[Bug 80868] Support screen scaling modes for external monitors

[bugzilla-daemon at freedesktop.org]

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=80868

--- Comment #4 from Kamil Páral <kamil.paral at gmail.com> ---
(In reply to comment #2)
> A deeper question is, why run non-native modes to begin with?  Whether it's
> the GPU or the monitor, it's always going to end up scaled.  Why do you want
> to run 1920x1080 when you can run 1920x1200?

I see several reasons:

1) Games do not support all resolutions. All old games (think Diablo or
Starcraft) have a) fixed 4:3 ratio b) a fixed resolution around 800x600. Newer
games (think Warcraft 3) didn't have fixed resolutions, but still had fixed
aspect ratio. But even modern games sometimes do this - when Witcher 2 (AAA
game from 2012) came out, it supported only 16:9 resolutions, but none of 16:10
resolutions (they fixed in afterwards with a patch). Moreover, there is often a
resolution cap hardcoded in the game which is the maximum resolution the
developers tested the game with. So if you buy 1440p or 2160p display today,
you might be surprised how many games don't allow your native resolution to be
selected, for no apparent reason.

2) Performance reasons. If your system is not able to run modern games in your
native resolution even with low details, you simply need to use a lower one,
there is no other choice. Lowering your resolution is the number one approach
how to make the game faster. It is very common.

3) Some people might prefer to run in a lower resolution to make things
"bigger". This might not be too common and probably not apply to games, rather
desktop. But I personally know some older people with a bit worse eyesight, who
prefer blurry but bigger text and widgets, rather than small and sharp.


(In reply to comment #1)
> I'm not sure when I'll have time to implement this, but just about
> everything you need is already in place.  The attached patch should get you
> started and may even work...

Thanks a lot! I'm not able to finalize this patch, but I hope someone more
capable will (I can blog about it to get some attention).

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