Using the /viewport command
What is /viewport?
/viewport is a command that resizes or relocates your game display in Everquest. If you consider your computer monitor to be a grid of numbered pixels starting at 0,0 in the upper left corner and going to 1024, 768 (or whatever your maximum resolution may be) in the lower right corner, you can use /viewport to resize Everquest's rendered output and place it anywhere on that grid.
By convention, use 'x' to indicate horizontal coordinates and 'y' to indicate vertical coordinates.
http://www.furinkan.net/mirror/vptut-xy.jpg
How do I use /viewport?
The /viewport command requires four numbers to be entered in sequence. These four numbers are
- The left-most edge of your new game window
- The top-most edge of your new game window
- The width of your new game window in pixels
- The height of your new game window in pixels
Once you've determined these four numbers, type them in sequence after the /viewport command separated by spaces. Your display will be resized. The area surrounding your resized display will turn black.
/viewport x y width height
It's helpful to know your display's current resolution while doing this. If your current resolution is 1600 x 1200, you'll have more room with which to position your display than if you had a 1024 x 768 resolution.
For the sake of illustration, we'll use a display that's 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall. You can scale all the following examples to your own display resolution.
http://www.furinkan.net/mirror/vptut-default.jpg
For example, to create a small, rectangular display in the upper left of the screen, you would use the command:
/viewport 0 0 340 220
http://www.furinkan.net/mirror/vptut-ul.jpg
Please note that in this and all following examples, UI elements have been dragged to display more of the game display.
To create a display that takes up the entire width of the screen, but leaves blank space at the bottom you would use a command like
/viewport 0 0 800 400
http://www.furinkan.net/mirror/vptut-top.jpg
Conversely, if we wanted the top third of the screen blank rather than the bottom third, we could use
/viewport 0 200 800 400
This starts the display against the left edge of the screen, but 200 pixels down. It then draws the same 800 pixel wide, 400 pixel tall display.
http://www.furinkan.net/mirror/vptut-bottom.jpg
By the same token, we could create a small square in the center top of the screen...
/viewport 200 0 400 400
http://www.furinkan.net/mirror/vptut-center.jpg
Or take up the entire left half of the screen while keeping the right half blank.
http://www.furinkan.net/mirror/vptut-left.jpg
Why would I want to use /viewport?
There are a few reasons this command exists. Use of it is optional, but when used correctly, it can aid or enhance your gameplay.
Framerate - If you use a smaller display, your graphics card has fewer pixels to render and can therefore render the scene faster. This can significantly reduce framerate loss or what players often incorrectly refer to as 'lag' in crowded or complex areas.
Readability - Everquest currently displays chat windows and other user interface elements on top of the regular display by default. Those elements can be set to use partial or complete transparency when not in use so that the entire display can be seen 'through' them. This causes situations where chat text or other text messages are not as readable as they could be. By using the /viewport command, a player can arrange the display and chat windows so all are visible and fully opaque at the same time without covering or obscuring each other.
Please refer to the images above for examples of how this might work. Chat windows or other interface elements can be dragged into the 'blank' area of the screen while the entirety of a player's field of vision remains visible, if reduced in size.
Custom Interface - Many custom interface elements for Everquest require or encourage the use of the /viewport command in order to display correctly. Depending on player preference, these interfaces may be preferable to the default user interface.
http://www.eqinterface.com/sdownload/p.php?id=1881
You can learn more about custom interfaces at
http://www.eqinterface.com/
Remember, If you decide that the /viewport command is obscuring your display, you can always revert back to your normal display by typing:
/viewport reset