can't get above 640X 480

[foamy]

I just up-graded my video card to a GFTi4200, .

At start (deleted the prefs file) I get the choice thing at 640X480, choose skip to next, no other choice and prog shuts down ??

Desk top is set at 1024X780

Strange thing is it worked fine yesterday ??? - Only change I made was to set BIOS from PCI to AGP as primary video. Couldn't find a solution in search - anyone know what's up here

[mTk]

Yeah, I've got the same problem. When I changed my motherboard, the game refused to use any resolution larger than 640x480. I've updated all my drivers and even tried hex editing the config file, but nothing helps.

If someone has a solution, we all would be most pleased... and if CMBO staff is reading this, how about an upgrade?

Win2k, AMD1700XP+, Matrox G5500

[IronChef4]

What is your desktop resolution? The game itself cannot be played in a resolution higher than that of your desktop.

[foamy]

Originally posted by IronChef4:

What is your desktop resolution? The game itself cannot be played in a resolution higher than that of your desktop.

IronChef - Desk top is at 1024X780 with 32 bit color setting, CM won't recognize this ??

I thought I was "Upgrading" not "DownGrading" by getting bigger, better, faster AGP vs my old PCI Voodoo LOL !!

[Schrullenhaft]

Uninstall all of your previous video drivers. Install 'Standard PCI SVGA' driver for your video rather than the correct driver at this point. If you're not running Windows XP, then download and install DirectX 8.1b.

Next install the chipset drivers for your motherboard. This may be VIA, Intel, SiS or ALI. For the GeForce series I recommend running the 30.82 drivers for now. The 40.xx beta series has some problems with FSAA and unless you want to deal with those hassles (there are workarounds) it would be best to stick with the official 30.82's for now.

I suggest testing your setting with the DirectX Diagnostic (C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DXDIAG for Win9x; C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DXDIAG for WinME; C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DXDIAG for Win2K). In the Display tab there are three settings to the left that should be enabled with all GeForce cards. If they aren't, then you have some sort of driver, CMOS/BIOS or compatibility problem. If they are enabled then test Direct3D and see if it passes. Even if this does pass it doesn't guarantee that you won't have problems with CM and your computer.

If you're running WindowsXP then you need to make sure that you aren't running the 'VGA Save' driver, which is capable of running up to 32-bit color with many cards, but doesn't perform any 3D functions.

[foamy]

Thanks for the suggestions - Could I impose on you for a bit more help:

I have Win 98 Plus as OS

MB is K7S5A (SIS I think)with 1.8gb Athlon

The tabs in DX are greyed out

1) How do I ensure old drivers are properly removed ?

2) Can you give me guidance on determining and updating the Chipset and drivers.

[Schrullenhaft]

The ECS K7S5A is based on the SiS 735 chipset. You can download the agp110.exe AGP driver from SiS.

For the NVidia drivers under Win9x, look in your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory for files starting with NV*.*. Almost all of these files will be related to NVidia and can be deleted (though reading the 'Properties' of each file may be recommended just to make sure). If you've had other video cards with different chipsets, then there'll be other files.

Going through the Add/Remove Programs control panel is the fist step. However drivers often aren't listed here if they didn't use a standard installer. The next thing to do is to look for any uninstall programs that may have been installed at the same time the drivers were (you might find them in folder in the Start Menu). If that doesn't pan out, then removing the device in Device Manager is the next step. You can also go into the Registry editor (regedit) and look in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE for any video driver related keys and delete them (though you may want to be careful you're not deleting too much). Win9x also allows you to delete references to devices which are no longer installed, but mentioned in the Registry. In the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/ENUM key you can browse around for display adapters under the PCI listing (IIRC). There are several places where video hardware-related entries may be made. If you're not confident of what you're doing, you may not want to mess around too much with the registry.

The latest BIOS update for the K7S5A is dated August 9, 2002. I don't see anything in the BIOS updates that would relate to video card compatibility however.

[foamy]

Thanks again Schrullenhaft.

I Downloaded the agp110 file - got a DOS screen when I ran it - is this OK ??

Saw dozens of nv*.* files under windows/system - all with todays date - so I left them alone.

Did the add remove progs stuff - nothing there.

No display related Un-install progs apparent

anywhere.

Only thing in device manager is the current vid display driver

Went to regedit and found an old 3dfx key - removed it.

I then removed driver and got machine in standard VGA, then installed the 30.82's and fired up again - still exactly the same result - CM can't find desk top settings.

One strange thing - when I go to the DX diagnostic, the screen changes giving me a "Window Pane view (Not my normal desktop display. Does this give any clues ??

Getting despaerate now as all my CM opponents think I have deserted them !!

[Schrullenhaft]

1) Uninstall the SiS drivers. Extract them to a directory (a DOS box may come up during their extraction, but not during the install).

2) Where did you get the 30.82 drivers from ? If you got them from NVidia's site they should have installed with the Windows Installer and be listed in the Add/Remove Programs control panel. If you got them from a beta site, then there's the possibility that the drivers were updated with Device Manager and thus won't appear in the Add/Remove Programs listing. I suggest downloading the 30.82 driver from NVidia.

3) If you don't have an entry in the Add/Remove Programs control panel listing, then you'll need to remove the driver with Device Manager. Control Panels > System control panel > Device Manager tab > double-click on the 'display adapters' listing and then highlight and press delete or Remove. When you're prompted to reboot DON'T. Close up Device Manager.

4) With the Explorer File Manager go to the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory and DELETE all of the NV*.* files. Now go to the C:\WINDOWS\INF and look for any NVidia related files; you may need to go into the C:\WINDOWS\INF\OTHER directory to find them. Delete those too.

5) Open up the Registry Editor (Start Menu > Run > type in REGEDIT). In the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE look for any NVidia-related entries and delete them in the left-hand pane. Look in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/ENUM and browse through the PCI section. You'll have to open up each of the keys and look for text in the right hand pane that identifies the device. You'll want to delete any that are NVidia or other display related settings. If this drive was left in a machine that was upgraded, you may want to look for inappropriate chipset references that are no longer accurate (like Intel listings on your current SiS chipset motherboard).

6) Closing up the Registry editor you should now reboot.

7) Windows should redetect your display adapter and ask for drivers. Don't point it to any NVidia drivers. Instead select a 'Standard PCI SVGA' driver (you'll have to go through a couple of Wizard dialog boxes to get to them). Windows may require you to reboot at this point.

8) When Windows finishes rebooting close down any programs/utilities you may have running. Check to see what's running with Ctrl-Alt-Del. You only want Explorer and Systray loaded. When you're down to these two programs run the Setup program for the SiS chipset drivers you extracted earlier. This will probably require a reboot.

9) Back in Windows again reinstall DirectX 8.1b. You'll need to reboot after this.

10) When you've finished rebooting now launch the NVidia 30.82 driver install. It should be pretty straigthforward from here.

11) Once you've rebooted you should now run the DirectX Diagnostics (C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DXDIAG). Check that the three settings on the Display tab are enabled. If they're still greyed out then you may have to check your CMOS/BIOS setup to ensure that you don't have the AGP Aperture set to some value below 32Mb.

I can't picture what you mean by 'Window Pane view' when you run the DirectX Diagnostics. During the loading process the screen may go blank, but should come back again. You may have to provide a screen shot for me to picture this. Unfortunately it doesn't give me any particular clues as to what the problem is (unless DirectX is corrupted).

[foamy]

Schrullenhaft - As I couldn't figure out how to unistall the SIS drivers (No1 job), I did the rest as you described again no sucess. Can you tell me how to remove the SIS drivers so I can try again.

A couple of things happened during this last process:

1) Couldn't remove all N*.* from windows/system - got message that about 3 were being used.

2) When booting to PCI SVGA - got only the option for VGA.

3) After re-install of 8.1 - did not get a re-boot message.

[Schrullenhaft]

I believe that the SiS chipset drivers should be listed in the Add/Remove Programs control panel. If not, then check for an 'uninstall' utility in the Start Menu for the SiS drivers. However this is somewhat of a moot point now that you've installed the video driver again.

You're at a point where you may as well backup any important files and wipe out Windows and do a fresh/clean install.

I think you'll just be better off with a clean installation (which means you need to reformat your hard drive and reinstall whatever applications you want). You'll need to record any important settings (network address, ISP account, etc.), backup your files (export your email to a file, etc.), burn or backup a copy of all your relevant drivers and utilities and finally just format your hard drive. I assume that you have a bootable CDROM drive that you can boot and reload Windows from.

I'd suggest installing the OS, then install DirectX 8.1b, then the SiS chipset drivers, then the network and/or modem drivers, install IE 6.0, then the sound drivers and then install the video drivers (and select the most accurate monitor profile you can find). If you have printer or scanner, etc. then install drivers for it too. You may want to download and install all the relevant security patches for Windows/IE (but install the latest version of IE first before doing this so you don't waste time downloading patches that eventually won't be used).

[foamy]

Wow - - Pretty drastic action just to install a Video card. However you are probably correct, here is a direct quote from the Video cards web site - All Voodoo upgraders take notice.

Important note about voodoo cards and 3DFX

One of the problems we have encountered when replacing Voodoo cards, Glide Drivers, and 3DFX drivers is when installing new video cards and their drivers is that you need to uninstall the old ones completely - the problem is that the old ones are never completely removed from the registry. The only remedy for this is to format the hard drive after backing up all important files on the PC. Then reinstall windows and then the video card. This will correct a multitude of issues, seen and unseen. This is currently the only remedy to fix this that we know of at this time