Windows 95 compatibility mode needed to run game, but disabled windowed mode via DxWnd

[Max Green]

As per title. I'm trying to run an old game (Akte Europa) under Windows 10, but I can either 1) run the game in windowed mode via DxWnd, which means the game crashes when the intro FMV finishes playing, or 2) run the game with Windows 95/98 compatibility mode, which allows the game to run, but disables windowed mode.

Can I have it both ways somehow? Any help is appreciated.

[BEEN_Nath_58]

First think you'll need is to discover why the game needs Windows 95 compatibility. Some guesses are: Ignore Exceptions (Handle Exceptions in Compat tab), SetSingleCoreAffinity in Compat tab, Limit RAM/video memory/texture memory/HDD in Compat tab, shim:HideDisplayModes, shim:EmulateWin95, shim:EmulateWin9xHeap in Tweak tab.

This should be tested with Early Hook (Inject DLL hook fron Hoom tab). Enable Expert mode first from Options menu in Menu bar.

There is also probably a profile in export folder too

[gho]

Yes, there is a profile in the export folder. I fixed some reference to my tests, this one could work in your case. If not, please let me know ...

If you apply Win95/98 compatibility mode, in some cases (and this seems one of them) Windows runs the game in a sort of virtual machine, making it un-accessible to DxWnd hooks, so DxWnd would be useless in this case.

[Max Green]

Thank you very much, both of you. The game proper now runs in windowed mode, using that .dxw file.

However, there's still an issue: FMVs are still played in fullscreen. That isn't an issue with the opening cutscene, but after any cutscene thereafter, the window is resized to what looks like 640x480 or a similar small size. Note that the game resolution reminds unchanged i.e. I'm getting squished pixels and the game's interface is basically unreadable.

Is there a way to always force the window to have one resolution, not matter what in-game resolution is currently being used (which differs between the main window and FMVs)? "Lock win coordinates" doesn't seem to do it.

[gho]

The game was not an easy one to control, but in addition it is in German language and I have no idea of how to get to an intermediate movie. I suppose I should win some battle, but it's not easy for me. Could you share a savegame in a situation very close to the start of a new movie, then post also some instructions about how to load and run the game with German commands?
The initial movie is rendered through basic ddraw functions, it should be windowed easily, as it is on my computer. I set a stronger configuration that could enforce the movies in the proper format. Will you try it?

[Max Green]

Thank you again. I'm home at the moment, but I'll upload a save game from the end of the first mission tomorrow. Thankfully, the game automatically saves at the end of each mission. I'll post it here with instructions on how to load it.

[Max Green]

Here's the save file (game.007). Just drop it into the game's main folder. I don't know whether the save file also requires a profile, so I also attached the profile files as well as my config file (though I think that only saves your selected game resolution, sound volume etc.).

To load the save, select SPIEL LADEN from the main menu. Select the bottom-most save game (it should be the only one), and then click LADEN. The game will load at the very end of mission 1, and the mission will conclude after a few seconds without you having to do anything. Once the end-of-mission stat sheet has been loaded, click WEITER and the cutscene for mission 2 will play.

EDIT: I tried the new .dxw file, but for me, all cutscenes still play in fullscreen. I'm using an NVIDIA GPU if that makes any difference.

[gho]

Ok, thanks. The experiment worked and I easily run the cutscene movie, but the result was different, In my system the game stayed within the window borders (see the screenshot) and I was not able to replicate the problem.
There must be some difference in your system that I can't spot here.
I also tried to replace my configuration files with yours, same result (apart a game resolution increase, probably because you set a higher resolution in the game options) and this exclude the possibility that the problem may depend on one of these files. Maybe you could run a game session with DxWnd logs enabled (see the tutorial on the help pages) and share the logs.

There is another thing: the reason why the game window gets resized could be because something breaks the aero scaling. You can avoid this by disabling it at the beginning. So, you may try to set some flag in the Video configuration tab, like "Set DPI awareness" or "No DWM". If the window is too small, you can increase the size in the Main configuration tab.

[Max Green]

Thank you. I'll post a log later today or tomorrow.

[Max Green]

It turned out the solution was much simpler than I thought: I hadn't installed the latest version of DxWnd.Using that one, everything works just fine, with the exception of the game being a bit too fast, I think. However, it's still playable, and the game speed can be set to low.

Thank you so much for you help once more.

[dippy dipper]

Another thing to consider is a possible third party codec pack that is taking over the video rendering and breaking the dxwnd control.

[gho]

Good idea, the logs should tell ...

[gho]

P.s. about the movies, this is a perfect case where you MUST set the Video / filter / deinterlace filter to dramatically improve the quality!