Vista and Resolutions

Make sure your stuff is up to date.

This is usually a result of not having a 'real' monitor driver installed, and using only the default PNP monitor driver.

I am on a brand new lappy if that helps at all, geforce 8800 gt, I have the game updated, it dosnt do this with any of my other games
so any help would be appriciated

As laptops don't generally have any monitor drivers, you should also be able to set the resolution manually via the user.setting file, or play in windowed mode (and maximize the window).

You can find the user.setting file in the location:

Vista:
C:\Users\your username\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting

XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\your username\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting

Please note that some of these directories are hidden by default. To unhide them, go to Control Panel -> Folder Options -> View and set yourself to view hidden files and folders.

Are you launching the game through Steam, if so then the Steam overlay is not compatible.

***Ben

Alright, found the file thing, is there a maximum resolution I can put it on that is supported by the game, as my lappy screen max res is 1920*1200 kid of an odd reso and dont know if it is supported by game as there appeared to be no change.

That resolution is not weird, usually found on 24 inch monitors or HD 17 inch laptop screens. I believe Sins supports any resolution your GPU can support; I know a 8800GT on a desktop can handle that resolution but I don't know about the laptop version. My best guess would be that you should find the latest drivers for you GPU which can be found on the laptop manufactures homepage or from nVIDIA.com.

***Ben

The game does support that (or any 1024x768 and up) resolution, just make sure that you've put the values on the right lines (there are resolution lines for windowed and fullscreen modes).