Store Page
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos News Guides Reviews

Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus

Store Page
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus > Guides > _ambitious_xx's Guides
Not enough ratings
How to fix the "can't set mode" problem
By _ambitious_xx
A lot of people are facing this problem and that's why I want to help.

Recently I had a problem, where I could not start the game anymore. The only thing I was getting was a black screen with 3 error messages:

1) Can't set mode trying 640x480x8
2) Can't set mode trying 640x480x16
3) SetMode failed err=-2147467263

A lot of people were talking about a hack that you can install and I actually tried that out BUT that isn't really a clean solution. Well you can get the game running with that hack but when switching between certain screens, there is a blue flashing.

Some others are talking about running the game in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP3 or Windows 7 and YES it might work on some Laptops / Notebooks but none of these modes helped me on my Desktop PC. Even ticking the box "run at 640x480" did not help. But exactly that made me think about the entire situation....!

SOLUTION:

The error messages from above are literally telling the problem. The program can't "activate" the 640x480 resolution.
Some notebooks do support this resolution: "thats my theory at least" and that's why it's working there.

To solve this problem you simply have to open your graphics control panel.

Either NVIDIA Control Panel (you can download it in the Windows Store: make sure it's installing on you system's drive)

or Intel Graphics Control Panel

THEN

You have to create a custom resolution: 640x480, 60hz

And that's it

Start the game!
Enjoy!
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
Created by
_ambitious_xx
Offline
Languages: English
Posted
4 May, 2021 @ 2:41am
771 Unique Visitors
2 Current Favorites
Guide Index
Overview
 
Comments
5 Comments
< >
Перега Сервелат 27 May @ 11:24am 
Не помогло(
CZBGR Icepick 3 Nov, 2024 @ 9:22am 
For me, I got to the point where I was getting the error 5:0000065434 no matter what, though I was trying to launch from the application itself.

Setting to Windows XP compatibility mode (or whatever works) is part of the solution. The other part was why I was getting that error. The game folder needs the steam_appid.txt file, which was never in the distribution in the first place per the wisdom of the powers that be. You either can create one from scratch, or simply (after setting compatibility) launch directly from Steam. This will generate that file. After that you can essentially launch from the executable itself - but there's a catch: The game still has Steam DRM.

So, you essentially do what I did above, and choose whether you want to use Steam or use your psuedo-freedom to launch directly from the executable. In the end, Steam has to be running, but it should work, and you don't have to use convoluted third party stuff.
Bondey5d 16 Jan, 2023 @ 8:07am 
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Oddworld:_Abe%27s_Oddysee#Widescreen_resolution
Marty Ventura 31 Jul, 2022 @ 3:22pm 
Tried this and it doesn't work.
~Pixie_Titz~ 13 Jan, 2022 @ 11:19pm 
I did test what you suggested and it still gave me the error messages and wouldn't load after that. Which sucks because I used to love playing this game!