Thursday, January 24, 2019

Quick Tip: How To Run SimCity 4 in 1920x1080 (Widescreen) Resolution, as of 2019.01 [Tutorial]

Update 2019.03.14: Added Screenshot Example of SimCity 4 running in Widescreen (16:9/1.78 Aspect Ratio)

[Text-Only Mode - this is currently being posted in Text-Only Mode, to speed up posting as soon as was finished, to help others as quickly as possible. I may return here and add some related Screenshots... Soon™]


Recently, I've been getting back into game like SimCity (2013) and SimCity 4 (2003) [found on EA/Origin and Steam, respectively], having fun building up cities and looking forward to large skyscrapers filling the skyline, keeping my Sims happy as they churn through their little lives... Looking through a SimCity forum, while I was reading up a bit about Omega (which is 'new to me') I came across someone posting a Thread asking about 'how to run SimCity 4 in 1920x1080' resolution. I saw some replies from other helpful people, but oddly, none of the options/command-lines worked [as of the time of this posting], with typed-in options such as "-w" (for running in Windowed Mode) and so on... Wanting to help, I went experimenting in Steam's SimCity 4 that I owned and looked a bit more online about other possible solutions as well - and I eventually found out what works, as of today! Here is what worked for me:

  • In Steam, where SimCity 4 is listed in your game Library, Right-Click on the game name and Select (Left-Click) Properties.
  • In the center section, click on the button labelled "Set Launch Options...". This adds commands to the game that would be 'typed in and utilized', if the game was run in that type of interface.
  • In the box of Launch Options, type (or copy-paste) the following into the area:

    -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32

    [be sure to include the hyphens and have only one space between the two commands]
  • Click on OK to close that panel, then click Close to close the Properties of the game in Steam

That's it! 

Running the game (and after the Introduction Cinematic/Movies play [if you have not disabled them] as they are rendered and play in a fixed resolution), you should find the territory/region screen gloriously taking up all of your screen space... Here is what it will look like:

Example of SimCity 4 (Steam version shown) running in Widescreen (16:9 Aspect Ratio) Mode in Windows 10,
after following the steps shown above [other steps found online did not work for me personally]



Have fun building up your Sim City! 

[Don't forget to take lots of Screenshots! heh]

~T

Tuesday, January 08, 2019

Dungeons - How To "Sacrifice Gold" to The Zombie King ("Cash Cow" Quest) [Tutorial Steps]


[Text-Only Mode: This post is currently in Text-Only Mode, to speed posting of it, to help others as quickly as possible (after thinking of it). I will return to this post and add related Screenshots....Soon™]


Recently, I was playing DUNGEONS - the Dungeon-Keeper-esque 'make dungeons for NPC heroes to die in' game - the original/first one, from 2011 (Realmforge Studios/Kalypso Media Digital).

In it, I ran into having to 'send Gold' to your superior in the game ('your Boss'). Gold isn't the only thing you have to send/tribute with; but on one particular level, I ran into an issue where I could not satisfy the Quest - despite trying to do exactly what it wanted. I finally figured it out on my own, and wanted to Share the issue and resolution/fix here, to possibly help others...

I ran into this issue on the level "Sleepy Manor", where there is a Quest called "Cash Cow", which requires you to tribute ("sacrifice") 500 Gold to The Zombie King (your 'boss' in the game). Now, there is a pillar near your Dungeon Heart, that when clicked on, states "use this to send resources to your superior" - but not how to do it....

I walked my Dungeon Lord up to the pillar and Left-Clicked on it (which just brings up the popup information about it) and tried Right-Clicking on it (which did nothing except make a small noise) but nothing happened. The Quest (called "Cash Cow") was still listed on the left side of the screen in white text - despite my having more than enough Gold to complete this Quest... So, I looked around online a bit, in forums, etc. but did not find any specific information on this step and how to do it. I even looked at the Manual that comes with the game, to see if it listed how to do it. Nothing. Lastly, I asked in the usually-helpful Steam Discussions (Forum) for the game. There was no response for a few days, so I continued to 'Troubleshoot the issue'...

I finally figured out that you can't just click on the pillar, you have to first switch to First Person view mode AND THEN Right-Click on the pillar. There is no notification that it is completing the Quest, but it will be completed, if you have enough Gold. To summarize the steps, here they are, listed just below.


To help others, here is how you "sacrifice gold" to The Zombie King in Dungeons: 

» There is a pillar near your Dungeon Heart, which states to 'use it to send resources to your superior' (but not how to do it)

» You can't just walk up to it or stand near it and left-click or right-click on it, it won't work (as of the time of this posting)

» You have to switch to First-Person view mode (via the "Through The Eyes Of The Lord" Spell in your spellbook/toolbar) and then Right-Click on the pillar while in First-Person mode (which is actually just a close-up Third-Person with a fixed camera floating behind the player)

» To verify it was done/completed (there is no message/popup that tells you it was done), look at the left side of your screen, where the 'quests' are listed; the white text listing to do it (saying "CASH COW - Sacrifice 500 Gold...") should have disappeared

That's it!



Hopefully, this Quest will now be complete for you, as it was for me. I also posted this in the Discussion Thread at the Steam Official Forum for the game [that I had asked/started], to make sure that others running into this now know how to get the quest completed.

HTH!