Error then Quit to Desktop: "Resolution not supported?"

[Hounshell]

Hi,

I just got a new computer and I am trying to move my BOB2 installation onto it, but am having trouble.

The machine is Windows 7/64 and is using the new "Eyefinity" technology from ATI.
Specifically, I'm using an ATI 5970 graphics card to drive 3 displays with 6060x1200 resolution total.
I know people have gotten this to work, I've seen pictures. But for me, when I start BOB2,
I get a screen with a single error-box that says "Resolution not supported?" then when I press
the "OK" button on that, BOB2 quits. That is all I see. I can't get to the BOB2 menu at all.

I've tried completely uninstalling and then reinstalling everything - the same thing happens.
Has anybody any experience with this problem? I would sure appreciate some help and advice.
This is a brand new (1 week old) Alienware machine from Dell. I also have a trackIR5 installed.


Thank you for your help.

[Osram]

The res of the menu screen is fixed. I think it is 1024 x 768.
Try to set the res of your desktop to 1024 x 768 and see what happens. I would guess you get exactly the same error and the error comes from the display (driver) and not BoB.

Something else to test is in the bdg.txt set FORCE_WINDOWED_MODE or so to "ON". This will show whether really fullscreen resolution is the problem (and only problem), as I would expect.

[Buddye]

Can you get BOBII working only on one display first?

[Hounshell]

Yes, I have tried using a single display and at various display resolutions.
It does not seem to matter what my display resolution is set at.
Also, setting FORCE_WINDOWED_MODE=ON has no effect I can see.

Any resolution and even a single monitor always gives me the
"resolution not supported?" message. I have this working on my
old XP computer, so I am familiar with what BOB2 should look like.
I am just unable to get it to run on the new computer.
Other programs work fine at 6060x1200, and even with the trackIR.
But BOB2 is one of my favorites, and I would really like to get it working.


Now one thing I want to add is that the very FIRST time I ran BOB2 on
this machine, I was able to see the menu. That was several days ago.
At that time, I did select the 6060x1200 resolution successfully. And
I did play a single Fly mission. As it happened, the machine hung during play,
and I was forced to reboot. After the boot I began seeing the crazy message.

I did try completely uninstalling and reinstalling. I made sure the
Battle of Britain II folder was completely removed, and I did a full
reinstall and patch to 2.10. Windows 7 said it did the uninstall,
but I am learning that W7 is a giant leap backward for mankind.
Possible some registry setting was left over??

sigh.



Thanks guys.

[Buddye]

I run a new PC as well. My spec's in sig. I had no issues with BOBII.

Did you update the DirectX when asked by the 2.10 self-installer? I needed to update my DirectX when I got my new PC.

I see no reason you should have problems when running one monitor. I would focus on learning how to get BOBII running with one monitor only before starting the task of running 3 monitors. Your resolution for one monitor should not be 6060x1200 (my monitor's native res is 1600 x 1200).

When I do a clean install I always use CCleaner to clean the windows reg. I also delete all files in the BOBII folder.

As you run a wide screen monitor you will need to:

First, set you "windows" resolution (in windows) to your monitors native resolution.

Second, because you have a Wide Screen Monitor try in game setting of resolution:

Set in options->GFX use Windows Desktop Resolution (Recommended)=OFF

Then manually select the resolution (in game) as close as possible to your monitors native resolution from the pull down list of resolution options.

[Hounshell]

Hi again,

I am not making any progress. I have again tried wiping everything and re-installing.
I have a restore-point just after a fresh BOB2 install, so I could try various tests.
Every time I run BOB2, I get the "resolution not supported?" message, then exit to desktop.
It does not matter what my actual desktop resolution is. I've tried various bdg.txt changes.
Every run is the same.

I don't know what left to try.
Here are the specs for my machine:

Intel i9 X980 - six core cpu
12gig of fast ram
very fast gpu
trackir5


I should have no problem running this, but I cannot.
I don't even know what to try next.


Thanks for helping.

[Buddye]

I have a restore-point just after a fresh BOB2 install, so I could try various tests.

What do you mean ( restore-point ?)?


What resolution did you select , when you tried the following with one monitor??

First, set you "windows" resolution (in windows) to your monitors native resolution.

Second, because you have a Wide Screen Monitor try in game setting of resolution:

Set in options->GFX use Windows Desktop Resolution (Recommended)=OFF

Then manually select the resolution (in game) as close as possible to your monitors native resolution from the pull down list of resolution options.

I assume that this "Eyefinity" and 5970 card/driver is new. Does the application have to do anything to support "Eyefinity" trchlogy?

[Hounshell]

Yes, the 5970 is new. It is supposedly one of the fastest/most powerful GPU's out there.
It can drive 3 displays and combine them, including bezel correction to make it look like
you are peering out of 3 windows. I've got this working, for example in the "rise of flight"
WWI simulation. It is really amazing too see, especially with trackir. Check it out on youtube - do a search there
for "eyefinity game" and you will see what I am talking about.

My problem is that I can not even get to the main menu where you choose GFX settings.
I start BOB2, then the first thing I see is a box with the message "Resolution not supported?"
and an "OK" button in it. When I press OK, BOB2 quits immediately. There is no chance
to set anything. This happens regardless of what my Windows display resolution is.
For example, one monitor with 1080x768 resolution now give the display message problem.

I know it can be done. As I said earlier, the very first time I installed, I was able to see the
menu where you select options->GFX settings, etc. Then after the game froze and I rebooted, I
could no longer get to the menu. I've never been able to get back to the menu to try
other settings. Is there any way I can manually set the options->GFX by editing a file?

What I am not understanding is why it worked the first time, and now I can only get the dialog.

By "restore point," I mean a window "restore point" - where I can restore the machine's
registry and configuration settings. The idea being to put back a registry/config to some
prior state easily.

[PV]

Display resolution is not stored in BDG.txt, so it is most likely stored in settings.cfg in the Savegame folder. If you remove that file, you should get the display settings returned to their install default value. Presumably that should work for you, if your initial trial which gave a working display was with a new install.

On the other hand, if the initial trial was using a previously configured install, it may be that the display value stored in your old settings.cfg worked for you, but the install default doesn't. In that case you'd want to find a backup of your old settings.cfg file and use that...

[McMick]

Try returning your ATI card and get an Nvidia card instead.

[Hounshell]

After trying all suggestions (except the Nvidia one - that can not do eyefinity and defeats my purpose)
I still have no luck in getting BOB2 to run on my new machine at any resolution.


Basicly when I run Bob.exe, before any menu displays I get a windows popup display with the title BOB
and a message inside that says "Resolution not supported?"
There is an OK button inside the popup. When I press OK, everything quits to desktop.

Reinstalling does not solve anything. And changing number of monitors/monitor resolution does not fix it either.
I am at a complete loss here.

I do have one piece of information to add:
If I run Bob.exe in a console, I can see a text error message like this:

_pinfo::dup_proc_pipe: DuplicateHandle failed, pid 6172, hProcess 0x214, wr_proce_pipe 0x144, Win32 error 5



If anyone has any idea what that means, please let me know. I notice the numbers change, except for
the last one which is always 0x144. The hProcess is sometimes 0x210 and sometime 0x214.


I am able to run lots of other games on this rig with no problem. Only bob2 is giving me issues at this point.
For example, I have Over Flanders Fields, Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Rise of Flight, Wings of Prey and
many others working at 6048x1200 with trackIR5 and with all graphics options at highest settings. it's amazing.
I'm using Windows 7/64 with 12 Gig RAM, i7 x980 CPU, and an ATI 5970 running 6048x1200 across 3 25" screens.

I'd really like to get BOB2 working as well.
But it is looking like I might have to wait for the next update? (I'd be willing to try any alpha/beta fix...)
I hope the devs can change the graphics initialization code to solve my issue.


Thanks.

[Osram]

I still think your setup does not support 1024x768 or so.
Did you test this?

If this is your issue, we will definitely not change the behaviour in the next update and I would guess never, as we have many improvements we can make that affect 1000s, 100s or at least 10s of customers. In addition, with some of them we know what top do while with the 1024x768 limitation we would first have to find out.

[Buddye]

I just do not understand what is going on here and it seems you are the only player running "Eyefinity" and 5970 card/driver.

I just do not know if the application has to do some specific coding to support the ATI "Eyefinity" feature.

I would guess we will figure it out as we get more information.

[McMick]

Nvidia GTX 260 and up will do 3D Vision Surround, which is their equivalent to Eyefinity. The only caveat is you'll have to wait a month more for the driver. But historically Nvidia products have worked better on BoB than ATI products.

http://www.legitreviews.com/news/8053/

[Hounshell]

I think I have found the reason for the "Resolution not Supported?" message.
It seems this happens when I run BOB2 in an "Administrative" account under Windows 7/64.
If I create a regular user account (non Administrator), then BOB2 runs fine, I can get the menu and select 6048x1200 resolution.
The game starts fine. I am also using FOV=110.

Now my problem is getting TrackIR5 to work with BOB2.
I have set all the TRACKIR variables inside bdg.txt, but I am unable to get that working so far.

Can someone with working TrackIR5 / Windows 7 please let me know what they did?
Also, It would be nice if someone can confirm the "Resolution not supported?" message by
running BOB2 in an Administrator account. Be sure to run it twice, just to be sure.


Thanks.



EDIT: I have found my problem with TrackIR5. I forgot to do this:

> Did you turn TrackIR on in the Options->Adv->Game , and then check trackIR box? You must do this first before the trackIR software is turned on.