Greatest disappointement ever

[Lord Magnus]

Ha Ha suckers I solved my resolution problem. I have a laptop with a S3 SavageIX (lucky) that can easily display 1024x768 but the dumb laptop screen can only display 800x600 without going into virtual desktop mode. But I just plug in a monitor and I'm back on track. A $3000 price tag for a new desktop turns into a $100 tag for a 17" monitor. I hope though that Win XP doesn't conflict with Civ3, but it shouldn't if it works with Win2000.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by vancomycin
i'm using 1400 x 1050 resolution with ibm 15" lcd monitor and i don't feel anything bad. in fact, when i lower the resolution, everything look fuzzy.

That's not a standard resolution mode and screws up the aspect ratio to boot.

At any rate most LCD screens tend to be fuzzy if you don't use them at their maximum resolution. Only the best ones have licked this problem.

[Grim Legacy]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


That's not a standard resolution mode and screws up the aspect ratio to boot.

At any rate most LCD screens tend to be fuzzy if you don't use them at their maximum resolution. Only the best ones have licked this problem.

1400*1050 may be an unusual resolution, but it does not screw up the aspect ratio, which remains comfy at 4:3.

[campmajor!]

Solver, I too had nostalgic feelings about my once brandnew 286. But I soon found out that you MUST upgrade once. Because software developers do not care about sentiments...

Firaxis HAS already stated their system requirements, so officially you cannot play it at 800x600.

What you can do unofficially has nothing to do with them.

[SITS]

Will the Apolyton T-Shirts come in resolution 800x600? If not then I'm boycotting it!

I personally would prefer for Firaxis to design the game for a bigger screen, so more details can be seen. I'm sick and tired of things being designed for the lowest common denominator. Things that would improve my gaming experience would have to be downgraded to enable 800x600 and to me that would be a great shame especially as the solution is relatively easy...

[Solver]

You know what is the difference? You have to upgrade RAM/CPU, because you no longer can do job with the old ones. While, there has been no program I couldn't run on 800x600 15". This leads me to some decisions.

I am sure it is very easy to add 800x600 support.
Anyway, resolution must be in a text file, possible to edit. But a pirate copy will come first, I fear, for checking if that is the case.

[CyberbugFredrik]

Solver, are you kidding?! These system requirements are the LOWEST I have ever seen!
What is there to complain about?
The vast majority of the players can meet those requirements without any problems, you will simply have to adopt to the new computer standards.

[Solver]

Low for me too, except those fuc*ing resolution requirements.

[SITS]

You have a
6 month old
Video Card
which will
be able to
handle the
new resol-
ution. If the
card has a
dual-head
then you
can use your
old monitor
at the same
time for MS
Word. So you
could continue
your relation-
ship with your
monitor and
neither of you
would have to
say goodbye.

I feel your
pain, Solver
(that is why
I'm writing
like this so
that you can
view it on
your monitor.)
It is time to
let go and
accept that
the world has
changed and
that your type
of love is no
longer healthy.

Look, just go
round the shops,
look at all the
nice monitors
there. I know
it is hard to
look at another
but it is time.
Touch the case,
feel how cool
the glass is,
how bright the
image shines.
You can love
again.

[Solver]

Well, I could view that .

[Mister Pleasant]

To the Intel Shills . . .

I can only assume that Grim and Sparky are Intel employees.

(1) My system is three years old. Still works perfectly - why should I buy a new one? Just because processor speeds double every six months? Sorry, I don't live to pad Moore's pockets.

(2) Why exactly should games keep up with "current hardware"? Lets face it, if consumerist stooges didn't upgrade their hardware every year, game companies would HAVE to build down in order to sell enough product. Simple economics - set system requirements too high, 95% of people don't have those specs, small market for game.

(3) Of course developers could do more with less hardware if they optimized their code. This truly lost art worked miracles back in the day. But with today's processors and amount of memory, why not just let the code get sloppy - no one will notice. Well, unless your multi-tasking . . .

(4) Computers are filled with lead, mercury, plastics, etc. Where do you think out of date computers go when they get thrown out? That's right, straight into the environment - you know, the place we all live. Keeping your computer for longer periods (and disposing of it in an environmentally sound way) is being nice to the Earth. A good idea until we can all go to Alpha Centauri. Maybe people who overbuy computers should be subjected to a stiff disposal fee for their old computers. That would encourage conservation, code optimization, etc.

(5) High hardware requirements fall disproportionately on the poor. Why should the economically disadvantaged go without civ3? Is civ3 only for executives and CEOs? Why should the poor invest in a computer if it will go obscelete in six months? Planned obscelecence is just another tool for the privileged class to maintain hegemony by keeping a de jure level playing field, though not a de facto one. Planned obscelecence keeps Moore and Gates rich while shutting the door on the poor.

So why are the rest of us complaining Grim? Well, we don't like the following: paying though the nose to keep up, lazy programmers who don't optimize code, environmental degradation, and shafting low income people. Play your computer game while Rome burns if you will! I'll take a stand and keep my system another few years.

Now I will give Firaxis credit, the requirements are fairly low for a game these days. But come on, give the 800x600 people at least the ability to run the game. Think of the Earth!

[Provost Harrison]

For frigs sake Solver, get a new monitor. Really, the things do not cost a lot of money, I invested in upgrading my monitor many years ago because of this problem with size, and I think most people will need to at some point. Even just a decent 15" monitor will run 1024x768 OK, because the text in the game will be bigger to compensate for a higher resolution. Personally, I will be running it in 1280x1024 or maybe 1600x1200 if I get the chance. My monitor can support that resolution at even a decent refresh rate (75Hz IIRC)

[kittenOFchaos]

ONE LINE in particular refers to you and your small screen friends Solver!

"Got a flat-screen monitor forty inches wide,
I believe that your says "Etch-A-Sketch" on the side"

http://www.com-www.com/weirdal/itsallaboutthepentiums.html

It's All About The Pentiums
by Al Yankovic

NOTE: Lyrics in ITALICS are sung by a female vocalist.

Lyrics:

It's all about the Pentiums, baby
Uhh, uh-huh, yeah
Uhh, uh-huh, yeah
It's all about the Pentiums, baby
It's all about the Pentiums, baby
It's all about the Pentiums! (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums! (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
Yeah

What y'all wanna do?
Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers
Wastin' time with all the chatroom yakkers?
9 to 5, chillin' at Hewlett Packard?
Workin' at a desk with a dumb little placard?
Yeah, payin' the bills with my mad programming skills
Defraggin' my hard drive for thrills
I got me a hundred gigabytes of RAM
I never feed trolls and I don't read spam
Installed a T1 line in my house
Always at my PC, double-clickin' on my mizouse
Upgrade my system at least twice a day
I'm strictly plug-and-play, I ain't afraid of Y2K
I'm down with Bill Gates, I call him "Money" for short
I phone him up at home and I make him do my tech support
It's all about the Pentiums, what?
You've gotta be the dumbest newbie I've ever seen
You've got white-out all over your screen
You think your Commodore 64 is really neato
What kinda chip you got in there, a Dorito?
You're usin' a 286? Don't make me laugh
Your Windows boots up in what, a day and a half?
You could back up your whole hard drive on a floppy diskette
You're the biggest joke on the Internet
Your database is a disaster
You're waxin' your modem, tryin' to make it go faster
Hey fella, I bet you're still livin' in your parents' cellar
Downloadin' pictures of Sarah Michelle Gellar
And postin' "Me too!" like some brain-dead AOL-er
I should do the world a favor and cap you like Old Yeller
You're just about as useless as jpegs to Hellen Keller

It's all about the Pentiums! (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums! (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums! (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums! (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)

Now, what y'all wanna do?
Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers
Wastin' time with all the chatroom yakkers?
9 to 5, chillin' at Hewlett Packard?

Uh, uh, loggin' in now
Wanna run wit my crew, hah?
Rule cyberspace and crunch numbers like I do?
They call me the king of the spreadsheets
Got 'em printed out on my bedsheets
My new computer's got the clocks, it rocks
But it was obsolete before I opened the box
You say you've had your desktop for over a week?
Throw that junk away, man, it's an antique
Your laptop is a month old? Well that's great
If you could use a nice, heavy paperweight
My digital media is write-protected
Every file inspected, no viruses detected
I beta tested every operation system
Gave props to some, and others? I dissed 'em
While your computer's crashin', mine's multitaskin'
It does all my work without me even askin'
Got a flat-screen monitor forty inches wide,
I believe that your says "Etch-A-Sketch" on the side
In a 32-bit world, you're a 2-bit user
You've got your own newsgroup, "alt.total-loser"
Your motherboard melts when you try to send a fax
Where'd you get your CPU, in a box of Cracker Jacks?
Play me online? Well, you know that I'll beat you
If I ever meet you I'll control-alt-delete you
What? What? What? What? What?

It's all about the Pentiums! (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums! (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums! (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums! (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
Now, what y'all wanna do?
Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers
Wastin' time with all the chatroom yakkers?
9 to 5, chillin' at Hewlett Packard?
What??


YEAH!

[Urban Ranger]

Re: To the Intel Shills . . .

Originally posted by Mister Pleasant
I can only assume that Grim and Sparky are Intel employees.

(1) My system is three years old. Still works perfectly - why should I buy a new one? Just because processor speeds double every six months? Sorry, I don't live to pad Moore's pockets.

(2) Why exactly should games keep up with "current hardware"? Lets face it, if consumerist stooges didn't upgrade their hardware every year, game companies would HAVE to build down in order to sell enough product. Simple economics - set system requirements too high, 95% of people don't have those specs, small market for game.

(3) Of course developers could do more with less hardware if they optimized their code. This truly lost art worked miracles back in the day. But with today's processors and amount of memory, why not just let the code get sloppy - no one will notice. Well, unless your multi-tasking . . .

(4) Computers are filled with lead, mercury, plastics, etc. Where do you think out of date computers go when they get thrown out? That's right, straight into the environment - you know, the place we all live. Keeping your computer for longer periods (and disposing of it in an environmentally sound way) is being nice to the Earth. A good idea until we can all go to Alpha Centauri. Maybe people who overbuy computers should be subjected to a stiff disposal fee for their old computers. That would encourage conservation, code optimization, etc.

(5) High hardware requirements fall disproportionately on the poor. Why should the economically disadvantaged go without civ3? Is civ3 only for executives and CEOs? Why should the poor invest in a computer if it will go obscelete in six months? Planned obscelecence is just another tool for the privileged class to maintain hegemony by keeping a de jure level playing field, though not a de facto one. Planned obscelecence keeps Moore and Gates rich while shutting the door on the poor.

So why are the rest of us complaining Grim? Well, we don't like the following: paying though the nose to keep up, lazy programmers who don't optimize code, environmental degradation, and shafting low income people. Play your computer game while Rome burns if you will! I'll take a stand and keep my system another few years.

Now I will give Firaxis credit, the requirements are fairly low for a game these days. But come on, give the 800x600 people at least the ability to run the game. Think of the Earth!

1. Nobody forces you to buy a new one. For that matter, nobody forces you to play Civ 3 or even use a computer. It's your choice. So what's your point?

2. About which game are you talking? Can't be Civ 3.

3. When you optimise your code you make it either smaller or faster (there's always a trade off). But you can't optimise it to work on a slower processor. And somethings have nothing to do with optimisation.

4. Mercury? What? Many older computers are still in use. You'll be surprised that how many really old computers are still being used by companies, charitable organisations, etc. Many ones that are thrown out are recycled. Sure, there's still not enough done here, but you can't pin the blame on any single entity. It's the same thing with old cars, home appliances, etc.

5. Are you stoned? The hardware requirments for Civ 3 are at least 4 generations old. 32MB RAM? P2-300? (P2?!) Lets just say we don't use stone axes for open head surgeries.

All computers you can buy are obsolete by definition. What you can do with them is up to you. Again nobody forces you to buy one. I have a couple of i486 boxes still being used.

So maybe some of us should do some research before we talk, no?

[Apocalypse]

Hmmm...I have a 15" monitor that is 6 years old. I had used 800 X 600 until there was the post on the orignal SMAC UBB boards asking about resolutions. I noticed the majority of people used higher resolutions so I tried them. It was odd for a while having everything smaller, but I got acustomed to it and kept it. Of course I can't play CivIII on the computer I used to browse those boards (I'm using it right now though), but I do have a computer with a nice 19" monitor that I'm planning to use.