Anno 1602 - GOG - Windows 10 1809

[Astgeir]

Hello,

I've been trying to play Anno 1602 GOG on Windows 10 1809 without much luck so far.
Without DxWnd, the game does not even launch properly, all I get is a black screen with a white c urso.
Using DxWnd by seting up directx 7 makes it possible to launch the game and reach the main menu but only if the sound and music are disabled with the external configuration tool. I've also noticed that there is no video at all while it should (well, 20 years ago it was !)
The game crash as soon as I pickup a nickname, there is no way to click on any flag in the wa Iiting room.

[gho]

The game engine is the file "1602.exe", and so far no surprises: you should hook this executable to DxWnd, but ...
looking at the file properties you can see that there are settings for Win98/ME compatibility, administrative rights and these boxes are grayed, you can't uncheck them.
The reason is that the settings come from a dedicated shim database "goggame.sdb" that imposes some compatibility shims over this executable.
The best way to liminate these settings without interfering with the GOG setup (you said that the game isn't working in GOG native mode, fullscreen and without DxWnd, but you never know ...) is to copy the executable, so do this way:

1) copy the game file "1602.exe" creating another executable exact copy of this one. I usually chose the name "1602.noshim.exe" to remember myself the reason for this operation (that is, have no shims) but any name will do. Of course, the copy must be in the same game folder with the original.
2) In DxWnd hook this copy by dragging & dropping it on the DxWnd panel.
3) Try running the game (to me, it worked at first shot) and adjust the DxWnd parameters according to your preferences.

P.s. there is also the possibility to tell DxWnd to do the operation for you, by checking the "Hook / No SHIMs" flag, but sometimes this trick doesn't work, so the manual operation is more reliable.

Please, let me know if you had problems ...

[Astgeir]

Thank you for your answer, It looks like I encouter the same issue using the original version (CD-Rom converted into an ISO) so I don't think that it is "GOG Related", I bought the latest because I was expecting it to have some kind of shim to make it work but well, here I am :P

I tried what you explained but anno does not even start, black screen again (see attached picture). Might it be related to something else in my system since it works on yours ? I don't know how to debug this :s

My specs (Alienware 15 r3) :

Intel Core i7-7700HQ.
Windows 10 Pro 1809 64-bit.
Nvidia GTX 1070 GPU with 8GB RAM (Driver 417.35)

[gho]

Uhm... a black screen is a black screen, it doesn't tell you much.
I'd rather like some logfiles. Instructions are in the tutorial in DxWnd help pages, but in any case here some:
Set "Options -> Expert mode" to enable logs tab
Set logging options like in screenshot
Run the game until you get the problem (the black screen) and stop it as suddenly as possible
Grab the dxwnd.log file in the game folder, compress it and post it here.

[Astgeir]

Indeed :) Log file attached.

[Astgeir]

Looks like the issue is linked to this app : Alienware Sound Center.

I had another gog games (The Settlers II - 10th Anniversary) which refused to launch as well and then I noticed in the crash dump the following :

ModuleInfo image:C:\Program Files\Alienware\AWSoundCenter\UserInterface\AWSoundCenterDevProps.dll : 5b600000 (size 00033000) symType:none (0) numSyms: 0

Turns out that killing this application fixed all my issues.... I've spent 3 days on this, I feel kinda stupid but well, now I can play :)

[gho]

A happy ending is always welcome. In effect, the logs didn't show any error, which is consistent with the trouble coming from outside DxWnd's scope. Thank you for telling me about another possible source of troubles (there are so many!).