(often associated with Patch 3) is a classic compatibility issue. It usually happens because the game’s old engine can't communicate with modern high-resolution displays or DirectX versions.
The original Settlers 4 graphics engine relies on (old DirectX 7–8 components). Modern Windows versions (10 and 11) have limited or broken support for fullscreen DirectDraw, especially when using certain resolutions or color depths. Patch 3 doesn’t fix this — it was released in 2002, long before Windows 10.
[Graphic] FullScreen=0 Width=1024 Height=768
Download the (available on Settlers community fansites).