Explorer issue with latest patch.

[Nitro Cruiser]

First off, I'm really enjoying the latest patch It looks great on my 22 inch monitor. Thanks guys, you've out done yourselves on this one!

In the brief time I've had to experiment with it, I have noticed one issue (it occurs in both MBT and WW2). When exiting from full screen mode, explorer fails to restart, causing no icons or task bar to appear on the desktop after it closes. It's no big deal, one can just press ctrl, alt, del and type in "explorer" as a new task. I'm not sure if anyone else has encountered this, but as I said it occurs for me in both games.

It may be possible in a future patch to run (force)the "explorer" executable in a script when exiting the game, if this turns out to be a wide spread issue.

FYI I'm running windows 7 professional, quad core i7, 12GB DDR3 RAM, NVIDIA 550 Ti 1GB RAM. The games are the CD versions and both were a clean install (using the directions provided). So far no other issues and no more of the dreaded color palette distortion.

Did I mention how great it looks with the new resolution support? Talk about getting the big picture! It's like a whole new game. I highly recommend it to anyone sitting on the fence worried about how it might perform under a newer PC.

[Mobhack]

Are you alt-tabbing out of the game to run any other programmes, then switching back?.

Also - is the game installed to C:\ or to another drive than C?.


Andy

[SP4EVER]

Try the DirectDraw_Compatibility_Tool:
http://www.4shared.com/file/xeIljXSm...ity_Tool_.html

Just run the program and browse to your WinSPMBT.exe or WinSPWW2.exe and hit Apply. Then start the game directly from WinSPMBT.EXE or WinSPWW2.exe. do not use the game options to start the game or you will loose your explorer.

The advantage of this other fix is that it does not close explorer. You can Alt tab to your desktop to use email etc. and go back to game.

I posted more info about it here:
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=47156

[Nitro Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Mobhack

Are you alt-tabbing out of the game to run any other programmes, then switching back?.

Also - is the game installed to C:\ or to another drive than C?.


Andy

Andy no I haven't alt-tabbed out, but thinking back, I have installed to another drive (path other than default). If that is the issue, I don't mind restarting explorer manually, it's a small price to pay. Thanks for the response, please don't consider this a gripe....I'm 110% satisfifed.

[Nitro Cruiser]

Originally Posted by SP4EVER

Try the DirectDraw_Compatibility_Tool:
http://www.4shared.com/file/xeIljXSm...ity_Tool_.html

Just run the program and browse to your WinSPMBT.exe or WinSPWW2.exe and hit Apply. Then start the game directly from WinSPMBT.EXE or WinSPWW2.exe. do not use the game options to start the game or you will loose your explorer.

The advantage of this other fix is that it does not close explorer. You can Alt tab to your desktop to use email etc. and go back to game.

I posted more info about it here:
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=47156

Thanks SP4Ever, I'll give that a look.

[SP4EVER]

No problem. Do tell me how it turns out.

[Mobhack]

Originally Posted by Nitro Cruiser

Andy no I haven't alt-tabbed out, but thinking back, I have installed to another drive (path other than default). If that is the issue, I don't mind restarting explorer manually, it's a small price to pay. Thanks for the response, please don't consider this a gripe....I'm 110% satisfifed.

OK - in that case Windows vista/seven seems not to be able to find the path to the windows folder properly. Or something like that - it is a complete dog's breakfast of an operating system.

I'll probably have to experiment with an external USB "D" drive attached to my laptop (to see if running it does the same thing as you describe), but methinks the cure is to edit the CMD file to put the full path into the statements.

However - the best way to run in a full-screen mode if you have the CD version, is to use Windowed mode and set the resolution to Desktop. It avoids all the problems with needing to kill the Aero interface so it does not mess with the 256 colour palette. And it is all nice and cuddly-friendly with other Windows applications being alt-tabbed to then.

cheers
Andy

[DRG]

Just curious but what resolution are you running the game at full screen on a 22 inch monitor ?

Don

[Nitro Cruiser]

Originally Posted by DRG

Just curious but what resolution are you running the game at full screen on a 22 inch monitor ?

Don

Don I'm run 1680 x 1050 on the 22" screen. Will be moving to a 24" HDMI I have on hand shortly.

Hmmm I just noticed I never changed the game settings from 1152 x 864. Holy moley, just tested that. I'm getting 29 hexes at normal view on full screen (19 on full zoom) and need a magnifying glass to read info at the bottom of the screen. I need to put it back, my eyes aren't that good!

[Nitro Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Mobhack

However - the best way to run in a full-screen mode if you have the CD version, is to use Windowed mode and set the resolution to Desktop. It avoids all the problems with needing to kill the Aero interface so it does not mess with the 256 colour palette. And it is all nice and cuddly-friendly with other Windows applications being alt-tabbed to then.

cheers
Andy

Andy I believe my native resolution is makes the game screen too tiny for me (also zooming too tight pixelate's too much for my taste).

I initially thought a script to check for, and start if false, explorer upon exit might be the answer but that may just be over engineering the issue (considering SP4ever's fix). Win 7 users have a lot of choices when it comes to naming the install directory/drive if the current solution depends on that. It hasn't stopped me though, throughly enjoying it. Great job Andy and Don.