2560x1440

[ChookWoods 1]

Posted the following on steam but havent had much luck in responses:

Anyone been able to get the game to work at this resolution? I have been previously playing the game at 1920x1080 no issues using the -r1920x1080x32 command line in the launch options. This worked fine on software and hardware rendering.

Ive now changed it to 2560x1440 and cannot get the game to work correctly. Launching on hardware mode will result in the game instantly crashing with an error message about being unable to initialise the graphics card or some such.

Launching in software mode will work, however there are severe painting issues when scrolling around the city, with a hall of mirrors effect as the edges of the screen repeatedly paint over the top of itself leaving a trail.

I have tried changing various settings in the nvidia control panel to no avail, ive also tried the in game graphics options again without luck.

system is windows 7 x64, latest beta nvidia drivers with gtx 580.

This is the steam version of the game - simcity 4 deluxe, ive validated my game cache etc its all up to date. I do have a retail copy of the original game + rush hour if there is some patching difference.

Im probably more interested in the solution for software mode, as my experience with hardware rendering is extremely slow and jumpy scrolling which makes the game unplayable. However if someone has the solution for hardware mode which also solves the jumpiness, im all ears!

[Cockatoo 2,256]

Lucky you... 2560x1440. It'll be years before I could afford a monitor with that sort of resolution.

I've never heard of or seen anyone run SC4 on a monitor that large. Given that game is almost ten years old, it's astounding that it even works on 1920x1080. Can you live with 1920x1080 stretched to fit your entire screen? Unfortunately, it may turn out to be your best option. Alternatively, you could not stretch it and tolerate black boarders around your game… just pretend you’re using a smaller monitor. Those options are in the NVidia control panel under adjust desktop size and position.

[Liszak 48]

I once connected PC with our LCD TV and played it. And it offered me some really fancy revolution. Game worked really well. .D

[ChookWoods 1]

Thanks, it is possible for me to run it at 1920x1080 still, however, since i own a monitor capable of 2560x1440, id like to utilise that, secondly, the image quality is far from ideal at non native resolutions. scaling is possible, but then i lose the size.

I remember seeing users reporting that they had 2560x1440 working, but do not remember where, or how they achieved it.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Lucky you. Is it possible that the driver for your GPU is not really up to this as yet? Have you queried the device manufacturer?

The game is pretty open ended on this, and I suspect even in software rendering doesn't much care about the format as long as it is 16:9 or 4:3. Some people have even got it running on multiple monitors.

[Cockatoo 2,256]

Anyway, just out of curiosity, I decided to see how big I could get SC4 to go. My screen is 1920x1080, but I have an XP virtual machine in VMware that lets me go as high as 3840x1920 via the use of scrollbars at the sides of the screen. I installed SC4 on it and tested out various 1080p+ resolutions using the shortcut trick. Here's what worked and what didn't:

1920x1200: Yes

1920x1440: Yes

2048x1536: Yes

2560x1600: No

3840x1920: No

The no's just crashed on startup like you described. Your resolution wasn't an available option, but I doubt it would have worked. There must be some sort of limitation to SC4 itself. So sorry, I think you're out of luck. You'll just have to through by trial and error until you get it large as you can without exceeding whatever the limit is. I'd hazard a guess at 2048px in any one direction.

Btw, if anyone wants to see what 3840x1920 looks like...

[ChookWoods 1]

Anyway, just out of curiosity, I decided to see how big I could get SC4 to go. My screen is 1920x1080, but I have an XP virtual machine in VMware that lets me go as high as 3840x1920 via the use of scrollbars at the sides of the screen. I installed SC4 on it and tested out various 1080p+ resolutions using the shortcut trick. Here's what worked and what didn't:

1920x1200: Yes

1920x1440: Yes

2048x1536: Yes

2560x1600: No

3840x1920: No

The no's just crashed on startup like you described. Your resolution wasn't an available option, but I doubt it would have worked. There must be some sort of limitation to SC4 itself. So sorry, I think you're out of luck. You'll just have to through by trial and error until you get it large as you can without exceeding whatever the limit is. I'd hazard a guess at 2048px in any one direction.

Btw, if anyone wants to see what 3840x1920 looks like...

Thank you for your efforts. did you try running things in hardware or software mode? I did manage to get it to load in software mode at 2560x1440, but the painting issues make it unplayable, are you able to test this to see how it fares on the resolutions you marked as "no"?

  Edited August 14, 2012 by CaptCity  

[Yuu Caa Sim 55]

This is a long shot, but have you tried it in both windowed ("-w" commandline argument) and fullscreen ("-f") mode?

At any rate, if it doesn't work at your full resolution, you could just run the game in a window at the largest size it loads at (so that there aren't any weird stretching issues).

Also going to put my lot with wishing for a 2560x1440 monitor. It'd sure help to have more space to have more folders open side by side, not to mention being able to see more lines of code at a time...

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

2048x1536 would almost be full screen. I think you'll find there's benefits of running in windowed mode too, like faster switching to other programs (if you have the internet open for example). I could very possibly be mistaken, but I believe I heard somewhere that windowed mode is actually more stable (less prone to crashing).

  Edited August 14, 2012 by Indiana Joe  

[ChookWoods 1]

Im pretty sure i tried it in windowed mode, but ill give it another shot when i get home and at different resolutions see what works. Thanks.

[ChookWoods 1]

Havent had much luck im afraid. 2048x1536 and 2048x1152 and the like would not load, or seemed to load but using some other resolution. I could get most resolutions to load in windowed or fullscreen, scaling on or off, and all was well, except for my target 2560x1440, which still loads in software but has the painting issues. Really dont understand whats causing the painting issues since it runs at the res and shows the screen perfectly fine until scrolled.

I guess unless someone else has a brainwave im going to have to settle for 1920x1080 windowed or just run it on the secondary monitor.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

It is a legacy game. It is amazing that we can get it to run on 16:9 at all. I tried a couple of other resolutions in windowed mode and couldn't get it to even start. I suspect we are teetering on the edge of its envelope.

[ChookWoods 1]

It is a legacy game. It is amazing that we can get it to run on 16:9 at all. I tried a couple of other resolutions in windowed mode and couldn't get it to even start. I suspect we are teetering on the edge of its envelope.

I'm well aware of this, however I'm not going to just accept that and not bother trying, I'm going to try everything I can until I've exhausted all options. Thanks everyone for the help though.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

It is a legacy game. It is amazing that we can get it to run on 16:9 at all. I tried a couple of other resolutions in windowed mode and couldn't get it to even start. I suspect we are teetering on the edge of its envelope.

I'm well aware of this, however I'm not going to just accept that and not bother trying, I'm going to try everything I can until I've exhausted all options. Thanks everyone for the help though.

Keep on keeping on. This is a problem that may well have a good solution. If you can afford it, try increasing your GPU memory.