Create a file /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/use-vesa.

conf with the following content:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "vesa"
EndSection
And that's all. Reboot, and you should have your resolution.

The file can be created with any text editor - if you're not comfortable with the terminal, you'd probably want to use something
graphical like leafpad. However, you'd need to be root to have write access to the place where the file is needed.

So, open up a terminal (CTRL + Alt + t) and type "sudo leafpad". You need to enter your password there. I presume you're
doing this as the default user so sudo should work and the editor window will open.

Then you can copy & paste the required text into the file and save it to the given location (/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/). The
name "use-vesa.conf" is arbitrary, you could also call it "whatever.conf", as long as the .conf bit is in the filename, and the file
is saved in the right place, it will work.