No 'Desktop' display option?

[Apache]

Just wondering why this might be before I try editing the relevant command line myself. With the demo I had several display options including 'Desktop'.

Last night (despite problems with DVD R/W drive) I installed the Paradox box game doing little between the various patch upgrades other than to check the version had changed (to 1.10 then 1.21). I then installed NATO and then the 1.31 patch.

One thing I did notice is that after one of the patches went in (I think!!) the pc desktop seemed to do a flickering adjustment to a lower resolution setting as the game booted up dropping to 1024 x 760 or something like that. Also, unlike in the demo I do not get a 'desktop' display option.

IIRC with CMBO etc if issues like this arose you could delete the 'Prefs' file and would then get asked (again IIRC) to choose a setting when the game booted. Is this still possible or is a straight edit to the file the best way to bring the desktop option back?

[Erwin]

No worries...

There is a file in your CMSF root folder that you can edit to get the resolution that you want (unlike the CM1 series). Am not at my game computer currently, but I think its called something like "Preferences"

Someone else is sure to tell you here.

[bodkin]

Below info is from the 1.03 patch notes, just to be clear the third number in your display size.txt is for refresh rate....I think, hope this helps.

CHANGING GAME RESOLUTION:

By default, the first time the game is launched, the games internal resolution is set whatever your desktop's resolution is. We have added a two ways to adjust your game resolution. From inside the game, go to the Main Menu, then select the Options panel. From there you can select the game to run at the following resolutions:

Desktop = (the game will run at whatever resolution your desktop is set to)

1024x768

1152x864

1280x960

If you want to run the game in a resolution not listed, you can manually set this by editing the "display size.txt" file located in your game directory. Simply change the two numbers that you see in there with the width and height you wish to run the game.

ex: For 1680x1050 you would delete the two numbers in that file and replace with "1680 1050" (without quotes).

If you put in "0 0", the game will revert to using your desktop resolution.

60hz REFRESH RATE NOTE:

Currently, if you change your resolution, the game will set the refresh rate to 60hz. While on LCD monitors that's the preferred rate but on older CRT monitors this low of a refresh rate may result in some screen flickering. In the near future, we will release a patch that will include the ability to set the games refresh rate manually.

[Erwin]

For those out there using a widescreen monitor... What is the ideal resolution to set your game to so your units have the correct dimensions?

[bodkin]

I play on 1440 by 900

[Apache]

Many thanks. I will bear in mind the wide-screen settings do as the new PC will have this (allowing me to take a sledge-hammer to the Dell - never again!!!).

[Erwin]

Thanks bodkin. But I think that is still for 3x4 monitors(?)

I am blessed to have a monitor and card capable of something like 2900x1800, but that makes the text too small to read comfortably, so I downgraded it via the "display size.txt" file to 1920x1200. I think that is simply a higher res than your 1440x900 but with the same aspect ratio.

I thought that maybe all my units are wider than they should be, but maybe I am worrying about nothing.

[gibsonm]

For those out there using a widescreen monitor... What is the ideal resolution to set your game to so your units have the correct dimensions?

1920 x 1280

[Schrullenhaft]

Erwin - the ideal resolution is one that maintains your display's aspect ratio. 2900x1800 is an awfully high resolution, what exact display model do you have ? Is 2900x1800 its 'native' resolution ? If it were, then you display has an aspect ratio of about 1.61 to 1. If you were to reduce the horizontal resolution to 1920 (a common 'hi def' horizontal resolution), then your vertical resolutoin would probably be about 1200 to maintain that ratio. So 1920 x 1200 would be the appropriate resolution that maintains your display's aspect ratio of 1.61 to 1 and thus should maintain the on-screen proportions of graphics (no horizontal or vertical stretching).

[Erwin]

Yes, I agree and understand all you said. (Yes, approx 2900x 1800 is what my desktop is set to.) I play in 1920x1200 (or 1280 - I forget) as the text is too small at higher resolutions.

I was simply wondering if I am seeing the units as they are supposed to look like in RL.

I know that in the CM1 games, I think all graphics are a bit wider than in RL, but it still looks really good.

[Schrullenhaft]

The CMx1 games max out at 1600x1200, so most likely they will suffer 'stretching' on most current widescreen monitors. This would especially be true if the entire display is being used at a non-native resolution. So if your widescreen supported 1680 x 1050, then the highest resolution you would be able to run a CMx1 game would be 1280x1024. As you can see the 1280 is much lower than the 1680 for the horizontal resolution and thus it would be 'stretched' by most LCD displays to cover the entire display area. Of course that then results in an abnormal aspect ratio that makes items on the screen appear wider.

[Erwin]

Thanks for telling me the max resolution for CM1. Is there a similar max res for CM2?

So, the CM1 game will look "correct" at 1600x1200 (assuming a 3x4 monitor?)?

Any idea what would the "right" res be for a widescreen monitor?

[Schrullenhaft]

The 'right res' for a widescreen monitor is its native resolution. Unfortunately the CMx1 series only supports discrete resolutions and none of them are of the widescreen variety. Typically the CMx1 games will support discrete resolutions of 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x1024 and 1600x1200 (and there may be a few others). As you can see these are all basically 4:3 type resolutions. The common widescreen resolutions of 1680x1050, 1440x900, 1920x1080 are NOT supported. Thus you're always going to run into an issue with bad aspect ratios on widescreen displays with CMx1.

For CMx2 I'm not aware of any hard-coded maximum resolutions. So as long as your video card and display can support a particular resolution under OpenGL, then it should be possibly for CMx2 games to run at that resolution (though there will be obvious performance issues with really large resolutions).

[gibsonm]

Hardly suprising given when CMx1 came out.

[Erwin]

Ok, thanks for the info. It's always nice to know one is running everything optimally.

Re your resolution comments re CMSF, will that be the same for CM:N?

[Schrullenhaft]

If you're speaking of this:

"For CMx2 I'm not aware of any hard-coded maximum resolutions. So as long as your video card and display can support a particular resolution under OpenGL, then it should be possibly for CMx2 games to run at that resolution (though there will be obvious performance issues with really large resolutions)."

Then, yes, it will apply to CM:BN too. Their both based on the same 'engine' (CMx2) and have similar features in regards to resolution support.

[orwell]

I've got a 1920 x 1080 monitor. When I run CMSF, no matter what I change the setting to and exit out of the game, the display size is a very small box in the center with nearly the same size black borders all around it. Editing the display size.txt file did nothing to fix this except list the new resolution in game. Is there anything else I can do to get a better display?

[Erwin]

Question: Do you have Win 7?

If so, you may have to also alter the display size.text file under the virtualstore folder tree.

[orwell]

I do have windows 7, 64 bit, but under the only virtualstore tree I could find, in C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\VirtualStore which is completely empty even checking for hidden files.

Should I copy display size.txt in there?

[Schrullenhaft]

orwell - As Erwin mentioned, are you running Windows Vista or Windows 7 with your system ? If you run the game without rigiht-clicking and selecting "Run as administrator", then your 'Options' settings are saved and read from the hidden 'VirtualStore' directory that Windows uses to 'protect' certain directories such as '\Program Files' and others.

So if you make changes to the 'display.txt' file that is actually in the '\Program Files' directory (which would require 'Run as administrator' for the text editor in order for the changes to actually be saved), it may not actually be reading that particular file, but the one in the 'VirtualStore' directory. In which case changes made to the '\Program Files' one may not be read.

Another thing you may need to check out is your monitor's settings. Apparently it may be attempting to maintain aspect ratios with resolutions that are not native. So anything lower than 1920x1080 is going to appear with black borders. To change this you will have to go through your display's menus to see if what sort of 'scaling', 'strech', 'aspect ratio' controls it has. You may want to turn this feature OFF if you want the resolution to take up the whole display at all times (which means your aspect ratio will be off with lower resolutions than the native resolution).

[Erwin]

Hi Schrullenhaft. One thing I notcied is that even when I do select RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR I find the same things happening (that is all saved games and the display size.txt file are still under virtualstore). I have given up trying to understand my system and we have come to a mutual apathy agreement that seems to work for us.

Also, orwell... In order to SEE those files you may have to click on the button that REVEALS HIDDEN SYSTEM FILES (or somesuch). I am sure Schrullenhaft can tell you how to get there as I have long forgotten... being as I am the founding member of the "Illustrious Order of Luddites" when it comes to computer issues.

Thanks for all your help, S.

[Schrullenhaft]

Erwin - you have to go to the 'VirtualStore' directory and delete all of those files and/or move them to the actual directory in the '\Program Files' directory. You will probably need to launch the Windows Explorer file manager with the 'Run as administrator' command to do this. Once you have done it, then you have to make sure that you run CMSF with the 'Run as administrator' option each time.

[Erwin]

I will try that again. But am pretty sure that I did that months (years?) ago when you were helping me get the game running etc. (Thanks again for that btw.)

At this point I am frightened of antogonising my new system as we have come to a sort of understanding and we have a truce in place.

[orwell]

I show all system files by default, I run as the admin by default, I turn off as much user protection as I can, I show all hidden files. All on win 7. That virtual store directory, unless it is one that is not the one I listed above, is completely empty. Thanks for trying, but I also found nothing in the resolution and display settings for either win 7 or my graphics card or the software for the monitor.

[Schrullenhaft]

orwell - logging into Windows with a 'Computer Administrator' account is NOT the same as right-clicking and selecting "Run as administrator" on the popup menu. If you always right-click and 'Run as administrator', then your 'VirtualStore' directory WILL be empty since the programs will have the right to write to the '\Program Files' directory.

Is your account named 'User' ? If it is, then the directory you listed ( C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\VirtualStore ) WILL be empty. If the account you typically log into is NOT 'User', then you need to browse to the appropriate account to find the correct 'VirtualStore' directory.

Regarding your monitor's settings. By 'software' are you speaking of the OSD (On Screen Display) menu or do you have software that will control the monitor's settings ? For a vast majority of monitors you will have to control most of the settings from the OSD menu. It is in here that you MAY find settings for 'scaling', 'stretching', 'aspect ratios' or however the manufacturer decides to describe the setting. Some monitors may not have control over this and you will be left to the 'default, hard coded' behavior of the monitor regarding non-native resolutions. With some video cards there may be ways of controlling some of this behavior with some advanced settings, but it may take A LOT of patience to experiment with the particular settings to get non-native resolutions to appear correctly on your monitor (filling the whole screen, etc.). Nvidia in the past has had the most flexibility in this regard, but I haven't checked these types of settings with their current drivers lately.