Unable to Change Graphics Resolution

[PatrickWarner]

Hi,

I've bought DW on Steam.

I installed the windows 10 DLL in the install directory.

Seems to run fine in the default 800x600 resolution.

However if I try to change to any other graphics resolution, it seems to switch to the correct new resolution just for an instant and then then crashes. Also the option "Windowed" is not selectable for me.

I am running multiple monitors - not sure if that could have anything to do with it, or if not, what could cause this?

Edit: I installed the mod recommended above which again seems to work fine but I still have the same issue - can only play with the default 800x600 resolution.

[p7p8]

Open dangerouswaters.ini in notepad and change:

[Graphics]
.MapStretch No
.ScreenStretchQuality 3
.ParticleMax 500
.ParticleRate 5
.LocalLights Yes
.TransparentWater No
.WantRain Yes
.Disable3D No
.Want3DClouds Yes
.WantVegetation No
.AdapterID 0
.DeviceID 0
.ModeID 2 - (to 2, 3 or 4)
.DetailTextures No
.BlendTextures Yes
.Caustics Yes
.WaterParticles Yes
.WaterReflectionQuality 3
.WaterQuality 4
.WaterDrawMethod 1

[PatrickWarner]

Originally Posted by p7p8

Open dangerouswaters.ini in notepad and change:

Thanks - that worked!

By the way is it supposed to be possible to play in windowed mode?

I changed the option in the ini file, but I then got an error that I need to be in 16 bit colour depth. I googled some instructions on changing colour depth but none of them seemed to work - the options in my windows 10 don't seem to be there. There is an option in the Nvidia control panel to change colour depth but there is only one option available.

Anyway the main thing is that the game now runs in the max resolution available in the options menu.

By the way I don't suppose there is a hack to get an even higher resolution as my graphics card can do much higher resolutions than the ones that the game is allowing?

[FPSchazly]

Originally Posted by PatrickWarner

Thanks - that worked!

By the way is it supposed to be possible to play in windowed mode?

I changed the option in the ini file, but I then got an error that I need to be in 16 bit colour depth. I googled some instructions on changing colour depth but none of them seemed to work - the options in my windows 10 don't seem to be there. There is an option in the Nvidia control panel to change colour depth but there is only one option available.

Anyway the main thing is that the game now runs in the max resolution available in the options menu.

By the way I don't suppose there is a hack to get an even higher resolution as my graphics card can do much higher resolutions than the ones that the game is allowing?

Windows 10 does not support 16 bit color mode. If you want to run in a window, you need to use a wrapper program, one of which is called voodoo-something and the other is DxWnd, which I use. The game is run in full screen mode but these wrappers then put it in a window.

Dangerous Waters won't run at a resolution higher than what your monitor supports. I used to try doing 1600x1200 back when 1080p was my highest possible resolution and Dangerous Waters did not like it. ModeID has 5 options: 0 (640x480), 1 (800x600), 2 (1024x768), 3 (1280x1024), and 4 (1600x1200).

[PatrickWarner]

Originally Posted by FPSchazly

Windows 10 does not support 16 bit color mode. If you want to run in a window, you need to use a wrapper program, one of which is called voodoo-something and the other is DxWnd, which I use. The game is run in full screen mode but these wrappers then put it in a window.

Dangerous Waters won't run at a resolution higher than what your monitor supports. I used to try doing 1600x1200 back when 1080p was my highest possible resolution and Dangerous Waters did not like it. ModeID has 5 options: 0 (640x480), 1 (800x600), 2 (1024x768), 3 (1280x1024), and 4 (1600x1200).

OK thanks.

My monitor supports resolutions up to 1920 x 1080, but the highest resolution I can select in the game is 1280 x 1024.

Thinking about it, I guess this is an issue of aspect ratio and the game is designed to only work in one aspect ratio? However my image in the game is covering the whole monitor, so does that mean what I'm seeing is actually distorted from what was intended? I am probably seeing the image stretched horizontally?

[p7p8]

It's possible, check this thread on Red Rodgers forum

Link

[ET2SN]

Originally Posted by FPSchazly

Dangerous Waters won't run at a resolution higher than what your monitor supports. I used to try doing 1600x1200 back when 1080p was my highest possible resolution and Dangerous Waters did not like it. ModeID has 5 options: 0 (640x480), 1 (800x600), 2 (1024x768), 3 (1280x1024), and 4 (1600x1200).

Just to goof around, I just tried running ModeID 4 to see if there were any changes due to Win 10 or AMD updates. I run a stock 1920 X 1080 desktop rez and I usually run DW in Mode 3 with the dll.

Nope, it didn't like it.
The game started just fine but the screens looked jaggy. I quit the game and checked the .ini file and the game reset the rez back to Mode 1.

[ET2SN]

Originally Posted by PatrickWarner

Thinking about it, I guess this is an issue of aspect ratio and the game is designed to only work in one aspect ratio? However my image in the game is covering the whole monitor, so does that mean what I'm seeing is actually distorted from what was intended? I am probably seeing the image stretched horizontally?

Right, DW was coded to run a 4:3 aspect ratio.
The wrapper will stretch the graphics to a 16:9 format, so objects will appear 1.33 times longer but the height will stay 1:1.

Trying to convert the exe to 16:9 would take a huge amount of work (assuming the new exe would even run) and would probably violate the original terms of use.

[PatrickWarner]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Right, DW was coded to run a 4:3 aspect ratio.
The wrapper will stretch the graphics to a 16:9 format, so objects will appear 1.33 times longer but the height will stay 1:1.

Trying to convert the exe to 16:9 would take a huge amount of work (assuming the new exe would even run) and would probably violate the original terms of use.

OK that's what I thought.

I tried that DXWnd software to try to run it in a window, and I even followed the Youtube video about it, but it won't seem to work on my PC - I get an error that the graphics card failed to initialise.

[FPSchazly]

Originally Posted by PatrickWarner

OK that's what I thought.

I tried that DXWnd software to try to run it in a window, and I even followed the Youtube video about it, but it won't seem to work on my PC - I get an error that the graphics card failed to initialise.

Three likely things: 1) use the version of DxWnd I list in the video description, 2) make sure you don't have the "d3d8.dll" in your Dangerous Waters directory (that's the traditional Windows 8/10 fix), and 3) try deleting your dangerouswaters.ini file in your Dangerous Waters directory to reset your settings.

[swampy]

Originally Posted by PatrickWarner

OK thanks.

My monitor supports resolutions up to 1920 x 1080, but the highest resolution I can select in the game is 1280 x 1024.

Thinking about it, I guess this is an issue of aspect ratio and the game is designed to only work in one aspect ratio? However my image in the game is covering the whole monitor, so does that mean what I'm seeing is actually distorted from what was intended? I am probably seeing the image stretched horizontally?

You should be able to keep the correct ratio with scaling on your graphics card setting.

[PatrickWarner]

Originally Posted by FPSchazly

Three likely things: 1) use the version of DxWnd I list in the video description, 2) make sure you don't have the "d3d8.dll" in your Dangerous Waters directory (that's the traditional Windows 8/10 fix), and 3) try deleting your dangerouswaters.ini file in your Dangerous Waters directory to reset your settings.

OK yes thanks for your help - I had missed the bit about having to remove the dll file and also I was using a later version of the software which oddly doesn't work, whilst the earlier one seems to work fine (either that or on the later version it's set wrongly as it seems to have a lot more available settings than the version you linked).

Edit: Do you know if there is a way in this software to continue hearing the sound even when not focused on the game window? The game runs on when you click on another window but the sound stops.