Confused

1n354a

Chieftain
Joined
Mar 12, 2005
Messages
3
I just rebuilt my computer, and after reloading Civ 3 I was all set to go. However, my monitor goes blank and a persistantly annoying sign floats about saying,"video mode not supported", or something close to that. Now this same computer is supporting Doom 3 and such games, so why can it not pick up Civ 3? Are my settings too high? If anybody has any idea as to what I did wrong, please toss me a life line.

Thanks!
 
If the desktop is set to 800, it is not supported. Check and make sure it is at least 1024. You can use the ini settings to force a given value.
 
I'm not so sure that's true. My desktop is usually at 800, but starting the game changes it automatically to 1024 while I'm playing. After I quit the game, it reverts to 800.

When I first bought Civ3 vanilla, I'd get the movie at the beginning, but then the screen went black (but no signs floating around). I called their help line, and they had me type into a file (my .ini file???) "refresh rate = 60", which was the same as my monitor rate. No problems after that.

I'm not sure if that's the same problem, but I do know the desk top doesn't have to be the same as the game settings. :)
 
Never said it has to be the same.

KeepRes=1
Can be 0 or 1. If 1, your screen resolution is used for the game instead of the default 1024x768.

VideoMode=1280
Can be 1024, 1152, 1280, 1600, 1792. Changes the game's resolution to the value specified (instead of the default 1024x768).

Refresh=70
Changes the default refresh rate of your monitor. Do not change/add this line unless you are experiencing problems!
 
You probably need to configure your monitor. Or, perhaps, you haven't installed properly your video card driver. Supposing your PC and your monitor aren't too old, a 1024x768 resolution, at least at 60hz, should be affordable. Then, your game should play flawlessly.

@gmaharriet: this is bad. A 60hz refresh rate is likely to kill your eyes in the long run. You probably need to configure your monitor and/or your video card settings. The worst monitor in commerce today can handle 1024x768 at least at 75 hertz. But sometimes Windoze2000-XP and so on, set the monitor at 60hz, for no reason, and you have to adjust it on your own.

NOTE: all i said before is ok if we are considering CRT monitors. A notebook screen, or a flat screen, are ok at 60hz.
 
I normally run the resolution at 1280x1024, and my monitor's refresh is limited to 60 70 and 75, so that should not be an issue. I play Other games on this box, such as Doom3 and Halflife, which confuses me as to why this game is giving me so much trouble. I'll tinker around with the settings a little more to see if that helps at all.

Thanks again for the advice!
 
@tR1cKy Thank you for the info. I'm not terribly computer literate, but my son is a Sr. Software Engineer for Intel. Next time he's down I'll ask him to check it out for me. I sometimes play for 18 to 20 hours straight (on weekends) and my eyes do get pretty tired. :D
 
vmxa said:
Never said it has to be the same.

KeepRes=1
Can be 0 or 1. If 1, your screen resolution is used for the game instead of the default 1024x768.

VideoMode=1280
Can be 1024, 1152, 1280, 1600, 1792. Changes the game's resolution to the value specified (instead of the default 1024x768).

Refresh=70
Changes the default refresh rate of your monitor. Do not change/add this line unless you are experiencing problems!

That should be Video Mode, not VideoMode
 
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