Lego Stunt Rally

[Kataah]

Hello!
So far i managed to succesfully launching "Lego Stunt Rally".
It even runs without any CD with this command /FROMLAUNCHER. You need to run the _msr.exe.

Also to quickly bypass the intro this command helps:
/NOINTROVIDEO

The first error is the shown in the first screenshot, it says something about false DirectX, but when you press Yes the game loads anyway.

So the menu loads all flawlessy, the editor runs great. But when i start a Race, it instantly crashes. This wonders me, i first thought that it crashes cause the game switches to 3D when it starts a Race, and that would be the Crash. But as you can see in the last attached Screenshot i am in the Editor, and the Editor is also rendered in 3D (hard to see in the screenshot, but it is 3D), and no crashing at all.

[gho]

The game is working a little better here, with some input problems that probably could be fixed.
The exported configuration in the export folder is quite obsolete, much better to ignore it and use this new one.
The game uses tricky D3D features, so it's not strange that the editor could work better than the game (surely they use some different d3d setting) or that the game may work better on my pc rather than yours (that could depend on the video card capabilities).
Curiously, I get a similar warning dialog, telling that my ddraw release is newer than the requested one, which is usually good.
Coud you send me a short logfile with ddraw and d3d logging enabled + debug? Be careful because with this log it's easy to build MBytes of stuff in no time!

[gho]

Also here is possible to build a "portable" configuration with no CD and fake CD drive. But the operation is a little more complex because the game engine _msr.exe must start with early injection and also be started from the frontend StuntRally.exe.
It is possible to manage this situation hooking also StuntRally.exe and configuring it to "extend hook" towards its son. As usual, the CD content must be copied on HD, I used the usual cd subfolder. The two imports here in attach must be both inserted in the DxWnd configuration, but the game can be run only from the frontend.
All this, of course, without the trick of using /FROMLAUNCHER or other cheats.

[Kataah]

hmm. This is still crashing for me even with your export. By the way, i don´t know, maybe you forgotten it, but you should also tick "16BPP RGB565 encoding" on, so the glitch in my attached screenshot does not happen.

Edit: I just saw that you post something new. I will try that out now.

Edit2: It´s still crashing for me. :(
But here is my log.

[gho]

"16BPP RGB565 encoding" not needed here, but it could be only a lucky case.
I'll try again on my Win10, I'm pretty sure I'll get some different result.
Your logs?

[Kataah]

There are now in my previous post. As big as you said.

[gho]

Interesting. There are two errors that shouldn't be there, also because they seem generated internally by dxwnd wrappers. They are possible bugged conditions:

Blt: ERROR 80070057(DDERR_INVALIDPARAMS) at 243
...
Blt: ERROR 88760096(DDERR_INVALIDRECT) at 243 src=(322,0)-(1122,120) dest=(0,37)-(800,157)

The first one in particular is repeated many times and could explain the missing screen updates.
Mumble ....

wait:

v2.04.86

You're using an old release, I tested with the same version and the game doesn't work very well with it. Try a more recent one, with last v2.05.06 you should get better results (or a more meaningful log).

[Kataah]

What is going on right now? I just downloaded the new DxWnd Version (v2_05_06_build) and then this error comes up when i want to start it.

Edit:
Nevermind. Now it´s working again. It´s just when you put new files into the same DxWnd Folder, the old dxwnd.dll is still running somehow. This cause trouble with the newer exe and caused that error. By the way, do you think that maybe autoupdating would be a better idea for DxWnd? As you could see i completly forgotten about new and necessary updates. With autoupdating this wouldn´t happened in the first place.

[gho]

Probably the old release had a different shared area size. The problem should disappear after a while, or after a logoff / logon, for sure after a reboot!

[Kataah]

I edited my previous post.

Hmmmm. Could it be that you somehow disabled the batch commands in this newer builds? I thought there are now in as standard. I would need them.

Edit: Even with Build 2_05_06 it still crashing.

[gho]

I didn't intentionally disable anything, but I think I renamed some slashed argument because there was an overlap and I could have made some mistake. The documentation isn't updated yes (sic!), what batch commands were you using?

[Kataah]

I have these in my batch commands, but can´t really remember what every one does. I know that one clears the list and one imports a dxw file or saving a list, but i can´t remember which command is responsible directly now. Basically i using these commands:

/Z and /S

[gho]

Uhm, I made some mess, let me fix it ....

[gho]

Uhm, I think that at a given time we reasoned like this:

Why implement a command to add and clear the game list? Better start DxWnd with an empty configuration, then use /L:<fullpath> to add one entry, then run the game and terminate with /E, so no need for /Z (dangerous) and /S </fullpath>

But maybe I don't remember well.... let me make my mind on this ...

Could you send me a sample of your batch scripts together with the dxwnd version number that was supposed to make them working?

[Kataah]

Saddly i deleted the old DxWnd Folder right after i downloaded the current one cause i thought it was the right Fix for LEGO Stunt Rally. The reason to have the /Z command was because i have DxWnd opened already all the time. I don´t want to open DxWnd every time for every game i start (I have my reasons for this).
I just checked my Autohotkeyscript again and the only command i use in the script is the /Z to clear the list. My script also adds a Game Entry. So it should clear the list first.

[gho]

The weird thing is that the /Z command was never implemented (or, at least, it's not in v2.04.86!!). Is it possible that you were sending a ignored /Z command while the game list was simply not saved in the end? Be careful that now, with the "autosave" option this could become untrue.
Anyway, if I got it clear, you want this:
1) run DxWnd in the background, ready to run
2) by some script, load a configuration entry & run the game without saving the configuration

Is that correct?

[huh]

Here command /Z was implemented.
https://sourceforge.net/p/dxwnd/discussion/general/thread/ffd63410/?limit=25#e4c9

[gho]

and probably the following posts explain why it was removed.
I keep thinking that Kataah needs one single command to run the game described in the export file. Now there is the /L:<path.dxw> to load the entry in the configuration, it would be sufficient to add a /R:<path.dxw> to load&run&forget the game. Does this make sense?</path.dxw></path.dxw>

[Kataah]

Okay, DxWnd is allready open all the time to be ready. My script does the following:

1. it does some stuff (unesessary for DxWnd)
2. it clears the List of DxWnd with the /Z command (the reason is to avoid duplicate exe when too many Entrys are in DxWnd. Clearing the list before every Gamestart prevents this).
3. it searches for a DxWnd Profile from a Folder (it does this with a Authothokey script, no need to have there a command from DxWnd that does this).
4. It starts the Game.
5. Script ends. (Current DxWnd Profile stays in DxWnd, until i start another Game which would clear the list again to avoid duplicate exe´s).

I have equipped every Game with this Autohotkey Script. You only have to add this command back. I really don´t want to rewrite my whole Game Collection (would be over 600 Scripts), only cause the command is now gone.

[gho]

Ok, this release does what is described in your request and also in my help files. I wonder where and why this feature went lost! Please, try it and report back, so that I'll try not to forget to move the experimental code to the next release.
I noticed a strange thing: sometimes (probably because of suspensive reads from the mailslot) either the client or the server dxwnd session hung for a while and then recover, tipically at the beginning of a session. I hope it won't happen there.
Please, consider that /s saves the configuration without asking confirmation, the /z clears & saves the configuration and that if the dxw file has spaces you have to envelope it with double quotes, like in this (working) example:

>dxwnd /l:"D:\DxWnd.develop\v2_05_07_beta\build\exports\Leisure Suit Larry 7 - Love for Sail!.dxw"

If you want to test better or simply have control of the situation, you can keep the DxWnd GUI open, the commands will be received and executed the same. In addition, if you enable debug in the global settings you will find a trace of all operations in the dxwnd.log file located in the dxwnd folder.

[huh]

@Kataah
A very good program for automated rewriting of scripts in multiple files is "Find and" Replace" (FNR)
https://github.com/zzzprojects/findandreplace/releases
I do not know if it's suitable for your scripts, it's just a little tip and as I see in the previous post, you probably will not need it any more :-)

[gho]

Now an important thing:

Thinking about the Kataah's 600+ games I thought it is almost impossible that none of them needs early hooking.
The problem is that working as he described, the script loads the game profile in dxWnd, then runs the game directly, there's no way to tell DxWnd to do this operation for you, at least until now.
This means that though the game is configured for early hooking, DxWnd won't control this initial phase and the hook will take place with the default late hook with SetWindowsHook on the first opened window ... no good for too many games!
So, since the work was almost done, I finished it. This new release (in attach) has another client command /Y: that can work in two ways:
/Y:<path> loads the export file exactly as the /L:<path> command, but in addition runs the game
/Y#<n> runs the <n>-th game in the current configuration</n></n></path></path>

So in practice these sequences are equivalent:

dxwnd /Z
dxwnd /L:C\exports\mygame.dxw
dxwnd /Y:#1

or

dxwnd /Z
dxwnd /Y:C\exports\mygame.dxw

[Kataah]

Thanks for doing all this stuff immediatly for me, gho. :)
And thanks for your suggestion of that program, huh!
I only tested the /Z command yet, but now all is working again.

Now let´s got back to "LEGO Stunt Rally", shall we? :)
So i have now the latest build here of DxWnd from you, but the game is still crashing for me when i want to start a Race. It can´t depend on the Source where i got this game? You said before, that you had to try it on your Windows 10. I guess that is again on of this cases where a game makes problem cause of the operation system. A little bit stupid that almost 50 % of the game works flawlessy if you ask me.

[gho]

Uhm... I think you can find one on My Abandonware site (a little googling work will point you there directly). I guess I used the native release, though there's a choice of two different cracks there! I can't test it right now, but in any case it would be interesting to see some logs from your computer. I guess you already know how to do? (hint: read the tutorial in Help->Vie Help pages)

[Kataah]

Okay, so i finally had the time to try it again.
I attached my log below. Also using the newest Version. Funny, i have my Version also from the "Abandonware" Site.
By the way, is this for security that when you configuring something on the Log Tab inside an Entry, and then export and import that Profile, the Changes you did in the Log Tab get´s reset? All the other things i changed in the Entry was saved, except the changes from the Log Tab. I guess this is just for security and not an Error, isn´t it?