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Troubleshooting guide


Jack451

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Go to Control Panels > Display control panel > Settings tab > Advanced... button > click on the 'GeForce 4 MX 440' tab > depending on which driver you have this area will vary. Newer drivers have a 'pop-out' menu and you may find an item listed as '3D Antialiasing'. Older drivers you will need to click on the 'Additional Properties...' button and the first tab is usually '3D Antialiasing'. You can leave it on 'Allow applications to control the antialiasing mode' (which basically means that it is off for CM and most games) or you can set it 'manually' to OFF.

A black screen can also be related to other things, such as one of the Microsoft patches (which is built into later Windows 2000 service packs and XP's SP1). There can also be issues with refresh rates and you're monitor's capability to display all the refresh rates that your video card is capable of.

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CM will start the resolution selection process at the same resolution as your desktop, however it will start at a refresh rate that is the highest that your video driver supports at that resolution. So if you were running 1024x768 @85Hz for your desktop, CM would start at 1024x768, but probably at 120Hz refresh - something that may be beyond your monitor's capability to display.

If this is the case, then just waiting for CM to automatically change resolutions would generally be the solution. Eventually CM would come down to a resolution and refresh rate automatically within a certain period of time (as long as you don't hit the Enter key, etc.).

But there could be other problems too. One of the Microsoft security patches for Win2K and XP causes some problems with the 2D screens of CM. This patch however is built into Service Pack 4 (or 3 ?) for Win2K and I'm not sure if it is part of SP1 for XP. When this patch is part of a service pack it can't be removed from a Windows version that has been patched to this service pack level. The specific Hotfix is 328310 and it is related to the WM_TIMER function. Possibly removing it may help. Microsoft has some additional patches for XP (Q814995), but I don't think it addresses the problem seen with CM.

You may want to look further through the CMAK Troubleshooting Guide, there's some other references to 'black screens' and other problems that you may run into.

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"Video mode not supported" sounds like your monitor's electronics saying that it can't run at a particular resolution and refresh rate. If you do not hit any keys and instead just wait, a resolution and refresh rate combination should be tried that your monitor can handle.

When CM tries resolutions it starts at your current desktop resolution, however it may start at a refresh rate that is significantly higher than what you may be currently running and/or your monitor may be capable of displaying. The refresh rates to try come from the videocard driver and not the monitor profile. So your videocard may be capable of putting out a particular resolution and refresh rate, but your monitor may be incapable of displaying it. The message you're getting seems to be from your monitor saying it can't display that combination of frequencies. CM will automatically try the next lower refresh rate at that same resolution as defined by the video driver. So if 120Hz is tried first, then 100Hz may be next, then 90Hz, 85Hz, 75Hz, etc. One of these refresh rates will probably work with your monitor and at that point you should see something on the screen and at this point you can hit the 'enter' key or click the 'Select' button on screen. I suggest running a resolution and refresh rate that matches your desktop (though CM may run a bit slower at higher resolutions), that way the screen will be centered, etc.

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Go to Start Menu > Control Panels > Display control panel > Settings tab; make note of the resolution that is selected by the slider on the left. Next click on the Advanced... button > Monitor tab > in here will be the currently selected refresh rate. This is the refresh rate that you most likely will want to run CM at; write it down.

Both of your monitors are telling you that they can't support that resolution at that refresh rate. It looks like your videocard is putting out a 140Hz vertical refresh. Again, if you don't hit the Enter key, CM will try the next lower refresh rate. Eventually one will be compatible with your monitor. Just have patience and wait. If you have a Prefs file in your CM directory (which I doubt), delete it and CM will go through the resolution selection process.

Once you reach 60Hz for a particular resolution (and your monitor should be capable of displaying that) CM will start at the next lower resolution, but again at the highest refresh rate offered by the videocard (possibly 140Hz). This continues on until you reach 640x480 (which doesn't work for CMBB & CMAK, though it is still offered by the resolution selection process - something that can't be changed because of the way that this particular DirectX function works) when, if you don't select any of the previously offered resolutions, will give you a DirectX error in the assumption that nothing work (and therefore there is a problem).

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The first thing that CM does when there is no Prefs file is to run the resolution selection process. As I said before it will start out at your current desktop resolution (in this case 1024x768), but instead of 75Hz it may start out at 140Hz or whatever the maximum may be for your video driver. CM displays this resolution in a box with some buttons to either accept it or skip to the next resolution/refresh rate. CM will automatically time out at each resolution/refresh rate after so long (maybe 5-20 seconds).

Some monitors react differently to resolutions and refresh rates that they cannot display. Some will black out completely, others will attempt to display the resolution, but it will appear all scrambled. Newer monitors will usually give some sort of message on screen about the resolution being 'out of range' such as the ones you've seen. In any case, waiting for awhile should allow CM to try a resolution/refresh rate that will work with your monitor. Selecting a resolution and refresh rate that matches the settings you use for your desktop may be helpful since your screen has already been optimized/adjusted for this particular setting. However, for some people running at that high of a resolution may result in poor performance in CM (not that 1024x768 is really that high).

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