Changing display resolution on Retina machines while in Command Line Mode I frequently prefer to boot into the command line mode (CMD + S on boot) instead of booting to the normal GUI-imposed version. I do most of my work in the terminal, so it's nice to save some time and bypass all the unnecessary UI.

However, on retina machines, the command line mode displays at a 1:1 ratio (instead of a 2:1), meaning all text is very, very small. I really want to reduce the resolution it displays at by a factor of two. Is this possible, and if so, how?
I found this for you

scrutil


  Slightly more advanced due to the nature of the command line, the free utility called screenutil gets the job done immediately with a quick entry into the Terminal.
  
  Launch Terminal and drag and drop scrutil into the command line to use it once, but if plan on using it often it’s a good idea to toss scrutil into /usr/local/bin for easy future access. Once installed, changing the retina display to native 2880×1800 with screenutil is achieved with the following command example:

scrutil s 2880 1800 16

  
  The command will report back the resolution change, the 16 at the end is color depth so you can set that to something else if you’d like. You can set it back to the default resolution either through System Preferences or with scrutil s 1440 900.


There is also this: 

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090413120929454

/*
 * COMPILE:
 *    c++ setgetscreenres.m -framework ApplicationServices -o setgetscreenres
 * USE:
 *    setgetscreenres 1440 900
 */

#include &lt;ApplicationServices/ApplicationServices.h&gt;

bool MyDisplaySwitchToMode (CGDirectDisplayID display, CFDictionaryRef mode);

int main (int argc, const char * argv[])
{
    int h;                          // horizontal resolution
    int v;                          // vertical resolution
    CFDictionaryRef switchMode;     // mode to switch to
    CGDirectDisplayID mainDisplay;  // ID of main display

    CFDictionaryRef CGDisplayCurrentMode(CGDirectDisplayID display);

    if (argc == 1) {
        CGRect screenFrame = CGDisplayBounds(kCGDirectMainDisplay);
        CGSize screenSize  = screenFrame.size;
        printf("%d %d\n", screenSize.width, screenSize.height);
        return 0;
    }
    if (argc != 3 || !(h = atoi(argv[1])) || !(v = atoi(argv[2])) ) {
        fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: Use %s horres vertres\n", argv[0]);
        return -1;
    }

    mainDisplay = CGMainDisplayID();

    switchMode = CGDisplayBestModeForParameters(mainDisplay, 32, h, v, NULL);

    if (! MyDisplaySwitchToMode(mainDisplay, switchMode)) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Error changing resolution to %d %d\n", h, v);
        return 1;
    }

    return 0;
}

bool MyDisplaySwitchToMode (CGDirectDisplayID display, CFDictionaryRef mode)
{
    CGDisplayConfigRef config;
    if (CGBeginDisplayConfiguration(&amp;config) == kCGErrorSuccess) {
        CGConfigureDisplayMode(config, display, mode);
        CGCompleteDisplayConfiguration(config, kCGConfigureForSession );
        return true;
    }
    return false;
}



  Save that as a pure text file named setgetscreenres.m, then compile it
  in Terminal using the command shown in the code (assuming you're in
  the directory where the file is saved):

c++ setgetscreenres.m -framework ApplicationServices -o setgetscreenres

  
  Move this file somewhere on your user's $PATH, and then use it by
  typing ./setgetscreenres hor_res vert_res, where hor_res and vert_res
  are the desire horizontal and vertical resolution.


Disclaimer: I have not tested it!