Limited zoom out

[Hypersonic]

On E4M1 Doom I wish to zoom out to see the entire map, but it won't let me. It's not a large map so I don't see why not.

[wildweasel]

I've always wondered about that - it's been a thing since doom.exe, that on very small maps, the automap just will not let you zoom out very far. What was the rationale behind it, and is it safe to remove that cap?

[Rachael]

I think the rationale behind it was the fact that Doom was running on a 320x200 screen and if you zoomed it out too far the whole thing would just be a red blurry mess. Additionally, drawing the lines on such a map costs processing power - something ye olde 386 and 486's of old had precious little of. Zooming out too far, particularly on complex maps, would cost precious processor cycles and make it difficult, if not impossible, to not only use the automap screen but to exit from it.

If you want to zoom it out more in GZDoom, you could probably make a feature suggestion. With faster GPU/CPU's today and higher resolution screens, relaxing the limitations probably won't be too hurtful.

[Hypersonic]

E4M1 is only about 1100 units to each side from center (2200 total width) yet E3M8 is about 1800 units to each side from center (almost 4000 units total width) yet I can completely zoom out on E3M8. E3M8 also doesn't have much geometry, just very long lines, and very few monsters. So I'm a bit confused, what is it about E4M1 that prevents a full zoom out?

EDIT: taking a quick look at the source
https://github.com/coelckers/gzdoom/blo ... p.cpp#L776
static double min_scale_mtof; // used to tell when to stop zooming out

No matter the map the max zoom-in in is always the same: the arrow representing the player is the same length as the vertical portion of the viewport.

EDIT: map31 Doom2 is huge (approaching 10,000 units width) and you can zoom out to see the whole map)