CombinedArms Posted February 23, 2002 Share Posted February 23, 2002 I've just upgraded my beige G3 Mac to OS 9.1 from 8.6 and have run into a weird problem. My CM screen is curved at the sides and squashed in the center. The opening movie looks normal but the scenario selection pages and the actual game maps have this strange curved & squashed effect. This never happened with 8.6. I've found that this distortion only happens if my screen starts out at a higher resolution (like 1024 x 768) and if I go into CM from that higher resolution. If my pre-CM screen starts out at the CM resolution (e.g 640 x 480) then the CM maps & all look normal. So I have a work-around solution but normally I like to do my other computer work at a higher resolution and it would be nice not to have to switch down every time I play CM. Has anyone else encountered this and can anyone suggest a solution? I'm a bit puzzled because CM works fine, without this distorting effect, on my son's iMac running 9.1. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmead Posted February 23, 2002 Share Posted February 23, 2002 Do you not have enough Vram to run at 1024? If you do have enough (8mb) you can trash your CMBO prefs and start the game at the higher resolution and it will run at that res and walla, no more res switching. All in all an odd problem that I haven't seen or heard of before, but then there aren't that many biege G3s using CMBO... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted February 23, 2002 Share Posted February 23, 2002 This sounds like an issue with the monitor and the resolution switching that is happening. For some reason the change in resolutions is causing problems with your monitor where the display settings (pin cushioning and vertical linearity) aren't being maintained from one resolution to another. Do you always run CMBO at 640 x 480 ? If so, then maybe your monitor isn't capable of maintaining more than one set of display adjustment settings (which can vary resolution to resolution). Most newer, digitally controlled monitors have a set of 'hard-coded' display settings for each resolution (and it's corresponding refresh rate). Any deviations from the standard resolutions and refrsh rates that are programmed into the monitor's ROM will result in a 'user setting' mode being used. There may only be one 'user setting' on your monitor (newer or more expensive monitors may have memory of several user modes), so when you've set you display for the 1024x768 and then switch to 640x480 (using a non-standard refresh at 640x480) the display uses the 'user settings' from the 1024x768 resolution, which won't look approprite. Video drivers upgrades sometimes change some of the video signals from your video card (remove, change or add refresh rates, etc.). This is where some of the problems may pop up when upgrading OS's with their associated newer video drivers. Just follow kmead's advice and you should be fine. [ February 22, 2002, 08:30 PM: Message edited by: Schrullenhaft ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CombinedArms Posted February 23, 2002 Author Share Posted February 23, 2002 Thanks, guys, for the explanations. I've checked my Vram and I've got a mere 2 MB. A quick search on the web revealed that my beige G3 is upgradable to 6 MB of Vram for just $29 bucks, but that's the max. It can't go as high as 8 MB. So my new question is--would that upgrade do me any good? If that would be enough to run CMBO at 832 x 624, maybe I could just settle on that as my standard all-around computer setting? Would I need 6 MB of Vram to run CMBB, anyway? Or will I need to buy a new computer? And who says CM runs my life? [ February 22, 2002, 10:36 PM: Message edited by: CombinedArms ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teggy Posted February 23, 2002 Share Posted February 23, 2002 That's just the VRAM for the built-in video. If you've got a free PCI slot you can buy a new video card. I believe they are suggesting 32MB of VRAM for CMBB. I picked up one of the new Radeon 7000s for around $100, but that's no good for you if you want to run OS X, and it has difficulty being installed in some beige G3s (the 8500 is one of these). But if you can use it, it is supposed to about match up with the full Radeon if you stay within 1024x768 and lower. Full Radeons are going for about $150 now. You can also get an Nvidia based card (GeForce), but I don't know much about them. You can get Voodoo cards cheap, but I wouldn't recommend it because they no longer have any support. [ February 22, 2002, 11:59 PM: Message edited by: Teggy ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarmo Posted February 27, 2002 Share Posted February 27, 2002 Most of this was already mentioned in the other posts, but anyway.. 640x480 distortion. Macs store the settings for each resolution+refresh rate (Mhz) settings in there somewhere, forgot where. The point being, that CM is likely picking some refresh rate you havent adjusted or used yourself. The "easy" cure is to see what refresh settings your mac allows at 640x480 resolution and adjust the screen for each of them. New graphics card Dont bother upgrading the VRAM, it's still going to be slow and most likely not enough to run CMBB. The best option is to get a new video card. As you dont have AGP, you'll have to settle with an ATI card (assuming you want working drivers too). A used Rage 128 with 16 or 32 MB's would be just fine, enough to run CMBB and a lot faster. Both in 3D gaming and 2D work. If you're willing to spend a bit more, ATI Radeon is availlable as a PCI version. I'm using one on my 8600 (upgraded with a 400Mhz G3 card) and it's noticeably faster than the Rage 128 I used to have. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvoRoadster Posted February 28, 2002 Share Posted February 28, 2002 I have a beige G3 with a G4/500 ZIF upgrade. I am running the ATI Radeon 8500 in a PCI slot and have been real happy with its performance. Even games that do not support 1024/768 will run at the higher resolution with no noticable degradation, Baldurs Gate II for example. I am also running System 9.2.2 with 224 Mb RAM [ February 28, 2002, 04:56 PM: Message edited by: EvoRoadster ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.