Problem with star wars episode 1 racer
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Hello, I am having a problem getting this game to work.
I downloaded dxwnd as it apparently is the only program that fixes the white screen bug, I added my path to SWEP1RCR.EXE and tried to start the game.
However, once the window appears I get soon an error message that reads:
SetHook:proc=GetDisplayMode(D) oldhook=3183d88 newhook=673deda2
I can't click on the OK button so the only solution I have is to close the game. I didn't touch any of the other settings of the program, I have just changed the path to my exe. It looks however like the program has troubles in locating the memory addresses for the exe (I am using the exe from patch 1.01). Is there a fix for this?
My fault: I posted a game configuration that includes a debug option that shows the dialog box with the message.
You should activate dxwnd with the /debug argument line to have access to the debug tab and turn the "Assert Dialog" option off.
As an easier alternative, you could download the fixed import file attached here, delete the game entry in dxwnd and rebuild it starting from the file through the File->Import... commmand.
Last edit: gho 2014-02-15
Thanks, that solved half of the issue, but now I am afraid there's a new one. The game starts, and the small blue loading bar appears. Then I can hear the intro music playing and if I press buttons I can skip it and I can hear the main menu theme, but the screen however stays stuck to the one that appears at the very beginning when you launch the game aka the blue loading bar. I found a way to fix it by dragging the window and dragging it even just a bit, that causes the image to appear and it works fine from now on. Here's the catch though, I can see the menus perfectly, but when the race starts the screen goes white like it does without the dxwnd
If in the options of dxwnd I change the window position to either desktop center, desktop work area or desktop (basically anything else but X,Y coordinates) when I launch the game it will show past the blue bar screen but the FPS will be terrible as in 2-5 fps in menus in game and even in the intro movies, especially in those I can hear the audio is choppy. However with one of those 3 options selected, the game will display properly even if the fps is terrible, I can see.
With X,Y coordinates (the window stays black with the blue bar but I can read the FPS from the overlay) I can see that I am getting like 3000 FPS and in the intro movies the sound plays smoothly so does the game but it's all white.
So, with X,Y coordinates I get good FPS but white screen, with any other options the game looks as it should but bad FPS.
I remember having seen something like you described, but the problem now is gone on my PC and I son't know how to replicate it.
Assuming you already have installed latest dxwnd release, one thing that usually affects heavily the framerate is the AERO compatibility option: try to turn that off in the DirectX config. tab.
I found an installer at http://www.play-old-pc-games.com/2013/12/02/star-wars-episode-i-racer/ which apparently has a graphics patch. Episode 1 racer works really well without dxwnd using this.
I put together that replacement installer, it's nothing fancy just a basic NSIS script. I get loads of e-mails and comments about it not working though so I decided to try DXWnd.
I loaded DXWnd went to file->import and imported the "Star Wars Episode I Racer.dxw" file from the Exports folder. I fixed the path to the Episode 1 racer exe to suit my system then right clicked on "Star Wars Episode 1 Racer" in the list and chose "Run".
I get the DXWnd logo appear in the window then the thing just instantly crashes "rdroid_gnome release build has stopped working". I've tried on 2 Windows 8 machines and 1 Windows 7 machine.
I know it's just a really badly written old game but I thought I'd just ask here in case anyone had any ideas that I can pass on to my readers :)
I don't understand...
Since dxwnd can run the normal game on Win7 (I haven't tested it, but maybe on Win8 as well) why try to apply dxwnd to a patched version?
In any case, if the patch is related to graphics and made by function hooking (as it definitely seems), it's no surprise that the patch and dxwnd could interfere and make the game not working.
Sorry let me be clear, I am trying DXWnd on the original executable (factory fresh from LucasArts) not the patched one. I am doing this because the fan-made patch is flaky at best and just outright doesn't work for many folks.
However, as I said DXwnd simply doesn't work at all for me with this game. I tried the original .exe from the CD and one that was supposedly a patched one from the old Lucasarts FTP site, same problem on both.
Last edit: Matt 2014-05-10
Ok, now I understand.
I don't know what version of DxWnd you are using. Recently I made several changes and couldn't test all the games. Maybe a less recent release could work better.
If not, you should enable trace flags (the first four log flags from the top) and post here the dxwnd.log file to let me inspect it.
In any case, DxWnd is supposed to fix the game texture problem (texture appears all white) and nothing else. If the game doesn't run at all, I think there is some specific problem in your environment.
Thanks, I appreciate you looking into it. I'm using the very latest build of DxWnd 2.02.73. I can run the game without DxWnd just fine, except of course the games graphics are all messed up. At least one other person has left a comment on my page saying the exact same thing happens to him when he tried to use DxWnd with the game.
Good news: I have the very same problem on my PC, and is something apparently introduced from v2.02.67 and above. This means that I can replicate and hopefully fix it rapidly.
In the meantime, if you want to enjoy the game download and use DxWnd release v2.02.66 (all recent releases are available in the sourceforge portal in the Files section).
I'm going to tell you when the problem is fixed.
** update **
It seems that this game is not compatible with the syntetic screen features that are exposed by DxWnd.... it's a little complicated (I'm not sure even I fully got it) but it seems that to play the game is enough to set the Screen Resolution mode selector to "Monitor native modes" (see screenshot).
Obviously this was a feature introduced in release v2.02.67 that doesn't cope with the previously generated exported file. Thank you for signaling it, I'll update the file in the next release.
Last edit: gho 2014-05-11
Okay, turning on "Monitor native modes" prevents the game from instantly crashing, but it still wont start up. I get "Unable to open display for 3D" (see attached picture). I have also attached a new dxwnd.log. This is on my Windows 7 machine btw.
Going back to version 2.02.65 of dxwnd and the game will start, but all I see when I start a race is a white screen. I thought I read somewhere that the compatibility option "Clean ZBUFFER @1.0 fix" was supposed to take care of that, which I do see in this version, but nope just a white screen of fog with a few HUD elements over the top of it is all I see in game.
Still keeping my fingers crossed for a fix.
Matt, I had the same problem as you have, probably due to the fact I'm trying to play this game on a laptop. However, I checked 'primary buffer' on the DirectX tab > Emulation, and that did the trick! I've also changed the 'monitor native modes'-setting in the video-tab back to SVGA.
UPDATE: make sure you run the game windowed, full screen crashes the game. I've attached an export of the settings I use, you can try to use those (Dxwnd > Import > browse to the file > modify > change the game path in main tab)
Last edit: artofnemesis 2014-05-13
Tried that and it still doesn't work for me, "Unable to open display for 3D".
Have you tried fiddling with the settings in the DirectX tab?
Not yet, I did try grabbing a few supposedly patched versions around the internet, the offical update from LucasArts didn't make a difference. The only one that starts is a dodgy NO CD crack version that skips the movies. That version has a bug where I constantly hear a crashing sound on loop in the background though.
Edit - Tried various things, not really sure what I'm doing, nothing seems to help.
Last edit: Matt 2014-05-14
I'm not sure, but the "unable to open display" message could easily depend on an attempt to start in emulation mode, that is always made in automatic mode.
You can start from artofnemesis export file and try playing with these flags only, until you get the game starting:
DirectX tab - emulation flag: avoid "automatic" and "Primary surface", try the others
Video tab - screen modes: the best should be "Monitor native modes", but who knows?
If this does not fix the problem, it means that is tougher than expected ....
Ok, a little progress I guess. With the attached export file I can get the game to start. In Windows 7 it will start in window mode only, but in Windows 8 it can run fullscreen too. Movies play in the wrong colour depth unless I run it full screen (which only works on Windows 8).
However, on Windows 7 or Windows 8 all I get after the opening video is a black screen. I can hear the music in the background and I can even hear the mouse pointer selecting menu options as it is passed over them, but all I see is a black screen so I can't start the game.
Same hardware in both machines btw (GTX770), it is the same machine I just swap the hard drive out to change between 7 and 8.
artofnemesis - Are you using a no-cd crack that doesn't play the movies? I won't judge you lol ^^
If it makes a difference, I'm using the very latest patch that was on Lucas FTP before Disney killed it. There were two files they patched, you can grab them from my Dropbox
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1488717/SWEP1RCR.EXE
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1488717/a3dapi.dll
Do let me know if any more logs would be helpful too.
Exported file shows DirectX tab - emulation flag: "automatic", that could easily bring emulation mode, no good for 3D games, with movies ok and 3D graphic errors.
Try to set emulation mode to "none", or "Locked Surface"!
Also "Fix window frame style" and "Lock win style" seems superfluous.
Last edit: gho 2014-05-16
No, I havent used a No CD Crack, I'm using the original .exe with an iso mounted. Game isn't updated either. I do have emulation setting set to None, though.
I've played arround with the settings and concluded that disabling 'AERO compatible mode' improves the framerate quite a bit. First it was 10-15 fps average, and now it is 35 fps.
I also noticed that the inital window size (main) wasn't the same as the specs under limit resolution (video), so I changed it to be the same (1024x768 and later 800x600) but then when I started the game, I got a black screen with only the music playing in the background or an error unable to open window for 3D or something like that. Changing it back to main > initial window size > 800x600 and video > limit resolution > 1024x768 fixed this issue.
edit: Average fps is quite erratic, most times I get arround 35 but sometimes it drops back to 12 after I choose the player. Restarting the game seems to fix it -sometimes- and get it back to 35 fps. But after letting the game run for a while it still drops to 10-15 fps.
edit #2: the framerate drop seems to be caused by textures with transperancy. Selecting Compat > set single core process affinity gives me the best fps for now. Makes sense since this old game wasn't designed for multiple CPU-cores, and the game probably can't handle that properly. I've attached another export of the settings which give me the best results.
Last edit: artofnemesis 2014-05-16
@Gho "Try to set emulation mode to "none", or "Locked Surface"!"
Doesn't work for me, "None","Primary Buffer" or "Locked Surface" makes the game run at 1 fps. I can see the games main menu with this setting, but colours are all wrong and obviously unusable at that speed.
With "Auto" or "Primary Surface" the game will start and play the intro just fine but then all I get is a black screen when the game menu should appear.
@artofnemesis same problem with your settings as before for me initially, as in I got the "unable to open display" message.
It did occur to me that my Star Wars Racer game was set to 1280x1024 which is higher than the limit resolution setting, so I went in the registry and dialled that back to 1024x768 initially and then 800x600 too. By changing that and changing the DirectX emulation to "Primary Surface" the game would start, but I still can't get anything but a black screen where the main menu should be.
Artofnemesis can I ask you a favour? Can you look in your registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC\Star Wars: Episode I Racer\v1.0 and tell me the values you have under that key for "3D Device", "Display Height", "Display Width", "Fullscreen" and "Fix Flicker"?
Thanks to you both for your patience :)
It's just a try, but so far the biggest cause of slowdowns is the AERO desktop feature. Please, try to uncheck the DirectX "Set AERO compatible mode" and see if that fixes the slow framerate problem.
"3D Device", Microsoft Direct3D Hardware acceleration through Direct3D HAL
"Display Height", 768
"Display Width", 1024
"Fullscreen" 0
"Fix Flicker" 0
Already unchecked here.
Probably it is not relevant, but I can't play with the posted files of the latest Lucas' patch.
I got the game working fine with this set (can't remember where I got them....)