Before Mr Pepka steals me the topic opening (it wouldn't take long since he adds some games each day ;) I wish to talk about this one.
It's an old and interesting game with a few critical problems:
1) the fake registry values should match some corresponding path in the game .ini file
2) the RegCreateKeyEx wrapper needs a fix (already available in latest leaked beta but non in the v2.05.59)
3) the game uses mci timers to schedule a video refresh every 33 mSec, but they fail on my Win10 computer, unless I set time stretching a little slower. That's curious, the error has no reason to happen.
4) the game doesn't work (it hangs at startup with a black screen) if I add music and a fake CD.
Despite all this, in a lucky day and clearing all game incompatibilities, the game works! And it deserves some improvement ....
4) the game doesn't work (it hangs at startup with a black screen) if I add music and a fake CD.
The same thing happens with Rubik's Games. The game didn't work in Win7 for a very long time for me, probably version 2.05.24 was the last where it worked. Then, something changed and the game worked in version 2.05.33 (without CD audio emulation).
Changes in CD audio emulation, which began in version 2.05.57 and finalized in version 2.05.58, have made the game work perfectly with audio emulation.
But only if the Emulate CD aux and Emulate CD mixer flags are turned off.
If I turn on the Emulate CD mixer flag I get a black screen and the game hangs. If I turn on Emulate CD aux, only the sound work, music not played.
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Hello! I know this post was created a long-ish time ago, but im curious, what incompatibilities did you clear? Ive been messing with this beast for a hot minute, cleared out all the unplayable videos, etc, and I would like to know that you did if you remember! Thanks in advance ^_^
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Some more oddities of this game:
1) you have to hook dinput, or the game hangs at startup
2) you have to keep the mouse steady - as soon as you move it the game hangs!!
3) the CD audio emulation searches for audio tracks, performs some MCI_SEEK command as if about to start playing but does not do MCI_PLAY!
I'm going to see more in detail, the game is not so bad ...
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Gorgeous! Another fix to our wonderful CD audio emulator!!
The problem was that mciSendCommand(MCI_SEEK) had a MCI_NOTIFY flag, so the game was expecting a MM_MCINOTIFY MCI_NOTIFY_SUCCESSFUL message to follow on. I added this logic and now the game plays CD sudio correctly (and, of course, it sounds much better).
In the meanwhile, other oddities:
4) sometimes the intro movies are muted (apparently, randomly and without changing the sound configuration)
5) some text overlay is rendered badly (press esc during a mission, see my screenshot)
about some text overlay that is rendered badly, it seems useless to search the missing text in the assembly code or the GDI/USER32 text operations: in this game all text is pre-rendered into texture surfaces to be blitted to screen. Making a texture dump of the game would show that.
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@Fraini Bugfreak : I tried now to run the game on my new Win11 system, but I can't: the game hangs after the DxWnd splash screen. The game is old, it must have some additional incompatibility with the newer systems, I'll try to recover, please stay tuned.
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Hmm no matter what I do I keep getting the same black screen (and that's the best I've got so far) and the music keeps repeating the same loop over and over...
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fascinating, This game is hellbent on being incredibly confusing when trying to run in any environment. If part of the issue is coming from w11, I'll try with w10. On W11 I get a black screen, but on my W10 machine It at least starts, even without the assistance of a program like this. It doesnt get anywhere past a single sound byte, but I can see the first video attempting to play.
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update, I removed the movie files from the iso and remounted it, and I got to the start screen! Oddly I cant select anything, (it might be expecting controller input? Im doing this through virtualbox so its bound to be glitchy) but its something. I think the issue has something to do with the video file type for one.
Second update: Nope, I moved to a genuine windows 10 computer and it just does NOT want to take my inputs! I actually cant seem to find out why, but from a quick check its running at a good 0 fps. What makes this more irritating is I have gotten this game to work before without any issues in the slightest, Im not entirely sure what happened here.
also of note, the game doesnt actually launch in a window! it launches fullscreen despite my many attempts at changing the settings to prevent that.
Last edit: Fraini Bugfreak 2024-09-08
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It seems that I got the game running, at last! The trick is to adopt Huh's configuration, delete the movies (renaming the FMV folder) and NEVER MOVE THE MOUSE while the game has the focus.
The last advice seems difficult, but it's not so hard: using the Alt-Tab sequence you can move the focus on other tabs and the game can be controlled entirely by the keyboard. I should find a way to disable the mouse by DxWnd and things should be easier.
To delete the movies it is not necessary to re-burn a CD: you can use the fake-CD feature, the game just searches for the FMV folder in the CD.
So, now before the toy breaks again, let's revise some conditions:
1) I used the cracked executable coming from the game RIP. This is what:
BW.EXEsize:962,048CRC32:7B9ADD66
2) The DxWnd configuration is currently the one in attach, that includes also a fake-CD and registry setting
3) I dropped dgVoodoo2 in the game folder, but I'm not sure it's determinant
4) in the fake-CD I copied (and deleted) the CD FMV folder
In attach some screenshots. Now I'm going to try to get a simpler configuration getting rid of useless flags and trying to bypass or fix the mouse input.
I have a little difference here.
I'm using the official patched bw.exe SIZE: 973312 CRC32: ACFD7BB9 from o.d-.a.es..u but I think it won't be a problem. FMVs play normally for me here in Win7. The CD audio emulation only works properly if no virtual CD is connected (otherwise the music doesn't play in the mission). However there is some unexpected behavior here.
According to the protocols it should by play track from 10 to 11 and then track from 11 to 12 (probably on the map screen). Track 2 is played in the mission.
The problem is that the track from 11 to 12 hardly ever plays, but I did hear it once (1x) on the map screen.
I can move the mouse as I want and the game doesn't freeze, but I can't move the mouse to the game window or it will freeze.
Then are a lot of lines in the log
First step: the mouse
Surprisingly, the work was already there: you have to set the "cursor:ZeroDisplayCounter" flag. The updated profile in attach.
The problem was because of a game bug: SetCursor(0) decrements the visibility counter and hides the cursor when the counter is 0 or negative . The game tries to hide the cursor, but the counter starts negative and the game treats the number as a huge positive number, so it loops 2^32 times and crashes.
I suppose that some other old game had the same problem, I'll try to remember which one.
Before Mr Pepka steals me the topic opening (it wouldn't take long since he adds some games each day ;) I wish to talk about this one.
It's an old and interesting game with a few critical problems:
1) the fake registry values should match some corresponding path in the game .ini file
2) the RegCreateKeyEx wrapper needs a fix (already available in latest leaked beta but non in the v2.05.59)
3) the game uses mci timers to schedule a video refresh every 33 mSec, but they fail on my Win10 computer, unless I set time stretching a little slower. That's curious, the error has no reason to happen.
4) the game doesn't work (it hangs at startup with a black screen) if I add music and a fake CD.
Despite all this, in a lucky day and clearing all game incompatibilities, the game works! And it deserves some improvement ....
The same thing happens with Rubik's Games. The game didn't work in Win7 for a very long time for me, probably version 2.05.24 was the last where it worked. Then, something changed and the game worked in version 2.05.33 (without CD audio emulation).
Changes in CD audio emulation, which began in version 2.05.57 and finalized in version 2.05.58, have made the game work perfectly with audio emulation.
But only if the Emulate CD aux and Emulate CD mixer flags are turned off.
If I turn on the Emulate CD mixer flag I get a black screen and the game hangs. If I turn on Emulate CD aux, only the sound work, music not played.
Hello! I know this post was created a long-ish time ago, but im curious, what incompatibilities did you clear? Ive been messing with this beast for a hot minute, cleared out all the unplayable videos, etc, and I would like to know that you did if you remember! Thanks in advance ^_^
Some more oddities of this game:
1) you have to hook dinput, or the game hangs at startup
2) you have to keep the mouse steady - as soon as you move it the game hangs!!
3) the CD audio emulation searches for audio tracks, performs some MCI_SEEK command as if about to start playing but does not do MCI_PLAY!
I'm going to see more in detail, the game is not so bad ...
Gorgeous! Another fix to our wonderful CD audio emulator!!
The problem was that mciSendCommand(MCI_SEEK) had a MCI_NOTIFY flag, so the game was expecting a MM_MCINOTIFY MCI_NOTIFY_SUCCESSFUL message to follow on. I added this logic and now the game plays CD sudio correctly (and, of course, it sounds much better).
In the meanwhile, other oddities:
4) sometimes the intro movies are muted (apparently, randomly and without changing the sound configuration)
5) some text overlay is rendered badly (press esc during a mission, see my screenshot)
Last edit: gho 2020-11-30
Perfect. When I get home, I need to check Rubik's Games to see if it has the same or a similar problem
In case you need it, read the notes!
about some text overlay that is rendered badly, it seems useless to search the missing text in the assembly code or the GDI/USER32 text operations: in this game all text is pre-rendered into texture surfaces to be blitted to screen. Making a texture dump of the game would show that.
The missing text reappears by setting the "d3d:ForceColorKeyOff" tweak. This way some textures lose transparency, but at least the text is readable.
@Fraini Bugfreak : I tried now to run the game on my new Win11 system, but I can't: the game hangs after the DxWnd splash screen. The game is old, it must have some additional incompatibility with the newer systems, I'll try to recover, please stay tuned.
thank you! im going to continue tinkering with it myself, but its certainly easier to have more points of view.
@Fraini Bugfreak
As for me I don't think I tried this game, I think I pointed out the same issues as another game back then.
I'll try later.
edit...found
Last edit: BEEN_Nath_58 2024-09-07
Hmm no matter what I do I keep getting the same black screen (and that's the best I've got so far) and the music keeps repeating the same loop over and over...
Same for me. The situation seems much worse than when I made my first attempts ...
After some trials with cnc-draw + Win98 compatibility, I'm starting to believe we should try the DxWnd versions I mentioned earlier in this thread...
No, unfortunately it doesn't work with these versions either.
Last edit: huh 2024-09-07
Update:
Interesting. Disabling the sound card got me into the game.
Here is my test configuration (for tests only).
Update:
Wow, now it works with the sound card too.
If the "Hook dinput-Set mouse shared coop. level" flag didn't do it, I can't explain it.
Update2:
I don't know why, but moving the mouse to the game window freezes the game.
I'm going to sleep.
Last edit: huh 2024-09-07
fascinating, This game is hellbent on being incredibly confusing when trying to run in any environment. If part of the issue is coming from w11, I'll try with w10. On W11 I get a black screen, but on my W10 machine It at least starts, even without the assistance of a program like this. It doesnt get anywhere past a single sound byte, but I can see the first video attempting to play.
update, I removed the movie files from the iso and remounted it, and I got to the start screen! Oddly I cant select anything, (it might be expecting controller input? Im doing this through virtualbox so its bound to be glitchy) but its something. I think the issue has something to do with the video file type for one.
Second update: Nope, I moved to a genuine windows 10 computer and it just does NOT want to take my inputs! I actually cant seem to find out why, but from a quick check its running at a good 0 fps. What makes this more irritating is I have gotten this game to work before without any issues in the slightest, Im not entirely sure what happened here.
also of note, the game doesnt actually launch in a window! it launches fullscreen despite my many attempts at changing the settings to prevent that.
Last edit: Fraini Bugfreak 2024-09-08
Sure. You have to hook Dinput just like in my profile I posted. But I'm on Win7, it might make a difference.
Yup, I hooked dinput. i noticed you were on windows 7 in your screenshots so i may give that a quick emulation and see if it changes anything.
It seems that I got the game running, at last! The trick is to adopt Huh's configuration, delete the movies (renaming the FMV folder) and NEVER MOVE THE MOUSE while the game has the focus.
The last advice seems difficult, but it's not so hard: using the Alt-Tab sequence you can move the focus on other tabs and the game can be controlled entirely by the keyboard. I should find a way to disable the mouse by DxWnd and things should be easier.
To delete the movies it is not necessary to re-burn a CD: you can use the fake-CD feature, the game just searches for the FMV folder in the CD.
So, now before the toy breaks again, let's revise some conditions:
1) I used the cracked executable coming from the game RIP. This is what:
2) The DxWnd configuration is currently the one in attach, that includes also a fake-CD and registry setting
3) I dropped dgVoodoo2 in the game folder, but I'm not sure it's determinant
4) in the fake-CD I copied (and deleted) the CD FMV folder
In attach some screenshots. Now I'm going to try to get a simpler configuration getting rid of useless flags and trying to bypass or fix the mouse input.
Last edit: gho 2024-09-08
I have a little difference here.
I'm using the official patched bw.exe SIZE: 973312 CRC32: ACFD7BB9 from o.d-.a.es..u but I think it won't be a problem. FMVs play normally for me here in Win7. The CD audio emulation only works properly if no virtual CD is connected (otherwise the music doesn't play in the mission). However there is some unexpected behavior here.
According to the protocols it should by play track from 10 to 11 and then track from 11 to 12 (probably on the map screen). Track 2 is played in the mission.
The problem is that the track from 11 to 12 hardly ever plays, but I did hear it once (1x) on the map screen.
I can move the mouse as I want and the game doesn't freeze, but I can't move the mouse to the game window or it will freeze.
Then are a lot of lines in the log
First step: the mouse
Surprisingly, the work was already there: you have to set the "cursor:ZeroDisplayCounter" flag. The updated profile in attach.
The problem was because of a game bug: SetCursor(0) decrements the visibility counter and hides the cursor when the counter is 0 or negative . The game tries to hide the cursor, but the counter starts negative and the game treats the number as a huge positive number, so it loops 2^32 times and crashes.
I suppose that some other old game had the same problem, I'll try to remember which one.
Last edit: gho 2024-09-08
Second step: dgVoodoo2 is not necessary ...
The intro movie now doesn't hurt the game, movies can be recovered.
Last edit: gho 2024-09-08