TOAW IV / XP

[secadegas]

TOAW IV doesn't play on XP anymore, right?

[zakblood]

Game Requirements
OS: Windows 7 or better.
Processor: Pentium 4 or better
RAM: 512mb
Sound Card: Any Windows
compatible
CD-ROM: Only for physical
version
Hard Drive: 650MB of free,
uncompressed disk space
Microsoft .Net 4.0

but as it's not mentioned, no idea, but hopefully someone will comment on if it was tested on it etc

[larryfulkerson]

...but hopefully someone will comment on if it was tested on it etc....

IIRC Steve Sill had an XP machine that he was testing on at one time. Years ago
maybe. I don't know what his experience is / was. Sorry, that's all the info I have
too.

[Tamas]

It may work on XP, but we do not officially support it, as we cannot be sure.

[Oberst_Klink]

So far it works fine in the XP compatibility mode; both Opart4 and Opart4 - Slow.

Klink, Oberst

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Oberst_Klink
So far it works fine in the XP compatibility mode; both Opart4 and Opart4 - Slow.

Klink, Oberst

XP has a compatability mode for WIN7 or WIN10? Coolness.

[Oberst_Klink]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

ORIGINAL: Oberst_Klink
So far it works fine in the XP compatibility mode; both Opart4 and Opart4 - Slow.

Klink, Oberst

XP has a compatability mode for WIN7 or WIN10? Coolness.

The other way around, Larry. The newer versions have the option to run programs in more previous versions.

Klink, Oberst

[larryfulkerson]

Yeah, I know. That was my lame attempt at a joke. See, he's trying to use
an XP machine to run T4 and you're using the compatibility mode to mock up
a working copy of XP to run your application and I'm not sure it's 100%
accurate and that there still might be XP problems. I hope not.

[secadegas]

You're right. I'm trying to run TOAW 4 on XP and it gives me a "Opart 4.exe isn't a valid Win32 aplication" message error

[Oberst_Klink]

ORIGINAL: secadegas

You're right. I'm trying to run TOAW 4 on XP and it gives me a "Opart 4.exe isn't a valid Win32 aplication" message error

Try running it in admin mode; might help. Not sure though.

Klink, Oberst

[Curtis Lemay]

There is an alternate executable in the main folder:

Opart 4 - Slow.exe

You can try running that if you have XP. It might help.

[sPzAbt653]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

...but hopefully someone will comment on if it was tested on it etc....

IIRC Steve Sill had an XP machine that he was testing on at one time. Years agomaybe. I don't know what his experience is / was. Sorry, that's all the info I havetoo.

That was five years ago, the old XP crapped out on me at that time, followed shortly by my lovable W98 [:(]
Had three at one point, now down to one W7.

[RogerBacon]

ORIGINAL: zakblood

Game Requirements
OS: Windows 7 or better.
Processor: Pentium 4 or better
RAM: 512mb
Sound Card: Any Windows
compatible
CD-ROM: Only for physical
version
Hard Drive: 650MB of free,
uncompressed disk space
Microsoft .Net 4.0

but as it's not mentioned, no idea, but hopefully someone will comment on if it was tested on it etc

Is the .Net requirement because the game is written in a .Net language like C# or is it just because a minor DLL needs it.

[rtropp]

forgive an ignoramus but what effect does slow.exe have? I am assuming it runs at a slower speed but are there any other changes noticeable in game play? I ask because I am fighting an issue of frequent game crashes and may just go back to version III. My computer is fairly new and pretty powerful. I had been using it for heavy graphics and statistical analysis. But the constant crashes are interfering with enjoying the simulations.

[mccartyg]

I think all it does is remove the CPU check where "Opart 4.exe" returns an error for anything older than a Pentium 4 (which happens to be what I use, Preschott). All these errors are probably due too the fractured state of operating systems and graphics accelerators these days in conjunction with this game being a Frankenstein's monster of different coding.

[rtropp]

Thanks mccartyg.

[ralphtricky]

ORIGINAL: RogerBacon

ORIGINAL: zakblood

Game Requirements
OS: Windows 7 or better.
Processor: Pentium 4 or better
RAM: 512mb
Sound Card: Any Windows
compatible
CD-ROM: Only for physical
version
Hard Drive: 650MB of free,
uncompressed disk space
Microsoft .Net 4.0

but as it's not mentioned, no idea, but hopefully someone will comment on if it was tested on it etc

Is the .Net requirement because the game is written in a .Net language like C# or is it just because a minor DLL needs it.

The game is written in C++. The launch program may require it, but you can luaunch the program without it. The actual program doesn't.

[ralphtricky]

ORIGINAL: rtropp

forgive an ignoramus but what effect does slow.exe have? I am assuming it runs at a slower speed but are there any other changes noticeable in game play? I ask because I am fighting an issue of frequent game crashes and may just go back to version III. My computer is fairly new and pretty powerful. I had been using it for heavy graphics and statistical analysis. But the constant crashes are interfering with enjoying the simulations.

When it craches, it should generate a crashlog file in the My Documents/My Games/The Operational Art of war IV Directory. If you could start a new thread with what caused the crash and that file, I'll be glad to look into it more. I know there's a problem with international characters that shows up sometimes, but I haven't been able to reproduce it.

Thanks,
Ralph

[ralphtricky]

ORIGINAL: mccartyg
I think all it does is remove the CPU check where "Opart 4.exe" returns an error for anything older than a Pentium 4 (which happens to be what I use, Preschott). All these errors are probably due too the fractured state of operating systems and graphics accelerators these days in conjunction with this game being a Frankenstein's monster of different coding.

Actually, it changes the code. The normal code uses a separate part of the processor for doing arithmetic (floating and integer) It makes those a lot faster so should make the overall program run slower when you use the 'Slow' program. Hence the name [;)].

Unfortunately, some of the crashes and strange behavior may be due to drivers. The coding is actually pretty clean. Norm wrote clean C code and I've updated everything to be modern C++. While not fully agile, I've been very careful to avoid side effects and use small functions. Bob Cross has also written modern C++. The reason I don't support XP is that there isn't a lot of demand. I thought that VS2017 didn't support XP since it was far past it's sell by date, but it looks like it does. I'll think about adding an unoffical and unsupported XP version.

[DanNeely]

ORIGINAL: ralphtricky

ORIGINAL: mccartyg
I think all it does is remove the CPU check where "Opart 4.exe" returns an error for anything older than a Pentium 4 (which happens to be what I use, Preschott). All these errors are probably due too the fractured state of operating systems and graphics accelerators these days in conjunction with this game being a Frankenstein's monster of different coding.

Actually, it changes the code. The normal code uses a separate part of the processor for doing arithmetic (floating and integer) It makes those a lot faster so should make the overall program run slower when you use the 'Slow' program. Hence the name [;)].

Unfortunately, some of the crashes and strange behavior may be due to drivers. The coding is actually pretty clean. Norm wrote clean C code and I've updated everything to be modern C++. While not fully agile, I've been very careful to avoid side effects and use small functions. Bob Cross has also written modern C++. The reason I don't support XP is that there isn't a lot of demand. I thought that VS2017 didn't support XP since it was far past it's sell by date, but it looks like it does. I'll think about adding an unoffical and unsupported XP version.

I'm kinda surprised they're still supporting XP on the C++ side too. A few years ago they cut XP off from new versions of the .net framework to much wailing and gnashing of teeth. To be fair at the time I thought pulling the plug on XP was a bit premature, official end of life or not. Them still doing it now for C++ is a bit surprising; maybe they're keeping the C++ tools working to make things easier internally. (There's an embedded XP version still in support until April 2019.)