Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 9:19 am Post subject:
W8 issues, what causes them?
RA2 (and TS) have troubles running on W8 (and sometimes W7), troubles related to the screen not updating. Does anyone know what the fundamental issue here is?
I'm aware of various DD wrappers, but none of them seems perfect. QUICK_EDIT
It's probably the same as the problems with Vista, Windows 7 before they matured, as most of the symptoms are the same.
It's the legacy directx support, installing all required redistributables should solve the problem. ( Too bad most of them come on game installation CD's ).
(installing those solved the problem for me in the past.)
Also keep in mind that since Windows Vista the desktops are rendered as '3D'. So to render RA2/TS the OS has to switch to 2D mode and this has been quite messy ever since. QUICK_EDIT
This problem has several causes:
1. In Win8 this is due to the rejection of technology support DirectDraw, it was replaced by the repeater functions DirectDraw to Direct2D.
2. Just such a problem arises in the earlier version of Windows (Vista, Seven or even XP). This is due not to the operating system, problem in GPU. Some manufacturers (mainly Intel) have these problems.
It seems that in windowed mode, the menu is always working properly.
The problem with Windows8 solved easily (at least YR). If the process name and gamemd.exe in a folder or file is in the same Ra2md.exe (content does not matter, only checked its availability), the menu will work.
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 11:09 pm Post subject:
Another attempt to fix the problem
Another attempt to fix the problem:
I wrote a small script for the program AutoHotkey (script source code and binary file attached)
The script runs the game in windowed mode, but without the window frame, as well as hides the Taskbar when the window is active, and returns the Taskbar in place when the window is not active.
As there is a ini file, using the settings that you can use this script to other games (Ra2, TS, possibly other), the default script is configured to work with YR.
I wrote this script for a few hours, and did not spend much time on optimization, so use it at your own risk.
So I tested out the ts-ddraw and your autohotkey script.
The ts-ddraw caused my ra2 to be very slow and in game it actually caused tearing, the game normally doesn't display any tearing for me. Also my windows 7 seemed to get very sluggish as well, when alt tabbing the whole desktop was very glitchy and slow.
The autohotkey script ended up showing me a white screen after starting the game like in the screenshot below. Also one of the folders that I had open (maxmized) was also affected by the script's enabled settings, no taskbar or titlebar, I had to alt tab to close it.
It's a very buggy option if it does work.
Yes, I know that this is the TS editing forum.
DaRTzO, You do not have to install autohotkey, there is attached a binary file, use it. So you need to check for compliance with all AdvancedWin.ini parameters. And also you need to make sure you do not have to open the window in the system that contain the value of the parameter WinTitle.
And as you may require administrator privileges.
I said,that this script is not optimized, but if someone can do something like that as a patch for the exe file of the game, then I think it will work well.
Still, this seems very buggy and has other inconveninces by the looks. It would be hard to advise every player to close all other windows, plus a lot of them love to alt tab. QUICK_EDIT
This problem has several causes:
....
The problem with Windows8 solved easily (at least YR). If the process name and gamemd.exe in a folder or file is in the same Ra2md.exe (content does not matter, only checked its availability), the menu will work.
wait, what? So you mean there can be any process with the name of the original filename and the game works? QUICK_EDIT
FunkyFr3sh, If the process name does not match the game(md).exe, and\or in a folder with no file Ra2(md).exe (Only checked the availability, content does not matter).
EDIT: If you are using windowed mode, then you do not need to respect such naming. QUICK_EDIT
Ah, okay Well, pretty much the same problem as i have in dune2000 then ... i tried to fake the command line and all kinds of weird stuff but it didnt work, the game only works if the process name equals the original file name.
What is causing that? Is it really some automatic compatibility setting applied by windows8? I could not find any code in the game that would check the process name QUICK_EDIT
FunkyFr3sh, I think this is some kind of special conditions in the implementation of ddraw in windows8. I too was looking for something like that, but did not find. So I was looking for the names of all files and system files (in ANSI and Unicode), but I did not find nothing. QUICK_EDIT
I could solve the drawing and performance issues on dune 2000 by calling SetAppCompatData in ddraw.dll with some magic params Now the executable can have any name. I don't know if this works for ra2/ts too, but might be worth a try!
FunkyFr3sh, I took MicrosoftApplicationCompatibilityToolkit, after trial and error to choose for themselves the following sequence
It works almost as well as on Win7 (a bit slower due to the emulation, but absolutely comfortable), the only remaining problem - not able to continue the game after minimizing a window. I suspect that this is a bug in the code MS 8And16BitTimedPriSync, when the game is minimizing, videomod returns to normal, return to the game he changed to 16bit. While Win8 only supports 32bit VideoMod, and emulation starts to not work correctly. QUICK_EDIT
Tiberian Sun does not have any default compat settings, that explains why it fails even with the original executable name, we could try to use the same settings as ra2 is using
Small hack that disables the window frame when you run the game in windowed mode.
YR:
Code:
[WinModeNoFrameYR]
Name=Windowed mode with no frame of the window.
Description=Windowed mode with no frame of the window.
Link=http://www.ppmsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=524562&highlight=#524562
Type=YR
Offset=0x377cc3
Original=CA 02
Modified=0A 86
RA2:
Code:
[WinModeNoFrameRA2]
Name=Windowed mode with no frame of the window.
Description=Windowed mode with no frame of the window.
Link=http://www.ppmsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=524562&highlight=#524562
Type=RA2
Offset=0x337c63
Original=CA 02
Modified=0A 86
TS:
Code:
[WinModeNoFrameTS]
Name=Windowed mode with no frame of the window.
Description=Windowed mode with no frame of the window.
Link=http://www.ppmsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=524562&highlight=#524562
Type=TS
Offset=0x286213
Original=CA 02
Modified=0A 86
EDIT: Added hack to RA2 and TS.
Last edited by Glukv48 on Fri Feb 20, 2015 6:59 am; edited 5 times in total QUICK_EDIT
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W8 issues, what causes them?
Well, pretty much the same problem as i have in dune2000 then ... i tried to fake the command line and all kinds of weird stuff but it didnt work, the game only works if the process name equals the original file name.
might need to set another compat mode to solve this
