Posted June 29, 2014
high rated
Edit: My apologies for not making the links actual links, I don't have enough reputation to make them links yet.
I didn't see anything about this posted before, so I thought I might share my knowledge of how to get the GOG version of Startopia running in windowed borderless mode. This involves modifying your game with a semi-official patch. I'll warn you to make a backup later. Please do it. I don't take any liability for you breaking your game, deleting your saves, exploding the world, etc.
Note: Before doing anything with this guide, please make sure to back up your installation of Startopia. This process worked perfectly for me on a brand new install from GOG, so your results may vary. The patch that allows you to run the game in windowed mode was made by one of the developers of the game (Tom F) after the company had ceased to exist, so it's not perfect, but it adds windowed mode and some options for high quality shadows (careful with this option - it's resource intensive.)
Second note: I highly recommend changing graphics options to your liking prior to installing this patch. The game seems slightly unstable when it comes to changing video settings after loading in the unofficial patch. Also the fact that if you apply any video settings when running in windowed mode, it will take you out of windowed mode and you'll have to startup the game again to fix it (or it may just crash right after applying the changes). It will keep the other settings once it restarts though. Just don't change any settings mid-game and not save first.
With all that, on to how we get this done. First, we'll talk about windowed mode.
First of all, we'll need the 1.02 unofficial patch. It can be downloaded from MODDB.
www.moddb.com/games/startopia/downloads/startopia-102-semi-official-patch
Extract the patch to a folder somewhere. (Remember when I told you to backup Startopia? If you haven't done it, now would be a good time.) Copy all of the files from the stuff you extracted, and find your GOG install directory (default C:\GOG Games\StarTopia) and drop the files in there. Overwrite all files.
Now that we're set with that, you'll need to create a shortcut to the Startopia.exe. Right click on Startopia.exe and choose Send To -> Desktop (Create Shortcut). This will make it easy for us. Head to your icon on your desktop and right click on it, and choose "Properties."
On the shortcut tab, we'll need to change the target line and add a few new pieces to it. First a word on what these flags actually do.
/s - Makes the game load (much) faster. You may take this out if you see any instability, but I haven't noticed any issues yet.
/r - Sets the resolution and allows for windowed mode. Format (for 1920x1080 resolution) is /r1920x1080 .
Now to the good stuff, modifying the target line. See the below for an example on how your target line needs to look (note that the first part should point toward your startopia.exe, feel free to just tack on the options after the ", it will make it less likely to break the shortcut you just made.)
"C:\GOG Games\StarTopia\StarTopia.exe" /s /r1920x1080
Now, when you launch the game, you'll be in windowed mode! Yay!
Windows + Borderless Mode (almost as nice as a siren.)
Now that we've got windowed mode set, there's a great little program out there that can convert the game into Borderless mode with virtually no pain at all. It's called "Borderless Gaming" and it's on GitHub
github.com/Codeusa/Borderless-Gaming/releases/tag/6.5
Once you've downloaded and extracted this, run the BorderlessGaming program. It's fairly basic. Open up your now-windowed Startopia and alt-tab back out to your Borderless Gaming program. Choose "Startopia" on the left, and click the button to move it to the right. Within about 5 seconds, it should move your game into a windowed + borderless state and position it correctly on your monitor.
And you're done! Please note that I highly doubt you can get any support if this doesn't work well for you. My suggestion would be to save frequently to avoid any loss of anything (though after a few hours of playing I haven't encountered any issues.) Good luck!
I didn't see anything about this posted before, so I thought I might share my knowledge of how to get the GOG version of Startopia running in windowed borderless mode. This involves modifying your game with a semi-official patch. I'll warn you to make a backup later. Please do it. I don't take any liability for you breaking your game, deleting your saves, exploding the world, etc.
Note: Before doing anything with this guide, please make sure to back up your installation of Startopia. This process worked perfectly for me on a brand new install from GOG, so your results may vary. The patch that allows you to run the game in windowed mode was made by one of the developers of the game (Tom F) after the company had ceased to exist, so it's not perfect, but it adds windowed mode and some options for high quality shadows (careful with this option - it's resource intensive.)
Second note: I highly recommend changing graphics options to your liking prior to installing this patch. The game seems slightly unstable when it comes to changing video settings after loading in the unofficial patch. Also the fact that if you apply any video settings when running in windowed mode, it will take you out of windowed mode and you'll have to startup the game again to fix it (or it may just crash right after applying the changes). It will keep the other settings once it restarts though. Just don't change any settings mid-game and not save first.
With all that, on to how we get this done. First, we'll talk about windowed mode.
First of all, we'll need the 1.02 unofficial patch. It can be downloaded from MODDB.
www.moddb.com/games/startopia/downloads/startopia-102-semi-official-patch
Extract the patch to a folder somewhere. (Remember when I told you to backup Startopia? If you haven't done it, now would be a good time.) Copy all of the files from the stuff you extracted, and find your GOG install directory (default C:\GOG Games\StarTopia) and drop the files in there. Overwrite all files.
Now that we're set with that, you'll need to create a shortcut to the Startopia.exe. Right click on Startopia.exe and choose Send To -> Desktop (Create Shortcut). This will make it easy for us. Head to your icon on your desktop and right click on it, and choose "Properties."
On the shortcut tab, we'll need to change the target line and add a few new pieces to it. First a word on what these flags actually do.
/s - Makes the game load (much) faster. You may take this out if you see any instability, but I haven't noticed any issues yet.
/r - Sets the resolution and allows for windowed mode. Format (for 1920x1080 resolution) is /r1920x1080 .
Now to the good stuff, modifying the target line. See the below for an example on how your target line needs to look (note that the first part should point toward your startopia.exe, feel free to just tack on the options after the ", it will make it less likely to break the shortcut you just made.)
"C:\GOG Games\StarTopia\StarTopia.exe" /s /r1920x1080
Now, when you launch the game, you'll be in windowed mode! Yay!
Windows + Borderless Mode (almost as nice as a siren.)
Now that we've got windowed mode set, there's a great little program out there that can convert the game into Borderless mode with virtually no pain at all. It's called "Borderless Gaming" and it's on GitHub
github.com/Codeusa/Borderless-Gaming/releases/tag/6.5
Once you've downloaded and extracted this, run the BorderlessGaming program. It's fairly basic. Open up your now-windowed Startopia and alt-tab back out to your Borderless Gaming program. Choose "Startopia" on the left, and click the button to move it to the right. Within about 5 seconds, it should move your game into a windowed + borderless state and position it correctly on your monitor.
And you're done! Please note that I highly doubt you can get any support if this doesn't work well for you. My suggestion would be to save frequently to avoid any loss of anything (though after a few hours of playing I haven't encountered any issues.) Good luck!
Post edited June 29, 2014 by cc2iscool
