Are 640x480 resolution players doomed with CMBB?

[Cortilein]

S! everyone,

as a relatively new player to CMBO (however an old wargame and flightsim gronard) I have been awaiting the CMBB demo with great anticipation. In the meantime, I have played CMBO and it has become my favorite strategy game - both BFC and the mod-makers out there really deserve an award for their great work!

CMBO runs fine on my (quite aged) computer. The CMBB Demo does start up as well - BUT:

I am stuck to an in-game resolution of 640x480 pixels due to my old 3D accelerator card (crowd: "Geez - buy a new one!" - "I know, I know..."). In fact, CMBB might be the final kick I need to go and buy a new PC. But, as it is now, I can't test the new game features of CMBB because the new interface panel is too wide (more than 640 pixels, obviously) and - stupid enough - I simply can't hit the GO! button to proceed (it's off the screen's limits). So all I can watch is the setup phase - no fun...

Will the full version of CMBB support the 640x480 res again like CMBO did? Or am I doomed? Is there a keyboard shortcut that can be used instead of hitting the GO! button that I am not aware of?

[Madmatt]

The minimum screen resolution supported is 800x600.

In fact it should not even let you run in 640x480 and is supposed to give you a message saying that you have to be able to run in 800x600 in order to play.

I will have to check why that message isnt popping up.

Madmatt

[ September 03, 2002, 07:18 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

[Schrullenhaft]

I'm not sure how the Demo is working at 640x480 for you. When I attempt to select 640x480 (software rendering in this case) I get an error message saying that I need to run CMBB at 800x600. Which video card do you have ?

Unfortunately what you're seeing is that the screen is definitely too small for 640x480 since the interface and graphics were designed for 800x600 minimum (there are fixed size graphics with unique mouse-able areas). There's no intention of supporting 640x480 in the full version (as far as I'm aware).

So if you're unable to run at 800x600 with hardware rendering (which is the requirement on the PC), then you're going to need a new video card. If you give some more details about your computer and how much you care to spend some recommendations on a video card can be made, unless you just want to get a completely new computer anyway.

[Cortilein]

Hi Madmatt,

Some system specs that may be helpful:

233 MHz Pentium I MMX

64 MB RAM

Matrox Millennium II Video Card

3Dfx Voodoo Accelerator Card

My video card combination usually allows up to 800x600 pixels (does so in other games) in 3D with Glide. I am using the latest reference driver for Voodoo cards by 3Dfx (RIP... <sniff>). However, the 640x480 pixels are in fact the ONLY resolution both CMBO and the CMBB Demo allow me to select for 3D environment display during initial startup.

[Schrullenhaft]

How much memory is on your Voodoo (I assume it's a Voodoo 2) ? Which drivers are you running ? What desktop resolution do you run ? When you select 640x480 does it say 'software mode' on the resolution screen that you accept ?

I was under the impression that support for the Voodoo 1 & 2 family was removed, but this may have be more towards Mac/RAVE support rather than Voodoo 1&2 on both platforms.

It sounds like you'll need a PCI video card if you decide to stick with your current box a bit longer. You may want to try one of the TNT2 M64's with 32Mb (make sure that it's PCI and not AGP though).

[murpes]

What is your desktop set to? I'd try different different desktop resolutions and see how CMBB reacts, deleting your preferences file each time. I wonder if the seperate 2D and 3D card is what's throwing things off ...

[Cortilein]

My Voodoo I (one) card RAM is 4 MB.

This is the info I got from the driver kit I am currently using:

Voodoo Drivers © 1997-1999 by 3Dfx Interactive:

Driver Kit version 3.01.00

Glide Driver version 2.48.00.0455

Glide3 Driver version 3.04.00.0455

OpenGL® Driver version 1.00.0438 ICD

DirectX® Release Number: 2.17

DirectX Driver Version 4.10.01.0017

My desktop resolution is 1024x768.

No Software mode - the settings I accept on startup read "3D DirectX Test - 3Dfx Interactive DirectX5 Driver - Resolution 640x480" in the window - the software mode option pops up later on when I skip that screen (software mode only "offers" me 640x480 as well). I should mention that according to DXDiag I am running DirectX version 8.0 (4.08.00.0400). I wonder why the recognition process offers the DirectX5 Driver, though...

For the 2D interface 1024x768 was selected.

[Schrullenhaft]

At 4Mb your Voodoo 1 doesn't have enough memory to support a 3D resolution at 800x600, which would probably require 6Mb minimum under DirectX. The DirectX driver component is based on DirectX 5.0 routines (it has a 1999 date), though DirectX 8.0 is still compatible with it. I don't know how much of a drawback it is to having only DirectX 5.0 support when it comes to CM. I'd guess that some graphical effects may not show up properly (like transparency and a couple of other things).

The listing of your drivers indicates that you have the latest drivers (and I can't find anything newer - even from a third party). It looks like you're 3D-only Voodoo card threw off CM's resolution detection schemes to allow you to run at 640x480.

Looking around for TNT2 M64 PCI video cards, they appear to be about US$45-50 in price. You can also get some slower TNT PCI cards, if you can find them. I've also seen a Matrox G450 PCI, but it was around US$104 (if you had a thing for Matrox 2D quality). The 3D performance of the TNT2 M64 should be enough to have you dump your Voodoo & Matrox Millenium II.