[Geneforge 1 on OS X] Task switching, windowing, and resolution

[Phasma Felis]

I've just gotten my first Mac. I felt like a game, and remembered enjoying Avernum on the PC, so I'm trying out Geneforge.

 

I'm having a bit of trouble with the display resolution. My MacBook has the 8x5 aspect ratio screen; if I let Geneforge switch to 800x600 on startup, it's stretched horizontally, but if I don't, it's much too small in 1280x1024. Is there a way to force it to 800x600 unstretched, with a border on either side? Switching to 1024x640 before running the game helps, but still isn't perfect, plus it's irritating having to fiddle with resolution settings.

 

Is there a way to run Geneforge in a window? It would make taking notes and such easier.

 

In a similar vein, I was going to ask if there was a way to switch back to the desktop without quitting, since alt-tab and Expose are apparently disabled while Geneforge is running. Just before I did, though, I got a random loading-screen hint telling me that pausing the game with Esc would let me switch apps, and lo and behold, it works. So that's great, but it really ought to be in the documentation somewhere.

 

Thanks for your help!

[Lilith]

Quote:

Originally written by Phasma Felis:
Is there a way to force it to 800x600 unstretched, with a border on either side?

Probably not.

Quote:

Is there a way to run Geneforge in a window? It would make taking notes and such easier.

No.

[Aequitas]

Quote:

Originally written by Cryptozoology:

Quote:

Originally written by Phasma Felis:
Is there a way to force it to 800x600 unstretched, with a border on either side?

Probably not.

I can confirm that, I spent several days of my life which I will never get back trying to get it to do what you say.

Note: The game appears stretched because it was made for 800x600. Since you have a bigger display, the computer tries to stretch the smaller image to fit the display. It fills in the space when it expands the image with the best shades of each color relative to the part of the game screen, making the game graphics seem fuzzy.

[Micawber]

I don't know anything about Macs, so it may be that your problem is not solvable on your machine.

 

However, I do know that on Windows, it is possible for me to set my display adapter to "Maintain Aspect Ratio", which means I run Geneforge in an 800x600 unstretched window (with a black border on either side, as my display is 1280x800). There is nothing about Geneforge per se that forces it to shear and fill up the whole screen.

[Kryten]

Here down the bottom:

Geneforge TechSupp

 

Remember to pick the 800x600 non-stretched mode.