America: No Peace Beyond The Line Config
Window hooker to run fullscreen programs in window and much more...
Status: Beta
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looking for some help in getting this game to work. I tried messing with the directx configs but all it does is send my cursor to the top left corner of the screen and creates a process with no image in the taskbar, then exits. I have tried another game and it works so dxwnd should be working.
The game installs on Win10 without any problem, but requires a proper crack to run.
Once installed and replaced America.exe with the cracked exe the game can run with DxWnd default options.
The crack is available in the image posted on Myabandonware. If you need any further help, please write.
Be aware that the game is maybe a little buggy: depending on the configuration, I had it crashing quite easily while moving the mouse over the main menu panel. That's why I never posted a configuration in the export folder. Anyway, once started, the game seems a little bit more stable.
Hellon i can share you my presets if you want?
Works great on my 3840x2160 screen on Win10 so far. :)
Last edit: Robert Urine 2020-01-19
My mistake, the game was not so buggy, in reality I had a problem in the OpenGL renderer.
Now it seems fixed in this patch. If you like you could replace the files with those in the archive and then, in the DirectX panel, select the renderer "OpenGL" and check the "Full bilinear filter" flag. The result could be even better and faster, if you have a good accelerated opengl library.
In any case, better save everything you're using now (maybe a full backup of the DxWnd folder), you never know ....
No, not working even with default settings. I tried just tried 2.5.43 with OpenGL and the same thing happens. Game works on its own it's just very laggy in game. I was wondering what settings I should look to adjust if I want to fix the lag and also get it to work. I'm getting a "create process error 740".
Edit: looks like CreateProcess error 740 is just a permissions problem so just run as admin.
Edit: 2.02.96 version - Games works now, up until the game screen, it's just black with a cursor and when you move the mouse only parts of the screen show up like the resources bar at the top.
2.5.43 verison - Games works up until the 'Start Game' screen and then freezes.
Looking for a fix for either, or both.
Edit 2: 2.5.43 - game works, so now I'm just working on configs for it. Thx for the help. i'll let you guys know if anything else.
Last edit: coolio11110 2020-01-19
@Robert, can't download the file, I don't have an sms number atm. Would it be possible to post in the thread?
Edit: game works, you can just refer to previous post, you can still post settings if you want.
Last edit: coolio11110 2020-01-19
@Coolio11110 Oh yes sorry i forget about this, well sure here it is, just import it with DxWnd and it should work. Oh well that's nice have fun then! :)
Do you know how to fix lag in higher resolution? I found this as the issue. America works well in 1600x1200 format, but I would like to play in 3840x2160 but it's so laggy. Any tips on how to fix this?
Well i'm not an expert i guess it also depends on your configuration: which windows you are using, ram, video card etc. Also, did you try the prests i sent? that's exactly how mine is configurated actually.
If this doesn't work i really don't know sorry.
Maybe try dgVodoo? I had no luck with this one, on this game so.
Well, @3840x2160 the pixels on video are approx. 4 times more than @1600x1200, no wonder it could be slow.
About DxWnd, we have to check if there's a color transformation: that is performed by the CPU (no hw acceleration yet!) pixel per pixel, so this alone could make it awfully slow.
One question: are you trying to run the game natively at that resolution or the game has a lower resolution and you just stretch the window to fullscreen size?
@Robert I tried your configuration, but it is just the default when I import it. Using Win10, 16gb ram, nvidia gt 1060.
@gho The game is native 1600x1200 and I stretch it in dxwnd and it works fine, I just wanted to play at 4k.
I see, 1600x1200 is the maximum resolution supported by the game. The game runs at 16 bit color depth, so if you want to run on a Win10 32 bit desktop DxWnd should convert 1600x1200 pixel colors, no wonder it could be slow! It should be much better setting a desktop color depth to 16 bit for the game (using the compatibility reduced color feature) and blitting with a non-emulated or hardware-accelerated blitter like OpenGL. Unfortunately I doubt that DxWnd is currently handling this situation properly, but if you give me some time I can check and see if it is possible to make the necessary fixes.
After tinkering with it, I found a temporary solution. I had my renderer set to "primary buffer", so I changed it to "primary surface". Then, I changed my resolution in the .ini file from 1600x1200 to 3440x2000 as it seems to run a bit faster than the full 3840x2160.
I found this thread and applied the changes there(DirectX tab: set auto primary surface blit OFF, DirectX(2) tab: turned OFF vsync, turned OFF clipper, turned flip blt/wait ON ) https://sourceforge.net/p/dxwnd/discussion/general/thread/058a607b/?limit=25#a3a9
turned on logs to see what happened
resulted in higher FPS on average but I found another error which repeats forever though doesnt seem to affect gameplay
00009:735] Blt: ERROR 0x887601ae(DDERR_SURFACEBUSY) at 382
[00009:782] FPS: @196280 fps=58
[00009:782] PrimaryStretchBlt: Blt ERROR 0x887601ae(DDERR_SURFACEBUSY) at 3281
[00009:782] Blt: ERROR 0x887601ae(DDERR_SURFACEBUSY) at 485
[00009:782] BltFast ERROR: res=0x887601ae(DDERR_SURFACEBUSY)
[00009:782] EmuBlt: Lock ERROR res=0x887601ae(DDERR_SURFACEBUSY) at 3531
[00009:782] sBlt ERROR: Color conversion failed res=0x887601ae(DDERR_SURFACEBUSY)
[00009:782] BltFast ERROR: res=0x887601ae(DDERR_SURFACEBUSY)
[00009:782] EmuBlt: Unlock ERROR dds=0x3ded738 res=0(DD_OK) at 3605
[00009:813] Blt: ERROR 0x887601ae(DDERR_SURFACEBUSY) at 382
[00009:813] EmuBlt: Lock ERROR res=0x887601ae(DDERR_SURFACEBUSY) at 3531
[00009:813] sBlt ERROR: Color conversion failed res=0x887601ae(DDERR_SURFACEBUSY)
[00009:813] BltFast ERROR: res=0x887601ae(DDERR_SURFACEBUSY)
[00009:813] EmuBlt: Unlock ERROR dds=0x3ded738 res=0(DD_OK) at 3605
I found this thread and applied the changes there(DirectX tab: check Supress DX common errors) https://sourceforge.net/p/dxwnd/discussion/general/thread/9557d802/?limit=25&page=1#fd89
gave me a black screen which leads me to believe that the error I found in the log file IS actually affecting the game somehow, just haven't figured it out yet.
So for now just going off what I found in the first thread and hopefully I can continue from there.
I'm sorry, my modest HDTV monitor reaches up to 1920x1080 at maximum, so I can't support you with tests from my side.
The failures in Blt / BltFast operations are not important if you can't notice them. They should be sporadic, but if too frequent they could give the impression of a choppy rendering. Maybe in such a case pulling the brake on frame rate can improve. You can try enabling vSync with the different options or Blt/Flip Wait option , or simply add a frame delay ( Timing / Limit with a delay of a few mSec).
Hi, America player! Very happy there are so many of you still like this game.
I tried America and it worked well but when I try to play America Expansion Pack just doesn't work. Do you have any Idea?
First I try Expansion Pack with America origin setting, nothing show.
Then I try set compatible for Expansion Pack to run with Win 98, it loaded but at the main menu, mouse freeze. Tried may thing from DirectX tab and others but no help.
I replicated the problem here, W.I.P. ...
It seems interesting: the expansion game runs in fullscreen mode, no matter what, but it has some compatibility shims associated. I believe there is a compatibility layer that includes the 640x480 screen resolution plus something else that makes the game work.
Running DxWnd as Admin you can use the "Tools > Clear compatibility flags" menu command to strip all shims but after you do that the game no longer works.
There is a job to do: analyze the compatibility layer for the file AmericaAddOn.exe and try to understand what fixes the game that DxWnd didn't replicate yet.
Hi gho,
Thank you so much for quickly replying. I really appreciate your efforts to create this wonderful tool, and until 7 years past from the last commit to github, you still take your time to maintain it.
As you mentioned, those steps are what I did.
And something I want to share.
All America and it's expansion worked well on win 7 with compatible settings. Expansion even smootier than main version . But because I played without your tool (so just in 1024x800)
But on win 10 things changed.
Without your tool America can run even without compatible settings, with some mouse lagging. While Expansion can not run without compatible settings.
And with your tool America run very smooth in high resolution.
Again thanks and best regards
Hurray!!
It took some debugging work and a lot of luck to guess the problem. I noted that the crash occurred when an operation supposedly to be performed with a given system call was mapped by DxWnd to a completely different one. This doesn't make sense, so I guessed a hooking problem.
I believe that the expansion program was built (or maybe cracked) with some different compiling program that was not compatible with the DxWnd default hooking schema. It was enough to relax the hooking search with this option:
Hook > IAT scan = "No IAT scan"
to prevent DxWnd to make a big mess with the function pointers.
So, now the AmericaAddOn.exe program (the cracked version, of course) can safely run as the main chapter.
Enjoy!!
Last edit: gho 2024-09-05
great!!! I will try after work.
Thank you so much.
By the way how can I debug?
I will try other games too
To debug a game I suggest and use the OllyDBG tool, though there is the newer and open-source x32/64dbg. You can run the game from the debugger while DxWnd is running, or (with a more complex operation) use the DxWnd "Run suspended" command and attach the program with the debugger while in suspended mode. It's not a walk in the park, anyway!
Thank gho, it really work!
Also thank you for debug guide, next time I will try debug first before asking.
Wow, there is someone still alive here in 2024! I got as far as installing the game but when it runs it is half-frozen. An investigation into DXWnd led me here, but I am not proficient enough to understand all the conversation.
Is there a chance anyone might... reach out and help?
Last edit: Maria Bykova 2024-09-28
Could you help us explain as to what you mean by half-frozen?
The game launches, but the cursor moves in irregular jumps and the interface responses are delayed by a second or more. My game version is 1.0 — in all other versions, I wasn't even able to launch the installer.
I tried:
— launching it as an admin in all available compatibility modes. No change;
— replacing the launch icon with the one from Myabandonware that has a crack inside, as described above. No change;
— hooking it up to DXWnd. I must be doing something wrong, as this way the game opens, shows a black screen with no sound, then crashes.