On some old computers (mine included), the default graphics settings make the game literally unplayable. The main menu simply never appears, because the computer is unable to render it. This can cause the screen to go black, stop updating, or seem to freeze at some high percentage of loading, depending on how the failure manifests. If music is enabled, it will begin playing when the menu should appear, making that a useful indicator.
A new flag, --safe-graphics, should be added to the game. If it's set when launching the game, the most conservative settings should be used, regardless of what's set (or not set) in the game options. Specifically:
- The dynamic menu background should be disabled.
- The resolution should be 800x600, windowed.
- Particle effects density should be 0.
- Antialiased text should be off.
- Framebuffers should be off.
- OpenGL Shaders should be off.
- Custom mouse cursor should be off.
If the player changes settings after starting, the game could obey the new settings, but that's not strictly necessary. The main point is to give the player a chance to edit the options from ingame, even though their current settings (which may still be the defaults) are unusable.
