frustration with resolution

[wintergirl 0]

So I'm trying to play SimCity 4, a nd it installed fine, runs fine, except for that stupid resolution problem that cuts off the top half of the screen, making gameplay damn near impossible.

I've tried going to the target thing and typing in -CustomResolution:enabledand then the resolution I want. I've tried all the compatible ones. None work. It's aggravating as hell when the game looks exactly the same every single time. I've changed settings on the screen as well.

I have a Dell, Win XP Home edition, 5.1, Intel Atom, with 1014 MB, yadda yadda yadda. Like I said, it runs fine, nice and fast too... just resolution ignoring me is bugging the crap out of me.

Seriously, anyone who can help me out with this will get my everlasting gratitude. I think I've spent over 20 hours online looking for answers, and nothing is working.

[drudruenos 0]

I had the same sort od problem, the only solution is to run the game in a lower resolution. I now run the game in 1280 x 1024 and it works fine. i was also having problems with my GTX 295 graphics card but now i have the downgraded GTS 250 and it works fine. i think with it been an old game, anything too new doesn't work.

[SC4BOY 20]

The game does not restrict resolution IN ANY WAY.. if you are having a problem, it is with your video card and it's accepted resolutions. The only exception is if you are going quite small because the "menu/dashboard" graphics are fixed in pixel size. You never state what your resolution desired is. .. a screen pic might also be useful to see what your actual problem is... and drudruenos has a good point... if you can't change the ratio of width to hieght, then you can reduce resolution (again it will be a video card problem, not an SC4 problem). Some video cards also allow you to go into their controller (for ATI it is usually called "Catalyst") and enter custom resolutions and ratios.. depending on what you have. You also, if your controller won't allow custom resolution, run in a window mode.

[wintergirl 0]

Sorry, I forgot about the screenshots.

I'm not sure what my desired resolution is... whatever works? I haven't a clue.

I think this is what you're asking for: Mobile Intel® 945 Express Chipset Family

If not, my apologies. I'm not a computer person.

Thanks for all your help!

[Commander_HK47 0]

Can you be more specific about what model number your laptop is? We can use this to determine the maximum resolution that it will support ie the maximum that you will be able to run SC4.

[wintergirl 0]

Would it be Inspiron 1011?

[Panda_Power 1]

On Dell's site there are Mini 10's 1010 and 1012, but I couldn't see one with 1011....I guess yours must be very similar.

Anyway, the maximum supported resolution of those 2 laptops is 1024 x 600, so if you try that res you should be OK.  

[wintergirl 0]

it's still not working... :/

[SC4BOY 20]

It looks to me that your vertical resolution available for your computer (probably a "netbook"?) is low.. 600 probably as Panda_Power suggests. No you cannot make the menu graphics less than as THAT part of the graphic is of fixed size... You CAN make the video resolution larger (for example 1024x768) and choses to "pan" the picture (it's kind of like looking at the desktop through a window which you can move around to see more of the stuff). Look under the "help" for your video card (right click on the desktop and click "properties". You should on one of the tabs have "settings" or something close to that.. show us a pic of that tab if you cannot get help. I recall someone else who had to do this with a 600 screen vertical.

[wintergirl 0]

Well, here's a screenshot. I've been tinkering with this in addition to the target thing on the SC4 properties. Hope you can see it alright.

How would you go about panning around the screen anyways?

[wintergirl 0]

sorry, that last one sucked. Here's a bigger version.

[Panda_Power 1]

Originally posted by: wintergirl 

How would you go about panning around the screen anyways?

quote>

Just move your cursor to the edge of the screen or use the up, down,left, right arrow keys.

[SC4BOY 20]

You get the "pan" effect when you have "desktop" set to a value LARGER than your "monitor" setting. It really is pretty easy once you get the hang of it and will allow you to enjoy the game on a substandard monitor resolution size.

[wintergirl 0]

I'm about to give up on this one... nothing I do is working. It always looks the same.

[wintergirl 0]

...maybe I'm just not doing it right. Like I said, I don't know really anything about computers. I'm having to google a lot of what you're saying lol.

Anywho. Yeah. Ridiculously frustrating.

[Panda_Power 1]

Can you tell us what you have as your "target" path on the desktop icon? The thing you double-click to start the game. Right-click and then select "properties". 

**Edit**

Have you tried playing the game at the lowest resolution - 800 x 600 because that matches your vertical res of 600? It will be a bit small, but at least you'll have everything in frame.

[wintergirl 0]

I just tried it with 800x600... no dice.

And yeah, I've been doing that target path for a while, on the desktop. The game *always* looks the same, no matter what I do.

[SC4BOY 20]

Please run "dxdiag".. (Do this by selecting "start" and "run" and typing dxdiag into it, then hit return) After you do this (it may take a few seconds to run) it will bring up a "report" with a TON of info on your computer and it's system info. Take a picture of the tab that says "display" and post that. Perhaps we can help you get to the bottom of this if it is possible. I note that since I've gone to a "fancy" LCD display I no longer have the "PAN" option because the monitor will allow any display size. My old CRT (tube type monitor) would only allow up to 1024x768 and I could set the desktop to bigger and it would pan...

I'm pretty sure we can get you set up that way if we fool with it a bit (oh and in case you're concerned it usually is a "switchable" option either by clicking on a property or by using a "hot button" so that you will only have to fool with this when you are playing SC4 and not for other times.

Oh and while I'm thinking on  it, in your picture above note that there is an "advanced" button there. Please make a screenshot of what that page looks like if you click the "advanced" button.

What Panda wanted is for you to look at the "properties" on your desktop shortcut and copy and paste it into a message so he can see exactly how you have it set.

This will become a "standard" problem as more and more people start using the "new" netbook portables with limited resolution, so it may well be useful to others if we can solve your problem. It looks like many of the new netbooks will have 600 max vertical resolution.

[wintergirl 0]

Thank you all for being so patient with me. I realize my frustration must be frustrating for all you answering my *****ish questions, lol.

anywho... screenshots...

Here's the shot of the shortcut... hope it's big enough.

I hope this is what you're looking for off the advanced tab...

And the Direct X thing....

muchas gracias!

[SC4BOY 20]

Ok.. thanks for posting. I note in your display properties, it identifies your monitor as being 1024x576. This should be the "max" display size which your display will accept. Your problem is of course that this chops off the top of the SC4 screen. Ideally you would like to run your SC4 in a larger vertical size. Lets see if we can do that.

I checked my monitors "specs" and find that its max display size is 1920x1280, so for fun I set my "screen size" to a large value.. in my case I chose 2560x1600, the max my old video card would do.. [NOTE: I could do this either via the "slider" such as you show above in your "screen settings" pic, or via the "card controller" window, in my case called "Catalyst" via a "pick from menu" format] and considerably large than the screen max. After I did that I could "see" only a part of the screen at one time (this is INDEPENDENT of being in SC4 notice!) When I did that I took a screenshot to show the idea.

I could only see approximately the "red rectangle" at one time, and by using either my mouse ("pushing" past the edge of the screen) or the 'arrow keys", the rectangle would move around. In the pic above if I go to upper left, I would see that area in rectangle "A" while at the lower right I would see that in "B". I could not see the entire screen (even though when I hit the "printscreen" and pasted it into a picture editor ....paint or whatever, it would show the whole area in the "snapshot")  Notice that I have reduced the pic to 800x600 to meet posting requirements on ST.

Our goal here is to see if we can do this in your system.

Please reset your various monitor settings to "default" so we can be on a clean slate. Set your screen size to some large size.. may as well just pick the biggest that your "slider" will let you do (as shown in your message 1726122 above). When you do that and hit "apply" and "yes" to the menu you get (NOTICE.. if you get no menu, but instead get a BLACK SCREEN or some funny stuff which may lead you to conclude OMG I"VE BROKEN IT", just relax and wait.. it will reset to the previous setting after 15 seconds)  If you get the "ugly screen" go back and pick a smaller value, but still larger than your official screen size .. what we're looking for is to have it as large as your graphics controller will accept without causing a mess on your screen.

After you find this value, can you then "move around the screen" similar to the pic I've displayed above? If not what happens? Notice: None of this so far has to do with SC4. After you let me know, we'll move to the next step. (of course reset it to your "normal" screen size after your experiment if you like..   

[wintergirl 0]

Sorry it took me so long to write back. The last few days were a bit hectic.

Anywho, so I just realized something. I change the resolution, but the screen never changes...

problem? I think so.

[SC4BOY 20]

Originally posted by: wintergirl

Sorry it took me so long to write back. The last few days were a bit hectic.

Anywho, so I just realized something. I change the resolution, but the screen never changes...

problem? I think so.

quote>

That was what I was gathering from what you had posted earlier.. how do you "change the resolution"? Have you asked or checked at your vendor web site? or possibly call your tech support for that netbook? I've never seen it, but I suppose it is possible that you can't change resolution.. (seems unlikely). Another person mentioned that he used a free utility called NRC, but I have been unable to find it and he has not responded to my question to him about it.