Hi all, I'm relatively new to the forum (but I've looked in from time to time, even long prior to joining) and have played SP since SSI first came out with them in DOS.
Anyway... like so many here, I've been frustrated with running winSPMBT and winSPWW2 on my Windows 7 laptop. They ran fine (in full screen mode, before I upgraded from Vista (sometimes the color palate would scramble, and I'd just hit the window key to go back to desktop and then click the tab at the bottom of the screen to go back, a minor inconvenience).
With Windows 7, I tried everything to run in full screen...compatability settings, everything including recommendations I saw here. Windowed mode was not an option because the box is so tiny. Setting my laptop resolution to 800 X 600 did not solve the issue (Win 7 doesn't muck like it either). After months of trying various things, I came across the same problem for another title (and publisher) someone there recommend this small program. I downloaded it and forgot about it for awhile, until today.
The program is D3DWindower here's the link:
http://www.filefront.com/13838785/D3DWindower-English/
It's a small program and it is Japanese, but don't worry, all the important parts are in English. The read me files will look like gobbly gook so no need to extract them (all four files are in a Rar file only two are needed).
OK here's what to do: You'll need to put the two files (D3DWindower-English.exe and D3Dhook.dll) into the SAME directory as the games executable. NOTE Windows 7 would not let me extract them directly to the games file, I had to save to the desktop and paste, with admin permissions, into the appropriate game folder
Open the file (i.e. Program Files/Shrapnel) where the game is installed and Click the program D3DWindower-English.exe. A small unassuming box will open. Click the "+" icon, the game folder should open, find and click on the game executable (in this case winSPMBT.exe). It will now appear in the field below, but your not finished yet.
Highlight the game executable and a few more of the menu icons will now be available. Select the "Settings" icon (Second from the end). under the "Common" tab fill in the screen resolution you want (I used my laptops native resolution of 1280 X 800) MIND THE PROPER BOXES FOR HEIGHT AND WIDTH!(they show Height first) Click OK. I made NO additional changes to any other settings.
With the game executable still highlighted click the "Run program" icon (fifth from the right). You should be on your way.
Note: although this is a Windower utility, I get no window, it plays in full screen, this may be because I set the resolution to my laptops native resolution...but I like it! No task bar shows. The colors are crisp and beautiful, no distortion, and I have not experienced any lag (my laptop is a single core Seperon, 4 Gb RAM, intergrated ATI HD 3200 graphics, 32bit OS Win7, so you can see it is far from a rocket ship). Feel free to experiment with the programs other settings as you see fit.
For your protection always backup your applications and use caution when adding and removing files. I make no promise that this solution will work for everyone due to many PC types and configurations out there. These files don't modify any of the game files. If you tried everything as I have, it couldn't hurt. I'll just ask that if this fix works for you or not, please post your results. If enough people have success, maybe the Mods will sticky the post so all of our fellow SP'ers can try it. Good luck! And thanks to the Cammo Workshop guys for all the hard work. You rock!
Still having Window 7 issue? Possible fix here!!!
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