STEEL PANTHERS ENHANCED // NORTH AFRIKA

Recently I updated to Windows 7 and SPWW seems to have a palette problem.
The gràfics, text, background have strange colors.
Tried to star with every combination of compatibilities: Win Xp pack2, pack3, Win 98, 256 colors, ....

Reinstaled, tested 8.2, 8.3, 8.4 8.403, enhanced or not, always same problem.
Sound is ok, game seems to work, but display make implayable.

Any one is having a similar problem?
Any help...

I personally would shut off anything running in background FIRST, try again. Second If that didn't help I'd try running in Win XP compatabiluty mode, Thirdly I can't do this but if you have video cards I check for latest updates, fourthly if none of this helps.....Stay here maybe a guru will arise from the mountain top. Good Luck

I have the same problem...new box w/Windows 7, and SPWAW now has neon multicoloured crap on menus. Found that Win98 and 256 Colours compatability has best result, altho colours still not correct. My guess is a driver issue, since SHP edit and other assist programs work fine.

I tried also D3Dwindowed without success.
My card Radeon X600 has the latest driver available.
Will post if I find a solution.

I have been working on this for over a month - sorry to say, there is no solution: in almost every case, SPWaW will not display properly in Windows 7. Have tried all possible Windows 7 Compatibility options, XP (virtual machine) mode, a variety of types of cpu's, video cards, and video drivers, as well as other 'virtual machine" types of solutions (e.g., WINE etc).

I say "In almost every case" because I have read where a very few folks claim that their laptops will run SPWaW in some Compatibility settings, but I myself don't believe it; I have never been able to duplicate their success using seemingly identical machines and configurations.

The only solution I have found is "no solution": you have to "dual-boot" Windows 7 and Windows XP on the same machine. A free utility called "EasyBcD Edit" allows one to direct Windows 7 to look for an existing or (more difficult) a new Windows XP installation on another partition. I don't plan to keep working on this, but if I hear that a solution has been observed I will report it.

The solution I found was to run D3DWindower and set it to run the the Mech.exe. You'll have to experiment with the window size to get the best view, depending on your monitor. Also, turning ON the Cursor Clip will keep the cursor from "escaping" the SPWAW window.

I observed that if I left the window "screen resolution" open (right click on the desktop) mech.exe run often with the right palette (that's esoteric...I know) .
Then, run mech.exe directly. Sometimes the color palette still loads erratic, then quit and relaunch mech.exe again, do it several times until you get the right palette. I play SPWW frequently in that way.

The one and only real fix is finally in! Turns out that Windows Explorer is screwing with the color palatte. An elegant fix is a simple command line that turns off Explorer.exe when you start the game, and turns it back on when you stop.

Go here to download a small command file (have to register or log in). Use it to start the game.

http://www.spwaw.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=23047

We need to post that file here in our Files section

If you, like me, have a multicore processor and are getting a bug where you can't reliably use your mouse button in the artillery bombardment (and/or 'Z' key) mode, there is an easy fix built on top of this handy command file.

Replace the line:
mech.exe
with the following:
start /B /WAIT /AFFINITY 2 mech.exe

This runs SPWAW on the second core, which it will probably have all to itself, and the mouse button click problem should be history. Hope this helps someone!

Brian

ok for a dummy here, where do you replace this line at?


The file above isnt helping me..


Looks like I may have to keep the old XP machine in the back room just for SPWAW

Hope this helps, attached zip of modified file. Use just like original.

Brian

Now it says windows cannot find Mech.exe..when i click on the spwawfix program

Ok moved it to the spwaw main folder, then created a shortcut on the desktop, now it works andthe funny clolors are gone
but now the game runs in an odd sized "window" so to speak, its not filling up my entire screen...
this flat screen is 2 inchs bigger all around than my XP one.
thats gotta be the reason...right??

I'm currently running it with a Gateway HX2000 display at 1600x900 resolution and it fills the screen when I run it. I have no compatibility or other checkboxes marked in my mech.exe properties' compatibility sheet. You could try messing around with those to see if any of them help get rid of the border.

Wish I could help more but I've been out of the programming and tech-support racket for a few years now and the technology has gotten ahead of me (again!).

Brian