Troubleshooting resolution issues in Cortex Command B31 patch 2 and later in Windows

[weegee]

Attention, B31 patch 2 is still being tested, you can switch to it by applying for the cortex command beta. Right-click Cortex Command in you library, go to betas and enter the password rocket100000 . All GfxDriver options are available only in patch 2 and make sense only under windows, anything else may be helpful for other platforms.



If Cortex Command fails to start with default settings, shows black screen in fullscreen mode or pink screen in windowed mode follow these steps.

Step 1. Delete Base.rte/Settings.ini to reset all graphics settings to their defaults. Whenever you did something horrible to your Settings.ini and CC don’t start anymore, feel free to delete the file and CC will reset all settings to defaults.

Step 2. Update your graphics drivers to the latest version if you can. This is not just some generic step to get rid of you, this actually helped me a couple of times while I was investigating resolution problems. If you have hybrid GPU configuration try forcing on GPU or another and see which works.

Step 3. If CC can’t switch to fullscreen mode make sure that resolution you set for CC is not higher than your display’s physical resolution. To edit resolution manually go to Base.rte/Settings.ini and set ResolutionX and ResolutionY values. Note, that if NxFullscreen = 2 that means that CC works in 2X mode and your values set by ResolutionX and ResolutionY will be multiplied by 2, so if you want to set 1920x1080x2 in full screen mode then you must set ResolutionX = 960, ResolutionY = 540, NxFullscreen = 2.

Step 4. If fullscreen mode shows black screen or does not work at all, try selecting simple graphics drivers CC will try to use. First switch to Software DirectX driver by setting ForceSoftwareGfxDriver = 1 in Settings.ini. If it didn’t help, then set ForceSafeGfxDriver = 1. Safe driver setting overrides software setting.

Step 5. If full screen mode does not work, set the highest possible resolution and play in windowed mode. Windowed mode is actually a bit less tricky to use and does not depend on specific drivers that much. Don’t forget to switch to 2X windowed mode via setup UI or you’ll end up playing in a small window even if your resolution is 1920x1080. Not that when you’re playing in 2X windowed mode your window must be a bit smaller, than your maximum resolution, because window has boarders, headers etc. and all of them must fit the screen.

Step 6. Starting with B31 patch 2 you can use windowed-fullscreen mode. This is a widely used technique when instead of using a native fullscreen mode, you just create a borderless window and stretch it across the whole screen so it looks like you’re playing fullscreen. This method might not work with dual-monitor configurations though and you’ll have to adjust window size manually, but in this mode your window may be of exactly the same size as your primary display max resolution. To enable this mode open Base.rte/Settings.ini and set ForceVirtualFullScreenGfxDriver = 1. Note that this is actually a windowed mode, so it looks at NxWindowed when initialized.

Step 7. If you’re using some high-resolution display and enabled DPI scaling in windows settings (or it’s enabled by default, for example on Surface Pro tablets) then in fullscreen mode windows will also scale the game and you’ll end up looking at one quarter of the screen or something like that. In this case either disable DPI scaling or play in windowed mode. Note that CC shows only your native resolutions and does not take any DPI settings into account. For example with 200% DPI scaling and 2160x1440 max resolution you can only switch to 1080x720 in windowed-fullscreen mode or even less in generic windowed mode (remember about window borders and headers). You can also try to right-click CortexCommand.exe then ‘Properties’, go to ‘Compatibility’ tab and check ‘Disable display scaling on high DPI settings’. While this might fix fullscreen modes, windowed modes will look smaller and hardly playable even in 2X mode.

Step 8. If CC can’t even start in windowed mode then try setting appropriate graphics drivers manually. First open Settings.ini and set ForceOverlayedWindowGfxDriver = 1 and check if it helped. If it didn’t then set ForceNonOverlayedWindowGfxDriver = 1. If didn’t work either, you can try to switch to fullscreen mode and see if it works on your graphics card. To switch to fullscreen mode set Fullscreen = 1.

Step 9. If neither of these steps helped, you can play with windows compatibility settings. Right-click on CortexCommand.exe then ‘Properties’, select ‘Compatibility’ tab and click whatever you think might help you. I don’t recommend running in 640x480 or non 32-bit color though.



Appendix. Graphics settings you might want to change in Settings.ini.


ResolutionX – Screen or window width.

ResolutionY – Screen or window height.

Fullscreen – Set to 1 to start in fullscreen mode.

NxWindowed – If Fullscreen = 0 then if NxWindowed = 1 CC will start in 1X windowed mode. If NxWindowed = 2 then CC will start in 2X windowed mode. Note that in this mode ResolutionX and ResolutionY values will be multiplied by 2 and actual window size will be twice bigger. If window won’t fit you primary display CC may fail to start.

NxFullscreen - If Fullscreen = 1 then if NxFullscreen = 1 CC will start in 1X fullscreen mode. If NxFullscreen = 2 then CC will start in 2X fullscreen mode. Note that in this mode ResolutionX and ResolutionY values will be multiplied by 2 and actual resolution will be twice higher. If this resolution is higher than you primary display’s resolution CC may fail to start.

[Ampersand]

FYI, some OSX users need to hold control to bring up the rightclick menu.

[AgentG18]

I need some help, so the fullscreen mode failed so I changed the resolution to different resolution and restarted it and now the bottom half of the screen is cliped off and I can't change the resolution to anything different, How can I fix this ?

[weegee]

First you can try to do this:

"You can also try to right-click CortexCommand.exe then ‘Properties’, go to ‘Compatibility’ tab and check ‘Disable display scaling on high DPI settings’. While this might fix fullscreen modes, windowed modes will look smaller and hardly playable even in 2X mode."

If it won't help, just delete settings.ini and try to set some other resolutions which might work.

[AgentG18]

I'm don't think I'm looking in the right places, I checked the steam library properties and only found General, Updates, Local files and betas, tabs. And I Checked My PC and only found General, Web Document, Security and Details. If I am looking in wrong places, where do I look ?

[weegee]

If you don't have Compatibility tab in Explorer, then right click the .exe, select Troubleshoot Compatibility then chech that your program does not display correctly or soemthing like that.

[AgentG18]

I fixed the problem with the compatibility tab and disabled the display scaling on high DPI but that stopped the game from running at all, and I'm not sure where I can find settings.ini, where can I find settings.ini ?

[weegee]

<Game Installation Folder>/Base.rte/Settings.ini

[AgentG18]

I'm sure that would be very helpful if I knew where to look, but as I am not experienced in this sort of thing can you please tell me how to locate the file in a less technical way?

[weegee]

First you need to find out where your steam files are located, those are usually here: c:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\ .If you have 32-bit operating system then it would be just Program Files, without (x86). After you've wound where your steam files are, go to SteamApps, Common, Cortex Command. That's your Cortex Command installation folder. Then go to Base.rte and you'll see Settings.ini file.

[AgentG18]

I Got it working !, Thank You So much!

[yamato_flag_ship]

this work for me! thanks

[Defendor]

Pretty much every other game I own have managed to start in 1920x1080 fullscreen the first time I start it. It's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ridiculous that you ask the customers to do this complicated ♥♥♥♥. I will never buy anything from you again.

[bonelord]

I can't seem to find ForceSoftwareGfxDriver = 1 in Settings.in. Any tips? other than look harder?

[Daliaraptor]

Same for me. but i recognized to late, that i only can choice the OSX beta. And OP looks like the Patch 2 is for PC. So as far you have a PC i guess there is no such option. Or im wrong?

[Daliaraptor]

Originally posted by Defendor:

Pretty much every other game I own have managed to start in 1920x1080 fullscreen the first time I start it. It's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ridiculous that you ask the customers to do this complicated ♥♥♥♥. I will never buy anything from you again.

Dude, even if the devs are developing this game in slow motion. This doesent take away the fact that its still a alpha game. And the devs dont hidding this fact. Its clunky as hell yes and things are not quiet finish yet. But its a game allready worth the effort to make it runing...