Re: Dead Reefs
[Re: oldbroad]
#1124130
09/07/17 10:04 PM
09/07/17 10:04 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644 southeast USA
Jenny100
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
|
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Sonic Boomer
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
|
If I'm reading that box link correctly it says Direct X 9.0C included. The 8.1 says something about the sound card. Next to where it says "VIDEO CARD" it says 64 MB 3D ACCELERATED, DIRECTX 8.1 COMPATIBLE. The version of DirectX you have installed doesn't have anything to do with whether your video card is "DirectX 8.1 compatible" or not. "DirectX 8.1 compatible" is a hardware requirement. It doesn't mean "will the computer run when I install DirectX 8.1" -- it means "Will the video card be able to implement these special new DirectX 8.1 features? (or will it show a blank screen or white areas because it can't display these hot new DirectX 8.1 video effects)" Yes I know it's confusing. Anyway, I guess I'll try it in my Windows 7 and see how that goes. Good luck.
|
|
|
Re: Dead Reefs
[Re: oldbroad]
#1124497
09/10/17 08:15 PM
09/10/17 08:15 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644 southeast USA
Jenny100
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
|
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Sonic Boomer
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
|
I saw somewhere that in Windows 7 you should go to the file location and click on launcher and "select the correct size of your screen resolution". There are 3 options: 800x600, 1024x768, and 1280x1024. My screen resolution is 1920x1080. I am hesitant to change it to match one of the game options as I don't know how it will affect my computer. I'd choose the largest resolution it allows. Does your monitor have a scaling option? Does it allow you to have black bars on the sides, or a black frame around the picture? If not, see if your video card has a scaling option. Usually the worst thing that happens is the game crashes and leaves your desktop at a low resolution (and your icons all messed up). Usually a reboot fixes it, but sometimes you have to manually go in and change your desktop resolution back to what it's supposed to be. (Right-click the desktop --> Personalize --> Display --> Change display settings --> Use the dropdown box to select the resolution you want and save changes.)
|
|
|
Re: Dead Reefs
[Re: oldbroad]
#1124639
09/11/17 08:57 PM
09/11/17 08:57 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644 southeast USA
Jenny100
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
|
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Sonic Boomer
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
|
I do not know if the monitor does scaling. I'm not sure if I have a manual or not. Will have to look. If you have the model number of the monitor you can probably find a pdf of the manual on the manufacturer's website. I tried again in the XP and got a little further - sort of. The picture itself stayed okay but the text did not. I turned off closed captioning so I didn't have that white box on my screen but I still cannot read the journal or the menu screen. I thought I saved but then went back in to load the save and it wasn't there so I don't know what I clicked. Try using the compatibility mode settings on the game exe (right-click the game's exe, choose Properties, Compatibility tab, and disable visual themes and advanced text services. Sometimes they interfere with games, and disabling them on the compatibility tab won't affect anything outside the game.
|
|
|
Re: Dead Reefs
[Re: oldbroad]
#1124714
09/12/17 11:02 PM
09/12/17 11:02 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644 southeast USA
Jenny100
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
|
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Sonic Boomer
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
|
Anyway, I also found my monitor manual and it mentions something about Wide Mode (Full/Aspect) so maybe it does scale but I did not try it. If it's like mine, you'd want it set to Aspect. Otherwise the picture gets horizontally stretched. Good luck with the game.
|
|
|
Re: Dead Reefs
[Re: oldbroad]
#1124718
09/12/17 11:42 PM
09/12/17 11:42 PM
|
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 18,232 Chicago
oldbroad
OP
Graduate Boomer
|
OP
Graduate Boomer
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 18,232
Chicago
|
So, if I decide to play with the monitor, Aspect is the best setting for everything? You don't mean just for this game right? I would not want to be changing it back and forth is what I'm getting at I guess. It's an Acer 23in G237HLbi 1920x1080 flat panel 5ms.
Thank you.
Last edited by oldbroad; 09/12/17 11:46 PM.
|
|
|
Re: Dead Reefs
[Re: oldbroad]
#1124757
09/13/17 10:56 AM
09/13/17 10:56 AM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644 southeast USA
Jenny100
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
|
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Sonic Boomer
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
|
Aspect should make the viewing area in a game as large as possible without stretching them horizontally. You probably won't see any difference for games with a widescreen setting, but older games that were made for a CRT monitor won't have a stretched picture. Here's a sample picture http://i.imgur.com/Uk4sR.jpgThe game in the picture is supposed to be in 4:3 aspect ratio. The top picture shows the "Aspect" setting, where the 4:3 aspect ratio is retained and you have the black bars on the sides. The bottom picture shows the "Full" setting, where the 4:3 picture is horizontally stretched to fill the 16:9 monitor screen -- characters look fat, objects like the chairs look warped.
|
|
|
Re: Dead Reefs
[Re: oldbroad]
#1125708
09/21/17 12:16 PM
09/21/17 12:16 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644 southeast USA
Jenny100
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
|
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Sonic Boomer
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
|
I can't see in my Windows 7 how to change the monitor settings. I find the buttons but don't know how to move anywhere and don't actually see anything about scaling in the monitor menu. The monitor controls for scaling would be built into your monitor -- you push the buttons on the monitor and navigate through the popup menu. If I understand what you said earlier, your monitor has selections for "Aspect" and "Full" and doesn't mention "scaling." You'd choose "Aspect" to retain the aspect ratio of the game and not stretch it to a widescreen monitor. Video card settings for scaling would be accessed through the video card's software. Sometimes Nvidia puts an icon in your taskbar so you can access the controls quickly, or sometimes a selection for Nvidia controls is in the right-click-on-the-desktop-where-there-is-no-icon menu. If you don't care whether your picture is horizontally stretched or not, you don't need to configure scaling settings -- either on your video card or on your monitor. I don't want to change my desktop screen resolution on the Windows 7 to 800x600 to even try it. I am afraid I will not be able to change it back. The problem with reducing your desktop resolution is that if you have a lot of desktop icons, they'll get rearranged in order to fit. It's extremely unlikely that you wouldn't be able to restore your desktop resolution back to what it was, but putting your icons back the way you want them can be a nuisance. It's looking like if I play for an hour or so then it starts to act up. If the game is playing OK for an hour, there's probably not much you can do other than try different video drivers (probably older ones) and see if they are any more stable. Most tweaks suggested in this thread are for if the game won't start at all or crashes when you load a game.
|
|
|
Re: Dead Reefs
[Re: Jenny100]
#1125723
09/21/17 03:04 PM
09/21/17 03:04 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 34,383 United Kingdom
Mad
Sonic Boomer
|
Sonic Boomer
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 34,383
United Kingdom
|
" It's extremely unlikely that you wouldn't be able to restore your desktop resolution back to what it was, but putting your icons back the way you want them can be a nuisance." I've used a little programme called "Icon Restore" for years. It's on my Win98. WinXP and Win7 machines - is very simple to use and VERY handy [It's also available for Win10 - which I don't have.]
Time : The Most Precious Commodity
|
|
|
Re: Dead Reefs
[Re: oldbroad]
#1125753
09/21/17 09:07 PM
09/21/17 09:07 PM
|
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 18,232 Chicago
oldbroad
OP
Graduate Boomer
|
OP
Graduate Boomer
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 18,232
Chicago
|
Jenny - I'm sorry that there are some things I am more dumb about than others but this "you push the buttons on the monitor and navigate through the popup menu" is what I don't know how to do (the navigating part). The Nvidia card is in the XP and I didn't see any scaling options in there. The screen really doesn't seem too stretched. It is not bothering me. Just losing the text is the problem. I shouldn't really have said that I'm afraid I won't be able to change the Windows 7 back to normal if I changed it to 800x600 but I have a lot of icons on my desktop and they would not be visible and would probably leave little clear area to right click the desktop, and I have had to rearrange them on several occasions for some reason or other when they've gotten out of wack. It would be nice to play the game in 7 but XP is fine if it will keep playing. You said my XP video card may be too old for the game so why would I go with older drivers? I am not online with the XP anyway and not going to worry about the drivers in there. It is the Win 7 where the game won't start at all. Thanks Mad for that info. Anyway, I really was just updating because I said I would. Not really looking for additional help. Sorry.
|
|
|
Re: Dead Reefs
[Re: oldbroad]
#1125767
09/21/17 11:07 PM
09/21/17 11:07 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644 southeast USA
Jenny100
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
|
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Sonic Boomer
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
|
Jenny - I'm sorry that there are some things I am more dumb about than others but this "you push the buttons on the monitor and navigate through the popup menu" is what I don't know how to do (the navigating part). It takes some experimentation. I liked it better when monitors had more buttons instead of the "On Screen Display". Usually there are Menu, Select, Forward, and Back buttons, and you have to doodle with them until you figure out how to navigate. One of my monitors has a button labelled "Input" instead of "Select." I'm sorry I can't be more specific. I have to "relearn" the buttons every time I use them -- start with Menu and mess around. If you're satisfied with your aspect ratio, just leave them alone. The Nvidia card is in the XP and I didn't see any scaling options in there. The screen really doesn't seem too stretched. It is not bothering me. Just losing the text is the problem. Losing text would be a different problem than scaling. You said my XP video card may be too old for the game so why would I go with older drivers? I am not online with the XP anyway and not going to worry about the drivers in there.
It is the Win 7 where the game won't start at all. I wasn't clear on which computer it was playing on. The reason to try older video drivers on an older video card is that Nvidia likes to lump drivers for new cards in with drivers for older cards -- and they're usually optimized for the newer cards. If you're satisfied with how it's doing now, no need to change anything though.
|
|
|
|
|