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First post, by Devil Master

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I don't know if Pac-Man World 3 already qualifies as an "old game", but, since I've only been able to run it at 640x480, it certainly looks like one. 😐
So, I install the game and the only executable I get is the game executable itself: no configuration utility whatsoever. If I run the game and enter the Options menu, I only get audio and controller options: no video options.

However:
1) the debug log includes the following line:

bStartDisplay: Trying (640x480) 32 bpp 32 Z

which seems to suggest the program has more than one resolution to "try"
2) I used a hex editor to find the occurrences of the string "bStartDisplay, and I found out that the numbers displayed in that line are variables: the line appears in the executable as

bStartDisplay: Trying (%dx%d) %d bpp %d Z

so it appears that it's reading the resolution value "somewhere".

So, how do I increase the resolution? Are there command line parameters? Is the resolution value "hidden" somewhere?

Reply 1 of 9, by Zup

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Nope. It seems like a printf. The four %d's are substituted with numbers to print. To get your error display in C, you must perform:

printf("bStartDisplay: Trying (%dx%d) %d bpp %d Z", 640, 480, 32, 32);

Note that any number may be a var, but that's the line that displays the message, not the line that read the resolution. The resolution may be some fixed values in the program, or may be read from a config file or command line.

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Reply 3 of 9, by Devil Master

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I was thinking: if there was a program that allows me to run the executable step by step and see what is being executed in each step, I could see when the function bStartDisplay is executed and what parameters are passed to it, then manually change the parameters to force the game to run at a higher resolution. The question becomes... where do I find such a program?

Reply 5 of 9, by MiniMax

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And if you didn't know that it is called a debugger, you don't know how to use it.

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Reply 6 of 9, by Qbix

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we all need to learn 😀 However it will be quite a challenge if you never heard of it.

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Reply 8 of 9, by Devil Master

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I emailed him, and he told me that the game comes with an external utility that changes the resolution. If he is telling the truth, then my copy is bad since I have nothing of the sort.
Anyway, if anyone who reads this post owns a good copy of the game, and it actually includes that utility, that could be useful to me. I'm not asking for the utility itself, I'm asking for 3 different versions of the configuration files, which are in
c:\Windows\Application Data\Electronic Arts\Pac-Man World 3
in Windows 98, and in
c:\Documents and Settings\<your_username>\Application Data\Electronic Arts\Pac-Man World 3
in Windows XP (where <your_username> is a directory which name is the username you use to log into your system).
The configuration files are named OPTPMW3 and PMW3A (with no extension). If someone could post the configuration files that are obtained by setting the graphics at:
640x480, 32 bit
800x600, 32 bit
800x600, 16 bit
I could compare the different versions with a hex editor and find out how the resolution information is stored.

Reply 9 of 9, by Envisaged0ne

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Well, I know this is a late response, but there is a solution to change the resolution. I found it under this post...

http://www.wsgf.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=64 … 9830&view=print

So, for a lot of people, there is no config.ini in the folder that was indicated in that post. So I just created the file using notepad and entered the [Display Options} info he posted

[Display Options]

device = 3619102434-55248-4559-11-96-145-53-162-194-197-53
xres = 1440
yres = 900
zdepth = 32
rgbdepth = 32

That worked for me & I can now play the game at any resolution I set in the file. I hope this helps