I like to play in widescreen, which BF2142 doesn't support. The way around this is to change the shortcut settings. Right click on the game icon, go into properties. The target will be C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Battlefield 2142\BF2142.exe" +menu 1 +fullscreen 1 . You can define the resolution by adding +szx 1280 +szy 1024 (or your preferred resolution settings) to the end of the target, and you can change to widescreen by changing +fullscreen 1 to +widescreen 1. If you want to change the resolution to 1280x1024 the target should look like this:
C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Battlefield 2142\BF2142.exe" +menu 1 +fullscreen 1 +szx 1280 +szy 1024
Be aware that if you don't use the shortcut (ie you click "start game" when the popup appears after inserting the disc) you won't get the specified resolution, or you may get the black screen. Otherwise this will work. Good luck.