Fallout 2 not running in Full Screen on my laptop..

[mr_wizard]

I'm not 100% sure where to post this, so sorry if this is the wrong area. I'm on an old Compaq Armada 7400 (6300/T/6400/D/M/1) laptop that use to have Windows 95 (now has XP) on it with 64mb of RAM, 4MB Graphics, and 300mhz processor. Well I upgraded the RAM to 256MB, but goes to show you how old this thing really is. The problem is, whenever I open Fallout 2 it seems to only be taking up half my screen, about a postcard size area in the center. I found some graphics drivers for this laptop for XP and installed them and still didn't fix the issue. I'm running at 1024x768 on an already small screen, so this is extremely small and somewhat annoying. I also know that these laptops had their BIOS package on the hard-drive, and that was wiped clean when I put the new operating system on here, so I can't access BIOS. It also doesn't have a floppy drive or CD burner, so I can't reload the BIOS drivers. I'm hoping there's some sort of setting within my display configs I can change, maybe edit the registry somewhere, or add a command line to Fallouts shortcut. But really, with Fallout being the only game I can even play on this thing, I'd really like to get it fixed. Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[KSoD]

Hello,

Are you saying that the game is windowed? Isnt there a option to click the Mazimize button and get it full screen?

Cheers,
Mak

 

[mr_wizard]

It's definitely not in windowed mode.

This is what I see -

It's like the actual video is running in Fallouts native resolution at 640x480 and isn't changing my desktops resolution, just reducing the size of the actual video.

 

[Eddigan]

thats probally the best your going to get, but there is a mod you can download that can change the resolution

 

[mr_wizard]

I don't think Fallout's resolution is the problem. I had a desktop that I ran at 1600x1200 and it ran Fallout 2 at full screen. I understand Fallout isn't going to run any higher than 640x480 without a mod, I just want it to fill up my entire screen. The LCD and program should auto adjust it to fit the screen when entering this VGA mode.

 

[KSoD]

Hello,

Have you tried to hit Ctrl+Enter to see if it will go full screen? If you know it wont run higher than 648x480 without the Mod have you installed the mod to allow it to go higher?

Cheers,
Mak

 

[mr_wizard]

I've tried Ctrl+Enter.

Mak, whenever you open a game, you know how no matter what relative resolution you choose, it will automatically adjust to fit your screen? That's exactly what's happening here, there's no need to increase the resolution, it should automatically fit to my screen seeing as 1024x768 and 640x480 are relative resolutions. So although everything will seem larger and I won't see as much as with a higher resolution, the video should stretch ALL the way from top to bottom, side to side. Either Fallout is doing this, XP, or my drivers. I have a feeling it's my laptop because the Windows XP loading screen is the same size when booting up. I also have a feeling the settings to fix this is in BIOS which I cannot access. I'm just hoping there is a way to bypass/override this by one of the techniques I mentioned above. I've been out of the PC loop for quite some time now, I'm pretty sure there's a way to do it.

Thanks.

I'll probably just download the mod and run it at 1024x768. I just hate not being able to figure this out..

 

[KSoD]

Hello,

Yes i know of this action. The problem is that this game is old. It was designed for Windows 98 and back then not many people were running such high resolutions.

The game may not auto detect the resolution and make the game fit to screen. The XP loading screen is that size cause that it the size of the image when you boot. It is the same even for me on my 1680x1050 resolution HD Monitor.

It could be your video drivers. But who knows if they made drivers for a system that old. Best bet check.

Cheers,
Mak

 

[mr_wizard]

Yeah like I said before in my post, I've updated the drivers to the latest. I think a driver flaw as obvious as this would have been addressed before release of the first version. There's no error per se, it's just a configuration issue that I was hoping to figure out. At this point I'm 99% sure the settings for this reside in BIOS, which I can't access for reasons stated above. Since I've posted this problem I downloaded the resolution mod and now run it at 1024x768. Thanks for everyones input.

 

[lazer_viking]

Maybe I misunderstood the problem, but why can't you change WindowÅ› settings to run at 648x480 before you play the game?
Like Mak said, the game is old and isn't programmed to know how to adjust newer computers' resolutions.