How to get Tropico running on non-standard monitors or resolutions

If you are having trouble getting Tropico 4 to launch, or have a non-standard resolution or combination of monitors you'd like to run it in, this guide may help you. There are certain steps you need to follow to get it behaving properly.

The problem

Tropico 4 will refuse to launch and will throw an error message if it can't create a DirectX window for the game in one of these resolutions: 1024x768, 1280x720, 1280x800. Your monitor MUST be in one of these resolutions (or support it in normal landscape mode) for the game to launch correctly.

How I used the fix on my computer

I have an eyefinity setup of three portrait 1920x1080 monitors driven by two Radeon 6870's. My native resolution was 3240x1920, which the game just didn't know how to handle. What I did was 1) Disable the eyefinity group, and 2) rotate all the displays back to landscape. I then launched the game and changed it from a specific resolution to "Windowed" resolution (at the top of the resolution list). That will get the game to launch in any display config, no matter what.

After that, I re-rotated back to portrait, and re-enabled eyefinity to get my standard resolution and orientations back. Then I could launch the game, go to the resolution setting, and choose *ANY* resolution the video driver claimed was supported (up to and including 3240x1920). Tropico 4 is now happily running on a huge triple-portrait setup.

How you can fix your Tropico 4 resolution

The bottom line to the fix is allowing the game to run in a default resolution one time, then changing it to run in windowed mode and exiting so it saves the setting. After that you can pick whatever resolution you want and it won't complain. The first time it is launched it won't query the video driver for compatable resolutions, but it will after being launched in Windowed mode.

1) Make sure your current default Windows monitor can display in one of these resolutions: 1024x768, 1280x720, 1280x800.

2) Launch Tropico 4 and get to the game's Option menu.

3) Change the current resolution to "Windowed". It will be at the top of the list of resolutions.

4) Save the options (the game should switch to windowed display) and then exit the game.

5) Change your monitor(s) back to whatever resolution and configuration you want.

6) Re-launch Tropico 4 and go back into the Options area for video settings.

7) Now the list of resolutions should be *any* your current monitor configuration can handle. Pick what you want and play.

[Jᴧgᴧ]

Glad to hear it. The trick actually works for many different games.

[Tv]

Thanks for this;I was able to get the game to launch by switching the computer from 1920x1080 to 1280x800. Once inside the game, I switched Tropico back to 1920x1080, exited, set Windows back to 1920x1080, and after that T4 ran normally. I didn't need to use windowed mode.

[Papow]

I had a similar problem with multi-monitor setup.

What helped me was to change all my monitors to mirrored mode (same picture all displays) before launching Tropico 4. Just changing the monitor resolution on the primary monitor wasn't enough - one of my monitors being an Ultrawide might have something to do with it.

Once I was in Tropico 4 I was able to just set the game to Windowed mode and change my monitor settings back.

If you ever update this, I would add setting your displays to mirror mode (same picture all displays) as an extra troubleshooting step.

[Cptncrzy]

thanks i appreciate it :)

[Jᴧgᴧ]

I could, but I'm not directly on the development team at 7DTD. My time out here is as a volunteer Moderator and Tech Support. You could ask for one of the devs to help you from the main forums at https://7daystodie.com/forums/

[Cptncrzy]

This is the only way i could reach you lol. I wanted to interview you for a project at school. the project is about careers and i wanted to be an indie game dev. and need some one to answer a few questions. please let me know if you are willing to answer some questions.

[Angie Juarez]

Nice guide Jᴧgᴧ --- > MXMas!

[mettie2001]

I can't get this to work. I had it running on my first play through but now won't load past the Kalypso launcher. I am running my PC through a TV so this might be the issue, but like I say it worked the first time. Surely there's a fix for this? Is it possible to change the resolution settings of the game before launching?

[Deuce]

Cool

[Bruce]

Good