Since these don't support a wide screen (16:9 laptop) the next best thing is windowed mode. Tropico 1 does this with no problems, but Tropico 2 refuses to let me uncheck full screen, insisting that I first set my monitor to 16-bit color and a "supported resolution." However setting to 16-bit and 800x600 still doesn't allow me to change the setting. Any workarounds?

Use this:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dxwnd/

Then Add a new configuration for Tropico 2:
Direct X Version - 7
Surface Handling - Use Absolute X,Y Coordinates (Does work without)
Cursor Handling - Correct Mouse Position
Windows Handling - Fix Window Frame Style (Gives it a windows frame)
Simulate 16BPP Desktop

Then set W and H to what you want; Say 1024 by 768

Hopefully that should work.

Thank you!

I downloaded the program and set it up according to the specs above, but the game would ctd. I am running windows 7 64bit and was wondering if anyone had any other solutions.

You could try fiddling with the settings a bit and checking stuff like Data Execution Protection etc.
I poked around a couple of other programs that did similar things but they didn't like DDraw.

As for other solutions:
- Run it in a Virtual Machine eg. VirtualBox (Install something like Windows XP if you have an old copy lying around).
- Try the -w on the shortcut but pretty sure that doesn't work.

PS
If you need information and instructions on setting up a virtual machine just let me know.

Thank you, I will try that this weekend and let you know how it turns out.

IIf you set a directx mode other than 7 or auto-detect, the game might launch, but will not be modified by dxWnd.
However, on windows 8 at least, the color palette will screw up, when you choose 7.

Does anyone have a solution for this?

More Info: dxWnd works for Tropico 1 as described in previous posts.

How do you put Tropico 1 in windowed mode?