Resolution Change Mod

[unmerged(18537)]

Some time ago, horgel@CK forum found the way to play CK in higher resolution and post the information in this thread.

Following the successful analysis of HoI2, I found the way to achieve similar goal with EU2, too.
With the tool, you can set resolution of EU2 to other than 800x600, 1024x768, and 1280x1024.

I tested 1152x864, 1280x768, and 1280x960 myself. I got a report of 1600x1200, but it seems EU2 becomes unstable in higher resolution. (He said he got frequent CTD upon scrolling w/ 1600x1200)

In any way, the tool is now available at my homepage. IMO it's worth trying for EU2 fans who have difficulty playing EU2 with their large displays.
I would appreciate feedbacks.

eg. EU2 in 1600x1200:

Just one request: PLEASE READ readme BEFORE USING THE TOOL.

 

[Hive]

Interesting...

 

[jdrou]

1600x1200 was the one I was most interested in. I'll do some testing when I get back to my full-size laptop this weekend.

 

[unmerged(18537)]

1600x1200 was the one I was most interested in. I'll do some testing when I get back to my full-size laptop this weekend.

The one who tried 1920x1440 reported he got CTDs when scrolling screen w/ mouse but none w/ cursor key.

Naturally, EU2 will demand more system resources if you play in higher resolution. I don't know if the limit is constant or dependent on your system.

I'm looking forward to hearing your report.

 

[Rythin]

It worked beautifully with 1600x1200, but I felt dizzy when scrolling so I shall return to standard resolution. Anyway, great thingie it is.

 

[DSMyers1]

Hey, this is nice!

I patched mine to work at 1680X1050, my widescreen laptops native resolution. Much crisper! The mouse movement was a little sluggish; the cursor lagged sometimes. But only infrequently....

Good work!

 

[unmerged(18537)]

I'm glad to hear this hack works fine under certain environments. I'm a bit worried this tool is almost useless as the first report suggested rather negative results.

I patched mine to work at 1680X1050, my widescreen laptops native resolution. Much crisper!

Wow. Does aspect ratio of 16:10 work? So it's up to one's PC environment that determines usable aspect ratio. (Mine got CTD w/ 1280x800)

Have fun

 

[MichaelM]

I tried it at 1400X1050, but it took three tries to load, and then it crashed almost immediately.
I guess I'm one of the unlucky ones...?

Also, a band of something appeared on the right edge of the screen.

 

[unmerged(18537)]

It seems so, unless you forgot to prepare load_user.bmp which size was 1400x1050. In some cases, it works only in full screen mode.

 

[DSMyers1]

I thought it worked nicely...But then I installed the latest beta and repatched that...and now it crashes every time.

hmmm.

Do you find it works still on the latest beta? Could there be a difference?

DSM

 

[MichaelM]

It seems so, unless you forgot to prepare load_user.bmp which size was 1400x1050. In some cases, it works only in full screen mode.

Well, I resized the loading screen to 1400x1050 and saved it as load_user.bmp. Is that enough?

 

[unmerged(18537)]

Well, I resized the loading screen to 1400x1050 and saved it as load_user.bmp. Is that enough?

Yes. It should do the trick if the rez. can be handled by your HW/SW condition.

I thought it worked nicely...But then I installed the latest beta and repatched that...and now it crashes every time.

hmmm.

Do you find it works still on the latest beta? Could there be a difference?

I have not tested every version, but it's unlikely such core function (rez. handling) was altered by the latest patch. I'll try the beta after I come back home.

 

[unmerged(18537)]

I tested Apr 21, 2005 beta and had no problem. So possible causes were:
1) You had changed color depth other than 16 bit and forgot it.
2) You failed to update (overwrite) EU2.exe and repatched patched file. This would corrupt exe file.

So,
1) Make sure you set color depth to 16bit
2) Extract EU2.exe from latest beta patch again and overwrite EU2.exe
(Make sure if the date of the file certainly changes)
3) Patch the EU2.exe

Hope this will help you.

 

[DSMyers1]

I tested Apr 21, 2005 beta and had no problem. So possible causes were:
1) You had changed color depth other than 16 bit and forgot it.
2) You failed to update (overwrite) EU2.exe and repatched patched file. This would corrupt exe file.

So,
1) Make sure you set color depth to 16bit
2) Extract EU2.exe from latest beta patch again and overwrite EU2.exe
(Make sure if the date of the file certainly changes)
3) Patch the EU2.exe

Hope this will help you.

Ahh! I had not realized that the patch required 16-bit color...I never run on less than 24 bit. Why do you think that this causes a problem for the patched game, but not for a standard exe?

 

[jdrou]

Ahh! I had not realized that the patch required 16-bit color...I never run on less than 24 bit. Why do you think that this causes a problem for the patched game, but not for a standard exe?

The game ALWAYS runs at 16-bit color regardless of what you have your desktop set at. The problem is that if you're running in a window then the game and your desktop must be the same color depth since they are displayed at the same time.

 

[DSMyers1]

The game ALWAYS runs at 16-bit color regardless of what you have your desktop set at. The problem is that if you're running in a window then the game and your desktop must be the same color depth since they are displayed at the same time.

I was not running the game in a window. Does this resolution change mod make the game THINK it is in a window?

 

[jdrou]

I was not running the game in a window. Does this resolution change mod make the game THINK it is in a window?

Probably not, I just thought I was in the windowed-mode patch thread. Anyway, sometimes DirectX has trouble changing resolution/colordepth which is why setting desktop to 16-bit is one of the standard suggestions when having CTDs with Paradox games. I always run at 16-bit anyway since I rarely use apps that need 24-bit color and I prefer the slightly better performance.

Test report:
Inspiron 8200, 1.6GHz P4M, 768MB, GeForce2Go GPU, 1600x1200 screen
Inspiron 9200, 2.0GHz P-M, 768MB, Radeon 9700 GPU, 1920x1200 screen
Both running Windows 2000 Pro SP4 w/EU2 Apr 12 beta (I'll try Apr 21 next)
Runs OK at maximum resolution on both EXCEPT when attempting to scroll the screen down using the mouse. Up, left, and right are no problem. When moving the mouse down the mouseover text touches the message box at the bottom, then moving one more pixel the text disappears, moving one more pixel CTDs. Cursor keys scroll fine.

 

[unmerged(18537)]

Ahh! I had not realized that the patch required 16-bit color...I never run on less than 24 bit. Why do you think that this causes a problem for the patched game, but not for a standard exe?

My patch itself won't demand you to play EU2 in 16bit-color. But the resolution you set and your HW/Sw environment does. I'm no expart of Windows but it seems DirectX is the most stable at color depoth of 16 bit. (Remember Castellon suggests 16bit-color to full screen users at tech support)

I can't imagine the reason why older version worked fine but latest one didn't with the same resolution. All I can do is advise you to play EU2 with resolution unsupported by Paradox (or even Microsoft?) at the most stable color depth.

Test report:
Inspiron 8200, 1.6GHz P4M, 768MB, GeForce2Go GPU, 1600x1200 screen
Inspiron 9200, 2.0GHz P-M, 768MB, Radeon 9700 GPU, 1920x1200 screen
Both running Windows 2000 Pro SP4 w/EU2 Apr 12 beta (I'll try Apr 21 next)
Runs OK at maximum resolution on both EXCEPT when attempting to scroll the screen down using the mouse. Up, left, and right are no problem. When moving the mouse down the mouseover text touches the message box at the bottom, then moving one more pixel the text disappears, moving one more pixel CTDs. Cursor keys scroll fine..

Thanks for very detailed report. CTD when scrolling map with mouse and only when scrolling down? Hmmm, interesting but can't help you to solve the problem for the time being.

Please wait with least expectation.
(Windows GUI knowledge/programming is outside of my profession. Your analysis will greatly help if I were so and if I had source code, not human unfriendly assembler code. It might be too tough to track down the cause even if the problem is caused by EU2 engine.)

 

[unmerged(51604)]

I am using this patch for some weeks now.
My screen resolution is set at 1152x864 in-game.
The only annoying thing is the missing additional graphics in the stats window (book).
The main part shows correctly, but not the additional graphics at the bottom and the right.
I have resized (better:cut) the EYR_bg_bottom and EYR_bg_top
and tried to name them EYR_bg_xxx_1152.bmp or EYR_bg_xxx_user.bmp.
Either way there is still no additional graphic covering the map.

If i name the cut graphics EYR_bg_xxx_1280.bmp and start the game in 1280x1024 they show up and have the size they should have in 1152x864.

Is there any way to fix this?

 

[unmerged(52192)]

help?

i'm quite annoyed, cos i really want to use this patch for my 1280x800 ....
i followed all the instructions, i set my colours to 16bit, i made the load_user.bmp to 1280x800... anyway, it works fine till i choose scenario. then i choose scenario. the screen shows my load_user.bmp for a split second then goes black; CTD.
little help please?
thanks