This is the problem:

I can't put any widescreen resolution for this game. Even in the game options there is listed 1280x720 but if I go and select that game reverts to 800x600. All other available 4:3 resolutions are working fine.

The Tool program in the game folder does not help.

I've been searching for games .cfg file to see if there is something blocking use of widescreen rezs but no luck. Any ideas? Anyone?

Got the same problem... the "V" under the resolution selection screen is greyed.

cannot find any tools folder here
the highest resolution to which i can change is 1024 x 768
even there is no tools.exe in the game folder
sure we talk about alien nations ?

No. We're talking about "The Nations"... The sequel. It's in the subject title... This forum covers both games or at least there is no other forum for The Nations.

KajQrd, I had this exact same problem and your solution fixed it first time. Now I can see what's on the right hand side of the screen! Thankyou!

I have the same problem, I tried to use the tool, I added my resolution (1366 768) saved it. Quit the tool, restarted the game, but no change. :-(

I tried this multiple times, with no success.

Anyone else have another method, or knows what I am doing wrong?

I'm using Windows 7.

It seems the game has problems with 1366x768 (doesnt work at my laptop either).

But i can still help you, just set the resolution to 1360x768, and then it should work, and since that is also a 16:9 resolution you still have fullscreen without borders :)

To solve the screen ratio problem for Alien Nations, the program dxwnd, hosted atsourceforge, might help.
It allows to run Alien nations in a window.

What was a bit tricky for me was that as Alien nations runs as admin on windows 8, dxwnd has to be started as administrator as well.

I'm off to test it more now.

It's very old thread, but just in case it could help someone, I think I found a solution (it worked for me at least) :
- Go in your "C:\GOG Games" folder, right click on your "The Nations Gold" folder : some files are read only : uncheck this (this way you should'nt have any "read-only" file in this folder)
- Go find the "tool.exe" program (in the folder "C:\GOG Games\The Nations Gold\tools") : right-click on it, in compatibility, choose "run as administrator"
- On your desktop, right-click on the shortcut of the game, uncheck the "windows 98" compatibility (or switch in one of the Windows XP compatibility mode).
- Follow instructions here :) (but it worked only for 800x600, 1024x768 and finally my desktop resolution : 1920x1080)

Guys, can someone help me?
I don't have that "tools" folder and i don't have a tools.exe

Really wanna play Alien Nations but with a resolution of 800x600 its pain for the eyes ;(

We're talking in this thread about the game "The Nations Gold Edition", not "Alien Nations" :P This is maybe the explanation ;)
For Alien Nations, unfortunately I'm afraid that the only available resolutions are the ones you can choose in the in-game config menu.
Still, I hope this helped :)

Works properly on Fedora Linux under Wine. I'm using Fedora 31 KDE spin with all relevant Wine packages. I can use the troubleshooter as well to set max settings and get 1280x720 resolution.

Unfortunately there is no "Tools" file or folder in my Alien Nations install folder. I have the original disc.

As I stated in an earlier reply this fix is for The Nations, not Alien Nations. The title of the thread also say that this is for The Nations, not Alien Nations. So you are correct that this does not work for Alien Nations. It does however for The Nations.