Baseline (Widescreen) Solution & Issues
Use the Emperor Resolution Customiser utility.
By default, the game has only two choices for resolution: "800x600" and "1024x768". This utility patches the "1024x768" option to instead render the game's window at a custom resolution supplied to the utility.
It is a good idea to read through the program's description and readme, but the basic installation procedure is:
- Download the program from the Files tab, under the Main files heading. Extract the downloaded archive somewhere.
- Open Emperor's installation folder, then copy Emperor.exe and EmperorText.eng to {location you extracted the files in step 1}\base_files. Also copy all JPG files in the DATA folder to {location you extracted the files in step 1}\base_files\DATA
- Run Emperor Resolution Customiser.exe. A window will then appear containing all the options available. You can click on the ? buttons to get a description of what each item does. The checkboxes are by default set to appropriate defaults.
- Don't forget to type in your desired widescreen resolution.
- Once you have picked the options you want, click on the Generate EXE button. The program will then drop the new files into the patched_files folder.
- Copy-paste the files inside the patched_files folder to the location you installed Emperor, overwriting any files already present.
- Download the file Display option patcher scripts found under Optional files header.
- Extract the file Emperor - Change Display Setting - Resolution - 1024x768 or Hacked resolution.exe to the location Emperor.exe is installed and run it.
Alternatively (but not recommended), if the program is not compatible with your copy of the game:
- Download My old widescreen fixes pack found under the Miscellaneous files header.
- Open the 1 - Fixed EXEs folder, then open the folder named after the resolution you want to use. Extract the contents of this folder into the location you installed Emperor.
Ultra/Super-Wide (21:9/32:9) Specific Solution & Issues
Eyefinity / Surround Specific Solution & Issues
4k UHD Specific Solution & Issues
Note that this game has a maximum usable vertical resolution of 2560. While the utility below only caps vertical resolution at 5120, anything below the 2560th row of pixels will just be filled in with a brown background.
Use the Emperor Resolution Customiser utility, and follow the instructions under the Widescreen section.