Sims' resolution on launch cannot be higher than Desktop's. Why?

[MacCekko]

I have searched the forum, possibly not using the correct key-words, so I apologize in advance for asking something that it may have been already discussed previously.

I would like to be able to launch both Sims, either ETS2, either ATS, at higher resolution than the one I have set for my Windows 10 desktop, but seems that I cannot. Say I have a desktop resolution set at 1920x1080, and even if I set ETS2/ATS to a graphic resolution of 3200x1800, Sims will both start at 1920x1080, so I have to open Graphic settings and manually setup a higher resolution every time, at every launch.

Is there a way to avoid this issue (maybe in Steam launch options, or tweaking some config file?) or is it somehow hardcoded into both sims (and so it's inevitable)?

Thank you.

[room217au]

I'm on a PC so I don't know if it's any help but in the main config.cfg there is this:

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uset r_mode_height "1440"
uset r_mode_width "2560"

It could be a user-defined variable, or it may automatically get it from desktop resolution?
Try setting it (wherever it exists on a Macintosh system) to 1600x900, but not change your desktop res beforehand and play the game. See what happens.


[edit] is 1920x1080 your monitor's max res tho?

[MacCekko]

Thanks, but, no, I am playing in Windows 10 (via Bootcamp), since for macOS one cannot override the desktop resolution set in System Preferences when using the Sims in any way. That is, if I set the desktop res to 1920x1080 (via System Preferences that are an equivalent of Control Panel in Windows), I cannot go past this res within the in-game graphics setting, as a higher resolution it is not even listed whatsoever. I must set a higher resolution WITHIN the OS BEFORE launching the Sim, and THEN I can choose every given resolution within the Sims, but it will ALWAYS be the one of desktop's or lower: never higher. For example, I set my destop res to 1920x1080, within the Sim my top res will be 1920x1080 without further steps possible. Might I get back to System Preferences and set a screen res to, say, 3840x2160, when I get back to the Sim, I can see the resolutions listed, from 1920x1080 up to 3840x2160 and possible mid steps. At any rate. this adjustment must be done when the Sims are not running, that is, before I launch them.

In Windows, I have seen that the two resolutions are somehow un-linked as they seem to be in macOS, perhaps also due to the fact that macOS runs only with OpenGL, while in Windows I can enjoy Direct X.
Anyway, the problems remains as written in my first post. Seems that on first launch, one cannot set a higher resolution for the Sim than the one set for desktop. Changing the values in cfg file doesn't do the trick. The resolution values that one can write there, are simply 'read' by the Sim on first launch, but are not REALLY reflected on the resolution of the screen. That's exactly the problem itself: seems that the first launch resolution cannot be overridden in any way. Thus my question...

And, yes, my iMac is a Retina model, so I can go up to some 5K points whatever (don't remember, but I always stick at 1920x1080!).

Thank you for you help anyway: I appreciate it.

[Some newbie driver]

On launching the game ask the driver what resolutions are available and those are the ones you will be able to use, no matter what you could configure in the config file. You can look at the gamelog.txt and you will see the process of initialization of the GPU and how there appears the list of all available video modes. If that log doesn't show anything above windows desktop resolution, you will not be able to use it.

It's possible the way drivers for those MAC works while on Bootcamp limit the resolutions to max those used in the Windows desktop instead to all the really available ones. If the reason to put Windows desktop in "only" full HD is due how much everything shrinks at higher resolutions, you can try change the scale proportion; although it's far from perfect and lots of applications don't work well messing with that.

On general terms, Windows sucks on laptops with very high DPI displays. Lots of applications aren't made with that in mind. Apple can have the luxury to tune a lot better those things for their computers and reference apps in mind.

Regards

[MacCekko]

I see your point, but I am sticking at a very "normal" 1920x1080 since forever and never had problems: I also am using AMD drivers made for BootCamp via AMD portal and never had any troubles whatsoever.
Anyway, I might have not understood well what you wrote, so my question remains, but to answer what you was asking for, video modes are listed in the Log file, starting with...

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[disp] Mode 0 - 640x480 (32bpp) [59Hz]

...and ending with...

Code: Select all

[disp] Mode 42 - 3840x2160 (32bpp) [60Hz]

This means, as far as I can understand, that AT LEAST a 3200x1800 (which by the way, is 'mode 39') resolution could be used. Is it not?

I have a desktop res of 1920x1080, as said. If I launch the Sim, it will start with 1920x1080 resolution. If I changed the config.cfg resolution to, say, 3200x1800, it will show THIS resolution in the settings but it will still stick to the desktop res (1920x1080) anyway. If I wanted to change it, I have to select 1920x1080 in settings (since they would show 3200x1800 already) and accept the changing, and only THEN I could change 'back' to a 'real' 3200x1800, and then the resolution change would have taken effect. I was asking why the Sim cannot stay at a given resolution that is higher than the one set for my desktop. Many games and sims simply retain the resolution I input regardless. Why ETS2 abd ATS do not do so instead? Is there a way to somehow "correct" this behaviour?

[Some newbie driver]

Ah OK, I know understand better. I though the problem was you couldn't change at all to higher resolutions. You mean you can change it, but can't avoid the game starts always at the desktop resolution (that it's lower than desired/max one).

So, what happens is probably how the game behaves by design, probably hardcoded too (so, high changes we can't do nothing to avoid it). And could be there's a good reason for as it could be devs just never considered that specific scenario of people having desktop at lower resolutions than max allowed. I suppose the game base code being so old, that scenario plain and simple didn't exist time ago.

Maybe some dev could see that and explain it to you. @Max use to wander by the forums and is always willing to help, when he can give answers.

Regards

[MacCekko]

Oh, got it. This is what I was afraid of, and what I was theorizing about in my firts post (when I wrote "somehow hardcoded into both SIms" etcetera), but... ok. Must accept the reality of things, here.
You have been very kind and precise. Let's just hope that Max could perform some magic trick: it would be great!
Thank you, again, @Some newbie driver, and all people here.

[Some newbie driver]

You are welcome.

Hopefully I'll be wrong in my guess, it's not hardcoded and some dev could tell you a way to solve it. If not, at least if they notice this topic they could have it into account for future changes. After all, now they are still working in all the core blocks of the graphic engines, it's the best moment to decide if that kind of behavior are going to be changed or not.

Regards

[Max]

i just tried on my laptop to set smaller desktop resolution than in game. and it worked. desktop is running is small resolution (1600x800) and game correctly starts in pre-set higher one (1920:1080).

there may be some other factors in play. the laptop hw is made for its specification, so gfx card/driver abilities might fit to abilities of display, so it might behave differently than in eg table top PC, where you can connect wastly different display/monitor feature-wise.
also the game checks many things about gfx adapter capabilities, for example color depth and frequency given for each mode (its written in the mod list you found), if those do not fit to display abilities some of them may be forbidden, some can be set only explicitely by player (never chosen for anythng automatically). check all params if you could find some culprit.
and completely unknown area for me is bootcamp and how it might interfered with detection, so i do not know if this combination could cause some specific issues.

[MacCekko]

Thank you @Max.

I guess having a 2017 iMac Retina running Windows 10 via Bootcamp is not a so simple 'thing' after all: behind the scenes, lotsa things are happening differently from how they would do on, say, a gaming PC built for this purpose with specific hardware and drivers. I am aware of this, all in all. I guess that for my problem there is no solution, at the moment. But it's bot SO bad, after all. It was mainly a matter of curiosity.

Yet again, thank you for your time and kindness in answering me.