The game is obtainable in old-games.ru. Remember to install the patch published there!
The game has an issue in rendering text in mission briefing. The DxWnd profile is very simple, you need early hook + single core + run in window disabled + Set minimal caps (for ddraw mode of game). Run in Window was disabled because the game menus aren't clipped (Scaled GDI libs doesn't help either), if you fix it that's good as well. What happens is that the buttons are on a different surface, and two surfaces are rendered.
But the main thing we are talking about can be accessed in BOTH windowed and fullscreen modes. Go to Campaign mode, you will go to the Select Campaign page and press Accept here, now you will be in the Squadron page and there shouldn't be any text on the big box in 391st Bold Tigers. Now if you are in windowed mode, moving the main window frame off it's place should expose the two surfaces.
Clicking Cancel on the surface having the window (it's close to the area where you clicked Accept), you have to return to the main menu, and you go back to the Squadron page. Now you will see the frame window and the text that were lost and not rendered, will be rendered outside the game frame window (see attachment). We want to fix this, for fullscreen modes at least.
Problem replicated (I think).
This means I can start, it doesn't tell whether and when I'll finish. It seems another damned case of multiple windows z-ordering, what is supposed to stay on top slips to the bottom .... not an easy case.
First of all, I want to say that the game has an entry in the MS shim database in Win7 and Win10. Without this record (when I choose No SHIMs or rename the exe) the game crashes here.
This record may affect the behavior of the game with DxWnd.
Now I have no time I will continue later.
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I really wonder how the gho will tame these two evil windows. It seems impossible. The only thing I got was this in 640x480. It can be seen that the objects overlap incorrectly.
The fix described will bring back the white text in fullscreen. But the videos won't play. This is a long known fix of the game with a sacrifice.
Now probably you may try the same in windowed mode which I didn't. Since the video doesn't play but text appears, it may he interesting to see why the window order is correct.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
This game is crazy and I don't trust it at all. After several attempts where I also tried to apply the simHq.com tricks (as suggested by Huh in his last post) with no results, then I restarted all reapplying the f15d3d17.exe patch, mounting the CD image with daemon tools and using the attached export. Surprisingly it worked, though I was also using a partially modified dxwnd.dll (I'll put that in attach, you never know) but I wouldn't bet a nickel on the replication of this result even on my own computer!!!
P.s. the screenshot shows that the text was visible, but the text scrolling was locked, so in any case not everything was working right.
It didn't work and the result is clear, nothing really changed (it's not about trusting the game in my opinion). Seeing from your "text_ok.png" you had the .uv2 files deleted as mentioned by huh2.
This method is known for ages to recover the text rendering, even before DxWnd was available and works without it too.
Secondly, the second surface created is not clipped so you can't move the window. Third, the scrolling is probably tied to the second surface created so in any way, they have to get clipped together.
So bottom line is, the text reappeared because the .uv2 files were deleted. And I already said the .uv2 play the video in the bottom rectangle section of the same "Squadron" screen.
And you have to try again without deleting the .uv2 files. Again remember to install the "f15d3d17.exe" patch because without it, the game gives a .cpp compiling error on exit.
Last edit: BEEN_Nath_58 2022-05-21
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Hopefully, you got the point. Other wrappers don't work to fix this problem either, so there's no difference to be checked (DDC, dgVoodoo2, WineD3D, aqrit's DDraw all give same issue)
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Hmm I tried to use DxWnd profile from simhq.com and it's much better here but not good. The text is there, but it's disappearing. I haven't deleted the videos yet. The next lines are just for interest.
These videos are in format Electronic Arts TQI (ASF/STR), which is based on MPEG1 details here https://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php/Electronic_Arts_TQI
In this game they have 15 fps. However, the additional videos that play in the menu are not .WVE files. These are UV2 files. According to this page https://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php/Electronic_Arts_Formats
it is also a TQI, but the container is different. Something about demuxing this format can probably be found in the ffmpeg source code (\libavformat\electronicarts.c) if anyone is interested.
We can play these videos using ffplay.
e.g.
ffplay -f ea SQ_O.UV2
The video has the following features:
Video: tqi, yuv420p, 432x96, 15 fps, 15 tbr, 15 tbn.
Last edit: huh 2022-05-21
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where I talked about the release crashing games as well. This release again manages to crash Dark Secrets of Africa on my system, and even Sega GT that we recently checked out. The "dxwnd.f15.rar" was based after that file. Please revert to the earlier release to avoid the issue again.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Interestingly there's a profile for Jane's F/A-18 in the export folder and that game had the exact same bug with multiple windows. I wonder if at least this window problem didn't exist then.
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The request comes from VOGONS through me:
https ://www .vogons .org/viewtopic.php?p=1067622#p1067622
The game is obtainable in old-games.ru. Remember to install the patch published there!
The game has an issue in rendering text in mission briefing. The DxWnd profile is very simple, you need early hook + single core + run in window disabled + Set minimal caps (for ddraw mode of game). Run in Window was disabled because the game menus aren't clipped (Scaled GDI libs doesn't help either), if you fix it that's good as well. What happens is that the buttons are on a different surface, and two surfaces are rendered.
But the main thing we are talking about can be accessed in BOTH windowed and fullscreen modes. Go to Campaign mode, you will go to the Select Campaign page and press Accept here, now you will be in the Squadron page and there shouldn't be any text on the big box in 391st Bold Tigers. Now if you are in windowed mode, moving the main window frame off it's place should expose the two surfaces.
Clicking Cancel on the surface having the window (it's close to the area where you clicked Accept), you have to return to the main menu, and you go back to the Squadron page. Now you will see the frame window and the text that were lost and not rendered, will be rendered outside the game frame window (see attachment). We want to fix this, for fullscreen modes at least.
Last edit: BEEN_Nath_58 2022-05-03
After a day of testing, I wasn't able to clip the game to windowed mode too. I am missing something. @ghotik can you please try?
Could you please look into this game @huh2 @ghotik? Problems are explained above
I'll try it on the weekend if I have time.
Problem replicated (I think).
This means I can start, it doesn't tell whether and when I'll finish. It seems another damned case of multiple windows z-ordering, what is supposed to stay on top slips to the bottom .... not an easy case.
This other screenshot of my desktop after a window shift shows the sort of nightmare I should deal with ....
First of all, I want to say that the game has an entry in the MS shim database in Win7 and Win10. Without this record (when I choose No SHIMs or rename the exe) the game crashes here.
This record may affect the behavior of the game with DxWnd.
Now I have no time I will continue later.
The shim is for "VirtualRegistry" and "IgnoreAltTab". Maybe the game crashes because it can't find the virtual registry when shim is disabled.
Yes that's the part that has to be addressed.
Last edit: BEEN_Nath_58 2022-05-20
I really wonder how the gho will tame these two evil windows. It seems impossible. The only thing I got was this in 640x480. It can be seen that the objects overlap incorrectly.
Update:
I assume you read this, I found it with video on youtube.
https://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4332768/re-janes-f-15#Post4332768
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMp-o5ax9Fs)
Last edit: huh 2022-05-20
I was just writing what you edited.
The fix described will bring back the white text in fullscreen. But the videos won't play. This is a long known fix of the game with a sacrifice.
Now probably you may try the same in windowed mode which I didn't. Since the video doesn't play but text appears, it may he interesting to see why the window order is correct.
This game is crazy and I don't trust it at all. After several attempts where I also tried to apply the simHq.com tricks (as suggested by Huh in his last post) with no results, then I restarted all reapplying the f15d3d17.exe patch, mounting the CD image with daemon tools and using the attached export. Surprisingly it worked, though I was also using a partially modified dxwnd.dll (I'll put that in attach, you never know) but I wouldn't bet a nickel on the replication of this result even on my own computer!!!
P.s. the screenshot shows that the text was visible, but the text scrolling was locked, so in any case not everything was working right.
Last edit: gho 2022-05-21
It didn't work and the result is clear, nothing really changed (it's not about trusting the game in my opinion). Seeing from your "text_ok.png" you had the .uv2 files deleted as mentioned by huh2.
This method is known for ages to recover the text rendering, even before DxWnd was available and works without it too.
Secondly, the second surface created is not clipped so you can't move the window. Third, the scrolling is probably tied to the second surface created so in any way, they have to get clipped together.
So bottom line is, the text reappeared because the .uv2 files were deleted. And I already said the .uv2 play the video in the bottom rectangle section of the same "Squadron" screen.
And you have to try again without deleting the .uv2 files. Again remember to install the "f15d3d17.exe" patch because without it, the game gives a .cpp compiling error on exit.
Last edit: BEEN_Nath_58 2022-05-21
Ah, ok, I didn't understand what you were asking for.
Hopefully, you got the point. Other wrappers don't work to fix this problem either, so there's no difference to be checked (DDC, dgVoodoo2, WineD3D, aqrit's DDraw all give same issue)
Hmm I tried to use DxWnd profile from simhq.com and it's much better here but not good. The text is there, but it's disappearing. I haven't deleted the videos yet. The next lines are just for interest.
These videos are in format Electronic Arts TQI (ASF/STR), which is based on MPEG1 details here
https://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php/Electronic_Arts_TQI
In this game they have 15 fps. However, the additional videos that play in the menu are not .WVE files. These are UV2 files. According to this page
https://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php/Electronic_Arts_Formats
it is also a TQI, but the container is different. Something about demuxing this format can probably be found in the ffmpeg source code (\libavformat\electronicarts.c) if anyone is interested.
We can play these videos using ffplay.
e.g.
ffplay -f ea SQ_O.UV2
The video has the following features:
Video: tqi, yuv420p, 432x96, 15 fps, 15 tbr, 15 tbn.
Last edit: huh 2022-05-21
Ok an important update. @ghotik managed to ignore another message at
https://sourceforge.net/p/dxwnd/discussion/general/thread/dfe250a62e/?page=2#3473/7568/9e35/1494
where I talked about the release crashing games as well. This release again manages to crash Dark Secrets of Africa on my system, and even Sega GT that we recently checked out. The "dxwnd.f15.rar" was based after that file. Please revert to the earlier release to avoid the issue again.
Any update and did yoh read the above Post Moderation note?
Interestingly there's a profile for Jane's F/A-18 in the export folder and that game had the exact same bug with multiple windows. I wonder if at least this window problem didn't exist then.