Windows 10 success

[Dustbag1969]

Hi,

I am pleased to report that BoB2 appears to work normally under Windows 10

I have tried several quick missions and also the campaign and so far no crashes (apart from my flying).

Hopefully others upgrading from Windows 8/8.1 to 10 will have the same result as me.

Dustbag

[Airmaric]

Hey everyone, it's been a long time since I've been to these forums but I've recently decided to get back into BoBII again. Great to see the ongoing development, even though it's moving slowly, I'm just glad that things are still moving at all! A huge thanks to everyone at BDG for keeping this alive.

I've recently upgraded to Windows 10 (from Win8 - where I had stopped playing BoB...) and as an Operating System I'm very happy with it. I had heard that Win10 was very successful as a platform for many games, and I thought - hey - why not give BoBII a try again.

My initial results were failures, trying to get my old (still installed) copy of BoBII v2.10 going. Lots of errors and CTD's.

I uninstalled the software, reinstalled from the original discs - and delightfully found success running the Original, unmodded BOBII under Windows 10. In fact, with the original unmodded software, it would easily run with all settings maxed. The only trick to getting it to work was running it in Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode, and running as an administrator.

Encouraged with these results, I downloaded the latest v2.12 mod and the MultiSkin for 2.12, and installed them - successfully testing the game after each install.

I still get some crashing when settings are fully maxed - but by reducing the graphics settings just slightly, it seems to run stable in both instant action and in Campaign mode. With my current settings (detailed below in screenshots) it is not crashing in-game (campaign or instant action), and all seems to be running beautifully. Oh, I guess there is one small exception - if I get shot down in flames (and crash) or just crash myself into a flaming ball of wreckage on the ground, when I hit Alt-X the game will crash about half of the time. Otherwise, exiting the game (prior to crashing or during normal in-flight maneuvers) with Alt-X works just fine, returning to the game menus as it should. By lowering my graphics settings even further than indicated below, I am able to eliminate ALL CTD's and the game is rock solid, even when I am shot down.

So in summary - I am happy to report BoBII v2.12 with MultiSkin is working for me in Windows 10 (with stock Direct X 12)

My steps:
- No changes to my Direct X from stock Windows 10 install (I left Direct X as-is, no moving of files, no trying to force in DX9 as some threads have suggested, etc....)
- Most current drivers from AMD for my vid-card installed
- Clean install of BoBII from original discs
- Upgrade to 2.12
- Add MultiSkin 2.12
- Run in compatibility Mode for WinXP SP3 + Administrator mode
- Lower graphics settings from Maximum until you achieve stability

Screenshots below (My computer specs, in-game settings, compatibility mode settings).
My Graphics card is an ASUS Radeon R9 280X DC2T 3GB card to be exact.

Hope this helps anyone else having issues.

Cheers to all, fly safe out there!


SCREENSHOTS:
---------------

My computer specs:


My BoB shortcut properties (compatibility mode):


My BoB in-game settings:




My BoBII in-game screenie:

[stickman]

That is good news.

You are using my usual settings with everything pretty much set High.
I set Groundobject Density to Full, and Particle Density to Medium, though.

One question I will ask is what drivers, exactly, for your Graphics board(s) are you using.

Some tips:

1. We advise players to set Particle Density no higher than Medium.
At higher settings you will see no benefit. Particle Density settings higher than Medium play hell with performance. Big hit.

2. Around Hawkinge and Manston you may see some real bad frame rates due to hundreds of trees around there.
I usually delete the TREES, otherwise I get only 17 fps. Not good. Here is how:

http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtop ... ES#p358959

After I do that I can fly OK with Groundobject Density to Full.

I am still using Windows 7.

[ckolonko]

I've uninstalled the game. But each time I try to reinstall I get the message 'An I/O error has occurred on file' and have to abort the installation.

[two27]

Hi ckolonko,

My instinct when I see that kind of error when installing software is that the original files are corrupted. Try downloading again.

[ckolonko]

Disregard. I managed to copy and paste the files off the CD and install successfully

[Airmaric]

Hi All, an update on my Windows 10 BOBII progress:


So as posted above, I had some initial success running it with Windows XP/SP3 compatibility mode, as detailed in my post above.

On my system, there seem to be only TWO types of game crashes:
1) Game loads to the main menu, upon selecting "Instant Action" the game crashes immediately (the screen where the little video plays)
2) Game allows you to fly a mission, but upon exiting the mission with Alt-X - the game crashes.


Any attempts I made to run the game in Win7/8/10 modes would successfully load the game's main menu, but resulted in instant crashing as soon as I would start "Instant Action", (crash type #1) so I settled on the WinXP/SP3 mode which seemed to run stable, as long as I reduced the graphics settings. The lower I set the graphics, the more stable the game. I would only suffer crash type #2 with higher graphics settings under WinXP/SP3 compatibility mode.

But....

I have a pretty fast system, a powerful CPU (AMD FX9590) and a powerful graphics card (Radeon R280X 3GB). It bothered me that I had to run with very low settings (Most set to medium, some to low) to achieve total stability, which would not crash under a high load (multiple airplane dogfight, crash & burn scenario). My error would only ever occur when exiting with Alt-X (bob.exe caused a EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION in module ntdll.dll) but surely there must be a way to solve it...

I noticed that Dustbag1969 said that he had success in running the game, and he was using Win-7 compatibility mode. This got me obsessed with finding a way that I could also run things in Windows-7 compatibility mode. After all, it seems most of the BDG guys were quite content running the game in native Windows-7, so it seemed to me that would be the best way to go, if I could solve the instant crash I was having under Win7 compatibility mode.

Good news!! I was able to solve my instant crash problem, and can successfully run under Win-7 compatibility mode. As it turns out, for whatever reason it was the videos that appear in the game menus that were causing my instant crashing problem (crash type #1). By editing the BDG.txt file and disabling all videos - I am able to run under Win7 compatibility. And better yet - I was able to increase my in-game graphics settings to higher levels than I had under WinXP/SP3 mode and it would maintain stability.

So better news: By adjusting some settings for my Radeon graphics card, I am now having stable results in NATIVE WINDOWS 10 mode. No compatibility settings, straight Windows 10 settings. And I have my in-game graphics turned up to the highest levels I've had them yet - and things are running stable. I have been playing with it all day yesterday & today - so these results are still preliminary - but so far so good. Instant action: Dogfight: RAF Advantage gives us a nice multiple aircraft scenario, and I have been able to play this one out at least a dozen times, and have been able to exit back to the menus with Alt-X successfully every time. I have started a test campaign, and so far it is running properly, no crashes yet.

From all the different compatibility settings and graphics settings I have played with, this is what I think I have learned so far:

- I have a AMD/Radeon card - which means my results might not work for someone running an Nvidia card.
- My best results for best stability and highest graphics settings are now coming by running the game in straight Windows-10 mode (as administrator)
- To eliminate crash-type #1 (game menu crash) I needed to turn off all videos, which I did by editing the BDG.txt file
- To achieve stability for crash-type#2 (the Alt-X crash) I needed to create a profile for my graphics card to run BOB.EXE with specific settings. I have attached a photo of those settings below.
- In-Game graphics settings, it seems that for me, setting "Bilinear Filtering" noticeably increases my stability over Trilinear, All, or None. This setting reduces my Crash-type#2 (Alt-X crash).


Hope this helps some others out there, and I will keep updating this thread on my progress. Right now, I'm just really excited and very pleased that things are working well!

I am running the AMD Catalyst video drivers, version 15.20.1062.1004-150803a1-187674C
BOBII v2.12
Multiskin 2.12

My AMD Catalyst settings:




My In-Game graphics settings:

[stickman]

Airmaric,

Nice to hear that you and one other guy can run BoBII with Win10.

Excellent report, with advise, too. Thank you.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This week I was typing up the Release Notes for v2.13.
The advice below also applies to all previous versions of BoBII. Note, that I am still using Win 7.
This is a section relating to Settings and game Performance. Further information and advise to you and the other Win 10 users, that probably apply to Win 10, too?:

==============================================================================================================================

Game play Tips & Information

Game Play Performance Considerations.

1. How do I enable automatically generated (AUTOGEN) trees?

There are two places that Trees are AUTOGEN generated, Forests and Tree Lines (hedgerows).

In your \Battle of Britain II\bdg.txt file, at the very bottom of the file, you will see ENABLE_AUTO_GEN=OFF.

Copy these lines over the ENABLE_AUTO_GEN=OFF line:

ENABLE_AUTO_GEN=ON
TEMP_AG_SN[15,2]=1192
TEMP_AG_SN[15,3]=62
# AutoGen TreeLine stuff (experimental):
TEMP_AGTL_SN[0]=1192
TEMP_AGTL_SN[1]=63
TEMP_AGTL_SN[2]=62

Yes, you need all these lines. Just copy and paste all the section above, or type longhand.
Users with weaker systems should reduce the numbers in bold down to 2 or 1 or 0 (lowest density). This number after the comma is a density setting and runs 0-3, minimum to maximum.

So here is an example of a less demanding setting:

ENABLE_AUTO_GEN=ON
TEMP_AG_SN[15,1]=1192
TEMP_AG_SN[15,2]=62
# AutoGen TreeLine stuff (experimental):
TEMP_AGTL_SN[0]=1192
TEMP_AGTL_SN[1]=63
TEMP_AGTL_SN[2]=62


2. TREES that slow frame rates.

In your Battle of Britain\Objectadds folder you will find a set of 27 text files called “TREES- …..txt”



These are all individual tree objects around Hawkinge and Manston mostly. Many hundreds of them, and they may slow your frame rates down to 17 fps!
You can remove these files completely to reduce their impact on frame rates. Or you can try and delete the files that are bigger than 50 KB.

3. Some comments on framerates with all the new objects.

There will undoubtedly be quite an impact on many user's systems. Up until now large parts of the terrain have lacked 3D objects. Now there are many.

If you have anything other than a strong modern processor (it is more processor dependent than anything else) consider
1) Reducing your Ground Object Density setting. Full=100%, High=50%, Medium=25%, Minimum= No ObjectAdd folder objects show. Only BFIELDS (battle fields) important objects show.
2) Go to your Battle of Britain II\Objectadds folder and remove files. The ones starting “TREES- …..txt” are obvious. Others have logical place names, so you can remove them selectively as you wish.
3) This thread from the Technical Support Forum is still valid.
HERE-> http://www.a2asimulations.com/forum/vie ... 17&t=10091
Reducing Object density will have the greatest effect for many users as it's the main difference visually in the last three updates.

4. Particle Density setting.

Do not set this any higher than a setting of Medium. No better effect will be seen if set higher, but your frame rates will suffer.

5. Texture Quality & Object Quality settings.

These need not be set any higher than High. Set at Maximum will not make anything look much better.

==============================================================================================================================

[stickman]

Airmaric,

One thing I see in your AMD gfx settings, is that you have your Graphics Accelerator setting for Anisotropic Filtering Mode to > Override application settings.

-- BoBII is made to have Anisotropic Filtering set in BoBII, and not on the Graphics Accelerator board(s). Been so for many years now.
-- Anti Aliasing should be set in your Graphics Accelerator board(s) software.

I will add these lines into the v2.13 Release Notes.
This is the first time I was delegated to write The Release Notes for a new version. I want to get it right. This info was left out by the previous writer.

Could you please test this with Win 10?
In your AMD CCC software, change Anisotropic Filtering Mode to Use application settings.
Then, in BoBII Settings > More GFX, try and use a setting of All. Then to 8x Anisotropic (which is what I use).

[Airmaric]

Excellent, thanks Stickman!

I really appreciate your input, and can't say thanks enough to you & the rest of the BDG team for all the great work here.

I am just headed off to work this morning, so I will be away from home for a few days, but I will definitely do more testing once I'm back and will follow the steps you suggested. I'll let you know how it goes!

Cheers

[filtonboy]

Hi all, computer died and I have had to get a new one with windows 10. Also forgot how I configured my user name with or without spaces. Got in a right old muddle but have re registered. Still the original Filton boy. After that lengthy explanation my question is does anyone else get the game stopped working notice when you use alt x? I have to come right out of the game each time which is a nuisance

[Airmaric]

Hi Filton Boy,

So I have been playing with Windows 10 now for a week or two, and have had mixed results. Some failures, some successes, and I have things working now, but the problem is not yet solved for me.

I have been playing with compatibility settings, graphics card settings, monitor settings, and in-game GFX settings, and have tried over a hundred combinations in the past few days, and I admit that I am still frustrated. I am also trying to solve the Alt-X crash when exiting. My computer system is pretty fast, and I can run the game and fly scenarios at almost Max graphics settings - All set to High/Maximum, Anisotropic Filtering at 16x, With Full ground detail (Low particle setting, mind you) and the game looks amazing, gives me over 60fps, and flies like a dream. Everything I've ever wanted in BoBII! But after landing, bringing my aircraft to a full stop by the hangars, and hitting Alt-X - the game will crash as it tries to return to the menus. I have been obsessed with this for days, tweaking every setting possible, trying to solve it...

The Good News: The Game will run stable for me in Windows 10, in native Win10 mode (no compatibility) with no crashing, as long as I accept somewhat lower graphics settings. As long as I turn Particle Density LOW, and Ground Object Density no greater than HIGH in the in-game GFX settings, I am having stable success.

The Bad News: I really want Ground Object density to be FULL - the game looks so beautiful, I really enjoy the extra detail, and my system runs beautifully with a FULL setting, I just can't exit the mission without an error when Ground Object density is full. I can play dogfight scenarios with 16 RAF vs. 12 Luftwaffe (Training; Dogfight; RAF advantage) at Max Settings (a beautiful furball of airplanes!), and as long as I never fly near the ground - it will often exit successfully, but any scenario with FULL Ground Object detail where I actually fly near a dense ground object area - I can keep flying until I crash or land full-stop, or just hit Alt-X for any reason - but when I do hit Alt-X the game will then produce the Error in bob.exe as it tries to return to the post-flight menu.

My progress so far: Using native Windows-10 mode, I can play a stable, non-crashing game with these settings:

Graphics card settings (AMD Catalyst settings):
Anti-Aliasing: Use application settings, Standard Filter, Multisampling, Morphological Filtering OFF
Anisotropic Filtering: Use app settings
Wait for Vertical Refresh: Always on
Tessellation Mode: Use App settings

In-Game GFX settings:
Filtering: 4x Anisotropic
Ground Object Density: HIGH
Particle Density: LOW
Everything else set to ON/HIGH


It is just frustrating that I can play the game with FULL object density (and higher AF - 16x) and it looks so great, but it will produce errors upon exiting with Alt-X.

**Sigh**

If anyone has suggestions or finds a solution - please let us know!

[Cherkassov54]

Dustbag1969 reported that using Win7 compatibility appeared to stop crashes with alt X

Your perserverence is appreciated


S!

[filtonboy]

Thank you Airmaric for that detailed response. I will follow your settings in the game and see how I get on. Having had to replace my computer after it turned up its toes I have greater graphics capability than ever before. It would be a shame to not fully utilise it and show off the game to its full potential.

f.b

[filtonboy]

Cherkassov54 ,
I tried it on compatibility with win7 but it kept crashing. I also get crashes in game on anisotropic 4x when I played Black Thursday afternoon but it didn't crash in advanced training free flight. I have a Nividia GeForce GTX 980 graphics card. It seems to be behaving differently to the card used by Airmaric.
The most stable I have found it is in xp service pack three compatibility.

f.b.