I just bought and installed this game earlier today, but have yet to get the blasted thing to play. Whenever I click on the play option, i get a message along the lines of "Unsupported Monitor Resolution. Please change to True Color: 32 bit."

The problem is I'm already set on True Color. I'm at True Color 800x600, and have no idea how to change to True Color 32 bit. I'm on Windows XP if that makes any difference.

Should I simply try to reinstall the game? Or is there a way for me to change to this True Color 32 bit?

Go into Display Properties and fetch how many bits of color information are being sent (not the resolution, which is the figure in ****x**** form, but the option you've selected beside it -- it's in a dropbox). It should be set to "True Color (32 bit)." If it is set to "True Color (24 bit)," change it to the former and consider buying a new video card. If the former option is not avaliable, look for new drivers and seriously consider a new video card.

Well...looks like I need a new graphics card. But I don't get paid till friday. Crudbuckets. I really wanted to start testing out the mod feature in the construction set.

...So then there's no option for 32-bit and no updated drivers? What card do you have, exactly?

'Ell if I know.

Intel® 82810E Graphics Controller methinks. Tried updating the driver and it said that it couldn't detect a better set-up than the one I had.

Ooh... The 810E... A real classic, heh... Had one myself a time ago. Since I remember being mortified beyond belief at having the 32-bit option (yes, mortified -- 32 bits of color information was just a waste of space at that time) when I moved away from that "graphics solution," I doubt that it had 32-bit back when I had it -- since the drivers probably haven't changed since then, the chip probably still doesn't support for 32-bit color.

The next step here is to see if your motherboard has an AGP slot. If it does, then you can get modern video cards, but it'd probably be a waste since you're probably going to be getting a PCI-Express card in a few months if you get into enthusiast's circles. If it doesn't, then I'm sorry to say that the best you can is something like a GeForce 2.

Well I'm almost positive I do indeed have a AGP slot, so what type of card would you recommend, since you seem rather underwhelmed at the prospect of anyone having a GeForce 2?

Well, if you're planning a big upgrade in the next few months, I wouldn't invest much into an AGP card -- however, if you're going to settle, I have no trouble recommending these:

Entry: GeForce 4 Ti Series (I've seen these for about $US80)

Mid-Range: Radeon 9600XT (These are going to be $US150)

High-End: Radeon 9800XT (Expect above $US250, but the prices are going to drop soon)

Ridiculously High-End: Radeon X800XT ($US650 is a small price to pay for pwnage)

Well I hardly, if ever "upgrade" my system, so I'm not to concerned about buying a peice of hardware only to replace it a month later. So judging by you list....would it be fair of me to assume that the GeForce 4 Ti Series and Radeon 9600XT would be most cost effective for someone on a budget? Will these cards allow the game to perform up to specs with the pixel shading and max draw distance and everything.....or will they simply allow the game to run?

~EDIT~

Nevermind....just saw your price lists. Eesh.

A GeForce 2 will simply allow the game to play... A GeForce 4 will give you that purty water... A Radeon 9600XT will take some of the clunk out of those framerates and allow you to do the fancy stuff... A Radeon 9800XT will give you completely fluid framerates in most of the situations you can throw at it, even with the details turned up... A Radeon X800XT will give you fluid framerates with painful amounts of AA and AF, bragging rights, and the really fancy stuff.

Ahhhhhh...ok. Thank you. I could really care less about bragging rights so I know I can cross that X800 right off the list. Well....actually...the 650 price tage crosses it right off the list. I'll probably go after a GeForce 4 Ti, unless I can find a 2 for a signifigantly lower price, though I really want the pretty water.

Thanks again for all your help on this subject....and my apologies for such ungodly hours(if you're US based that is). But after playing the game on the Xbox for so long, I'm not sure I could stand playing it on the PC and having it possibly look worse.

Delete me -- I'm a ghost left over from an edit that became a double post.

Well, you should probably consider the many things that exist between the GF4 and 9600 -- the 9600 itself has three lower levels of performance (and thus pricing) besides the XT: the Radeon 9600SE, the vanilla Radeon 9600, and the Radeon 9600 Pro. You could also consider some of the lesser-known R3XX cards that come below the 9600 in performance, such as the Radeon 9200. If you're really looking for options, you could also try some of the low- and mid-end cards in the (ugh) GeForce FX line.

Well once I get me paycheck and pay off the people that need paying, I'll take what I have left and start looking into those options. After all, I'm just looking for something that will allow me to play the game with a reasonable level of clarity so I can start exploring the CS. So far...I've made an NPC, and I'm pretty sure I've placed her in Seyda Neen, but can't actually check and test her out.

dude, if you can't run in 32, then you propobly have a 400mhz, 256mb ram piece of ancient history. buy a new computer. one with 128 mb graphics, 1gig ram, 2.8 ghz dual processors and a decent hard drive. this is a low end machine these days (400-500 dollars) for a real machine go for the new dell with the hand painted case. 4gigs ram, 4.8 ghz dual overclocked processors, gawd knows how much space, and a huge graphics card. $9k
go for the faster ones, they run the game in 2-3 second load screens instead of 2-3 minutes.

p.s. the relic i described was my old dell. the mid range is the standard HP desktop out there. (i run with half the ram and processing speed b/c i have a slimline.)

[quote name='Marxist ßastard' date='May 18 2004, 03:08 AM' post='74565']
High-End: Radeon 9800XT (Expect above $US250, but the prices are going to drop soon)
$120 at wal-mart

Get the hell off my Internet, before I replace you with a Markov chainer.

nerevarine222, please check how old a thread is before you reply to it... resurrecting a 2-year-old thread is considered thread necromancy and frowned upon on these forums.