WindowsXP Problems

[Schrullenhaft]

You are aware that there are work-arounds that have been posted ? If not I can point you to the current ones that are known. Apparently they don't work for everyone according to some users, but I believe that they'll work in a vast majority of circumstances.

CMBO is a "finished product". At this point there are no planneed updates/patches intended for this game. It came out shortly after Windows 2000 and almost a year and a half before Windows XP. CMBB is the current project that BTS is working on. I can almost guarantee you that this problem will be examined to some extent for CMBB in order to minimize its impact, but this will not involve massive changes to the interface code to accomodate NVidia's programming oversights. In the pantheon of driver bugs the 'white transparency' issue is pretty minor - however it is obviously very annoying to CM players.

I'm sure game companies don't like to rely on other vendors for solutions that affect their products, but sometimes there isn't a whole lot that can be done. BTS is a small company and they've done about all they can to make NVidia aware of some of their driver bugs (including ones on the Mac - that are vastly different from the PC bugs).

There might be a fix in the future, when BTS has the time to possibly look at this problem after CMBB has been released and appropriately patched. Otherwise an interface mod like Deanco's will help with most of the problems. BTS has to concentrate on finishing CMBB right now since it means more to their financial future than patching CMBO does. Who knows... maybe NVidia will come out with a beta driver that will fix this problem in a month or two.

[kverdon]

Schrullenhaft,

Yes I'm aware of the work arounds out there and that they do work for some. Yes CMBO has been declared a "finished" product and I know that BTS is a small company. However CMBO is currently their only marketable product and even when CMBB is released it will still represent 50% of thier product line. Yes it was completed a year and a half before XP was released but it is a testiment to the quality of the product that it is STILL a top knotch product. I certainly will continue to play CMBO far after CMBB is released as another Western Front product will most likely not be availiable for another 18mo to 2yrs.

The problem, as I see it, is that this is going to continue to get worse, not better. Nvidia and XP will continue to grow in prevelence unless someone pops out of the woodwork and knocks Nvidia off the top. If this problem affects CMBB then BTS will be cutting off a good % of their future sales if this problem is not fixed. I'll grant you that I have had limitted experience with Nvidia cards. I've got thier GeForce 2 GO in my laptop and I had a TNT before my V3/V5, however I have followed NVidia fairly closely and do know that they are a PITA when trying to get a driver to work with you program. You wind up needing Vxx.yy to run program x and Vxx.zz to run program y. I cant see why BTS would like to put themselves hostage to that type of a company IF they could avoid it.

Ok, I've said my piece. I'm just a bit dissapointed at the way BTS has handled this. I would have been much happier if they would have said that they would look for an internal fix when they had the time instead of "its not our problem, we've informed NVidia, now its up to them to fix it. In the meantime, you are on your own".

Ok, sorry I'm off the soapbox now.

Kevin

[MajorCyco]

I too have the nVidia problem when I upgraded to Windows XP. Unfortunalety I went to the NTFS and going back to Win98 is no longer an option. As I have absolutely zero faith that nVidia is going to fix this. The work arounds give me back the text, but then the top half of the game screen is garbled when I play the scenario. I am considering beaking down and buying a new video card. Is there anyone who is running Win XP "and" Combat Mission with no problem? If so, what video card are you using? majorcyco@home.com

[LtCol.05]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Schrullenhaft:

Did you have this combination of hardware running another OS (such as Win98SE) before WinXP or was this system initially configured with XP and nothing else has been run on it previously ?

Yes, all the same hardware using the 21.85 drivers that came with the card....all ran fine under 98SE.

If the GeForce 3 Ti-200 hasn't been used with this system before, then I would suggest the 'Manual' configuration of the AGP Driving Values. Refer to the Viahardware info I pointed to you earlier for some additional info on what value to try out. I have heard suggestions of DA and Ex values as good ones to try with Nvidia GeForce cards.

Very leary to mess with this. May give it a shot though....

I suggest changing your AGP Aperture value to 128 or 64Mb.

Have tried them all from 32 to 256--same results

Have you tried out turning off the AGP 4X setting ? This will default your system back to AGP 2X, which may or may not make much of a performance difference, but it may make quite a stability difference.

Haven't tried that....will give it a look

Again, I doubt that you're going to find an answer to your crashing with a different Detonator driver. Since you're consistently getting the same problem I'd think that it would be a hardware or configuration issue.<hr></blockquote>

Right now I'm running the 22.50 drivers....I can at least get through a PBEM move with these. Forget TCP/IP.

Thanks again for all the help!!

[LtCol.05]

Well folks, I've tried just about everything to get CM to work in XP, although operations in 98SE left a bit to be desired. I've spent numerous hours loading and unloading drivers and even just finished a clean install of XP just to get one game working (call me crazy)....no dice :-( I guess I'll just have to put CM on the shelf until somebody somewhere come up with a fix. I will definitely wait a long time before I buy the next version to be sure it works. Until then, everyone enjoy!!!

[Capitalistdoginchina]

If you are prepared to go thru a clean install of Win XP then why not do a clean install of Win Me or 98SE ? Then your problem is solved - period!

I have had a few minor probs with Nvidea and Win ME but once i updated my drivers a few times it is now much better - i must hit "Escape" sometimes (first time to use CM only) to get the graphics glitch out of the way but hey its no big deal.

The problem is clearly the new OS win XP so just wait a while until all the hardware companies update their drivers, meanwhile use Win ME or 98 SE.......the problem will go away with time.

CDIC

Ps. I am very sure that quite a few other games have similar problems running on Win XP - its to be expected.

[Capitalistdoginchina]

I just posted this message to another thread - and it applies here as well - save yourselves some real grief.......CDIC

************

Do yourself a favour, revert to Win Me or Win 98SE until this all gets sorted out. Watch the other threads and you will then know the right time to install Win XP.

I have always upgraded my OS every time a new one comes out first 3.1 then 95 / 98 / 98SE / ME , but i am learning my lessons after many days wasted doing installs/uninstalls playing my favourite game called "Format C" and then updating all drivers i can find.

Now my CM runs just fine on Win ME, so until i see these threads dissapearing i will not upgrade my OS thank you very much.

CDIC

[Mal Elder]

That's silly if you've been reading the other messages...this problem existed in Windows 2k...XP is built upon 2k (in fact if you did a "ver" at the command prompt in the early releases of XP, it reported back a higher version of Windows 2k). So XP has inherited this hiccup, the problem isn't because of the existence of XP. And it's only a minor text error...using the workarounds listed on this board makes the game playable. Why the white color in question just can't be changed is beyond me, I guess, but according to BTS, this is a Driver issue...not even a bug really, because all my other games work fine. Funny tho, I guess all the other programmers didn't use this "standard" directx call that is causing CM all the hassle. But BTS has been honest with us about all sorts of other things, and since I'm not a programmer, I'll go with the fact that they say it's an NVidia problem for now. (The Pool of Radiance excuse (doesn't work well with nvidia cards either) doesn't work with me...it seems POR was a POS no matter what your hardware was.).

This issue has been cornered pretty well, no need to starting raising new issues with the same symptoms (it's my RAM, it's my OS, it's my mom's fault, etc.). If one little flickering section (for me it's only the #'s in the "# Turn of #" section) makes this game unplayable for you, you got worse issues (:

[LtCol.05]

Ah....if ir was only the white text problem I'd be very happy. CM crashes XP evry time. Sometimes I gan get a PBEM move in, but most the time I get a hard crash and reboot caused by a problem with the NVidia driver (regardless of version). I have tried every suggestion from all the post here and still the same result. At least after most the time I can get through a few email moves without too many crashes

[Liebchen]

OK, so just how do I tweak this "FSAA" thing that yall are referring to, anyways? (Now that I've gone and purchased an XP puter with an nVidia GeForce3 card and all...)

[Firefly]

Originally posted by Liebchen:

OK, so just how do I tweak this "FSAA" thing that yall are referring to, anyways? (Now that I've gone and purchased an XP puter with an nVidia GeForce3 card and all...)

You're replying to a very old thread. The latest official Nvidia drivers, 30.82, have fixed the problem with the white text. You can get them from Nvidia's web site. It looks like there is a problem with the latest leaked beta drivers, so it's best to avoid them. See the thread below for details.

[Beckman]

LtCo.05

I have this problem too. I lock up in XP, the sound goes crazy and I am locked up or once my ssytem rebooted, that's in less than 5 minutes of play time.

any one out here have a sugestion

thanks

[Lt Bull]

Just played the tute scenario.

I have:

Win XP Professional

lates DirextX drivers

GeForce4 MX Nvidia 64mb card (lates Detonator 40 drivers)

512 DDR RAM

SB Live! card (latest drivers)

desktop res and game res at 1024x768 100Hz

Have had no problems with CMBB demo (or CMBO, or any other games I have installed).

However, I did experience something strange when I first started the game and it asked what screen res to use. I pressed "skip to next" to see what the other options were. I got impatient of cycling through each one and wanted to go back to the first one suggested (1024x768 100Hz) so I did a Ctrl+Alt+Del to close it down and restart. I exited out but then my PC rebooted soon after. Not sure if I restarted the game or not. Anyways, when the PC rebooted to WinXP again, I clicked on CMBB demo, accepted the initial 1024x768 100Hz res setting.

No problems here so far

Lt Bull