Windows 10 ?

AndyOneill · #1 May 1st, 2016, 11:41 AM

Hi,

I don't seem to be able to persuade the game to run on windows 10 pro( 64 bit ).
I get a black screen, then an error
SetDisplayMode failed code 80004001
I tried my old win7 cmd which stops explorer. Shut down explore

Can it be done?
How?

Thanks in advance.

Mobhack · #2 May 1st, 2016, 02:09 PM

lets start with the basics?
(it is nice to know these things, when trying to debug problems)

Are you trying to run the free demo game or the full CD game?
Are you trying to run in full-screen mode, or in windowed mode?

I'll assume you are trying to run the free demo version, in 800x600 in full-screen mode. Since the problem you are describing seems to be what happens when attempting to run 800 mode in full-screen on post vista machines.

1) Set the game to windowed mode, and run it. It should work perfectly fine in a window. Does it?.

2) If so - Your windows 10 machine may not support resolutions as low as 800. Try changing the windows desktop resolution. If it does not list any resolution lower than 1024x768 then it cannot be made to run the game full-screen in the 800 resolution maximum for the demo.

Or, it may not handle any of the old set 4:3 "square" monitor resolutions - or at least not very well (it may squash and/or stretch the displayed graphics).

You are thus restricted to an 800x600 windowed mode (see 1) while you try the demo out. (It may help if you set the windows desktop to a smaller resolution - just find one that does not squash or stretch the display horizontally or vertically. Then your 800 wide screen is not to dwarfed by the desktop.)

2.1) Full-screen mode is antiquated, and only there because it was part of the original game. Windows versions post Vista mess with the 256 colour palette mode that older DOS games use.

NB - the windows 7 CMD file does not work for 8 or later, as it is there to deal with the aero interface, that Microsoft deleted after Windows 7.

The way to play the game full-screen with modern machines is windowed mode in "desktop" resolution. That uses your windows desktop resolution setting. And it plays in 1920x1080 just fine, utilizing the full desktop, with the windows task-bar shown at the bottom of the screen, so you can see the time and email notifications. And because in windowed mode it is using the full windows colour palette you dont suffer from the dead DOS 256 colour mode palette being mangled by Windows resulting in "psychedelic" screens. So no need for full-screen mode.

Desktop resolution is of course, a perk of the full game.

AndyOneill · #3 May 1st, 2016, 02:50 PM

This is the full version of the game.

Like I said, it's quite some time since I played it and I was running the winspww2 exe directly.
I just tried via ww2gameoptions.
I changed to Game Mode windowed
Screen / Window Size Desktop.

I get a window which is half the height of my monitor and unresponsive. If I click buttons nothing happens. Closing the window from the taskbar doesn't shut the process down properly and I have to go find it in task manager and shut it down there as well.

This is a wide monitor - benq 22". I have 2.
The game used to work OK when I was using this machine on win 7 but it's since been upgraded to win10.

DRG · #4 May 1st, 2016, 03:25 PM

Are you running two screens at once ?

As for windows 10. I use it exclusively and never had a problem like you describe.

I'm grasping here but are you running GDI or Direct X ? whatever you are running try the other AFTER a re-boot ( if you have not restarted your computer since the last attempt

Also......try running with introduction set to NO

Mobhack · #5 May 1st, 2016, 03:55 PM

The usual problem with a squashed window, is that the user has turned auto-hide on for the windows task bar.

We instruct users to ensure that auto-hide is turned off in the Game Guide. Game Guide->Running WinSPWW2, please refer to the great big red box with flashing yellow text "PLEASE READ THIS NOTE!"..

AndyOneill · #6 May 2nd, 2016, 11:17 AM

Got it working.
I have 2 monitors. I usually have my taskbar on my right monitor - auto hide unchecked.
After some experimentation, I eventually dragged my taskbar over to the left monitor and I then get an acceptably sized window.
You need the taskbar at the bottom of the window. If it's to the side the text etc is distorted diagonally.

Mobhack · #7 May 2nd, 2016, 03:07 PM

Never having tried with 2 monitors, are you saying that the task bar must be on the same screen as the game window?.

AndyOneill · #8 May 2nd, 2016, 03:26 PM

Yes.
When I run winspww2 it always starts on the same monitor, my left one.
I prefer a bit more height on that so I routinely have my taskbar on the right monitor though.

Mobhack · #9 May 2nd, 2016, 05:09 PM

The game uses an old 1990s third-party game engine (so we cannot go in and fix that library). That was designed before multiple monitors ever existed. Also before the windows task bar could be popped-up, so that is why it must not use auto-hide (Windows returns the wrong screen area as far as the old DirectX (5.0?) version the library uses is concerned).

So the game will most likely want both its main window and the windows task bar to be both on the same monitor at start-up (when the library determines the available window area).