Changing Desktop Resolution

Every game by default has a minimum resolution required to run. Having a lower resolution or a non-standard resolution rate such as widescreen can cause games to display the graphics improperly or to not display them at all. To adjust your Windows resolution to a game friendly mode, please follow these steps:

For Windows Vista users:

Right-click on your Desktop and select Personalize.
Click the Display Settings tab.
Adjust the Resolution slider to 800 x 600. (Note: If you are using an LCD monitor, be sure this is a supported resolution.)
In the Colors section, select Medium (16-bit).

For Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows ME, and Windows 98 users:

Right-click on your Desktop and select Properties.
Click the Settings tab.
Adjust your display properties depending on if you are trying to run a newer or older game:

For newer titles, adjust the resolution slider to 1024 x 768 and select 32 bit as the color quality.
For older titles, adjust the slider to 800 x 600 and select 16 bit as the color quality.

Note: If you are unable to select either setting combination, it could be for several reasons.

Your video drivers are out of date and need to be updated.
How to update your drivers
Your monitor is unable to display the listed resolutions and therefore, will be unable to play this game.
Your video card is unable to display the listed resolutions and therefore, will be unable to play this game.

If the issue you are experiencing still occurs, you will want to attempt to adjust the advanced graphical settings on your video card. Follow these instructions to adjust your video cards Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering settings:

Right-click on your Desktop and select Properties. (For Windows Vista, select Personalize.)
Click the Settings tab and click the Advanced button.
The Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering options will be in the following window however certain manufacturers will include custom tabs which may make it more difficult to find.

ATI lists these options on the OpenGL and Direct3D tabs.
Nvidia list these options on the tab that has the name of your video adapter. You will need to click on the Performance & Quality option that displays from the pop-up window

Once you've found the Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering options, adjust them so that they are controlled by the application or program.

Note: These should be the set to application controlled by default unless the graphical settings on your video card have been adjusted before.

If after adjusting these settings you are still experiencing the same issue, adjust the Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering to the lowest setting or disable the options completely.