WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

Under Windows 7 RC the graphics are really messed up, as in colors are randomized and mostly "dark".

I'm using the latest nVidia WIN 7 drivers, too.

I know it's the RC and not the RTM, but anyone have any ideas?

Check six!
Rampager83

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

We've only had one other report from a Win7 user......

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=44044

......and it appears he had no problems with graphics. Until we get more reports in there's not much I can tell you. I understand there are compatibility settings in that OS. Try poking around with them.

Don

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

Have you read this post on WinSPWW2 running Windows 7?
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=44044

Since it seems to work perfectly well then you have a platform issue. Therefore you should really be looking on Windows 7 and/or Nvidia support groups and not here, since it is not a programme bug.

Andy

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

If it is in full screen, try to alt tab in and out of the game a few times. Some times I get very funky colours on my Vista installation, but it is usually fixed by alt tabbing or restarting the game.
At least for full screen that I play the game, try windowed mode and/or different resolutions.

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

Yes. Game Guide->Tuning Your Machine paragraph beginning "Unlike many full screen DirectX games, ...".

Worst case - exit game, restart the machine and it usually goes away if alt-tabbing or going into a non-cycling game screen as described there does not work.

Also- if getting psycho mode on alt-tabbing out and back, check any programmes you may have that animate icons in the windows task-bar. Avast certainly played with the 256 colour palette (probably for its animations?). Turning off it's annoying "spinning globe" animation and also checking its box to not do pop ups when in full screen DirectX mode (it was not the default behaviour!) stopped problems with the occasional psychedelic mode on my PC. So experiment with the settings of any such programme, if it has any such options.

However there is bound to be some graphics card out there that does not like you alt-tabbing out from full screen directx ever. If you have one (and you will soon find out!), then don't alt-tab out of full screen mode to windows and back to the game. Exit the game if you need windows (e.g. to check mail) if you have such a card.

Or simply use windowed mode, set to your desktop resolution or more (CD version only) and it will be a full screen window (with the windows task bar visible). No 256 colour palette problems then, it uses the windows settings. Adjust mouse scroll area settings in game options to allow for the task-bar height and you are set. (Remember not to use "auto hiding" windows task-bar, and to have it placed in the normal position at the bottom of the screen too!.). Then you can see the windows clock as you play :)...

Andy

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

Had the same problem with Vista, cant remember the fix but if the above suggestions dont work try the workarounds in the Vista thread probably similar problems. Other programs mucking with the pallette as sugested is a likely cause if cant fix try running in a seperate screen. Same goes if system does not like Alt Tabing switch screens rather than Alt Tab.

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

Don or Andy,
Here's an update to my win7 issues running winspmbt. As you've both said the game runs fine in full screen WINDOWED mode. The draw back is that everything is smaller and easier to miss. It also runs fine on WinXP full screen unwindowed. Once I try full screen unwindowed in win7 I get the following. 2 small WHITE box msgs in order: 1st)IpDD SetDisplayMode0failed, code 80004001. 2nd)Direct Draw could not be initialized! Error code 80004001. I get these msgs even after adjusting screen resolutions. My OS is Win7 home premium 32-bit. My cpu is a Toshiba satellite laptop L555D AMD Turion2 Dual core M500, Graphics card is an ATI Mob radeon 4100 256mb dedicated mem. Hopefully some cpu guru figures it out in the future. I hate NOT being able to play the game in full screen unwindowed mode. DAMN MICROSOFT!

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

If it worked on XP, and does not after installing Windows 7, then it is a problem with your PC, not the game. Most likely graphics card drivers installed by W7?.

It would be rather handy to know what screen resolution you are trying to use. But the message you are getting is typical of trying to run the graphics card (drivers or hardware) at a resolution it cannot handle. Or the graphics drivers for Windows 7 cannot handle a resolution change 'on the fly' e.g from say native LCD wide screen 1280 by 600 to 800 by 600 interpolated mode. So try setting your PC screen to the 800 by 600 (or whatever res you chose) mode before launching the game. If that works - your graphics card or driver cannot do a resolution switch on the fly. (Not a problem with CRT monitors of course, but full screen is meant for CRT monitors, windowed mode for LCD).

So it looks to me like the drivers you had running under XP had better capability than the ones you got with Windows 7. Maybe the graphics card manufacturer has an updated driver set?. Check out their web site.

Cheers
Andy

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

There was no upgrading. I went from playing the game on an old laptop with WinXP to playing it on a new laptop with Win7.I tried 4 different resolutions BEFORE launching the game on the new laptop. Non work. From what you are saying my new Toshiba lcd screen laptop can't handle running the game full screen but my 4 yr old crt screen HP can? Bummer....:mad: THIS SUCKS! Thanks for trying to help. I'll keep checking back to see if someone found a work around for this. Hopefully in the future someone will find a solution.

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

Will the game run windowed .....??? From what you have said it will. We have said many times the reason we included both windowed and full screen mode was to ensure the game will run in at least one mode. In this case it runs windowed therefore the game will run for you in Win7. I would be quite happy to remove full screen mode as an option. That was my preference from the day Andy sent me the first copy of the game that would run Windowed. Why people get bent out of shape becasue the task bar shows up at the bottom of the screen is beyond me really.

Don

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

When you run the game at the max resolution and still have lots of monitor room to spare (I have a 1920x1200 monitor) and you want to scroll the map you have to make sure where you place your cursor, if you move it too far then the scrolling stops which is very annoying.
On fullscreen this problem is not there since you can just move the mouse as far as you want it will continue scrolling, you don't have to "be careful" with it all the time.

The other thing is that having a taskbar, or a wallpaper, etc sneaking their way in your fov is annoying for many people, including myself.

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

I see, using Windowed Mode can solve it (Both Gfx and Response Time).
The thing that really annoys me is not the grphics(I can still tell the terrain with fuzzy colors), but the response time - It takes nearly 3 seconds to response to an order under Full Screen in Win7.

But there`s another issue - under Windowed Mode, I can`t see the bottom part of the Screen in Win7 X_X
Not much an issue, but it prevents me setting an air route going down X_X

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

What is the screen resolution of your laptop and what screen resolution do you have the game set for ?

Don

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

For the "orders response" - what precisely do you mean by that?.

If it is a sound problem (delay with the marching noises etc inpeding movement)- first try this:
- Turn the Mouse Interface Click OFF in the Game Options launcher Misc screen
- Turn sound OFF in both places in the in-game preferences screen. (Battle FX and Sound FX).

And see if your problem goes away - the cure for that was the introduction of WAV format sound files, as opposed to the MP3 originally issued with the game. The patches overwrite the sound.ini file with a new one, using the WAV format files. If this cures your problem, then look at the \game data\sounds\sounds.ini file. The entries should all be of the form:

sound013="13.WAV"

And you should have a whole lot of WAV sound files (the MP3s are obsolete).

If not- then you have a problem with your patch updating, and you should search your hard drive for say "13.WAV", to see wherever your vista/Windows 7 installation decided to squirrel away the patch updates.

We have had reports that Windows 7/Vista (they are the same thing) has a habit of doing this. Apparently the cure is to install the entire game outside of the hierarchy used by XP (\program files\...) or Windows vista/7, Which can be many things depending on how yours is set up. Windows 7/Vista may set up the game under \games (or something similar?) and then install the patches under \your user name(?)\Games\.., or others, depending on what sort of coffee it had that morning, apparently! :). I have no idea - since I have not bothered to downgrade from XP as yet.

If you install something outside its "managed" folders, it works, apparently. So try installing to c:\somethingorother\.. instead of the \program files\ the game installer has as the default. Then apparently windows 7/vista does not try to "manage" it, and therefore does not make a complete mess of it. Remember to apply all your patches to that same path as well.

Microsoft in vista/W7 have apparently removed/moved the default "Program Files" folder, and replaced that with a managed folder under your current account name(?). So it also depends on whether you are logged in as the super-user, or another account, as to where it decides to squirrel the files away, which can cause confusion as well. So check that you are logged in as the same thing as you originally installed the game under, when applying patches or unzipping PBEM files. (Or, just install the game to a folder outside the managed W7/Vista folders hierarchy as already described, and bypass the "intelligent design" Microsoft have added).

NB - apparently the same "intelligent management" (UAC?) by W7/Vista can apply to PBEM files as well, resulting in them ending up unzipped into strange places. Again - the cure seems to be to install the game outside its "managed" folders hierarchy. (Or if you have not, then logging in as the exact same user as you installed as, every time you play or update the game, as described above).

The other item to try for your "delay problem" - but I presume you already have tried it?
- Adjust the Unit Move Delay and/or Graphics Delay items in the Game Options Misc tab?.

Also - there is apparently some sort of games compatibility mode setting you get (by right clicking on the EXE?) - check you have set up this compatibility thing in vista/W7. It may have an option for 256 colour full-screen games?. See your Windows help files. Remember that you will have to set this up for the game (WinSPMBT or WinSPWW2) and not the separate windows only mode Game Options launcher!.

All the above is not a result of having installed vista/Windows 7. I don't have it - I have no need, as XP works fine. It simply is a result of having read the various posts from folks who have downgraded to the thingy on these fora.

Andy

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

Ah yes....... the last patch for MBT mentions this and the new ww2 patch will as well

if anyone having trouble hasn't done this, please do it.


One thing I will be changing on this is the last line becasue some may assume that the it's the GameOptions.exe that needs to be set up this way when in fact it should be the actual game EXE that needs this done to so winspww2.exe or winspmbt.exe.

Don

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

Never had any problems running win-spww2 or win-spmbt from Win Seven. I have 3 machines here: One desktop pc with a nvidia gtx260 running seven-x64, another desktop with a nvidia 7950 running seven-x86 and a laptop with an ati chip running seven-x86. All is running smoothly as it did before with vista-x64 and x86. Only problem that still persists is the intro bug (disable intro and all is fine).

Happy Holydays from a former SP-Camo Beta Guy

cheers

Helge

Re: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics
 

Hi Helge. Good to hear from you.

Don