Hey all,

I've hacked together a solution for myself to play GOG's version of the first Alien Shooter in widescreen resolutions. Then decided it might be useful to someone else, added a few more options and cleaned it up a bit, and made ModDB page

There's a detailed info in ModDB description and in READme file in the zip-archive with the mod, but what you need to know is basically this:
- it's a very simple combination of hex-hack and edited scripts, apart from unlocking some options it doesn't do much (no fixes, stability improvements etc), so...
- BACK UP your .exe and scripts in Maps folder (or just the whole folder) before applying it;
- all the listed resolutions (a selection of most common ones up to 1080p) will work, as long as your hardware can handle them, but their support was turned off by developers for a reason: the game clearly wasn't designed/tested with such a variety of graphical options in mind, so expect some glitches and hick-ups, detailed list in said READme;
- the interface pretty much doesn't scale, so say at 1080p on 15' display things can get hard to read.

To apply the hack, simply copy the archive's contents in game's root folder, overwriting original files.

It won't work on non-GOG version, unfortunately. If you have a Steam copy, check the guides there.

Hope this helps someone. Cheers!

Steam version already have it. Sigma update all they're games in 2018, and bring some features... and bugs.
Now Steam versions - abs. different games.

В Стим версию же завезли разрешения... Там правда не юез глюков. ну и сами уровни не предназначены для тех разрешений - черные области повсюду теперь.

Угу, видел, но на pcgw пишут только о 1440х900, которое скорее обрезанное 1280х720. Черные куски на границах уровней да, будут, но лично мне они не то чтобы мешали/резали глаз на 1366х768. На 1080p похуже, нуу чтож.

В любом случае, это скорее просто дисклеймер, в т.ч. для тех, у кого копии из ритейла или куплены через сайт разработчика.

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Yup, I'm aware of that but pcgw mentions only 1440x900 that possibly is cut 1280x720 actually. Black areas at levels' edges are indeed visible but they didn't annoy me/were actively in the way at 1366x768. It's worse at 1080p, though.

Anyway, it's more of a disclaimer, if only to those with copies from retail or bought through devs' website.

Huh, a lot of databases list September 14 as Alien Shooter's original release date (although several say it was actually in August, and one in October).

So, Happy 16th Birthday (kinda (maybe?)) to Alien Shooter!

Hello there. This is an amazing mod, so thank you for your work.

Is there anyway to have either customized resolutions, or add 3840x2160 or 2736x1824?

Thank you!

You're certainly welcome, glad it's working out for you!

As to adding resolutions this high, short answer: almost certainly no, sadly.

Long answer: even if the application itself can reliably handle them (i.e. not crash and/or glitch itself out), there is a bunch of other problems cropping up alongside. I'd say the unscalable HUD would be the biggest issue: it's certainly suboptimal at 1080p as is, and for 2160p it absolutely needs to be upscaled somehow (maybe creating some dedicated menu files through the map editor? they are used by original scripts, on per resolution basis, but I added a workaround that cobbles the HUD together on the app startup depending on the chosen resolution).

This one is at least doable in theory, but the game's engine is really not designed for resolutions even as high as 1080p. You'll notice (or already had) a bunch of quirks that pop up all over the place: enemy AI reacting correctly only at certain proximity to the player, thus frequently lining up for a frozen shooting gallery in open spaces; sound fading in and out in parts of the levels, mostly at their edges; the levels themselves exposing their black spots where nothing was built, because they would be hidden at a lower res (and survival map doesn't even scroll/isn't aligned properly due to its tiny size iirc). I would expect these and possibly other not observed yet problems only to worsen along with the resolution numbers being pushed up.

My only advice would be to look to other versions of the game. Steam's version uses a modified .exe-file that may be easier to hack into (there was a Steam guide with instructions but it is taken down now, maybe you'll be able to google it somewhere else). And Revisited is a different version altogether, with a simpler means to fiddle with resolutions (instructions here — www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Alien_Shooter:_Revisited#Widescreen_resolution ).
Hope this helps.