Monitor Frequency problem.

[Spike88]

I downloaded the XIII demo today and started it up. As soon as I double click the game, my monitor goes black and I get a screen run saying that my monitor does not support the frequency. To actually be able to use my computer again I have to turn it off manually by pressing the power button. Is there anything I can do besides buying a new monitor to get it to work?

[Reece]

You may have to try running in safe mode then going to device manager and uninstall the display driver, when you reboot you will have to reinstall them.:yep:

[Spike88]

Its just the game running in a frequency my monitor does not support. Everything else works fine. I'm on said computer now playing a different game.

[Reece]

Ah right I getcha, when you run the game all goes black and can't get out unless you reboot! Ok, I'm not sure of this XIII Demo, is this something for SH4? Also what monitor are you running?:-? I may not be able to help but others will probably like to know.:yep:

[Spike88]

Ah right I getcha, when you run the game all goes black and can't get out unless you reboot! Ok, I'm not sure of this XIII Demo, is this something for SH4? Also what monitor are you running?:-? I may not be able to help but others will probably like to know.:yep:

Its a dell E773c CRT monitor. And actually SH4 works fine with my monitor. Its just the XIII demo.

[Digital_Trucker]

What resolution are you running the XIII demo at and what refresh rates does the monitor allow at that resolution?

[Thomen]

Ah right I getcha, when you run the game all goes black and can't get out unless you reboot! Ok, I'm not sure of this XIII Demo, is this something for SH4? Also what monitor are you running?:-? I may not be able to help but others will probably like to know.:yep:

I am not sure, but it sounds like its a game to the 2 part TV movie that ran the last 2 sundays.

[Spike88]

What resolution are you running the XIII demo at and what refresh rates does the monitor allow at that resolution? Thats the thing I dont know which resolution its running at.

@thomen: Its the game that the two part movies are based off of. I saw part of the movie last night and realized I had totally forgoten about the game.

Edit: But due to it being from 2003. I'd assume its running at 800x600 by default.
Is there any way to check which refresh rates my monitor runs at?

[Thomen]

What resolution are you running the XIII demo at and what refresh rates does the monitor allow at that resolution? Thats the thing I dont know which resolution its running at.

@thomen: Its the game that the two part movies are based off of. I saw part of the movie last night and realized I had totally forgoten about the game.

Edit: But due to it being from 2003. I'd assume its running at 800x600 by default.
Is there any way to check which refresh rates my monitor runs at?

Ahh.. damn. I forgot about that one too.. I knew it sounded familiar. :up:

[Spike88]

No one knows what to do? I really loved this game and want to get it working before I waste 10 dollars and buy the real version. Of course finding help online for this game is hard due to the fact its old, and googleing XIII brings up alot of stuff.

[Thomen]

No one knows what to do? I really loved this game and want to get it working before I waste 10 dollars and buy the real version. Of course finding help online for this game is hard due to the fact its old, and googleing XIII brings up alot of stuff.

Did you check for an .ini or .cfg file for the game? There might be listed what resolution and frequency it uses.

[Spike88]

[WinDrv.WindowsClient]
WindowedViewportX=640
WindowedViewportY=480
FullscreenViewportX=640
FullscreenViewportY=480
I founnd this in one of the cfg files. Should I change it to 1024x800?

[Thomen]

[WinDrv.WindowsClient]
WindowedViewportX=640
WindowedViewportY=480
FullscreenViewportX=640
FullscreenViewportY=480
I founnd this in one of the cfg files. Should I change it to 1024x800?

1024x768

Or try 800x600 first.

[Digital_Trucker]

1280x960 works fine on my system with this demo. I've been looking through the config files and can't seem to find a way to make it run in windowed mode, though, which is what I usually try to do with problematic old games.

What video card are you using. I noticed that this is a directx 8 game and wondered if your video card was "too new" to handle the old directx. Also, what operating system are you running it on?

Here's some info regarding the resolutions and refresh rates that your monitor supports:

Horizontal scan range
30 kHz to 70 kHz (automatic)
Vertical scan range
50 Hz to 160 Hz (automatic)


Optimal preset resolution
1024 x 768 at 75 Hz
Highest preset resolution
1024 x 768 at 85 Hz
Highest addressable resolution*
1280 x 1024 at 60 Hz


* Addressable means the monitor will sync up to this mode. However, Dell does not guarantee the image will be sized and centered correctly.
Dell guarantees image size and centering for all preset modes listed in the following table.

Preset Display Modes

Display Mode Horizontal Vertical
Frequency Frequency
(kHz) (Hz)
IBM, VGA2, 720 x 400 31.5 70.1
IBM,VGA3, 640 x 480 31.5 59.9
VESA,640 x 480 43.3 85.0
VESA,800 x 600 46.9 75.0
VESA,800 x 600 53.7 85.1
VESA,1024 x 768 60.0 75.0
VESA,1024 x 768 68.7 85.0
VESA,1152 x 864 67.5 75.0


All taken from http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/monitors/e773c/EN/ug/index.htm

[longam]

Try right clicking on the shortcut to the game and select 'Properties" then 'Compatibility' tab, then select 'Run in 640x480 screen resolution'

See if that works for you...

[Spike88]

1280x960 works fine on my system with this demo. I've been looking through the config files and can't seem to find a way to make it run in windowed mode, though, which is what I usually try to do with problematic old games.

What video card are you using. I noticed that this is a directx 8 game and wondered if your video card was "too new" to handle the old directx. Also, what operating system are you running it on?

Here's some info regarding the resolutions and refresh rates that your monitor supports:

Horizontal scan range
30 kHz to 70 kHz (automatic)
Vertical scan range
50 Hz to 160 Hz (automatic)


Optimal preset resolution
1024 x 768 at 75 Hz
Highest preset resolution
1024 x 768 at 85 Hz
Highest addressable resolution*
1280 x 1024 at 60 Hz


* Addressable means the monitor will sync up to this mode. However, Dell does not guarantee the image will be sized and centered correctly.
Dell guarantees image size and centering for all preset modes listed in the following table.

Preset Display Modes

Display Mode Horizontal Vertical
Frequency Frequency
(kHz) (Hz)
IBM, VGA2, 720 x 400 31.5 70.1
IBM,VGA3, 640 x 480 31.5 59.9
VESA,640 x 480 43.3 85.0
VESA,800 x 600 46.9 75.0
VESA,800 x 600 53.7 85.1
VESA,1024 x 768 60.0 75.0
VESA,1024 x 768 68.7 85.0
VESA,1152 x 864 67.5 75.0

All taken from http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/monitors/e773c/EN/ug/index.htm My graphics card is the Nvidia 6150 LE GPU. OS is Vista Home Basic 34bit.

So far 640x480 and 1024x768 dont work. After trying 640x480 I finally wrote down what the program is telling me it wants. Which is H:75.1KHZ by V:144.0HZ. From your post I see its the Horz thats causing the problem.

[Spike88]

Is there anyway to make the game run in a frequency I want? Or am I SOL?