This is How I install WITP-AE

[Trugrit]

It is that time of year again.

WITP-AE is on Holiday sale right now. That means there may be some new players
showing up very soon asking many questions. Last season it was hard to keep
Ahead of the install questions on the forum. This is my preemptive strike.
Just my personal take on the install process I use.

First, new players, welcome to the game.

This game has been out for over ten years and it is still the “Queen of the Pacific”
But... be advised, this game is old and cranky like me. It has not been updated out of the box ever.
It needs some modifications to run right and getting it there takes some skill and patience.

When you try to run it “out of the box” you are in the old WITP-AE 2009 game universe
and not the modern computer universe; but you are not without resources.

This forum is here to help. Use it! There are many threads on this if you search for them.

As for me, in this thread I will describe how I would install the game.
In fact, this is exactly how I did installed the game when I set up my new Windows 10
Computer about 3 years ago.

PART 1:

To begin, I Install the Base Game on my computer. I’ve never had to turn off Virus Scan
or other background programs on my system first; but computer programs vary.
I have a Disk but you can install it as a download or from a disk it you have one.

I do not change any options at this stage unless I absolutely have to, I just let the game
Install where it wants and how it wants.

When the Base Game is installed it places a shortcut on my desktop that points to a
different execute from the one that really runs the game. It is pointing to an execute called autorun.exe
which was good in 2009 but not up to date anymore.
At this point I don’t click on that shortcut to open the game; I just let it sit there on my Desktop
because I know it is not ready to run the game the way I want out of the box.

Next, I go to the Product Page (Link Below) and find the Download for the Official Update.
About mid way down under download ……..[PC] Update v1.01.26a.
https://www.matrixgames.com/game/war-in ... ls-edition
On the forum we generally call it the 1126a or just the 26a.

This is the update that I install first and foremost. It is comprehensive in that it incorporates
All the previous updates in one package. There is a Beta Patch and I’ll get to it later…..
I install the Beta Patch after I have installed the 1126a, I’m superstitious, this game will
make you superstitious if you play it long enough.

So, I download the 26a update and follow all the instructions to install it on my computer.
I don’t change any options, unless I have to, I just let it update the game.
After the update install I go back to the desktop shortcut but I don’t click on it to open
the game, I just let it sit there on my desktop and be a road map to the game folder.

Now, in Windows 10 the shortcut will lead me to the folder where the game is installed
and if I right click on the shortcut and choose the drop down: “Open File Location” it
will take me to the main game folder.

When I get to the game folder I minimize it and then…..
I Delete the shortcut on my desktop.

Then, I maximize the main game folder and look for and find the real game execute.
(War in the Pacific Admiral Edition.exe) (Picture below)
I Right click on it and from the drop down I create a new shortcut
for my desktop that points to it.

Once this new shortcut is on my desktop I have completed PART 1 of the install.
I Don’t click on the shortcut to open the game, I just let it sit there on my desktop.
If I open the game at this point it will run but I know I won’t be real happy with
how the game runs and I want to be real happy.

In another post below (Part 2) I’ll show you what I do next.

[Trugrit]

WITP-AE Install…..

PART 2:

With the new shortcut on my desktop pointing to the correct execute, I modify the shortcut
so it will run the game efficiently on my modern computer.

The shortcut can be configured to tell my modern computer how I want this old game
to run on the computer system I now have.

This is done by adding performance switches into the target field of the desktop shortcut.

If you are an “automatic transmission” kind of guy/gal there is an add on program called
“SeaBee Alpha” which will help you set up the switches.
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4415089

I understand it is a very good program but I have never used it because I’m very old school
and also an “old fart” and a “manual transmission” kind of guy as well.

Next I’ll describe how old farts like me set up the switches in the dark ages before automation.
It will also give you an understanding of what “SeaBee Alpha” is doing.

I right click on the shortcut and in the drop down I click on properties. (Picture below)

In the “shortcut tab” there is a “target” and a “start in” field.

I can use my cursor to click into these fields and use the arrow keys on my computer
To scroll back and forth. I can also delete and add text and numbers into the field.

I leave the “start in” field alone unless it is pointing to the wrong file.
I always check it to make sure it is right.
("C:\Matrix Games\War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition") unless I have changed that path.

The “Target” field is where the custom performance switches are added.
I type them in by hand and they have to be exactly right for them to function.
They can be in any order but the spaces, dashes and the text needs to be exactly right.

Did I mention that they have to be exactly right? I think I did.
They need to be exactly right to function properly.

In the game folder there is a read me document that explains the switches and what they do.
Also, on the Forum:
fb.asp?m=4535778

Every player’s performance switches are potentially different.
They are custom and vary based on the computer system they are running the game on.

Below is an illustration of them. The switches shown are mine, they are configured
for widescreen support at the screen resolution I like. Other player’s switches may be or
Will likely be different. Most players have their own custom screen resolutions.

Once my first try at the switches are in the target line I can finally click on the
Desktop shortcut and run the game. I will be running the game with the 26a update and
When I open the game to the main menu screen I always look below the title in the upper
Right for the version. It should say (VERSION 1.8.11.26a – Jul 10 2016 17:35:45)

Then I start a Scenario in Head to Head and run a few turns on each side.
I take a look at the game when it runs to see how my switch setup is working.
If it is not right or is running slow I try a different switch setting.

I keep trying different switch setups until I get it the way I want and when I do I’m all set to play.

There is also a Beta update available. On the forum we generally call it “the Beta” or the “1126b” or just the 26b.
It is found in the Tech Support section of the forum:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3185062

The Beta was created to keep the game updated by one of the game designers named Michael McFarland (michaelm75au)
He is a very talented programmer who spent years debugging the game and providing updated patches.
You can trust the Beta it is not experimental in any way.

I always install the 1126a official update first and then I install the 1126b after it.
There is a common belief that they are the same but I’ve never been able to verify this.
I don’t take a chance, I install them both. Many players only use the 26a.

When I install the Beta it it creates it’s own folder in the game and adds a shortcut to my desktop
but it will not add my custom performance switches to the shortcut; I have to add them myself
In the same way as I described above.

I have two shortcuts on my desktop so that I can run either the 26a or the 26b from the
same install;; like the picture I have shown in this post.
fb.asp?m=4725696

There is not a big difference to which you run.
In a Play By E-Mail (PBEM) both players need to be running the same one.

I think the Beta is the most current update because it has the most current date
on the version. There is some discussion on it leaving out some Naval Support
From certain bases. Otherwise I’m fine with it.

In another post below (Part 3) I’ll give you some additional options.

[Trugrit]

WITP-AE Install…..

PART 3:

The Extra Stuff……

Since the game first came out over a decade ago there have been many modifications to
the game scenarios and art as well as additional added player scenarios.

First, the standard scenario artificial intelligence scripts have been updated.

The game does not have any real artificial intelligence even though we call it that on the forum.
When you play against the computer you are really playing against the programmer who wrote
The script you are up against. In most cases that is Andy McPhie.

Andy McPhie (Andy Mac) is one of the original game designers who wrote the scripts.
He has modified the original game scripts and added many more since the game was published.

Andy Mac:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3198064

Fortunately, Kull (A forum member) has provided links as well;
Read this thread carefully:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4257473
Kull is a trusted source of game information.

New scenarios have been added:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3088504

DaBabes is a whole series of modified scenarios and a world of it’s own:
https://sites.google.com/site/dababeswitpae/

There are Art downloads as well:
I recommend that new players not use them until they learn the game.

Ship insignia and unit patch additions:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4637636
Comprehensive listing from that thread:
https://sites.google.com/site/aewitplan ... -downloads

There are more modifications that you can search for on the Forum.

There have been some total map revisions done as well:

This is a revision (Update) for the Official Map with some options:
https://sites.google.com/view/witp-ae-m ... ficial-map

Also,a very talented graphics designer (chemkid) was once active on the forum.
He produced a lot of truly beautiful maps and some icons for the game.
We don’t know what really happened to him. He has not been heard from on this
Forum since April of 2018. I suspect forces from the web forced him to delete his work.

Some of his work was survived on the web.
ChemKid map files on Dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4x7a1687bc1sp ... d.zip?dl=0

The chemkid maps are really for experienced players.
New players should not use them until they learn the game.
They leave out important map info. Don’t use them until you learn more about the game.

Did I mention that you should not use them until you learn the game? I think I did.
Don’t use them until you learn much more about the game.

There are other maps on the forum as well if you search for them:
Bellum Pacifica Kamikaze:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4268822

Don’t use them until you learn more the game.
Did I mention that you should not use them until you learn the game? I think I did.

Also, note that this game did not ship with a Video Tutorial or a Tutorial Guide.
That correction did not make it into the manual before it was printed.

Since the game came out there have been some video tutorials made by players.
This game cannot be learned with videos, it takes time and study to understand.

Slippery Pete:
https://sites.google.com/site/n01487477/Home
Some of the site is incomplete.

TeianDown has a Sippery Pete playlist on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... Kq-xqS0ulC

I also can recommend some game play videos. As good as a walk through.
thehistoricalgamer:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... vFv5cbErvi
XTRG:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... y_3it2Tkgc

That just scratches the very start of this great and fascinating game.

Enjoy the journey………..it is almost as fun as the game itself.

Just my two cents……

K

[btd64]

Nice work Trugrit....GP

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: btd64

Nice work Trugrit....GP

+1 [&o]

[YeOldeWargamer]

Trugrit, you are simply awesome. [8D] I'm an old fart and usually find all the solutions to witp ae problems too difficult to understand. I am a complete idiot with computers, programs and all the technical expressions. But you explained it in a way that even I could understand and added the pictures.
Outstanding ! Did I mention how awesome you are ? Thanks a lot !

[Starstruck]

I want to add my thanks to this invaluable guide. It really should be a sticky on this forum.

[Kull]

Bump because, well, it really SHOULD BE a sticky.

[USSAmerica]

ORIGINAL: Kull

Bump because, well, it really SHOULD BE a sticky.

If you PM wdolson he should be able to sticky it.

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: USSAmerica

ORIGINAL: Kull

Bump because, well, it really SHOULD BE a sticky.

If you PM wdolson he should be able to sticky it.

Done!

[dr.hal]

Thanks Trugrit, you made switching over to my "new" windows 10 system EASY!!!!!

[Kull]

Thanks Don!

[Trugrit]

Well, You have put on the spot now.

I've been trying to find a path to the shadows.

Now somebody might ask me a question.

I might have to do some work! The Horror!
[X(]

[Zovs]

Thanks for this I’ll give it a try this week. I think I tried last year and could not get things to work. I think I tried before this post so this seems like a great assist.

[Zovs]

Well so far so good. I can't seem to run the game in full screen mode but can in windowed mode.

I'll have to play around tomorrow.

My switches so far: -SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -w –px5120 –py2880 -r -altFont -skipVideo

Seem to work fine, but when I try to go into full screen mode I get:

Error: Can't set screen mode.

[btd64]

ORIGINAL: Zovs

Well so far so good. I can't seem to run the game in full screen mode but can in windowed mode.

I'll have to play around tomorrow.

My switches so far: -SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -w –px5120 –py2880 -r -altFont -skipVideo

Seem to work fine, but when I try to go into full screen mode I get:

Error: Can't set screen mode.

Are you running 1126a? I ask because I had the same error and installing and running the beta, 1126b, fixed the problem. So research the beta and that may fix your problem....GP

[Trugrit]

What is your display? Are you on a desktop? Windows 10?

Try the DeepColor switch in you command line.

Also, we have seen some players have this problem with small displays.
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2211338

You don’t need super high resolution to run the game.
The game was not really designed for hand held devices or very high resolution.

If you look in your display manual it most likely will have a chart on the
recommended resolutions it likes.

Below is mine.

You might try backing down your resolution. Start low and then increase.

[Zovs]

Thanks TrueGrit.

I have 4k HD monitor that supports up to 5120 x 2880 and as low as 800 x 600. I am also running as my main PC a iMac with 40 GB of RAM, a 1 TB SSD and 6 cores. For windows on mac I run VMWare and I have a Windows 10 VM that I gave 16 GB of RAM, 500 GB HDD and 4 cores and 8mgs of video RAM. I can run most games just fine (GG WitE 2, SPWW2/MBT, Flashpoint Campaign, Desert War, etc.). But for WitP-AE (currently just have the official patch installed) I just can't run it in full screen mode, only in Windows mode and whats weird for my setup is the following windowed mode is the only thing that is big enough for the small window it runs in.


-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -w –px5120 –py2880 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor


Not sure why that is, but at least I can play it.

For most of my games I switch to a screen size of 3840 x 2160 and have the best results (the screens/windows are not too tiny).

For my Windows VM it is scaled by the hardware to 350% and there is no way to change that other then to change my screen resolutions.

For learning purposes I will have to just go with this until I figure something else out.

I tried the Windows Explorer program you listed but it only moves the screen around and does not help with running in full screen.

I still have to install the beta patch, not sure if that will help or not.

I still own WITP (the first version) and IIRC it had a tutorial in the manual, not sure if WitP-AE has the same (first search I could not find it), but there is tons to learn with this game. So its not rush, just glad it runs and even if in Window mode.

[BBfanboy]

Note: Ignore the quotes around individual switches below.

AFAIK, there is no switch "-SingleCpuStart". Mine says "-SingleCpuOrders". Then you need to specify which CPU you want to run the game, bearing in mind that Windows uses CPU1 and other programs may be using CPU2. So my switch says "-cpu3".

I also was not able to run the game full screen in Win 10 because Windows insists on keeping the task bar visible. I just moved it to the right side of the screen so it will not interfere with all the buttons at top and bottom of the game screen.
Korvar did post a method for getting full screen in the Tech Forum.

[Zovs]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Note: Ignore the quotes around individual switches below.

AFAIK, there is no switch "-SingleCpuStart". Mine says "-SingleCpuOrders". Then you need to specify which CPU you want to run the game, bearing in mind that Windows uses CPU1 and other programs may be using CPU2. So my switch says "-cpu3".

I also was not able to run the game full screen in Win 10 because Windows insists on keeping the task bar visible. I just moved it to the right side of the screen so it will not interfere with all the buttons at top and bottom of the game screen.
Korvar did post a method for getting full screen in the Tech Forum.

I got that from the readme.rtf / Whats New document on the top of page 3.

-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.

The game starts just fine in Windows mode for me, but none of the settings I have tried work for full screen.

Windows Mode:

Change screen res to: 2880 x 1800 (just to make the windowed mode better)

Best results
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -w –px5120 –py2880 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor

These work but are too small...
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -w –px3840 –py2160 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -w –px1920 –py1080 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -w –px1280 –py1024 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -w -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor


Fullscreen Mode fails for all of these: Error: Can't set screen mode (I tried all these and they all fail):

-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f –px5120 –py2880 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f -px3840 –py2160 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f -px2560 –py1900 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f –px2880 –py1800 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f –px1920 –py1080 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f –px1920 –py1080 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f –px1280 –py1024 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f –px1024 –py768 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f –px800 –py600 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor

-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f –pxf5120 –pyf2880 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f -pxf3840 –pyf2160 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f -pxf2560 –pyf1900 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f –pxf2880 –pyf1800 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f –pxf1920 –pyf1080 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f –pxf1920 –pyf1080 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f –pxf1280 –pyf1024 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f –pxf1024 –pyf768 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor
-SingleCpuStart -multiaudio -dd_sw -f –pxf800 –pyf600 -r -altFont -skipVideo -DeepColor