Ultimate Soccer Manager 98
Window hooker to run fullscreen programs in window and much more...
Status: Beta
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Hi I discoreved your very very good program and works very well.
But i Have a problem with Ultimate Soccer Manager 98.
The game start in window mode, music and mouse work but the screen is black even in introducing video that in game.
I tried a lot of combination but it doesn't work.
To Run in W8 (fullscreen mode) in properties I checked:
-W95 compability
-8bit Color
-Resolution 640*480
-Disable High DPI value
(obviously i unchecked when i try with your program)
Thanks and goodbye.
Last edit: Nicola 2015-04-09
Hi, Nicola.
If game runs but shows no screen, my suggestion is to fiddle with the DirectX / Emulation fields: either "Locked surface" or "GDI mode" could fix the situation.
In any case, I'll do some tests by myself as soon as possible.
** update **
I apologize, the good mode is "Hybrid mode", I'll try to understand why ....
Last edit: gho 2015-04-09
Great it works but when arrives in data selection the game come back in black screen... I don't know why...
If try to load a save game the screen show me only the item that i click and it is very slow.
I tried in 98-99 version too. The game it works but there are some many lags and slow down.
Last edit: Nicola 2015-04-09
I can't see any of the problems you found.
Could you explain a little better how to get to the "data selection" command?
Could you post a savegame that causes the game to slow down when loaded?
Just in case, I'm posting here my configuration, you could try to use this one (after you update the game path, of course...) and see if the problems are still there.
Hello.
I'd like to continue this post with my little problem of color.
I actually have used DxWnd for playing the french version of USM98 which is named FM98 (but it is pretty much the same).
But as you can see the colors are impossible to play and i didn't managed to fix it.
Any help please ???
Last edit: Daisuke Romero 2018-04-08
I tested USM98 right now (it's not FM98, but from the screenshots it seems pretty much the same game) on Win10 where strange things happen.
I run the game with the default exported file "Ultimate Soccer Manager 98.dxw". The colors were ok, but the game was split horizontally as if moved towards the left. So I tried changing a few things and got a perfect result with latest DxWnd version and default configuration settings. In effect, the old "Ultimate Soccer Manager 98.dxw" file misses the "Flip emulation" flag that is now necessary.
So, my advice is to forget the export file and add the game simply dragging FM98.exe over the DxWnd window. If that doesn't work, please send me some logs (read the "how to grab logs" tutorial in help pages) and maybe also the FM.exe file.
Last edit: gho 2018-04-10
Firts of all thanks for considering my problem and try to answer it !!
I grab the log file et put it in attached files.
I also try to run the game with default settings as you said, the video is ok (no split, good colors it's perfect) but after that I have a black screen, anywhere I click it's black screen. I can say that the buttons of the game are working by guessing where they are on the screen and click, the game works but on black screen.
Actually, the only configuration I get another thing than black screen or crash is to put Emulation Renderer to "primary buffer" and I get those wierd colors instead of black screen.
Hope I did the "grab log" well
Thanks again
The game is a very troublesome one! i'm now experiencing the same problems you reported, here on my Win7. But what's very bad is that the problem sometimes appears and sometimes disappears with no apparent reason, and no trace of any error in the logs. The game seems to work judging by sounds and palette changes (in the View->Palette tab) but the screen keeps staying black. Whish me good luck, I'm going to attack with the debugger....
Uh! look what I found in ddraw text segment:
"Can't set a palette created from one DDraw onto a surface created by another DDraw"This can explain the blackness! The palette is defined, but not working on the new surface. Interesting!!
Last edit: gho 2018-04-10
Very very tricky game, this one.
It opens two ddraw sessions and pushes DxWnd to use resources from mixed sources, a problem that is not easy to manage with DxWnd own added surfaces, palette etc.
What's really bad is that the problems are not very replicable, sometimes everything seems working and a little later it stops!
In any case, grab this small patch for latest DxWnd release: replace the dll (I added also the exe, just in case, but it wasn't changed) and use the included exported file.
Beware: the fix requires BOTH the updated dll (there's a fix to a palette error management) and the exported configuration with the "DirectX / Auto Primary Surface Blit" flag. I know, this causes some flickering: maybe in the future I will try a better fix.
Please, let me know if it works.....
Last edit: gho 2018-04-10
Sorry to answer late, i've had a huge week of work !
I understand the problem.
But well it seems not to work...
I extracted both .dll and .exe and tried to lauch the game with the .dxw (by replacing the path by mine : D:\Jeux\SIERRA\FM98\FM98.EXE) and the problem is the same : intro video is OK perfect but then, blackness. And if I change "DirectX/Renderer" to "prymary buffer", again those mixed colors like the sreenshot I've added before.
I tried to launch it severals times, turn off my computer and on again and retry I have the same result.
I give you log again maybe you'll find something.
Sorry again...
I'm sorry, I understood the problem and posted a hurried solution, but that doesn't work very well here either.
I'm going to revise the fix and post it when it will be more robust.
Ok thank you for trying to help I really appreciate.
if I see some solution somewhere I'll let you know here
This game has some weird behavior, it seems to react differently if you run it two times in a row, like if it depended on some dll loading time, caching or what the fuck.
So, I'm now used to say hooray because the game works and then getting frustrated by a following failure.
In any case, the problems seem to depend on this fact: the game opens a ddraw session, does something and closes it, then reopens another ddraw session. Since in both cases the screen is set in 8bpp palettized mode, DxWnd has to create a service palette to color the surfaces, but ddraw doesn't like events such as failing t close a palette after the belonging ddraw session or using a palette belonging to one session on a surface belonging to another session.
The attached release seems to react a little better than before, it enforces the palette destruction on ddraw close event, and sometimes (sic!) it works. And when it doesn't work there are good chances that setting a SDL blitter the game could work.
It is not a great result so far, but in case you may have a better luck, here is some stuff ....
The hunt continues. This time I noticed that the last, good-enough configuration, sometimes worked fine and sometimes it didn't. So I captured two log files showing the two different behaviors that were made running the same game with the same configuration and only at consecutive runs.
The hope was to find some difference that could justify the different behavior.
The result is frustrating, again: there are no meaningful differences between the two logs, simply one continues the operations while the other stops.
Very sad!
I'm sad too.
It doesn't seem to work with me ...
Another thing I didn't say that could matter is that I have to mount the image unless the game say "the CD was not inserted" is that could have an importance ?
I don't know what to say more I tried your last config it's still the same I tried it on both FM98 version and USM98 version... I'm so desperate !!!!
Each day I say to miself "maybe today !!!" but no... lol...
Ok, back to this "cold case" USM98 (or FM98 in its french version).
Let me start with a note of optimism about this damned game: the french and uk versions are so similar in their behavior that whenever I may fix one I'll probably fix them both.
End of good nesw.
The sad news is that I'm starting to believe that the game has no problems with DxWnd and perhaps not even with ddraw support. The simple truth could be that the game is bugged. That doesn't mean it's a desperate case, but for sure I can stop looking for defects in DxWnd logic about surfaces and palette handling.
Anyway, back to facts:
Most of the game problems are located in a specific instant, at the end of the intro movie (when you have one, with the CD mounted, if you use a RIP version probably there is no movie at all) and before the very forst game panel. In this moment you can have four differen reactions:
1) the game crashes
2) the game shows a black screen and is working, provided you could immagine where to click with the mouse!
3) the game shows a sceen moved sideways to the right (always of the same amount of space!) and keeps working with the same offset (see screenshots from 6 to 11)
4) the game works as it ought to do
This happens to me keeping all other vriable things fixed: same pc, same DxWnd confguration, same game installation & setup, sometimes it is only necessary to make several consecutive runs to see all four behavior. Of course, I know that there are people that have no such a good luck and never seethe game running properly.
Too bad that searching for a occasional, randomic bug is way too difficult! Anyway, here are some lucky and semi-lucky shots taken from FM98.
Last edit: gho 2018-04-28
I found a severe flaw in the palette handling of this game. Once fixed, I got under certain conditions a more predictable behavior, that is the behavior with the shifted images.
But here, to check the responsibility of the problem, I tried to run the game also without DxWnd, in Win7 with Win95 compatibility, 256 colors and 640x480 screen size. Surprisingly, the game runs in fullscreen mode showing the very same problem (shown in screenshots, though the captured images in 256 colors is not accurate and seems mostly black).
So, it seems that part of the problem is outside DxWnd, probably in the transition from the original platform (Win95?) to the emulated mode.
Another curious thing: always trying the games without DxWnd on Win7 fullscreen mode I saw some important differences between the French FM98 (Football Manager) and USM98 (Universal Soccer Manager):
USM98 runs perfectly in fullscreen mode, no need for emulation modes and no shifted image.
But though USM98 runs quite better in native mode, it doesn't work with DxWnd!
At minimum, and despite the similar artworks and behavior, the two engines are not identical!
Uhm, merging last developments, a peculiar configuration and some hints from an internet french site, this worked. The game is bugged and really weird, so I wouldn't be surprised if the good result couldn't be replicated, but in any case, here the instructions (follow carefully!):
1) use the DxWnd.exe and dxwnd.dll in the attach in the archive
2) import the "Football manager 98.dxw" file in the archive as well
3) set the FM98.exe file for Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack 5) compatibility mode (this hint comes from ochimin here: https://www.metagames-eu.com/forums/telechargements/football-manager-98-99-a-34291.html
4) cross your fingers and run.
The Microsoft Application Compatibility database has an entry for Ultimate Soccer Manager (USM98.EXE). Take a look at the screenshot. I should try to find out what shims the fix enables. However the presence of this Compatibility Fix in the database might explain the difference in behaviour of the different versions.
Excellent. I was about to ask you if you could deal with it, but you overtook my request.
There are a few hints/actions to understand what's going on:
About FM98 (the French version) instead there must be a different problem, since on XP USM98 works and FM98 doesn't. Possible hints:
I'll try to investigate.
Well i'm very sorry to give to you this sh:t ... :)
I noticed my problem is number 2 ^^ it's the "best" result I've had and the second best is the wierd multicolored screen, maybe I might try to find another iso of FM98.
For the record I succed create a game and save it on black screen :D i'm so proud even if it's unplayable...
Each day passing dig deeper the biggest hole in my heart called sorrow :)
I have the same result when I play the .exe file without DxWnd by the way.
I tried another game (Theme Park World) and it works perfectly.
Maybe I should manufacture some glasses that can change the wierd colors into normal color so I can play ?
Keep you in touch
YOU ARE THE BEST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It worked !!!!!!!!! with this :
1) use the DxWnd.exe and dxwnd.dll in the attach in the archive
2) import the "Football manager 98.dxw" file in the archive as well
3) set the FM98.exe file for Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack 5) compatibility mode (this hint comes from ochimin here: https://www.metagames-eu.com/forums/telechargements/football-manager-98-99-a-34291.html
4) cross your fingers and run.
Although I didn't have "windows NT 4.0" in my compatibility list, I tried XP (service pack 3) and It works !!!
-> Champagne x)
Very good!
I tested the game on Win10 right now, and it works perfectly also here, setting compatibility to Windows XP as you did.
See screenshots: ForzaSampdoriaaaaa!!!! :)
P.s. better turn off the "Do not notify on task switch" flag because I now realized that it prevents some file selection dialogs to work and you risk to get stuck in the middle of a management session, with the need to kill the game and lose all your progresses!
Of course, now that we somehow patched the situation, I'd like to understand what's going on and how to replicate the effect of the Windows compatibility setting with some DxWnd code.