BVE Routes & Trains

BVE2 and BVE4 "Reschanger" Programs
Updated February 2008

Hosted here with kind permission from the program's author, known as reschanger on RailUK.

Please note that these programs are for BVE Trainsim v2.6.0.3 and BVE Trainsim v4.2.1947.25355 only, and requires Microsoft .Net Framework v2.0.

These programs have been hosted on BVE Routes & Trains to allow all BVE2 and 4 users to access them. Before, users were restricted to signing up to a forum. Now, anyone can download them and enjoy them.

The explanation that follows outlines details of the BVE4 program. The BVE2 program acts in a similar way, which is described in the ReadMe documentation which can be accessed here and in the download.

What This Program is For

BVE 4 provides two options for displaying: Using window mode in 640x480 or using fullscreen mode in either 640x480, 800x600 or 1024x768. It does not let you set up any other resolutions.

If you have a widescreen monitor for instance, you can either play the game in a small window of 640x480 or have your picture be totally stretched horizontally in fullscreen mode. If you have an LCD with 5:4 aspect ratio, your image will be squashed likewise.

If you have a display with a resolution of 1600x1200 and wanted to use that to play, BVE does not let you.

This program lets you choose any resolution for window and fullscreen mode, so you can enjoy higher resolutions, widescreen resolutions or have a bigger window in window mode.

How To Use It?

Place the BVE4ResolutionChanger.exe in the same directory as BVE.exe and run BVE4ResolutionChanger.exe. The tool will first check if your BVE.exe has the right checksum. If not, you might be running a different version than 4.2.1947.25355. Download this (at the time of writing newest) version from Mackoy's website then.

When open for the first time, the tool will silently create a backup of your BVE.exe named BVE4ResolutionChangerBackup.dat, which you can later restore by clicking on the restore button should anything go wrong.

You can set up the resolutions you want for window mode and for fullscreen mode independently. Click the patch button and your BVE.exe will be patched to use the resolutions you entered.

To use window mode, just select it from BVE's display mode settings dialog. To use fullscreen mode, choose fullscreen mode from BVE's dialog and select "Custom" where previously was "640 x 480".

What Problems Might I Expect?

BVE 4 is programmed with 4:3 resolutions in mind.

If you set up a widescreen resolution, e.g. 1680x1050 (8:5), a part of your cab, namely the top and bottom, will be cropped away. The top might not be a problem, because it is usually sky only, while the bottom could be a problem, because you will usually have at least some cab controls there. Give it a try and depending on the train in use it might turn out OK, otherwise use a 4:3 window mode instead.

For narrower resolutions, e.g. 1280x1024 (5:4), a common LCD resolution, the parts above and below the cab will be transparent, so you can see the background (sky, rails) when scrolling too much up or down.

You can set up any arbitrary resolutions in window mode as long as it is not bigger than your desktop. Remember that when windowed, the window border takes up a little space, too, so use a little less than your actual desktop resolution. For example having a 1680x1050 widescreen, you could use 1440x900.

Fullscreen resolutions are probably limited to what the graphics card, driver or DirectX support. Use only common resolutions or be willing to experiment.

Downloads

BVEv2.6.0.3 "Reschanger"	v1.0.0.0 (Fenruary 2008)	DOWNLOAD
BVE4.2.1947.25355 "Reschanger"	v1.0.1.5 (February 2008)	DOWNLOAD