How to enable display downscaling on Windows 7

[EaglePrince 230]

Hey guys! I tried to install Empire Earth on my brothers laptop, and after I finished everything, after he starts the game, everything seems to start normally, but after the video on the beginning finishes, the screen stays black, the game doesn't crash, but the only thing I can do then is shutting down the game in task manager.

 

I believe that the problem is that fact that it's a small laptop with low maximal resolution, and that I need to enable display downscaling for this game (or any other game as well - during this process). Do you have any idea what might be the problem; could I be correct with this downscaling option? If yes, how could I do that?

 

Oh, and by the way it's Windows 7 operative system. I've got feeling that this thing is done more easily in Windows 8 though...

 

Thank you in advance!

Edited February 16, 2015 by EaglePrince

[Isaiah 19]

Yeah, probably a resolution problem.... Did you check the readme files and all that? If you have, take a look at files like config.*, settings.*, display.*, hopefully you get the post (the * is a wildcard)

[Lord_Chris 248]

According to Neoseeker, the minimum specs required are:

 

Hardware Requirements

System: PII 333 or equivalent

RAM:64 MB RAM

Video Memory: 4 MB VRAM

Hard Drive Space: 450 MB

Mouse: Yes

Sound Board: Yes

DirectX: DirectX v8.0

 

Recommended System Requirements

System: PIII 600 or equivalent

RAM: 128 MB RAM

Video Memory: 32 MB VRAM

Hard Drive Space: 450 MB

 

I'd start by making sure that it all matches the minimum specifications. But Empire Earth 1 was released in 2001, it's possible it just won't work at all. Try decreasing the screen resolution, and see if it helps at all. If that doesn't help, maybe attempt to download some older drivers for whatever graphics card he has- it may help and stop it from seemingly crashing.

Edited February 16, 2015 by Lord_Chris

[EaglePrince 230]

Thanks, @Isaiah, I will have a look at that, and see if I get something. As usual I unchecked "view ream me" after the installation. :angel: I will have a look those stuff.

 

Regarding minimum system requirements, the laptop's specifications are high above of what you have found, like you suspected. Another thing I would like to tell is the fact that this game does work on both of my PC's which have Windows 7, so when it comes to that, the game should run normally I think... The only thing that the laptop lack is the fact that the screen resolution is already set to maximal possible one, and I think that height is less than 600, if I remember correctly.

 

It is pretty small laptop. :)

[EaglePrince 230]

I have found the read me file, and this is what it says about minimum system requirements:

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

? Multimedia PC with Pentium? II - 350 MHz or higher processor

? 64 MB of RAM

? 450 MB of hard disk space; additional 100 MB of hard drive space for swap file

? Super VGA monitor supporting 1024 x 768 resolution

? AGP (4 MB) or PCI (8 MB) 3D video card that supports 1024 x 768, 16 bit color resolution

? CD-ROM drive

? Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

? 28.8 Kbps modem (or higher recommended) for Internet or head-to-head play (56 Kbps modem or higher to host a game)

? DirectX compatible sound card (speakers or headphones recommended)

? DirectX 8.0a or later

 

So it does require at least 768 of height, while this monitor can get at most 1024x600... Now I still hope there is something we could do about it... :( He does like Empire Earth, and he would like to win the campaign once again.

 

I tried having a look at some config files, but I found nothing useful. It seems that all those user files are located at C:\Sierra\Empire Earth, but nothing seems to be what I would need. I also tried to open default.dll file I found there, but I only found a bunch of some nasty characters there. :)

 

Any ideas what I could do further? I will also have a look at some stuff from my PC where I Empire Earth running, or perhaps there could be some official or unofficial patch to solve this issue. Or, maybe I could do something with display downscaling, or something like that...

 

Thanks for your assistance. :)

 

 

ADDITION: Right now I tried installing the game on my PC, and it works well, but I also noticed that changing the resolution inside game doesn't effect the game menu, which might be causing the problem. I mean, it is possible to set lower resolution than my brother has on his laptop, but the menu would still be in higher resolution than that.

Edited February 16, 2015 by EaglePrince

[TemplarMERC 7]

If you have a gpu try using the software for it to forcefully scale the game. This may work. A shot in the dark, but worth a try.

[EaglePrince 230]

It's about my brother laptop, but he's away now, so I will be unable to try it any time soon. Still, in the end we concluded that Empire Earth may not be able to run on smaller screen laptop, and we got that as a fact. Still, I should try what you suggested when possible, thanks. :) I'm not sure if I have tried that before, but even if I did, I could try again.