SP:WaW won't run on XP

chou · Post by **chou** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 2:12 pm

I just changed my system from Windows 2000 to Windows XP. Surprisingly, SPWAW won't run anymore. All I get is the intro, and nothing afterwards. I tred to run the game on an NT 4 workstation, with the same result. Has anyone got an idea ?

Thank you for helping.

chief · Post by **chief** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 7:34 pm

SPWAW will run in XP, in the compatibility mode. I use Win 95 compatibility. It will not run on NT4 (so I been told). The only problem I found is that vehicles and personnel zip across the screen. There are some work arounds posted in the forum that I haven't tried yet to reduce CPU speed in game. Good LUck

Voriax · Post by **Voriax** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 4:15 pm

SPWaW will run in XP even without any (in?)compatability mode, thank you

Have you tried running the game directly from mech.exe?

Voriax

Paul Vebber · Post by **Paul Vebber** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 4:46 pm

We developed SP:WaW all on XP machines. ITs not XP that is the problem.

Most likely its video driver problems changing resolutions between the video and the game "on the fly" running from the mech.exe should work, though you may have to manually set the video resolution to 800x600 if it won;t change on the fly.

I know SP:WaW runs from all "start methods" without a problem on the 3 XP machines I have.

1 is a Toshiba Laptop with nVidia GO 32MB video, 1 a Micron Pentium III with a Geforce4 lowend 64MB card and on my main machine, an Athlon 2400+ with ATI 9600PRo 128MB

Do you have shared video memory? That is a known problem with SP:WaW and many other games. IF so I would diable it go buy even a PCI "on its own" video card.

Charles2222 · Post by **Charles2222** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 7:40 pm

You might just have to do some trial-and-error. I used to run SPWW2 on a 98SE and I had to run it through some special adjustments to the shortcut they decribed, which worked. The problem is now, that actually there were some settings that for some reason wouldn't work on the XP, but did before on the same system. For example, I don't know how it happened, but all the sudden the XP would run the program but with no picture. I run it through VDMSound complicating matters, but they mentioned a few things to adjust, such as playing it in full creen mode, which as it turns out doesn't work anymore. I changed it to run in a window and perhaps another adjustment or two and it runs again. The only thing I can think of that I did differently was that I ran the Turbo program at 70% CPU, because I'm quite sure none of the shortcut adjustments (found through properties) I even touched from when it worked before.

chief · Post by **chief** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 3:56 am

Paul I'll try you method on XP. Before I purchased my laptop we tried the game in the shop and it ran, except it was small window, I don't remember if we tried to adjust resolution at that time. I do know that putting it in compatibility mode did the trick (at least 95% of it). This was at the shop with the 4.5 version disc I dragged along. Thanks I'll give it a try again.......Suh !!

drdespair · Post by **drdespair** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 11:45 am

Everything seems to be working ok for me without any compatibility setting, however the zipping units are still there.. is that a system issue? Since Paul Vebber said that they developed on XP I assume that would have made it CPU independent?? so why then do my units jump from one place to another like that? IS there a solution for this? (could you please point me in the right direction) Thank you!

Charles2222 · Post by **Charles2222** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 7:06 pm

drdespair wrote:Everything seems to be working ok for me without any compatibility setting, however the zipping units are still there.. is that a system issue? Since Paul Vebber said that they developed on XP I assume that would have made it CPU independent?? so why then do my units jump from one place to another like that? IS there a solution for this? (could you please point me in the right direction) Thank you!

Don't despair doctor, but I do have a question for you. Does your log go just as acclerated as the units? I have a 2.8G XP running 'Turbo' at 70% and it's fast but not zipping on SPWW2. I could slow it down more, but it seems to start having sound issues then, and in any event, if the units aren't at least fast, the artillery is painful to go through.

chief · Post by **chief** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 7:48 pm

I guess I'll have to live.....ZZZZZZZippppp there goes an M4......with it. (for now).

drdespair · Post by **drdespair** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 9:26 pm

I am just starting with SPWAW so I dont know all, bt the animations seems to be running ok, and the shooting seems to be in sync, but when the unit moves it just basicaly jumps over all the hex, and the sound continues playing like its still moving. Its a bit straning since they say they supposedly syncd the loop with the windows timer aka CPU independent.. I tried using the turbo on my Athlon XP 2100 but at 70 It seems to only make scroll slower, the units still seem to zipppppp across the screen.

Charles2222 · Post by **Charles2222** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 11:23 pm

drdespair wrote:I am just starting with SPWAW so I dont know all, bt the animations seems to be running ok, and the shooting seems to be in sync, but when the unit moves it just basicaly jumps over all the hex, and the sound continues playing like its still moving. Its a bit straning since they say they supposedly syncd the loop with the windows timer aka CPU independent.. I tried using the turbo on my Athlon XP 2100 but at 70 It seems to only make scroll slower, the units still seem to zipppppp across the screen.

Of course SPWW2 may be a bit different, but just try more a cut into the CPU. If there's anything to SPWAW being CPU-free so to speak, it would that turbo being non-effective at 70 would indicate that, but, OTOH, you just may need a harsher adjustment, or lastly, maybe your observation is a little askew. My units are definitely still fast (infantry has such a short path that isee no difference), but there's something of a subtle difference. I know how these game used to look, and it's still faster than that standard, but as I said, the artillery being any slower would be murder. Part of the key to seeing any speed difference is to zoom it out enough to see an AFV go along at least 75% of it's path before the screen scrolls. I don't tend to play that way except when the forces haven't met yet, but I don't think you'll see much difference with a more zoomed-in screen. Actually, though I haven't tried it, if your screen scroll is excellent, which mine is, that may scroll slower than the AFV advances on tight screens, thereby maybe slowing it down in a sense.

Good to hear that the animations haven't changed, but you would've thought they'd go hand-in-hand with the animations of units moving. I asked about the message log stability because I hadn't engaged in combat in SPWW2 since I got the thing adjusted to the way I have it now, but the question regarding messaging is only partially relevant to me anyway since SPWW2 doesn' have any log as such (though there is the log generated for every one line of data showing the type of fire and percentages, etc.).

drdespair · Post by **drdespair** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 4:16 pm

RTFM!

I just found the answer to my own question...............

• Movement Delay – This value determines how long a pause occurs between frames of animation in movement. This means that a high value will cause units to appear to move slowly from hex to hex, while a low value sends them zipping along the map. If you prefer the brief delays that were common in Steel Panthers I or II, then reduce this value. XXX is the fastest speed possible, limited only by your CPU speed and graphics card capability.

straight from the manual!

DrD.