Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

I had set up a shortcut to the exe file and I tried emulating in that. Win95, win98, winxp sp 2&3. Nothing worked.

Heh, now I don't remember how I used the fix file. There are no instructions. It worked fine except for the odd movement in the game.

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

If you mean resize the window to whatever you like as you can with internet explorer...no....... but the higher resolutions should allow you to fill the screen when playing the game

Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

If you are comfortable using a hex editor to modify your main .exe to start the game (so that you can modify settings), I can post instructions. That's how I start the game...



NC

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Now know of some Windows 7 systems this was used on, again all fixed.
Might be worth adding a second download for SPWW2 or saying need to edit what it points to in notepad for it to work as some people dont seem to realise.

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

I'm back.

My previous Win7 rig died a horrible and unexpectedly untimely death (motherboard fried and took the RAM, CPU, and GPU with it).
There is no RMA on used rigs...

:(
===

New weapon:

Win7Pro64.
EVGA P55 mobo/Intel I7 875K 4GHz unlocked CPU (first ever liquid cooled for me)
4GB Corsair RAM (expanding to 8GB when I find the money)
Single EVGA 470GTX 1.3GB overclock
Thermaltake TR2RX 850watt PSU
All wrapped in a brand new jet black Coolermaster Haf+ 922 mid-tower.
Still using the same Samsung 906bw monitor and the same five internal hard drives (:doh: moment they're 320GB each, not 250GB).
Lightscribe and LabelTag 24x DVD's.

$1100 (or 850 78rpm records out of my album collection)

===

Pending work schedules I'll be back to testing the DL version sometime next week. Hoping to find the Paypal cash to order the real version before Christmas.

HAPPY
HOLIDAYS
Y'ALL,
R

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

OUCH... Doubleplusungood

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

You ain't kidding. With two dead rigs in seven months...

I also installed a new breaker panel for my office. Each outlet now has its own 60amp breaker and all of the outlets are now GFCI. (Ok...I paid somebody else to do that part)

I'm self-employed and these rigs aren't just gaming rigs, they're my lifeline and primary money maker (hence the large drive space). The last thing I need is yet another unpaid three week vacation.

===

Ran a quick test from a thumbdrive DL copy. Samesame, guess its back to square one on the testing. But if I can fill the screen with the full version that should help my eyes.

===

The proper resolution to most problems is maximum available firepower.

RELOADING,
R

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

That does smart nice replacement though, chuck a few more inputs at it mainly USB & top machine.
Easy solution is buy the game the Desktop patch works a treat.
At start up I decide whether to run fullscreen or if working set it to fill about 80% of it so I can keep an eye on whats going on.
Your machine will hardly notice its running & if what you do uses a lot of memory recomend upgrading fast. Surprises me how much faster machines run if you are using less than about 70% memory most of the time its a cheap speed up. Or at least worked that way for me.

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

If you've had two dead rigs in seven months I've got to think you have a serious problem with voltage regulation where you live.

Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Don - That thought had crossed my mind. Hence the new separate breaker panel and outlets.

But both of those rigs had seen hard usage and were well beyond their service life expectancy. The older XP rig spent most of its time in a hot dusty environment and hung on like a bitter old clydesdale horse (or an old DOS game we all love). The second rig had been a dedicated COD4/WAW server for a fairly large gaming community and was running 24/7 non-stop for a couple of years before I got it (my bad for taking the cheap route).

All of the rigs (and late 1970's stereo equipment) that are in my office are run through a late 1990's 2,500watt rackmount UPS.

===

To give an idea of what I do for work, I wrote the below article.

http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat...vered_from.php

I'm the in-house weapons guy for the Long War Journal. Most of what I write is for private consumption, although sometimes I post articles on my own little bloglet. It's only just recently that I've been asked to step up to the LWJ front line. Making it a particularly bad time to have to build a new system and format my drives...

ENJOYING
THE DAY
OFF,
R

Re: Windows 7 "Beta Testers" needed
 

I need a few people who are running the game using Win7 in fullscreen mode to act as beta testers for us

The attachment contains a new GameOptions.exe and a .cmd file that will emulate what NCrawler did with his fix but will allow players to start the game from GameOptions.

I would ask that anyone who takes the time to DL this please take the time to report back on how it worked for you.

You will need to do the following

1/ Ensure you have SHOW INTRODUCTION already set to NO with your existing GameOptions. That's the first line on the first page when it loads.


2/ Go to wherever you have your game installed and rename your existing GameOptions.EXE to XXGameOptions.EXE to ensure if this does not work you still have a copy of GameOptions that works.


3/ Extract the attached ZIP file to where ever you have the game installed. It needs to be extracted to the main winSPMBT folder that your existing GameOptions.exe is already in.


4/ Start up GameOptions then press PLAY WINSPMBT. If you are running the game fullscreen and the NCrawler fix solved your palette issues with fullscreen mode this should work as well. If not, let us know



Thanks

Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Downloaded the zip..

1. Changed my exisiting file to not show introduction.
2. Renamed the exisiting to something else, extracted the new one into the folder
3. Started the game intro
4. Changed parameters to 'full screen mode'
5. Clicked "play WinSPMBT"

Got the following error:
SAL error: IpDD-->SetDisplayMode() failed, code 80004001
DirectDraw could not be initialized! Error code 80004001
Then the game crashed.

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Are you running win7 ? If not , what OS are you using ?

If you are running win7 had you previously run the NCrawler fix sucessfully ?

If you had to change to not show the introduction this tells me you HAD been running the introduction sucessfully. Is that correct ?

Try running that again but in windowed mode and let me know what happens

Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

As I write this there have been three DL of that beta fix and one report back on how it worked. I REALLY need EVERYBODY who tries this to post a report on how it worked on their machine and I need to know what OS you are using and what version of it you are using

Thank You

Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

1. Win7 Enterprise. Version 6.1. Build 7600.

2. Nope - never tried the NCrawler fix. Have the CD version so I have ran the game in "full screen" windowed mode as a workaround.

3. Yes, in windowed mode everything works nicely.

4. With the fix installed, everything works in windowed mode.

/Fred

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

I don't want to assume anything so I need to ask this..... are you saying when you run the game in windowed mode the intro works OK for you using Win7 Enterprise. Version 6.1. Build 7600 ?

As you are running the CD version are you currently running the widecreen support beta on your computer ?


Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Yes!

Nope - didn't know it existed. Running the game on my laptop so not much of a widescreen there.

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

First off , until you said you could we were under the impression that NOBODY running Vista or Win7 could get the intro to run under any circumstances so this is "big news" to us

Second, go to the sticky section at the top of the forum and click on the thread: Wide screen BETA test - for CD owners only thread and DL the Beta EXE, follow the instructions and you will have widescreen support for your laptop. This will be included in the next patch for both games but we posted this here back in July for players to try

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Thanks for the link - I'll try it.

Tried to install on my stationary computer at home running Vista, and had all sorts of problems, and no intro. After a couple of fixes from this forum I got it to run (no intro). But on my laptop using Win7 it works fine as installed (as long I stick to windowed mode). In fact, running the in full screen mode leads to exactly the same error message as I got with the patch which probably is good for you to know. Maybe the graphic card isn't as advanced on the laptop (ATI Mobility Radeon 3400 series).

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Sorry to jump in

Fred you did have the NCrawler Fix dont know if still do.

If you remember first time you tried said it locked up then it was fine.

Just mention as might effect things

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Don't have any fix installed here. I got around all the early problems by buying the CD versions of both games and playing big screen windowed mode :)

Edit: I know which post you are referring to. I used that for a while on my _stationary_ computer until I bought the CD version, but not on this laptop.

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Yes but did it not work then work as John suggested ?

Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Don, i just tried, the 5.00DL version of the MBT, and intro WORKS, i never had it on because i read in the forums that it wouldn't work in 7/vista, now i just tried and it worked, running:
Win 7 Home basic 32bit (6.1 build 7600)
DirectX 11(using directX in windowed mode)
3GB ram
Graphics: mobile intel(r) 45 express chipset family
Screen resolution 1280x800 at 60hz
Game :800x600(free dl version)

NCrawler's fix works
will try your fix and report results tomorrow morning.

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Wow Dons going to love this

Just tried on a mates Vista system
There has been an update intro now works does not hang the game.
99.9% it did not work on this system before.
Just shows the picture for a couple of seconds then loads the game

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

On my stationary computer (Vista system) it was like that for the Ncrawler thing - first a crash and then it worked..

On my laptop system (Win7) it worked from the beginning "as is", without any problems with the CD version in windowed mode (including the introduction - start-up screen showing for a while, then loading the game).

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Don's new fix also works for fullscreen, it's a little blurred though, so that's better for cd owners who can use the widescreen fix and the bigger resolutions.

edit: intro screen also works with this fix.

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Guys, we seem to have two sets of reports here and it's getting very very confusing. On one hand it appears without this BETA fix the intro works fine on Win 7 machines and on the other hand it looks like the fix works for fullscreen but maybe or maybe not it crashes the first time it's used but not after the first time ( which is weird in itself ). I REALLY need reports that don't ASSUME things

SO...

IMP: >> this "mates Vista system".... The intro works now.... did you just try the intro without the BETA fix or did that work with the fix and if it works with the fix does the intro work as well without the fix.

2ndLt_Fjun: >> "On my stationary computer (Vista system)" did that crash then run using the BETA fix or when you ran the intro and on your "laptop system (Win7) it worked from the beginning "as is'" are you referring to the game in general, the intro or the BETA fix. Did this BETA fix cause the intro to work or does the intro work without the fix ??


iCaMpWiThAWP : >> Your first post you report the intro works without the fix running win7. This is good news

The "new fix" was issued specifically to correct the issues people have with fullscreen using Vista / Win7. We know there is no problem running windowed mode. You then say the intro works with this fix but you had already said the intro works without the fix. The "fix" was never aimed at the intro. If it had been a side benefit that's great but it seems that the intro works fine on Win7 machines without any intervention.


If anyone else reads this and is running Win7 with the intro off please try running it on a few times and report back what happens on your machine and PLEASE specify if you are trying the beta fix or not. Right now I really want to hear about the intro from people who did not try this fix

Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Knew it was going to be confused - ignore and forget all about the stationary computer case - I mentioned that just because Imp jumped in and said I had the crawler fix installed already, and I didn't want you to get the wrong impression.

This is the tested case:

My laptop with a win7 system:

Works perfectly installed and upgraded from the cd game even with intro on, as long I play in windowed mode. No previous fixes installed, just a normal game installation. The intro shows (at least a startup screen, not sure what it should look like) and after that it goes to the start screen. However, the game crashes as soon I try fullscreen mode. I downloaded your new BETA fix, installed it according to instructions, and it didn't help. The game still crashes in fullscreen mode with the error message I typed out in a previous post. However, it still works in windowed mode.

Clear now?

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

The machine running Vista Home Premium (service pack 2)

Runs the intro screen fine
(cant remember what its supposed to be but it displays a picture breifly, no video)

Does this on vanilla copy & if using desktop patch.

Windows mode runs fine in both cases fullscreen was only tested with desktop patch & just produced a blank screen

The BETA fix has not been tried though they can if wish
If so should it be tried in conjunction with the desktop patch or on a vanilla copy?

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

If by desktop patch you mean the NCrawler fix it won't matter. The BETA fix runs the same type of command line as the NCrawler fix it just runs it after you start the game from GameOPtions. The two do not conflict as the NCrawler fix runs the game directly from it's own command line

Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Meant the fix that adds desktop mode to resolutions
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=46003

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

The BETA fix includes the GameOptions program that includes the desktop change for CD owners. Installing the Beta fix over the Desktop resolutions beta should work OK

Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

So do you want it tested on Vista?

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Sure why not.

Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Just so everyone is clear here this beta "fix" is aimed only at players who would prefer to run fullscreen or who run the game fullscreen because they are playing the DL version and 800x600 is a pretty small window in most modern monitors. We know the game runs well in Windowed mode

Furthermore , it's an experiment only. We wanted to get some solid feedback from players and the best way to do that with something like this is to get it into the most number of hands to get the feedback but in that regard the experiment has been a bust with only 9 people DLing it and less than half responding

Perhaps it's just "that time of year.........."

The one piece of useful info this has generated is that Win7 allows the intro to run whereas it wouldn't with Vista which is one aggravation MS has fixed with one of it's service packs at some point.

Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

I've got the widescreen beta installed (which works very nicely for when I'm 'working' from home). Tried the win7fix but I keep getting two error message boxes come up and it stops working. Oh and the explorer window that I had open to run the command closes as well.

The boxes are:

SAL Error

IpDD->SetDisplayMode() failed, code 80004001

SAL Error DirectDraw could not be initialized! Error code 80004001


Hope that helps!

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Actually ignore my post. I've gone back through this thread and came across the solution. I've got the resolution set too high.

Set it to 1024 x 768 and it runs fine.

Only issues now as far as I can see is:

The text is a little blurry.
The two black bars down each side of the screen.
And the fact that my system actually runs at 1280x800 which means I'm only 224 pixels short of being able to play the game at 2 higher levels of resolution! Most frustrating indeed.

Actually, ignore pretty much all of this post too.

Changed the resolution to 'Desktop' and it works fine bar one issue.

I can Alt-tab in and out great with no pallette funkiness but after closing it down i appear to have lost my taskbar. Right-clicking doesn't bring up any options at all on the bit of desktop I can see. I can Alt-tab through windows (which is how i got back here to write this) but even then you can't alt-tab to the dektop.

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Just final thing (it really is one of those days) logging off and on brought my taskbar back. No need for shutdown restart.

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Did you try right clicking & refreshing to bring the taskbar back?

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Just tried the fix and it worked. EXCEPT, when I exited the program I lost all of my desktop and icons and everything I tried failed. The only thing that worked was to restart my system. So, for me this didn't work, is there a way to fix lossing my desktop, what I see is happening is that it's closing explorer and not restarting it. Hope this helps.
my specs.

i7-950
amd 6870
win 7 ult.

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Don - Just finished downloading and installing everything, including the palette fix.

Works great...No palette issues, no weird lag effect, real full screen.

But I too ran into the exiting or alt-tabbing loses desktop bug.

I screwed up and randomly picked a scenario for the first test run with all installed. Forgot to set fast arty, you just know that randomly selected scenario had a lot of pre-game arty. It was still firing when I got back from the store an hour later...

I'll poke around a bit more tonight

ITS
ALIVE,
R

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Multiple exits, no issues. Might have been a one time thing.

Haven't tried ALT-tab again, yet. That's next.

Full screen looks great (still can't see some stuff in snow maps).

Some wierd lag like effects in moving the cursor between certain sections of the main screen, also in moving units around (but not as badly as last time I tested). It's really noticible when full map scrolling. The units themselves, including strike and recon units aren't rubberbanding or freezing while moving any longer either.

It's very much playable now (if a bit frustrating with large numbers of units to move around). (edit: THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!)

===

Set up first big test scenario (Nork invasion of RoK). Ran fine (with the above exceptions) for three turns. Then the Nork AI suddenly just quit, without ever moving or losing a unit...

No idea if that was a design flaw on my part or something else.

HERE
WE
GO,
R

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

I'm confused, what exactly do you mean by "everything, including the palette fix"

There was only the one beta fix that contained an experimental GameOptions.exe that ran our version of NCrawlers command line file.

Are you refering to the widecreen beta as well as the original NCrawler fix ?

Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

All the experimental gameotions fix does is launch ncrawler's .cmd (ie Microsoft's new name for .BAT files)file.

1) It is for FULL SCREEN PALETTE problem fixing/testing. Therefore - running the test gameoptions is worthless in windowed mode.

2) It kills Explorer - deliberately - since Explorer messes with the 256 colour palette in windows 7. (In Windowed mode, the game's graphics library does not use a palletised graphics mode).

3) It relaunches windows exploder after the game is exited. This should restore the desktop icons etc.

4) Therefore - it is a shell to execute the game in full screen, avoiding the Windows 7/Vista problems with hijacking the 256 colour palette. So while running the batch file - do not try to alt-tab out of the game, since explorer is killed while running it, so you will not have any icons etc. to click.
Exit the game, and thus the batch file session if you require to use windows.

All of this can be seen by simply right-clicking on the batch file (Win7SPMBT.cmd) in explorer and selecting the edit option:

taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe <-- Nuke Exploder
winSPMBT.exe <-- Run the game
Start explorer.exe <-- restart exploder

Cheers
Andy

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Don - This is/was a fresh download, with all the patches, plus the wide screen beta fix.

I may have also DL'ed NCrawlers fix prior to the beta (I'm guessing the beta would overwrite that?). It's not in my notes, so its possible I may have thought about it and then skipped right to the beta.

===

15 years ago I might have been upset at losing the ALT-Tab/boss key. Now I'm just glad its still here to lose. I'm the boss now, don't need the boss key anymore.

HOME
IS
GOOD,
R

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

The NCrawler uses a different cmd file that starts the games EXE directly but that bypasses the Game Options screen. The BETA fix is a GameOptions.EXE that runs the NCrawler but from slightly altered command file so no, the beta doesn't overwrite the NCrawler CMD file and if you click on it ( or ours ) the game will start without going to game Options first.

Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Just an update, I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. It seems that I didn't read the posts right, I was trying to run the game with the options screen, instead of the 'new' Batch file. Now everything is excellent! Thanks again.

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

This is starting to become hopelessly confused. I posted the BETA fix to this thread becasue it was related to the topic but that was obviously a mistake

The BETA fix that we posted contains a GameOptions.exe that runs a CMD file so running from that, the game starts the way we intended it to start, from the game options screen.

Please tell me which post on this thread you thought confused you into thinking it was the other way around. With this BETA fix what should happen is you click on "Play winSPMBT" the CMD file will run in a small black box and the game will start.

Right now it is not clear if you are using our fix or the original NCrawler fix which only uses a CMD file to start the game directly or if you are trying to start the NCrawler fix from game options which will not work. What it sounds like is you have put in the NCrawler cmd file and tried to run the game from Game Options

What is the name of the CMD file you are using to start the game ??

Is it Win7SPMBT.cmd or win7fix.cmd ???

Don

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Sorry for the confusion, when I would run WinSPMBT from the 'new' options file, the game would load and run and when I quit, for some reason the 'run explorer' wouldn't start. I run the progam directly from the
win7fix.cmd. I did see the small box in the background, so I was assuming that when I launched the program from the options screen the program would close correctly. That was not the case, so what I had to do was select my options, then quit options and then run from the 'new' batch file. I hope this helps.

Re: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix
 

Oops, I meant that I am using Win7SPMBT.cmd, NOT "win7fix.cmd". Thanks again.