Windows 7 issues?

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Man0lo
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by Man0lo »

Hello CEAW mates! The game gets Crashed To Desktop randomly very often when I play . I use WIndows 7 64 bit ...(note: I hadnt any problem when I was playing it on my previous WIn XP pc) . I tried to run the game under Windows XP compatibility but the problem still exists...Is there any solution for my problem?? I have installed CEAW 1.12 and GS 2.10...
PC spec:
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 670 GTX ; CPU: Intel i5 3.40 ; RAM: 8 GB (2000 Mhz)
Thanx a lot in advance!
Agathos2288
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by Agathos2288 »

Depending upon your system, you may have issues like I had w/ screen resolution. I kept getting an error in game--Does not support 1024 x 768.

I resolved the issue by right clicking on my Windows Desktop and selecting 'Screen Resolution' from the menu. From there, I chose 1280 x 1024 and was able to run the game fine.

Hope this helps!

Agathos
Morris
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by Morris »

how about windows 8 issues ?
msu7151
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by msu7151 »

It's funny, but after the third or fourth reinstallation of the game, it finally began working. Now it works fine.
Zovs
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by Zovs »

I have the original version and the patch (1.12) installed and it runs, but while it says its in full screen mode, only part of the game is in full screen. My laptop resolution is 1600x900 but the game plays likes its running in 800x600 res.

How can I maximize my screen res?

Running on Windows 7.
VPaulus
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by VPaulus »

Zovs wrote:I have the original version and the patch (1.12) installed and it runs, but while it says its in full screen mode, only part of the game is in full screen. My laptop resolution is 1600x900 but the game plays likes its running in 800x600 res.

How can I maximize my screen res?

Running on Windows 7.
You can't. The game just runs on 4:3 1024x768.
On some monitors you are able to configure them to fill the screen, but the game will be stretched.
Zovs
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by Zovs »

Ah that is too bad. Will a future patch address this limitation?

I currently have many Matrix Games (some a bit old) and they can run in full screen and use the whole screen res without "stretched" graphics.
VPaulus
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by VPaulus »

Zovs wrote:Ah that is too bad. Will a future patch address this limitation?

I currently have many Matrix Games (some a bit old) and they can run in full screen and use the whole screen res without "stretched" graphics.
I'm afraid not.
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by bartek74 »

Hi,
I had to reinstall system on my PC and have Windows 7 instead of Vista 64, i installed again CEAW 1.12 and 3.0. when i open PBEM game i see report about failed checksum and game looks like old 2.0. How to fix it?
Thank You for any help in this matter.
Bartek
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VPaulus
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by VPaulus »

geozero
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by geozero »

Here's the fix once and for all... All you need to do to get the full screen on any given resolution (I have 1920x1080, 60hz) is to right click the application file or the shortcut to it (depending if you have an icon shortcut on the desktop), and go to the COMPATIBILITY tab. There have it run un Windows XP (Service Pack 3) and you are good to go. No need to download any programs or change the resolution settings back and forth.

Now for my rant... I owned the original CEAW and loved it. I'd been playing Commander The Great War and decided to give this new version a try.

I must admit I was pretty disappointed to not be able to get the full screen. I read these comments and others, and I'm sorry but it should have been better programmed to allow a full screen... hell even TOAW 3 can go full screen. SO reading about having to change this or that, or it's a Windows 7 fault or a video card fault or having to download some other program.... blah blah blah... poor excuse at something that should have been done right the first time.

But given that the compatibility option works and requires no other hurdles I'm playing the game... and once again enjoying it. But seriously, next time fix that window size bug.
Peter Stauffenberg
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by Peter Stauffenberg »

You can definitely get GS v3.1 (or any other version) to run in full screen. I have an ATI graphics card on my Windows 7 OS and it runs in full screen without any adjustments at all.

I know that when Windows 7 was new there was an issue with Nvidia graphics cards users where they didn't get fullscreen. That was because the screen frequency wasn't exactly 60 Hz, but 59.96 Hz. This was rounded down to 59 Hz. In 59 Hz the game doesn't run fullscreen. It could be fixed by manually setting the frequency to 60.02 Hz or whatever in Nvidia control panel so it didn't get rounded down. A separate thread on the forum was created about this issue. Lately we haven't heard much about users having this issue.

Remember that this issue has nothing to do with GS, but rather the Java engine of CEAW. It's hard coded to show the graphics in 1024x768. So the graphics driver has to select full screen to use the entire screen on e. g. 1920x1080.

Not being able to use separate screen resolutions is the major drawback of CEAW and why people want to see CEAW 2 created with a different game engine. However, CEAW, was created at a time where Windows XP was the main OS and 1024x768 was a pretty common resolution. The game engine is about 10 years old. I therefore don't agree that it's a bug if your PC doesn't show a 10 year old game not in full screen without adjustment. The game wasn't made or tested for Windows 7. CEAW is no longer updated and therefore not supported for newer OS versions. If it works fine, if not then move on to another game if you upgrade. Just as for many other games made. I have plenty of games I bought for MS-DOS or Windows 95 that I won't dream of running on Windows 7 or Windows 10 (soon).

I would also mention that GS is a MOD for CEAW. There are limitations to what we are allowed to do with the mod. E. g. we are not allowed to change the size of the map, time frame (start and end year/month) , theatre (WW2 Europe) or the fundamentals of the game engine (e. g. screen resolution). CEAW 2 needs some selling points to make people switch from CEAW 1. :) Having said that we have no information about when or whether CEAW 2 will be made or not. That is up to Slitherine.
geozero
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by geozero »

I didn't realize the engine was that old. Seeing that CEAW GOLD and MHCEAW both came out around early 2009, I would have thought the engine was updated, err maybe not. Not sure what the big differences were then from the original CEAW... but that is not the point. I guess regardless of the age of the code or the limitations of it are not the point I was trying to make by posting my solution to the shrunken window issue.

Rather I was providing an easy "FIX" for anyone with this issue of not getting a full screen and setting the Compatibility to Windows XP SP3 seemed to work just fine, without the need of additional external software or changes to resolution manually back and forth as some of the other posts indicated.

Would love to see a new and improved CEAW, and hopefully with all new codes. BTW I have done beta testing and scenario designs for Matrix... just saying. Not much time these days but if you need a sounding board... let me know.

I gotta get back to blowing up Europe. :)
Peter Stauffenberg
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by Peter Stauffenberg »

The problem is that the "fix" is not general to everyone. Some can run without having to run in XP compatibility mode, like me. For others you might have to do something different to get full screen. That means you have to figure out for yourself which solution works for you. It's probably dependent upon OS version, graphics card driver etc.

Players will have to go through all the same again with Windows 10. Maybe that version will require yet again different settings.

GS is a free mod that has extended the life of CEAW. Slitherine have no responsibility to support that mod.
geozero
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by geozero »

Stauffenberg wrote:The problem is that the "fix" is not general to everyone. Some can run without having to run in XP compatibility mode, like me. For others you might have to do something different to get full screen. That means you have to figure out for yourself which solution works for you. It's probably dependent upon OS version, graphics card driver etc.

Players will have to go through all the same again with Windows 10. Maybe that version will require yet again different settings.

GS is a free mod that has extended the life of CEAW. Slitherine have no responsibility to support that mod.

Which was the whole point of my post... that there is yet another, and far more simple fix than had been previously stated in this thread. No one had suggested XP compatibility before.
Peter Stauffenberg
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by Peter Stauffenberg »

geozero wrote:I must admit I was pretty disappointed to not be able to get the full screen. I read these comments and others, and I'm sorry but it should have been better programmed to allow a full screen... hell even TOAW 3 can go full screen. SO reading about having to change this or that, or it's a Windows 7 fault or a video card fault or having to download some other program.... blah blah blah... poor excuse at something that should have been done right the first time.
This is what you wrote. It means that you think CEAW was poorly coded since it doesn't allow fullscreen for all Windows 7 users. Then you wrote the part about suggestions to how to make it run in fullscreen being a poor excuse for something that should have been done right the first time.

My point was that CEAW was made for Windows XP by FirePowerJohan 10 years ago. He stopped working on CEAW long before Windows 7 was even out after having made several patches to CEAW. CEAW was well supported when the game was pretty new. So how can it have been poorly coded for fullscreen when the main coder actually made fullscreen work properly on XP? Windows 7 wasn't even considered at the time CEAW was supported with patches.

The reason we still play CEAW is not because of vanilla CEAW, but GS. The original users of CEAW have got their value out of the game they bought and got it extended with the GS mod. So issues you have with CEAW on modern OS'es is because GS made the game last longer than anticipated. This is a completely free mod created by dedicated CEAW users and not Slitherine. Slitherine / Matrixgames only make the mod available on their WEB site. They have no obligations to support GS by ensuring it runs on the latest OS'es.

So I really can't understand the expectation of having a 10 year old game being expected to run on new OS'es without having to do any tweaks. It's good the game is actually running as well as it does. Quite a few older games can't be made to run at all on Windows 7. E. g. I bought some old Sherlock Holmes games on Steam some months ago. Quite a few of them were unplayable for me because of graphics glitches, cursor issues etc. Then I read that these games were made for Windows XP so I should have thought about that. Granted, the price was very low for the entire pack so I didn't lose much. Some games I managed to get working ok by searching the internet for suggestions. The official support for these games is long gone.
geozero
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by geozero »

Many games coded for XP run full screen on any resolution. This one did not without the XP compatibility option. I would say that is not well planned. But whatever...

I just bought CEAW and since it comes with GS then I cannot comment on vanilla. I understand that it was such a great mod that the developers just went ahead and incorporated it into the game as an update and now as a part of the program... so great... and kudos... and I get that a mod does not change the code level of the engine or how the resolution is handled. I have no issues with the mod/update. So again, just letting future buyers know that you may need to run it in XP compatible mode. No biggie. Peace.
Peter Stauffenberg
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by Peter Stauffenberg »

XP compatibility mode wasn't made for XP, but for Windows Vista and Windows 7. We never had any fullscreen issues on Windows XP back in the old days when they game was new. At that time people didn't have 1920x1080 monitors. 1280x1024 was the best they had.

The game engine is made in Java and Java has quite a few weaknesses when it comes to graphics size. You set the pixel size of the dialog boxes, map, units etc. You need separate code and separate graphics for each resolution. Its not fully scalable. You pick the resolutions you want to support and have to code each separately.

It didn't matter at the time 10 years ago to hard code the resolution to 1024x768 since it was the defacto standard for monitors people had at the time. It's the prolonged life of CEAW that has made the hardcoded resolution a current drawback for the game. You need the graphics driver to scale the graphics to 1024x768 for you and keep fullscreen.

You need to judge decisions made at the time they were made. Today it seems stupid to hardcode a game at a fixed resolution, but it wasn't 10 years ago.

I've been playing games for so long so I remember games being made for CGA, EGA and VGA resolutions. Games even required separate drivers per graphics card until DirectX appeared. DOS games were notoriously bad for running at all due to the 640k limit to base memory. So we had to use programs like QEMM.SYS to put drivers etc. from base memory to upper memory to free up enough for the game to actually run. The issues we have with computer games now are just nothing compared to the bad time we had in the 1980's and 1990's.

Many wargames made in the same era as CEAW (2000-2005) also had fixed resolutions.

I would say that some XP games made 10 years ago running flawlessly in full screen on Windows 7 is based on pure luck and not great planning. Nobody knew 10 years ago how Windows 7 would look like and could plan for making code work 100% on an operating system that didn't exist at the time.

What could the programmers of CEAW have done to ensure that it would work on fullscreen on Windows 7 when it worked on Windows XP without problems? They couldn't anticipate for much higher resolutions and new operating system. The intended life time of the game was expected to be 3-5 years. 5 years ago most people used Windows XP and had no fullscreen issues. So CEAW has fulfilled what it was intended to do when it was made.

You can probably "blame" GS for making CEAW get into this problem since the game is still alive outside its expected life duration. I wouldn't call that poor coding, but rather evidence of a game more popular than most.
Peter Stauffenberg
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by Peter Stauffenberg »

What I do agree with, though, is that it's a good idea for Slitherine to post possible issues you might experience if you purchase CEAW and want to run it on Windows 7, Windows 10 and MAC. Then your suggestion of running in compatibility mode is a good one to add. That info is good to have upfront before purchasing the game.

However, I won't agree that it's due to bad coding or planning that some players have to use compatibility mode to run in full screen. It's just advise to people purchasing an old game. If you purchase CEAW and it's not stated it's made and supported for Windows XP THEN that is something that could be improved.
geozero
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Re: Windows 7 issues?

Post by geozero »

I never stated that GS was bad... only that the game runs on my system in XP compatibility and consumers should know this, whether up front on the order page or on a discussion topic such as this. Your continued commentary dilutes the value of the technical fix observations I have made for the benefit of everyone, including potential future buyers of this game.
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