# Display Guide

What the settings in the View, Picture and Frame Rate menus do, and when you might want to
change them. Your choices are remembered. They only affect how the game looks on your screen,
not how it plays, so online games with Windows players work whatever you choose.

> **In short:** the recommended settings suit almost everyone, and each group in the menus lists
> its recommended choice first. You might change something if:
> - you want to see more of the level, or bigger pixels: **View, Zoom Out** or **Zoom In**;
> - you want a different look: the styles in the **Picture** menu;
> - you want it exactly like the original: **View, Other Sizes, Classic 640x480**.
>
> If something looks wrong, **View, Reset All Display Settings** puts everything back to the
{mac} > recommended choice. `⌘` `,` opens these menus over the game, handy in full screen.
{linux} > recommended choice. `F11` opens these menus over the game, handy in full screen.

## View
~ How much of the level you see, and how big it is.

### Full screen
- **Enter Full Screen** switches between a window and the whole screen. Your display's
  resolution is never changed.
{mac}   `⌥` `Return`, `⌘` `Ctrl` `F` and the green button do the same.
{linux}   `Alt` `Return` does the same.

### View size
- **Fit to Screen** (recommended) shows about as much of the level as the original game did, at
  a size where every pixel is the same size on your screen, so the picture stays sharp. The menu
  shows the size it picked, for example 756x474 on a 14-inch MacBook Pro in full screen.
- **Zoom Out** shows more of the level, with smaller pixels. **Zoom In** shows less of it, with
  bigger pixels.
{mac}   `⌘` `−` and `⌘` `=` do the same.
- **Other Sizes** lists every zoom step and some fixed sizes. **Classic 640x480** is the original
  game's own view. 800x600 is the size JJ2+ players use. The widescreen sizes fill a wide screen
  without bars.
- Views wider than 1280 pixels are marked *some backgrounds may end*. A few levels were made
  with the original's small view in mind, and their backgrounds stop short in a very wide one.
- The view size can only be changed during play. In the game's menus, cutscenes and loading
  screens these options are greyed out.

### Online and two players
- **Competitive Online** (recommended, on) limits your view to 800x600 at most while you play
  online: never wider than 800 or taller than 600, whatever your window's shape. A bigger screen
  does not let you see opponents before they see you. Once these builds can join Plus Only servers,
  each server's own maximum resolution will be respected, as it is for JJ2+ players, and this
  setting will not override it. You can turn it off for co-op games or
  games among friends.
- **Two-Player Split Screen** chooses how the screen is divided when two people play on one
  computer. **Level's Choice** (recommended) does what the original game does. **Side by Side**
  gives each player a tall half, which suits a wide screen. **Top and Bottom** gives each a wide
  half.

## Picture
~ How the game's pixels are drawn on your screen. This is purely a matter of taste; none of
~ these options affects speed or input lag.

### Style
| Style | What it looks like | Choose it if |
| **Sharp Pixels** (recommended) | Crisp square pixels, exactly as the game was drawn. | You want the original look. |
| **Soft** | Pixels blended into each other: less blocky, slightly blurry. | Sharp pixels look harsh to you on a big screen. |
| **Smooth Edges** | Diagonal edges and curves are smoothed; flat areas and straight edges stay sharp. | You want a cleaner look that keeps the detail. |
| **Arcade CRT** | An old arcade monitor: glowing scanlines, RGB stripes, curved glass and darker corners. | You want the look of a 1990s screen. Best in full screen on a large display. |

### Extras
- **Scanlines** darkens every other line, like an old TV. It only shows when the pixels are big
  enough (two screen pixels tall or more). Arcade CRT has its own scanlines, so this is greyed
  out there.
- **Whole Pixels Only** keeps every pixel exactly the same whole size, with black bars around the
  picture. Use it with Classic 640x480 for a perfectly even grid. Fit to Screen already keeps
  pixels even, so most players never need this.

### Colours
- **16-Bit Colours** (recommended) is the game's full colour mode, with smooth lighting and
  transparency effects.
- **8-Bit Colours** is the game's 256-colour mode from older PCs. A few effects look plainer.
  Choose it for the original 8-bit look.

## Frame Rate
~ How frames reach your screen. The game itself always runs at its original 70 updates a second;
~ this setting only decides how those frames are shown, which affects how smooth motion looks
~ and how quickly a key press appears on screen.

- **Automatic** (recommended) currently means Smooth on every display. The menu shows your
  display's refresh rate, for example *Smooth on this 120 Hz screen*.
- **Smooth** draws a new frame at every refresh of your display, with everything positioned
  between two of the game's updates, so motion is even whether your display runs at 50, 60, 120
  or 144 Hz. The picture is never more than one game update (a 70th of a second) behind, and
  input lag is as low as with Fastest Response.
- **Even 70** shows only the game's own 70 frames a second, each once, as the original drew
  them. On a 120 Hz display each frame is held for one or two refreshes in turn, which is
  slightly uneven. A display slower than 70 Hz cannot show 70 frames a second; there it shows
  the newest frame at each refresh, as the original game did on a 60 Hz monitor.
- **Fastest Response** shows each of the game's frames at the display's next refresh and never
  lets frames queue up. Input lag is the same as with Smooth, but on a fast display many
  refreshes repeat the previous frame, so motion is less even.
- **Show FPS** shows, at the top left, how many frames a second reached the screen. The game's
  own F9 counter shows the frames it drew, with its update rate (always 70) above.

| Display | Smooth | Even 70 | Fastest Response |
| 120 Hz, full screen | about 22 ms | about 20 ms | about 27 ms |
| 120 Hz, window | about 32 ms | about 31 ms | about 31 ms |
| 60 Hz, full screen | about 40 ms | about 41 ms | about 41 ms |
| 50 Hz, full screen | about 53 ms | about 49 ms | about 49 ms |

~ Typical input lag from key press to screen, measured on a MacBook Pro at each refresh rate.
~ Full screen is quicker than a window because the system has to combine a window with the rest
~ of the desktop before showing it.

## Keys
| Keys | What they do |
{mac} | `⌥` `Return` or `⌘` `Ctrl` `F` | Full screen or window |
{mac} | `⌘` `=` | Zoom in (bigger pixels) |
{mac} | `⌘` `−` | Zoom out (see more) |
{mac} | `⌘` `,` | These menus over the game |
{mac} | `⌘` `Q` | Quit |
{linux} | `Alt` `Return` | Full screen or window |
{linux} | `F11`, or Back and Start together on a controller | These menus over the game |

~ The game's own Options, Video screen still shows the size and colours in use, but in this
~ version they are changed from these menus instead.
