How to fix mouse cursor problems & wide screen black borders (win xp and above)

This is my solution for this (already locked) posting:
http://forums.bigfishgames.com/posts/list/164677.page

Unfortunately Bird Pirates shows some compatibility issues when played on wide screen displays:

- the mouse cursor may moved out of the game screen
...into the right black border
- the game shows blank black borders on both sides

These wide screen displays are the problem, at least what I've found out yet.

Here is how to fix the above issues:
Use the windows compatibility setting to give Bird Pirates a desktop resolution with a known x/y aspect ratio: 640x480 pixels:

- Enter the folder where you've installed the game
- Make sure all files are shown
...(explorer folder options: show HIDDEN files)
- Right click "Bird Pirates.exe" and select "properties"
- Go to the "compatibility" tab
- Choose "[x] Run in resolution 640 x 480"

The above setting applies also to the already existing start menu entries, created by the bigfish game manager installation of the game.

This will not reduce the game's resolution in any way, it just avoids a false detected screen format which is the reason for these ugly black bars at left and right. Other game's show the same problem and may fixed by the way described above too.

I've tried these successfully so far, as I wrote:
Bato - Treasures of Tibet ("bato.exe")
Beach Blox ("BeachBlox.exe")
Coconut Queen ("CoconutQueen.exe")
Eldorado (Lost Treasures of El Dorado) ("eldorado.exe")
Jungle Quest ("Game.exe")
The Island Castaway ("The Island - Castaway.exe")
The Island Castaway 2 ("The Island - Castaway 2.exe")
The Treasures of Montezuma 2 ("TreasuresOfMontezuma2.exe")
Pathstorm ("Pathstorm.exe")

These require a resultion change up to 1280x960 before run. I suggest using a utility doing this automatically by integrating into the game's modified link target, as far I wrote:
Link target: ...\Res-O-Matic\reso.exe "...\Games\Bumps\Bumps.exe" 1280 960 32

Link target: ...\Res-O-Matic\reso.exe "...\Games\Lost Head\LostHead.exe" 1280 960 32

The only border you should still avoid is the menu button on the buttom of the screen of course. But your mouse cursor cannot leave the screen anymore and your clicks are always recognized.

P.S.: Install a utility to save & restore your desktop icon positions!!

Please verify the resolution shown on screen when your game runs by entering the on-screen-menu of your display and hoping you've a info page there which shows the resolution and some more data.


Usually scaling is disabled at graphics card and display, so the above shown compatibility option or desktop resolution change still keeps the black borders also for a known aspect ratio also for a exspected old school resolution like e.g. 640x480, 800x600 or 1024x768.


After a exspected old school resolution is displayed (and no extended one with added black pixels left and right) you've to enable non-ratio stable (forced, to always use the full screen) scaling at your display (some makes a good job here without putting load on your graphics card) OR at your graphics card options (which causes additional load for the card).

Please join the discussion here with your results and experience to enable more fishies to enjoy their beloved games also at full wide screens today.