread, just the autosave from the first level last night when I tried it out. But that's okay, I think I'll be making a Let's Play of the game anyway so I'll have to start off at level one :)

How to enhance graphics and/or enable wide(er)screen for SC1

Ok, so there is a lot of scattered information across these forums and other places on the interwebs, so in an attempt to consolidate all of this information, I

am posting it here in this thread into 10 easy steps. Most of it is copied and pasted. I'm not trying to take credit away from anyone, just trying to put it all

in one spot because I spent at least 2 hours scouring/trying to understand everything. So here is the quick and dirty way to do this. Please note however, you

may want to tweak some of the below settings to your own liking.

Step 1. Go to the installation directory for Splinter Cell.
Step 2. Open SplinterCell.ini.
Step 3. Replace everything under [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice] with this:

Translucency=True
VolumetricLighting=True
ShinySurfaces=True
HighDetailActors=True
UsePrecaching=True
UseMipmapping=True
UseTrilinear=True
UseMultitexture=True
UsePageFlipping=True
UseFullscreen=False
UseGammaCorrection=True
DetailTextures=True
UseTripleBuffering=True
UsePrecache=True
Use32BitTextures=True
HardwareSkinning=False
AdapterNumber=-1
ReduceMouseLag=False
UseTripleBuffering=True
; ForceShadowMode flag : 0==projector, 1==buffer, unspecified==auto-detect
ForceShadowMode=0
EmulateGF2Mode=0
FullScreenVideo=True
UseVsync=True

Step 4. Save.

Step 5. Open SplinterCellUser.ini.
Step 6. Replace everything under [Engine.EPCGameOptions] with this:

AnimatedGeometry=True
ShadowLevel=3
LightMapsLevel=3
TextureLevel=3
Resolution=1920x1080
AmbiantVolume=99
VoicesVolume=99
MusicVolume=50
AudioVirt=2
Sound3DAcc=false
EAX=false
InvertMouse=False
FireEquipGun=False
MouseSensitivity=50
ShadowResolution=3
EnableFadeOut=0
FadeOutNearPlane=1000
FadeOutFarPlane=1250
SFXVolume=99
Brightness=50
Gamma=50
EffectsQuality=3
FadeOut=0
VidMem=2
GraphicsCaps=2
EAX_Capable=False
AntiAliasing=3

(Comment: For Resolution=, enter your monitor's actual resolution or your desired resolution. In this example, my resolution is 1920x1080 so that is what I

entered)

Step 7. Set DesiredFOV and Default FOV under [Engine.PlayerController] = to one of the following based on your monitor's ratio:

4:3 --- 75
15:9 --- 87.61661884
16:10 --- 85.2812718522
16:9 --- 91.3154482287

For me personally I have:
DesiredFOV=91.3154482287
DefaultFOV=91.3154482287

For Reference:
15:9 Resolutions
1280x768

16:10 Resolutions
1280x800
1440x900
1680x1050
1920x1200

16:9 Resolutions
1280x720
1920x1080

Step 8. Open nVidia control panel (or go to similar location for ATI cards) and enable FXAA either Globally or just for Splinter Cell.


If you change e.g. keyboard mapping you have to do all steps again.
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/app/13560/discussions/0/864972399787738759/?ctp=2 , but with my (AlienMind) testing and actually modifying two parameters (ForceShadowMode=0, EmulateGF2Mode=0), so that water textures AND shadows work.

Once you change the FOV you need to create an entirely new profile.

Just wanted to highlight the first link in the "Baseline (Widescreen) Solution & Issues" section on WSGF.org: http://thirteenag.github.io/wfp#sc

It seems to be an easy widescreen fix and also solves the HUD stretching and FOV issue. It defaults to your desktop resolution, I set it to 3840x2160 (using Nvidia's DSR, plus enabling FXAA to smoothen edges some more).

I personally use the d3d8.dll supplied in the above link and the following section:

[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]
ForceShadowMode=0

And it works well enough. Lighting looks different from how it looks on a GeForce 4800, but the shadows are there.

Hi,
I found an easy way to do this - go to your splinter cell installation, and go to the system folder. Open SplinterCellUser (with notepad) and go to [Engine.EPCGameOptions] (it's at the bottom). Look for resolution and set it to your res. Save the file. BOOM... It's done! Videos seem to run in widescreen, just with with a border.
If it says 'Access is denied' the close it and open notepad as an administrator. Then go to file, and open, go to your splinter cell installation, into system and open SplinterCellUser. Do as above. I hope that helps!