Forgotten Hope for Battlefield 1942 on Windows Vista

[pvt. Allen]

Forgotten Hope for Battlefield 1942 on Windows Vista

Since there are some people having problems with FH on Vista, showing up from time to time, I thought such FAQ would be useful.
If anybody encounters something I did no mention, feel free to post it here, so that we can keep all the problems and sollutions for FH on this OS here.

Known problems

Crash to desktop during map loading
Despite that Battlefield 1942 works fine on Vista, Forgotten Hope is known to crush while loading maps. Here's a solution that should help you if you're experiencing such problem.

This has been tested with Forgotten Hope 0.7 + Forgotten Hope Official Fan Map Pack 6 installed on Battlefield 1942 v. 1.61b running on the most recent version of Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit version with up to date hardware drivers.

1. Make sure all of your hardware drivers are up to date, particularly your graphics card driver.
2. Install Forgotten Hope 0.7 on up to date version of Battlefield 1942 (1.61b).
3. From Start Menu, choose Computer and go to the following location (looks like this if you followed default settings):
   32-bit Vista
   Local Disk (C:)/Program Files/EA GAMES/Battlefield 1942/
   64-bit Vista
   Local Disk (C:)/Program Files (x86)/EA GAMES/Battlefield 1942/
4. Localize BF1942 application and right click on it.
5. The below presented window should appear:
   
   Spoiler:

   
6. Click on the Compatibility Bar on top, to the right from General which is opened by default.
7. Click on the "Run this program in compatibility for:" box so that it's marked.
8. Select Windows 98/Windows ME from the drop down menu.
9. Click OK in the bottom of the window.
10. No, you don't need to "Run this program as an administrator".
11. You're done, everything should work fine from now on.

"Bright" shadows
It appears that vehicle and hand weapon shadows are rendered incorrectly, resulting in very bright spots instead of appropiate shadows.

This has been tested with Forgotten Hope 0.7 + Forgotten Hope Official Fan Map Pack 6 installed on Battlefield 1942 v. 1.61b running on the most recent version of Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit version on Dx9 nVidia graphics card with up to date hardware drivers.

Screenshots:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

I have no idea how to fix this, aside from maybe trying to adjust shadow settings in the map files. Might go away with new drivers.

[Bowie69]

Great post!

My only gripe at the moment is being unable to set the resolution above the 800x600 enforced by running it in Win98/ME compat mode.....

I have a 1680x1050 monitor here, and like to be able to use it!

Has anyone done any debugging of FH on Vista? I mean, Vanilla BF1942 works.... so it must be Mod-side, right?

I'll be having a look tonight probably, if I find anything I will let you know.

[pvt. Allen]

Yeah, running the debugger would be a good idea, but I think it'll mostly work for map crashes, if there are any.

As for the resolution, I don't know, I'm running FH with abouve described compatibility settings and I can set whatever resolution I want. Maybe it's worth of notice that I have set my graphics driver to not resize the rendered resolution, so that my LCD uses only as many pixels as the currently sued resolution requires. This ofcourse results in black bars on top or on the sides, or all around, but atleast single pixels are not streached. You might want to try it, however with your widescreen it's going to result in black bars on the sides in 4:3 aspect ration resolutions.

If this doesn't work, you can manipulate the resolution from a .con file. I never did it myself, as I never had to, but my guess is that the file you need to edit (with notepad) is VideoCustom.con located in EA GAMES\Battlefield 1942\Mods\bf1942\Settings\Default\, although from what I see it only holds the menu resolution (which is always set to 800x600) setting for me. You can still try though, or wait for someone who is certain which file you need to edit.

[R38 4010]

Inteseting, my monitor still uses 1680x1050 when running in compabitlity for Windows ME. And I didn't change any files. Mabye it's by luck.

[Bowie69]

Hmm weird, I just tried it again, went into video options, and chose 1280x960, hit save, and now instead of 640x480 my monitor says 1680x1050...... result! if a little weird....

On another note, anyone used the BF1942 debugger before?

I get some results, but nothing really conclusive.....

BFMainNewRend\Setup.cpp(3484): Debug: BFMainNewRend: BF1942 (Ver: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 11:34:56)
BFMainNewRend\Setup.cpp(3485): Debug: BFMainNewRend: Running on computer DESKTOP
BFMainNewRend\Setup.cpp(3490): Debug: BFMainNewRend: Log generated by the community debug executable.
Engine\Core\Locale.cpp(182): Debug: Core: Loaded lexicon "Mods/FH/lexiconAll.dat"
Engine\Core\Locale.cpp(182): Debug: Core: Loaded lexicon "Mods/BF1942/lexiconAll.dat"
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1497): Warning: Io: Error mods/fh/init.con (4): game.customGameFlushArchives 0
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1498): Warning: Io: Error mods/fh/init.con: Unknown object or method!
BFMainNewRend\Setup.cpp(7678): Warning: BFMainNewRend: number of custom games found: 2
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1769): Debug: Io: CRC32: (run) Mods/bf1942/init.con
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1769): Debug: Io: CRC32: (run) Mods/FH/init.con
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1497): Warning: Io: Error Mods/FH/init.con (4): game.customGameFlushArchives 0
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1498): Warning: Io: Error Mods/FH/init.con: Unknown object or method!
BFMainNewRend\Setup.cpp(3745): Warning: BFMainNewRend: dep: setting up archive ids for all BF1942 flavors
BFMainNewRend\Setup.cpp(7556): Warning: BFMainNewRend: path to load archives from: Mods/FH/Archives/
Engine\IoFile\FlatArchive.cpp(666): Debug: IoFile: Couldn't open flat archive file "Mods/FH/Archives/shaders.rfa"
Engine\IoFile\FlatArchive.cpp(666): Debug: IoFile: Couldn't open flat archive file "Mods/FH/Archives/font.rfa"
Engine\IoFile\FlatArchive.cpp(666): Debug: IoFile: Couldn't open flat archive file "Mods/FH/Archives/texture_001.rfa"
Engine\IoFile\FlatArchive.cpp(666): Debug: IoFile: Couldn't open flat archive file "Mods/FH/Archives/sound_001.rfa"
Engine\IoFile\FlatArchive.cpp(666): Debug: IoFile: Couldn't open flat archive file "Mods/FH/Archives/standardMesh_001.rfa"
Engine\IoFile\FlatArchive.cpp(666): Debug: IoFile: Couldn't open flat archive file "Mods/FH/Archives/ai.rfa"
Engine\IoFile\FlatArchive.cpp(666): Debug: IoFile: Couldn't open flat archive file "Mods/FH/Archives/menu_001.rfa"
BFMainNewRend\Setup.cpp(7556): Warning: BFMainNewRend: path to load archives from: Mods/BF1942/Archives/
Engine\IoFile\FlatArchive.cpp(666): Debug: IoFile: Couldn't open flat archive file "Mods/BF1942/Archives/menu_001.rfa"


A few of these:

Warning: RendPCDX8: Storing monitor mode w: 1680 h: 1050 b: 16 r: 60
Engine\RendPCDX8\PCDX8RendererInit.cpp(773):

Then pages and pages of this:


Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36/objects.con: Unknown object or method!
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1497): Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36/objects.con (121): ObjectTemplate.startoneffects 0
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1498): Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36/objects.con: Unknown object or method!
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1497): Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36/objects.con (125): ObjectTemplate.setInputId -1
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1498): Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36/objects.con: Unknown object or method!
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1497): Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36/objects.con (126): ObjectTemplate.startoneffects 1
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1498): Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36/objects.con: Unknown object or method!
BFMainNewRend\game.cpp(283): Debug: BFMainNewRend: CRC32: loadAllConFiles: objects/handweapons/mas36grenade/ai/weapons.con
BFMainNewRend\game.cpp(289): Debug: BFMainNewRend: CRC32: (disable) objects/handweapons/mas36grenade/ai/weapons.con
AI\WeaponTemplateManager.cpp(48): Debug: AI: WeaponTemplate 'Mas36GrenadeAI' successfully created
BFMainNewRend\game.cpp(283): Debug: BFMainNewRend: CRC32: loadAllConFiles: objects/handweapons/mas36grenade/geometries.con
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1769): Debug: Io: CRC32: (run) objects/handweapons/mas36grenade/geometries.con
BFMainNewRend\game.cpp(283): Debug: BFMainNewRend: CRC32: loadAllConFiles: objects/handweapons/mas36grenade/objects.con
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1769): Debug: Io: CRC32: (run) objects/handweapons/mas36grenade/objects.con
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1497): Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36grenade/objects.con (34): ObjectTemplate.setAmomBarPosX 6
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1498): Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36grenade/objects.con: Unknown object or method!
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1497): Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36grenade/objects.con (35): ObjectTemplate.setAmomBarPosY -17
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1498): Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36grenade/objects.con: Unknown object or method!
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1497): Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36grenade/objects.con (36): ObjectTemplate.setAmomBarTextPosX 5
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1498): Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36grenade/objects.con: Unknown object or method!
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1497): Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36grenade/objects.con (37): ObjectTemplate.setAmomBarTextPosY 10
Engine\Io\Console.cpp(1498): Warning: Io: Error objects/handweapons/mas36grenade/objects.con: Unknown object or method!
Engine\BoneAnimation\Skeleton.cpp(92): Warning: BoneAnimation: Skeleton (.SKE) file not found "animations/Mas36.ske"
WorldObjTemplBF\AnimatedBundle.cpp(619): Warning: WorldObjTemplBF: Skeleton animations/Mas36.ske not found


It always crashes at the same point, this last extract being the end of the log.

There is no output like that at all when running Vanilla 1942.

It almost seems to me that there is a path issue with Vista that is affecting all the mods... I haven't tried it, mainly because I don't know how yet (:P) but looking at that, would merging the standard BF1942.

This is somewhat confirmed by a post or two I have seen that state a mod on a mod will not run on 1942, which is what FH is essentially, a mod on BF1942.

Am googling a bit, will let you know if I find anything....

[Admiral Donutz]

*stickied*

[runcorn92]

First of all i want to say thanks to Pvt. Allen, you have enabled me to play on FH. However i have encountered another problem. I can load levels and play them fine. Unfortunatly when i press the "esc" key the game crashes and i get sent to the desktop. I am not bothered with minor bugs in the gameplay, as this seems inevitable with Vista, however this is quite a serious error which i would like to overcome.

If anyone has encountered this problem before and has some help for me it will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[runcorn92]

Its okay now folks i managed to fix my problem. All i did was run BF1942 as an administrator

[Eatlead]

does anyone know how to fix the no crossair problem with fh on vista? the video card is a nvidia geforce 6150le integreted

[Bowie69]

Make sure you have the up to date drivers, they fix a LOT of problems, including a CTD I was getting every time after loading a map.

[pvt. Allen]

Originally Posted by runcorn92

Its okay now folks i managed to fix my problem. All i did was run BF1942 as an administrator

Good to know.
Could some moderator edit my original post then? It appears that afterall running the game as an administrator might be nececary in some cases (I didn't have that problem although I left the setting disabled).

Originally Posted by Eatlead

does anyone know how to fix the no crossair problem with fh on vista? the video card is a nvidia geforce 6150le integreted

Yes, make sure that your drivers are up to date. From what I've heared, such bugs used to occure some months ago, but it was sorted out by now.

[pvt. Allen]

After participating in latest hslan Map Pack 6 evening I found a couple more problems. I'm quite sure they're very common, I just didn't encounter them before as infact this was my real first time longer FH gameplay experience on Vista. Okay, this is what I encountered:

Punkbuster failing to auto-update
After several minutes Punkbuster decides to kick you because it failed to auto-update. After you leave the server it provides you with a link to its website, where you can learn on the methoods of updating it manualy. I have chosen the PBSetup, described as the easiest way. It worked for me.

Once Punkbuster was updated, it will require you to grant administrative privilages to BF1942.exe described in the first post. Ofcoruse it's only required for Punkbuster-enabled servers.

This has been tested with Forgotten Hope 0.7 + Forgotten Hope Official Fan Map Pack 6 installed on Battlefield 1942 v. 1.61b running on the most recent version of Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit version with up to date hardware drivers.

1. Go to PunkBuster Online Countermeasures.
2. Choose whichever way of manual updating you see fit.

Game dissconnecting you from the server during map-change
Game appears to disconnect you from the server you're playing on each time it finalizes the map-change process and lets you load it on the client-side.

This has been tested with Forgotten Hope 0.7 + Forgotten Hope Official Fan Map Pack 6 installed on Battlefield 1942 v. 1.61b running on the most recent version of Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit version with up to date hardware drivers.

I have no idea how to fix this. The best solution I can advise is to leave the server immediately after a round (if it's followed by a map-change) ends, and keep refreshing the server browser untill you see that a new map is played on the server, and join back.

[Bowie69]

Have you tried making the punkbuster executable 'run as administrator'?

[pvt. Allen]

1. Punkbuster doesn't seem to cause this crash.
2. Punkbuster doesn't have an executable.



As I was saying, it will require you to grant administrative privilages to the BF1942.exe once it was updated, or else it'll just kick you out of the server second after you join, explaining that you need administrator rights. That's all the privilages it seems to need.

[MrsT]

Thanks for the informative post pvt. Allen.

Unfortunatly FH still won't work under VISTA (latest drivers, under or not under administrator, ANY compability mode) for myself, a few friends and others on this site.

Since it works fine under 42 (not fine really, we get the same crash now and then at the start of a new map, but at least it's playable) it's a specifik problem for FH.

Haven't heard anything about this in a while... any solution out there or should we just wait for FH2 or install an older OS?

I'm running a Intel quad 6600, Asus P5k, Geforce 8800 GS 320mb and 2gb RAM.

Edit: Vista home premium 64