Problems with Starting the Game?

[Alby]

ORIGINAL: AbsntMndedProf

Well I'm back but my game isn't. Except for replacing the DVD drive on my PC, I'm running pretty much the same machine I did before when SP:WaW worked. Now when I try to start the game, I get a black screen and have to alt+del to close the game. (I've tried the mech.exe shortcut to no avail.) I'm running ver 8.2 on Windows XP with SP 2. Any ideas what I can do to get SP:WaW to work? Thanks and its good to be back.

Eric Maietta

update your video drivers

[AbsntMndedProf]

ORIGINAL: Alby

ORIGINAL: AbsntMndedProf

Well I'm back but my game isn't. Except for replacing the DVD drive on my PC, I'm running pretty much the same machine I did before when SP:WaW worked. Now when I try to start the game, I get a black screen and have to alt+del to close the game. (I've tried the mech.exe shortcut to no avail.) I'm running ver 8.2 on Windows XP with SP 2. Any ideas what I can do to get SP:WaW to work? Thanks and its good to be back.

Eric Maietta

update your video drivers

Uh, how do I do that?

My video card info is:

Name VIA/S3G UniChrome IGP
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_7205&SUBSYS_81181043&REV_01\4&10AF1F73&0&0008
Adapter Type VIA/S3G UniChrome IGP, VIA/S3G compatible
Adapter Description VIA/S3G UniChrome IGP
Adapter RAM 64.00 MB (67,108,864 bytes)
Installed Drivers vtdisp.dll
Driver Version 6.14.10.0212-16.94.42.16
INF File oem24.inf (viagfx_3205 section)
Color Planes 1
Color Table Entries 4294967296
Resolution 1024 x 768 x 60 hertz
Bits/Pixel 32
Memory Address 0xE4000000-0xE7FFFFFF
Memory Address 0xE8000000-0xE9FFFFFF
IRQ Channel IRQ 16
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB
I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\vtmini.sys (6.14.10.0212-16.94.42.16, 168.50 KB (172,544 bytes), 05-03-08 10:50)


Thanks!

Eric Maietta

[Alby]

well I have an update site for my brand of PC, perhaps yours does too?
or just do a search for your type video card and find driver updates

[AbsntMndedProf]

ORIGINAL: Alby

well I have an update site for my brand of PC, perhaps yours does too?
or just do a search for your type video card and find driver updates

I went to HP's website and checked for a new driver update for my pc's video card. The last one they list came out in 2004. When I purchased this 'new' pc from 'Best Buy' back in 2004 I told the salesperson I wanted a pc with an up to date capability for games such as SP:WaW and Battlefieild. I now find out that the video card in my machine was old when my machine was new. Grrrrrr! Would loading an older version of SP:WaW onto my machine help? I'm at a loss at this point. Does hardware acceleration have anything to do with whether or not I can play SP:WaW on my machine? (I was directed to turn it off my HP tech support, but don't remember how they had me do it. How do I turn it back on if that would help?)

Eric Maietta

[AbsntMndedProf]

Problem fixed. All I had to do was turn on the hardware accelerator in the display controls. Back to the front! [:)]

Eric Maietta

[bendog]

Thanks for the advice on mpex.  However, while the game loads, my cpu is running "hot."  It's an AMD dual core. But the fan comes on and eventually the thing shuts down.  I realize AMDs are hotter, but still this seems pretty extreme. I thought the thing was going to blow with the free game version, as the box actually emiited noxious fumes, and with the Martix version it still shuts down to rest for 30 minutes or so. It's a hewlett packard pavillion, which I bought at Christmas to essentially serve the wife and daughter's laptops, so this is the first game I've tried to load.  Any ideas?  Thanks.

I should have added, the OS is Vista, but it has 3gigs of RAM, so I'm not sure this is a problem.

One thing I hate about HP machines is they come with so much crap running in the background ... update this, help you with that. Is there a way to sort of make a boot disk so as to minimize what the machine is doing and to maximize system capapbility, or could there be something else I can do?

[acrosby]

I just got a new Dell laptop, running Windows 7 Professional with XP Compatibility, ATI Radeon graphics card and after I installed SP, the splash page comes up looking okay (when using the desktop icon to start) but when I actually enter the game, the colors are all goofed up. Same thing when I try to start just by using the MECH.EXE file. I just bought the game a few months ago and it's showing the version number after install as 8.403 so that appears to be the latest version.
I'd sure appreciate any advice or recommendations from out there.

[Fossiili]

Hello again [:'(]

It was about 10 years ago I was playing SPWAW and it's relatives. I still have SPWAW version v8.403 on my Acer Aspire One mini laptop with WindowsXP and Linux. Now I found a friend who is interesting in tactical war gaming (and the history of WW2) but she has never tried that before. I have a new NUC DN2820FYKH with Windows 8 and she a Windows7 computer.

How should I update my SPWAW? What about to update it to Windows7 and Windows8?

Because I'm above 80 I would appreciate the download links, so I will be bound to extensive surfing

[Riitaoja]

The download links for the game and the patches are located here:
tm.asp?m=1713246

Install the game and the patches.

Then to get the game running better on Windows 7 and Windows 8 the easiest fix is probably this one:
http://www.spwaw.com/phpBB2/download.php?id=25708

Just extract the files into the main folder of the game and remember to start it from "_Run_SPWaW_Win7.cmd"


If there are problems you can read the thread here for more info:
tm.asp?m=2452605&mpage=3&key=
The DxWnd program might be a good alternative.

[Fossiili]

Thank you Riitaoja for your informative answer! I only had to download the SPWAW and install it to my Windows8 computer. It worked and it worked also after I upgraded to Windows10.

[Bob69]

Hi, I just found my old Steel panthers disks and would love too try and get the game playing again (it must be 15yrs since I've played it.)

I'm running an HP Desk top PC with Windows 10 I've loaded the game in into the disk drive its seems to have loaded but it wont run the game.?

Any thoughts on how to get this playing...? and I need a very very simple answers here as I'm very low on computer skills.? [&:]

[Major_Mess]

Hi Bob69

Are you starting the game by double-clicking the mech.exe file???


15 years or so ...... what version are you using??


Go to the link in my signature, and D/L SPWaW 2016, there is also a thread at the Depot that has 4 updates for this version.
Try that on for size.

cheers

MM

[Bob69]

Can't seem too find a mech.exe file? where do search for that?

Steel Panthers Asenal. is the version I have.

[Riitaoja2]

Steel Panthers Arsenal is a collection that contains the games:
-Steel Panthers
-Steel Panthers II: Modern Battles
-Steel Panthers III: Brigade Command

All three games are DOS games and they do not run on modern Windows operating systems.

You can either download "Steel Panthers: World at War" which is free and runs on Windows. Or you can play your original Steel Panthers games using a DOS emulator like DOSBox. If you choose to try DOSBox there is some information about it here:
tm.asp?m=1757739
And you can ask more info in that thread about how to setup DOSBox. Though as you said "I need a very very simple answers here as I'm very low on computer skills" it might be easier to just download and play SPWAW.