Issues with Retina Display MBP

[hyh]

I decided to try out Civ IV on Retina Display MBP by buying the Complete Edition DVD from Aspyr. This is what happens on my laptop (Base model RMBP running Mountain Lion Os X 10.8).

Game starts in a small window, then advertisements comes on in full screen mode - this doesn't look quite right because the top of advertisements looks chopped off. Eventually, Civ IV menu comes on, but this screen also looks chopped off with top and right parts going " off screen ". Using the trackpad to choose any option of the options other than " exit game " does not work properly. I'm mostly stuck using up/down/enter/escape keys. Some of the windows are incomplete or contain junk, and head or parts of heads of the leaders are missing.

Once game starts, the game still looks chopped off. Pressing 'C' to center units places the unit in the very top of screen. Placement of arrow for the mouse/trackpad is " wrong " - clicking on a square to direct movement moves the unit to a spot several squares away from the clicked square (and not very predictable, I might add). The game is pretty much unplayable in my opinion.

I don't know if the game is supposed to have command keys, but the only one that I found to work was Command-Q for quit, which I always use after a turn or two because the game as it stands is simply not playable.

Maybe it was very silly of me to try to play Civ IV on this computer? I had played I, II, III years ago, and I decided on IV because it was much better reviewed than V. Oh well. http://goo.gl/vK8pi made me think that I'd be okay, but this ended up being more problematic than I expected.

Any suggestions?

 

[hyh]

I figured out how to fix this. It's quite intuitive if you read the manual carefully. Actually, I'm kidding - there was no manual for this, and it wasn't intuitive. I just got there by trial and error.

First, press command-comma[,] to change the monitor option. This is done so that you can actually see the entire game screen. Try maximum setting (2880 x 1800) in full screen first.

Then, press command-O to get to options window. maneuver the trackpad or mouse to click on "Graphics" on top. The arrow does not match where you're clicking, so you have to play with this a bit. Change the setting to (2880 x 1800).

Your trackpad/mouse should working properly if everything matches.

Other settings can be used including non-full-screen mode. Going back and forth and keeping everything working properly can be pain, though.

One other thing I noticed is an annoying background noise that comes strong or fades depending on zoom level among other things.

edit. It might be more convenient to play the game in window mode rather than full screen (using command-comma again). This is because closing and re-opening the game seems to screw up the setting in full screen, and I have to fix everything again in a painstaking manner.

 

[z0wb13]

go to spotlight (magnifying glass in upper-right corner) and look for civilizationiv.ini and launch with textedit. search (command-F)

; Set to 1 for no intro movie
NoIntroMovie = 0

change this to

; Set to 1 for no intro movie
NoIntroMovie = 1

i think that it would be easier to leave MBPro resolution at 2880 x 1800 and run civ4 in a window.

; Custom Screen Height, minimum: 768 - Normal resolutions can be set in-game and will be used when set to 0
ScreenHeight = 1200

; Custom Screen Width, minimum: 1024 - Normal resolutions can be set in-game and will be used when set to 0
ScreenWidth = 1920

and

; Specify whether to play in fullscreen mode 0/1/ask
FullScreen = 0

make sure to command-S to save changes; mountain lion has a weird way of autosaving.

Spoiler :

running in windowed mode will probably be easiest, but if you want to run fullscreen try setting your MBPro resolution to 1920 x 1200 in the system preferences. then, go back to the .ini file and change

; Custom Screen Height, minimum: 768 - Normal resolutions can be set in-game and will be used when set to 0
ScreenHeight = 0

; Custom Screen Width, minimum: 1024 - Normal resolutions can be set in-game and will be used when set to 0
ScreenWidth = 0

to

; Custom Screen Height, minimum: 768 - Normal resolutions can be set in-game and will be used when set to 0
ScreenHeight = 1200

; Custom Screen Width, minimum: 1024 - Normal resolutions can be set in-game and will be used when set to 0
ScreenWidth = 1920

and

; Specify whether to play in fullscreen mode 0/1/ask
FullScreen = 0

to

; Specify whether to play in fullscreen mode 0/1/ask
FullScreen = 1

the link you posted:
Games That Support Retina Resolution (But may exhibit other issues):

should read like:
Games That Retina MacBook Support (But may exhibit other issues!!!): [civ4, yea!]

 

[hyh]

Thanks! I particularly enjoyed being able to skip the advertisements and intro movies.

Your method certainly is more elegant and probably would be easier for many people.

I didn't see in my file the following two lines.

; Specify whether to play in fullscreen mode 0/1/ask
FullScreen = 0

I'm not bothered by this.

 

[z0wb13]

I didn't see in my file the following two lines.

; Specify whether to play in fullscreen mode 0/1/ask
FullScreen = 0

I'm not bothered by this.

huh? try searching backwards. if you can't find it, you must have deleted it accidentally. if you want to make a fresh .ini file, throw the old one in the trash, then launch civ and exit out.

i'm really bothered that you can't find it;p the default .ini is hardcoded into the game. maybe it isn't the same as the windows version? i don't own a mac copy to test.

 

[s.bernbaum]

I just looked through my .ini - the FullScreen option is not there either. You can set it from the optional opening popup, which is what I have done but it does not seem to be recorded in the .ini, at least not by that name. As to hard coding, remember that when Aspyr ported the game to the Mac, they changed some things, such as no dll. They may have changed a few things in the .ini as well.

 

[AlanH]

I think the Mac version has the display settings in the Preferences file. For BtS this is at:

~/Library/Preferences/com.aspyr.civ4bts.plist

This is a property list file, with GameDisplayMode = 2 for window mode. It also has GameDisplayWidth and GameDisplayHeight.

Hold down the Command key as you launch Civ4 to pop up a dialog where you can select window/full screen mode, screen resolution, choose a screen etc.

 

[aqparks]

I think the Mac version has the display settings in the Preferences file. For BtS this is at:

~/Library/Preferences/com.aspyr.civ4bts.plist

This is a property list file, with GameDisplayMode = 2 for window mode. It also has GameDisplayWidth and GameDisplayHeight.

Hold down the Command key as you launch Civ4 to pop up a dialog where you can select window/full screen mode, screen resolution, choose a screen etc.

OMG...finally! A work around! This is my problem. When I load Civ4 for the first time, its in a weird resolution where the mouse on the screen is not aligned with window, if that makes sense... I have to click about an inch below what I actually want to select.

Once I manage to change the resolution to something else, the game works fine. HOWEVER, if I restart the game, then I am zoomed in really far and cannot select any of the options on the menus. I have to delete the directory ~/Library/Application\ Support/Civilization\ IV\ Warlords/ in order for the game to load like the first time, but then I still have to click my way around to fix the resolution.

Something else I noticed that if I tab out of the game, and tab back in, I'm not as zoomed in as I was before....really weird.

It seems that if I run the game in windowed mode, I don't have this "zooming in" issue, but I can't get a resolution higher than 1440x900.

Anyone have any idea how to play the game in fullscreen and stop the zooming in?

 

[toddlemmon]

I went back and forth with Aspyr support for weeks on this issue. They were very helpful but could not provide and answer. They even went so far as to just give me the entire combo pack game for free so I could do a complete re-install. Which didn't fix the issue BTW. Anyway, this advice below, fixed it immediately. Thanks. I should've come here sooner for an answer. Now, on to the problem of those French trebuchets...

I figured out how to fix this. It's quite intuitive if you read the manual carefully. Actually, I'm kidding - there was no manual for this, and it wasn't intuitive. I just got there by trial and error.

First, press command-comma[,] to change the monitor option. This is done so that you can actually see the entire game screen. Try maximum setting (2880 x 1800) in full screen first.

Then, press command-O to get to options window. maneuver the trackpad or mouse to click on "Graphics" on top. The arrow does not match where you're clicking, so you have to play with this a bit. Change the setting to (2880 x 1800).

Your trackpad/mouse should working properly if everything matches.

Other settings can be used including non-full-screen mode. Going back and forth and keeping everything working properly can be pain, though.

One other thing I noticed is an annoying background noise that comes strong or fades depending on zoom level among other things.

edit. It might be more convenient to play the game in window mode rather than full screen (using command-comma again). This is because closing and re-opening the game seems to screw up the setting in full screen, and I have to fix everything again in a painstaking manner.

 

[Greentrees]

Just installed a week ago and thought I'd add my experience with a Macbook Pro with Retina Display running Mountain Lion (10.8.3). Everything ran correctly from installation. I didn't have to play with any settings manually.

NOTE: It's the Steam edition and I only ever run at 1440x900 resolution.

 

[Lothking]

I was having the same problem as OP. I'm running my version off Steam and just got a retina mbp.
I was dismayed when i started the game because it ran at a superlow resolution and only the very bottom left corner of the splash screen was visible.
I contacted ASPYR for support and they totally fixed the issues with their response. Here's what to do:
Step 1: Go to system preferences>energy saver and deselect "automatic graphic switching"
Step 2: In Steam, right click Beyond the Sword from the Library menu and select properties. Under local files tab select "verify integrity of game cache". Once that is done relaunch the game.

I haven't had a problem with resolution since and everything is running really smooth.
I usually run at 2048x1280. Anything higher and I find the text too difficult to read.

I guess YMMV depending on the system and setup you have but I hope this info was helpful.
I was actually quite pleased with the support and response time from aspyr on this. Kudos to them.