Bug: WINDOWS 7 & Graphics

[Wdll]

Originally Posted by DRG

Why people get bent out of shape becasue the task bar shows up at the bottom of the screen is beyond me really.

Don

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.

[Moon Pine]

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

[DRG]

Originally Posted by Moon Pine

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

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

Don

[Mobhack]

Originally Posted by Moon Pine

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

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

[DRG]

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

-Install winSPWW2 in a separate Games folder, NOT in the Program Files if you're on 64 bit Vista . However you WILL need to remember this when installing patches such as this. If you are using Vista 32 it is OK to use the default, Program Files folder.

-Disable the intro. It the first line on the GameOptions screen.

- After installing the game right click on your winSPWW2 Icon and go to the Compatability tab & select Disable desktop composition.

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

[TheDesertFox]

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

[DRG]

Hi Helge. Good to hear from you.

Don