Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

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Rosollia
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by Rosollia »

While reading a topic in the spwaw enhanced forum I came across an even simpler way to setup the core affinity.
This method does not reguire the imagecfg program. It is probably better too because you do not need to edit the actual exe file in any way.
You are just using build-in Windows commands to temporarily set the game to run on the second core.
This way if you do not like the results you can just start the game normaly the next time.

Instructions:
Just copy this text below...

start /B /WAIT /AFFINITY 2 mech.exe

...to notepad and save it as AffinityFix.cmd (The .cmd part is important!) to the same folder where your mech.exe file is. (The main folder of the game.)
Then when you want to start the game double-click on this newly created file and the game should then run on the core no.2 and your artillery screen should be more responsive.

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jamos
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by jamos »

This issue is no longer only related to Win 7 or Vista.

Now XP with sp3 gets the same pallete distortion and artillery bug.

Any fix publically available from Matrix other than a cludgy cmd file fix that stops explorer?

Yes I have tried VMWare with mixed results. On some computers it ran fine on others it crashes (probably because of the video card).

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Falcon1
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by Falcon1 »

They should change the name of this game to "Steel Agates" because that's what it takes to have a game advertised for sale at $80 that not only gets zero support from the publisher, but wouldn't even run at all on the latest version of Windows (or the one before that) without a user created fix.
Rosollia
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by Rosollia »

This issue is no longer only related to Win 7 or Vista.

Now XP with sp3 gets the same pallete distortion and artillery bug.

Odd. I just tested this game on Windows XP Pro SP3 (32bit) and had no problems with the color palette.
planner 3
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by planner 3 »

Been running on Win XP for 2 years or more without any pallette or artillery problem, 5 versions on SPwaw installed.
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Grimnirsson
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by Grimnirsson »

I had the same problems with Windows 7 64bit (Home Premium). Running the game in compatibility mode didn't solve the color problems. I then deactivated Aero and switched to Windows basic / classic design - and the color problems were 99% gone (with only a few weird pixels here and there).
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tcarusil
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by tcarusil »

Tried this but it did not work. Clearly I am doing something wrong. When I click on the zip file the screen flashes, a dos screen appear momentarily and then nothing. Any thoughts?

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Zovs
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by Zovs »

I got the script file to work but the screen resolution is like 640 by 480, any way to fix that?
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JEB Davis
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by JEB Davis »

Try searching at the Depot and/or Enhanced (in my sig). There are a bunch of ideas to get it working right for you. I'm still using XP so haven't got personal experience with W7 fixes but I follow the threads.
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Zovs
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by Zovs »

Thanks JEB, I used to have an account there (at the depot) but it has been deactivated. I tried creating a new one but they won't accept web mail, which is all I use any more (gmail, comcast, yahoo, etc.) so I don't know how to post there.
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Zovs
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by Zovs »

Hang on I took a swag and got a password reset!
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Zovs
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by Zovs »

Still no joy. I can use either the win7spww2 script or the D3D but both run in 800x600 mode and no amount of tweaking with D3D will change the screen resolution, not sure why.

I know there has not been any development on this for many years and the code has fallen by the way side.

Currently I am programming in java, but I know C and C++, but I don't know who to contact at Matrix to see if they are even interested in updating this code so users don't have to go to all the pains to make it work.

Due to SPWAW not being supported over the last 10 or so years I switched to playing SPWW2 by the Camo group since they (and Shrapnel Games) have continuously updated the code and have made it windows friendly (w7 and w8).
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Sotamies Riitaoja
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by Sotamies Riitaoja »

No way to increase the resolution of Steel Panthers World at War it is always at 800x600. It is a limitation of the old game.

However I have compiled a small fix that contains the script to run the game in processor core #2 and fix the artillery screen lag.
The second part of the fix is Aqrit's ddwrapper that solves the color bug on Windows Vista & 7.

I will post a link to the fix as soon as I can.
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Sotamies Riitaoja
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by Sotamies Riitaoja »

"You are not allowed to post links for 7 days from the date of your tenth post."

I cant post the link because I get this message. Rest assured I am not going to post ten times just to be able to post a link... sorry.

I quess we can thank the spammers for these strict rules.


Anyway the fix would contain a .cmd batch file with the command "start /REALTIME /AFFINITY 2 mech.exe" and Aqrit's ddwrapper configured with the ColorFix = 1 option. So if you have some computing skills you can easily compile the fix from that information.

Also if you google "DxWnd" you should find a link to Sourceforge for an interesting project that enables you to run many old games using a directdraw / direct3d wrapper. This in an eveolution of the older D3DWindower program. It is not that simple to use since it has no manual but with some trial and error one can figure it out.
artofwar85
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by artofwar85 »

Someone here may need this info it is about what to do it you loose explorer and you don't want to reboot. Press CNTRL + ALT + Delete to bring up the task manager then click on the "NEW TASK" tab at the bottom right of the task manager window that pops up then type in explorer.exe and click OK - this brings back your desktop. I read it somewhere on the internet.
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jwinter
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by jwinter »

I installed the fix but the color is still a mess, even when I start from the fix, What did I do wrong?
Primarch
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by Primarch »

Are there any updates to this? It's not working for me either...
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Graymane
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by Graymane »

Thanks for the zip file, worked great on my Win7 laptop.
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Riitaoja
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by Riitaoja »

Some additional information regarding the SPWAW artillery screen bug and the multi core cpu fix.

Previously it has been noted that you need to start SPWAW with the command:
start /B /WAIT /AFFINITY 2 mech.exe

This should fix the unresponsive artillery screen on modern multi core cpu systems. The command AFFINITY 2 sets the game to run on the SECOND core of the processor.

However I have seen that for some people this does not work. It may be that if you have a 4 core system you might actualy need to set up the game so that it runs on the FOURTH core. To do this you should use the command:
start /B /WAIT /AFFINITY 8 mech.exe

Likewise if you have a 6 core processor you might need to set the game to launch on the SIXTH core with the command:
start /B /WAIT /AFFINITY 20 mech.exe
and so on...

You can also experiment with all the different AFFINITY values to find out which one (if any) works for your system.
The full formula for setting the AFFINITY is as follows:

CPU core#---->AFFINITY values:
CPU-1--------->1
CPU-2--------->2
CPU-3--------->4
CPU-4--------->8
CPU-5--------->10
CPU-6--------->20
CPU-7--------->40
CPU-8--------->80


P.S.
You might wonder why CPU-3 uses the AFFINITY value 4 instead of 3. Or why CPU-4 uses the AFFINITY value 8 and so on. This is because the AFFINITY value is actualy derived from a binary number that is then converted into a hexadecimal value.

P.P.S.
If you do not know how many CPU cores your computer has you can open the command promt and type in the command:
wmic cpu get NumberOfCores
This should then display the number of cpu cores.

shilton2437
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RE: Windows 7 *GUARANTEED* fix

Post by shilton2437 »

Followed all the steps, but still get the crazy color scheme when I run the program using the win7spwaw.cmd file. Is there any other setting that must be adjusted when using the Windows 7 system? Thanks.
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