Info: Windows Vista and Windows Seven Installation

[secretgeek]

Thanks for the info Krol.

Have moved the folder, updated to 5.5 and everything appears to be hunky dory. Nice.

Now where was that artillery? :-)

[kolc]

I loaded MBT on my WIN7 according to the instructions you provided. While it will play in Windowed mode, I can't get it to work in Full Screen mode. Not sure what I need to do now??

[Mobhack]

Originally Posted by kolc

I loaded MBT on my WIN7 according to the instructions you provided. While it will play in Windowed mode, I can't get it to work in Full Screen mode. Not sure what I need to do now??

If you have the demo version then that will only play in 800x600 mode at maximum, so it may be that your video card cannot handle that resolution in full screen mode?. (Not many these days will handle the old DOS 640x480 mode either, other than as a window).


Cheers
Andy

[kolc]

Thanks. Will the CD version play in full screen mode on Win7 or does it depend on the video card for the computer?

[Mobhack]

Originally Posted by kolc

Thanks. Will the CD version play in full screen mode on Win7 or does it depend on the video card for the computer?

The CD version will happily adapt to whatever screen resolution you have currently set in its "desktop resolution" mode. My W7 laptop happily plays 1368x768 or whatever weird wide-screen mode Dell provided, or at lower resolutions than the "natural" as well.

But full screen windowed mode is really the best way to run the games - that way you get to use other windows programmes as well, and you can see the task bar as you play (so keep track of the time, incoming emails etc).

Also, because of the way Microsoft has messed up 256 colour palette handling in their aero interface (Aero thinks it is the only owner of the 256 colour palette!), full screen mode in vista/seven requires running the game under a batch file that nukes the Aero interface and also disallows running other windows programmes (unlike windows XP and earlier). So - in vista/seven then windowed mode at "desktop resolution" is the best way to run it. The window will then expand to take the entire screen real estate, bar the task bar but it's a regular window that does not interfere with task swapping. Windowed mode cooperates with the operating system - full screen mode does not.

In vista/seven I think the use of real full-screen is probably only of use to run at a different resolution from your current desktop. (e.g at 1024x768 instead of 1368x780, perhaps if your eyesight requires the lower resolution?). Some modes will expand to fill the screen with an interpolated set of pixels , others may play in a letterbox with darkened ends - it depends on your specific graphic card and drivers really - all wide screen monitors seem to do things differently if presented with a 4:3 aspect screen ratio. Another reason to stick to windowed mode at "desktop resolution" IMHO.

Cheers
Andy

Oh - BTW - another reason your download of the demo version may not work in full screen on W7 may be that you have not yet patched it to the latest version?. Remember that you have to go here http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Camo_Wo.../MBT_page.html and download and apply each and every patch in order from the downloads section, since we have not yet got round to doing a consolidated patch yet.

[Rosollia]

I am running 64bit Windows 7 Home Basic Edition.

If the game is installed outside the Program Files directory and launched from GameOptions.exe the Win7SPMBT.cmd file does not work correctly. Explorer.exe is closed and game starts with no color corruption, but when the game is closed explorer.exe is not restarted. I then need to press Ctrl+Alt+Del and start the Task manager and from there manualy start explorer.exe. Curiously if I do not start the game from GameOptions.exe, but instead directly from the Win7SPMBT.cmd file it works as it is supposed to and explorer.exe is restarted when the game is exited.

If the game is installed in Program Files directory (which you do not recommend) the Win7SPMBT.cmd works fine with GameOption.exe and explorer.exe restarts when game is closed.

By the way the game works just fine from the Program Files folder in windows Vista/7 if you disable UAC (User Account Control). Disabling UAC also disables virtual store.

What I did first with my Windows 7 was to go to the control panel and disable every new UAC and other "security" feature that Microsoft had planted there. Bottom line being that most of those anoying features can simply be turned off.

Also note that when running 64-bit operating system there are two program files directories: Progran Files and Program Files (x86). Your information screen which pops up if the user has installed his game to Program Files folder only appears if the game is in the "Program Files (x86)" -folder on a 64bit OS. The way 64 bit Windows works is that the "Program Files (x86)" -folder is the legacy folder for 32 bit aplications. 64 bit aplications use the regular Program Files -folder...

[Mobhack]

Program Files (x86) is also "managed" by Windows vista/seven. No legacy code therefore should be installed there, ie any code that was written before the compulsory split into code (which remains in that tree, and cannot include even the programme's own .ini files etc) and data sections (the changeable user data now has to reside under each user's profile (each user is supposed to have his own individual ini file for the programme, save games etc). And the installers written before Windows Vista sometimes will install files that are meant to go into the programme's root directory under whatever user profile is current instead.

Using the full screen mod with the cmd file is not really required, since the desktop resolution of the full game (CD) version does away with the need for it. Thus it's merely a convenience for those who want to stick with the old antiquated style. We also point out the process for restoring the windows explorer in the help files.

The cmd file works perfectly well when called from the Game Options programme - since I developed that on a Dell laptop with the windows 7 O/S installed. However since this is windows seven, it may well barf depending on whatever flag you have set etc, whether it is Tuesday etc. or perhaps if you installed it in a memory stick (it refused to restore the desktop when I tried that on mine anyway). But as stated - the desktop resolution mode removes any need to use full-screen mode.

Cheers
Andy

[Rosollia]

Program Files (x86) is also "managed" by Windows vista/seven. No legacy code therefore should be installed there, ie any code that was written before the compulsory split into code (which remains in that tree, and cannot include even the programme's own .ini files etc) and data sections (the changeable user data now has to reside under each user's profile (each user is supposed to have his own individual ini file for the programme, save games etc). And the installers written before Windows Vista sometimes will install files that are meant to go into the programme's root directory under whatever user profile is current instead.

Yes both "Program Files (x86)" and "Program Files" folders will stop beign managed by windows if you disable UAC. But I can understad your reasoning behind the recomendation not to use the program files folders. Most users probably dont know how to disable UAC and are too inexperienced to tweak their windows settings.

I do not own the CD version of the game so I cant use the features it has. But could you fix the fullscreen issue in a later release of the game? I could imagine that even some CD owners would like to use the lower resolutions full screen. Having a HD resolution monitor can make the graphics tiny.

So could the game be updated to use a newer version of DirectDraw? What about Direct2d?

Also have you looked at the ddraw.dll wrappers / hacks out there for other games?
http://sol.gfxile.net/ddhack/
http://hifi.iki.fi/cnc-ddraw/
They provide source codes.
I know there is a guy working on a ddraw.dll fix for SPWAW maybe that fix will work with this game too.

[Imp]

I do not own the CD version of the game so I cant use the features it has. But could you fix the fullscreen issue in a later release of the game? I could imagine that even some CD owners would like to use the lower resolutions full screen. Having a HD resolution monitor can make the graphics tiny.

There is no real need if using "desktop" mode & its to small its a couple of clicks to change your desktop resolution or switch graphic card settings. Most graphic cards allow saving of multiple profles so you just save one with a diffrent resolution for playing these games if you desire.
You can even assign this to a hotkey easy enough or if you wanted I suppose could setup a script that changes the res automatically when the game starts.
Possibly & I say possibly running a poll on what people would prefer as a resolution from the ones currently available & supplying a wide screen version of it could be an option though fullscreen mode is certanly not needed. The thing is hardly anyone answers when the developers ask questions look at the views compared to answers when they have done so.

[Rosollia]

Doh! I never thought of changing the desktop resolution before. I made a simple compatibility mode (using Application Compatibility Toolkit) so that everytime I launch WinSPMBT or WinSPWW2 the desktop resolution automaticaly changes to 800x600 and when I close the game it reverts back to my native desktop res. Works like a charm now running in windowed mode.

Only thing is that I use the old fashioned windows 9x style for my windows 7 menu themes and the game window is always off center when I run it. Using the default win7 theme the game windows is spot on though. No big deal since I can just move the game window to be in the center manualy.