Win 8.1 and AE

[decaro]

I just loaded WitP:AE unto my new Windows 8.1 -- visually it looks stunning, but the music sounds somewhat "tinny" and my mouse selections seem sluggish.

I'm thinking of running the compatibility troubleshooter, but has anyone found at what "retro" OS does AE work best?

Also, how do I get that dammed security shield off my AE icon so my HP Pavilion will stop asking me if I really want to run this "app" -- or is everything in Win 8 an app?

[Terminus]

Yes, it is.

Also, Windows 8.1 is known to have sound issues in general, not just AE.

Consider making a desktop shortcut directly to the .exe file. That can bypass the security prompt.

[Blind Sniper]

I have 8.1 installed in my laptop and no problem so far.

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: Blind Sniper

I have 8.1 installed in my laptop and no problem so far.

I'm running 8.1 on an "accelerated" HP desktop although I question the wisdom of running a tablet OS on any desktop.

[Blind Sniper]

I think Win8 (8.1 still don't know) is better than Win7, I installed a third part shell that works like the GUI of Win7 and all things run nicely.

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: Blind Sniper

I think Win8 (8.1 still don't know) is better than Win7 ...

The real question is whether Win 8 is appropriate for a desktop vs. a laptop.

In any case I did a live chat with an HP rep and went into my user account to disable security notifications -- which is NOT recommended -- so that I can run WitP without having to give the OS permission every time I run the program, but I still want to find out which OS -- XP, Vista, Win 7 -- works best retro on AE.

[CaptDave]

Don't know about "best" but I've run it without issue on 2000, XP, and 7. (Note: not the latest AE on 2000, so memory could be an issue by now, but that's a physical system limitation rather than an OS problem.)

[dennishe]

I used to have problem with access to the 001 file. Now, I always delete the 001 and 006 files before downloading a new 006 file (I'm the Japanese player) otherwise I sometimes cannot open/copy/email the 001 file. It has something to do with administrator rights...

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: CaptDave

Don't know about "best" but I've run it without issue on 2000, XP, and 7 ...

I've now reset my retro OS from Win 8.1 to 7 to XP SP3 and it seems to run better, e.g., my mouse selects items less sluggishly, but could it be the mouse, or the wider monitor or something with the HP Pavilion?

Looks like I'm in for a lot more "trial and error" when I (eventually) load the rest of my Matrix games.

Compatibility is the price of progress.

[koniu]

Windows 8.1 64bit and no problems.

I use shortcut with switches
-f -px1280 -py1024 -cpu4 -skipVideo -altFont -deepColor -dd_sw

[Blind Sniper]

I've now reset my retro OS from Win 8.1 to 7 to XP SP3 and it seems to run better, e.g., my mouse selects items less sluggishly, but could it be the mouse, or the wider monitor or something with the HP Pavilion?

Maybe the hardware is suboptimal for Win 8.1, on my desktop it runs very smooth whereas on my laptop is a bit more slow.
Surely a Win 7 or XP O.S. is more light but is important what are your needs, for WitP-AE is enough XP.

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: Blind Sniper

I've now reset my retro OS from Win 8.1 to 7 to XP SP3 and it seems to run better, e.g., my mouse selects items less sluggishly, but could it be the mouse, or the wider monitor or something with the HP Pavilion?

Maybe the hardware is suboptimal for Win 8.1, on my desktop it runs very smooth whereas on my laptop is a bit more slow.
Surely a Win 7 or XP O.S. is more light but is important what are your needs, for WitP-AE is enough XP.

My HP Pavilion 500-164 is an accelerated desktop, but I wonder if the delays on one of my WitP preference settings needs to be adjusted?

ORIGINAL: koniu

Windows 8.1 64bit and no problems.

I use shortcut with switches
-f -px1280 -py1024 -cpu4 -skipVideo -altFont -deepColor -dd_sw

I have no idea what -f and the rest of that hyphenated text means.

[Bo Rearguard]

ORIGINAL: Joe D.




I have no idea what -f and the rest of that hyphenated text means.

Those are the properties you can assign to the quick start shortcut, so that the game will start up at a certain resolution, run windowed, or skip the opening video, or use your processors more efficiently, or a whole host of other goodies. The method to employ it is in the readme files.

[IronDuke_slith]

As Bo says, they are command line switches you can add to the command line (accessible by right clicking on your desktop icon and selecting "properties".) I think the read me word doc that is is your WITPAE folder will have the full details. They are well worth adding.

I had the same issue. I retro OS to XP, and at that point the command line switch -dd_SW seemed to work properly and the lag when scrolling or opening new screens completely disappeared.

-cpu# was another good one, but whether this works or not depends entirely on how many cores you have in your processor. (This command line basically tells the machine to use one of the cores rather than attempt to use them all, illogically, it can speed the game up).

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: IronDuke

As Bo says, they are command line switches you can add to the command line (accessible by right clicking on your desktop icon and selecting "properties".) I think the read me word doc that is is your WITPAE folder will have the full details. They are well worth adding.

I had the same issue. I retro OS to XP, and at that point the command line switch -dd_SW seemed to work properly and the lag when scrolling or opening new screens completely disappeared.

-cpu# was another good one, but whether this works or not depends entirely on how many cores you have in your processor. (This command line basically tells the machine to use one of the cores rather than attempt to use them all, illogically, it can speed the game up).

IMO, this is very important for Win 8 users and Matrix should take note for the next WitP patch because the lag is very annoying.

So, to be sure I understand, did you retro to XP -- or XP SP2 or 3 -- and did you also have to adjust the command line for the change in OS to work properly?

BTW, my HP Pavilion 500-164 has two dual cores.

[DaveConn]

Joe, try running the program in a window rather than in full-screen mode. I was never able to resolve the lag issue using Win 8 in full-screen mode, but it goes away when I run the program in a window (even if the window is "almost" full-screen).

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: DaveConn

Joe, try running the program in a window rather than in full-screen mode. I was never able to resolve the lag issue using Win 8 in full-screen mode, but it goes away when I run the program in a window (even if the window is "almost" full-screen).

I had suspected that my new wider than taller monitor might have something to do with the scrolling and selecting issues, but exactly how do I run the game in a window?
BTW, I have the 8.1 desktop option version and wonder if that might make a difference?

[DaveConn]

You will need to use the "switches" as described in the "What's new" section of the patch notes. Do NOT use the "-f" switch, which means "run in full screen". Instead, use "-w -px#### -py####". The "-w" tells the program to run in windowed mode; for the -px and -py switches, replace the #### with the pixel size you want for the window.

Hope that helps some!

-Dave

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: DaveConn

You will need to use the "switches" as described in the "What's new" section of the patch notes. Do NOT use the "-f" switch, which means "run in full screen". Instead, use "-w -px#### -py####". The "-w" tells the program to run in windowed mode; for the -px and -py switches, replace the #### with the pixel size you want for the window.

Hope that helps some!

-Dave

I seem to be getting warmer:

We’ve found that a number of newer multi-core systems with multi-threaded graphics drivers can be particular about how they want War in the Pacific: Admiral’s Edition to work. We’ve added a number of new command line switches which, in our experience, make it possible for every system to get the best performance out of War in the Pacific: Admiral’s Edition. They are defined below as “Performance Switches” and we recommend that every player give them a try as they can even improve performance on older systems in many cases.

There are also a number of other command line switches that may be useful to players.

To use any of these, Right click to edit the Properties on the “Quick Start” shortcut to the game (located in your Start Menu folder for War in the Pacific: Admiral’s Edition). Do not edit the default desktop link, which points to an “autorun.exe” as that won’t work. You have to use the Quick Start link which points directly to the game executable. You’ll want to add these to the end of the “Target” field to get them to work. For example, when you are done your target field could look like this:

"C:\Matrix Games\War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition\War in the Pacific Admiral
Edition.exe" -wd –altFont –cpu2 –multiaudio –dd_sw

Performance Switches

(Please note that the old –dual switch has been removed in favor of the below combination of more configurable switches)

-SingleCpuStart : Starts the game in single CPU mode. Switches to multi CPU mode if available later. We’ve found this to be useful on some multi-core systems, especially AMD processors.

-SingleCpuOrders : Starts the game in single CPU mode and stays in single CPU for the orders phase, switches to multi CPU mode for running the turn, then switches back to single mode for the next orders phase. We’ve found this to be useful on some multi-core systems, especially AMD processors. Use this or –SingleCpuStart, not both.

If either of the above are used with one of the -cpu# switches noted below, it will use the specified CPU, otherwise both of these switches default to the first CPU. If a -cpu# switch and one of these -Single switches are used, the turns will always be processed in multi-processor mode.

-cpu# : (cpu1, cpu2, cpu3, cpu4) Switches set the cpu affinity for multi cpu systems. It will do nothing for single cores and will default to using all cores if a core is designated which is not there (for example using -cpu3 on a dual core system). We’ve found this to be very useful on some multi-core systems, especially Intel processors.

If used alone, the -cpu# switches will keep the game running on the CPU specified all the time. If used with the -SingleCpuStart switch, it will only use that core when starting the game. If used with the -SingleCpuOrders switch, it will stay in single CPU mode for starting and the orders phase, but will run in multicore. If one of the SingleCpu switches is used without a -cpu# switch, it will default to cpu 1 when it is in single core.

-multiaudio : Invokes a fix that changes audio timing for multicore machines.

-dd_sw : Handles DirectDraw via Software. We’ve found this can make a huge difference on many systems as far as reducing interface lag and making button clicking in-game more responsive. On a few newer systems this can cause some visual glitches and slow combat animations though, so give it a try and remove it if it’s not ideal on your system.

Performance Examples

For example, on an Intel Dual Core system here, we use the following switches:

-cpu2 –multiaudio –dd_sw

On an AMD multi-core system, we use the following switches:

-SingleCpuOrders –cpu2 –multiaudio

Try these switches in different combinations to see what works best for your system as what works well on one may not be ideal for another. However, we have yet to find a system that didn’t benefit at all from at least one of these switches performance-wise, so test them out!

Wide Screen Support

New in the third official update:

-px -py

To have any effect x must be greater than 1024 and y must be greater than 768. If values less than or equal to px=1024 and py=768 are used the original values of 1024 and 768 will be substituted.

Spanning mode is not supported and user should ensure that both the video adapter and monitor support the px and py values.

We were unable to test on all possible monitor combinations, if you experience issues you should immediately remove the –px –py from your command line switches to revert to standard display behavior.

Examples:

-f -px1920 –py1200 for a 1920x1200 monitor in full screen mode

-w –px1680 –py1050 for windowed mode, so that the window is within desktop


I have an Athlon quad processor, so I know what code to cut and paste, however, I'm not sure where the codes go -- if I right click on my shortcut to start the AE "app" -- I mean game -- there's a shortcut menu that has a selection between Normal, Min and Max windows and a comments section: is "comments" where this code goes?

Apparently Matrix can't make a one-size fits all patch for everyone's system.

[DaveConn]

Joe, what you need to do is go to "Properties" for the shortcut, and put in the switches after the path to the shortcut itself (and outside of the quotation marks you will around it in properties). These threads may help see how it works:

tm.asp?m=3392312#
tm.asp?m=3441333#
tm.asp?m=3263466#

Sorry I can't go into more detail; pressed for time at the moment!

--Dave