The games original display ratio is 4:3 aka 1.33 so if we use a calculator and put 640 / 480 = 1.33 which is a 4:3 ratio. If we use 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x960, 1600x1200 for example are all 4:3 ratio's if you were to check with calculator.
Note that other 'squareish' resolutions are not 4:3 ratio, ie: 1280x1024 (1280 / 1024 = 1.25 which is a 5:4 ratio)
For widescreen's;
1280x800 resolution through calculator 1280 / 800 = 1.6 which is a 16:10 ratio.
Other widescreen resolutions may give you a 16:9 ratio for example.
When we use a resolution that is not of a 4:3 ratio there is only two things that can happen:
1) We stretch the picture either vertically/horizontally or both to make it fill the screen. Satisfaction is in the 'eye of the beholder'.
2) We have a 4:3 ratio picture shown fullscreen with 'black borders' padding out the edges. This will give a more accurate picture but the black borders maybe distracting/awkward for some people.
Unfortunately if you are unable to change the games fullscreen resolution, which is the case with Lemmings Revolution. Then you end up with a small picture inside big black borders.
Now the interesting thing to learn about here, is to do with how your monitor or graphics card manages any resolution that is not your 'native resolution'.
1) For example; my video card has 'Image Scaling' where I can tick a checkbox 'Enable GPU scaling' and then pick from three options: Maintain aspect ratio, Scale image to full panel size, Use centered timings.
2) For example; widescreen monitors will also have settings like: ratio 1:1, 4:3, 16:9, 16:10, stretch to fill screen, centered image display (or something similar)
If you think carefully about these settings you can probably work out what each will do with the fullscreen picture displayed.
***Basically if your monitor has these settings, then only use those and deactivate video card 'Image Scaling'. If your monitor doesn't have these settings, then your only option is to enable video card 'Image Scaling'. ALL OF THIS IS ONLY FOR WIDESCREEN MONITORS. THIS IS OBVIOUSLY NOT NECESSARY WITH OLD 'SQUAREISH' 4:3 MONITORS.***
I am quite sure that if you are playing Lemmings Revolution *fullscreen* and you change your desktop resolution beforehand to a size you think may look nicer, will make no difference to how Lemmings Revolution is shown *fullscreen*. The only way to make a difference is when using either your video cards or monitors 'Image Scaling'/'Ratio' settings.
Ok, so what else can we do then?
Well, there is one way that we can control the size of the game's display on our screens and not have black borders. That is to play it in a 'Window'.
For example, if your desktop is 1280x800 you could play the game inside a 4:3 ratio 1024x768 window. D3DWindower will stretch the game to 1024x768 for us, which we can't do while playing fullscreen (since Lemmings Revolution has no ingame options to do this). Your desktop will then fill the rest of the screen area in the background.
I hope that is a better explaination of everything? Please ask questions if I missed something or if parts are confusing.
