DW, Subcommand on modern computers

[XenonSurf]

Hi,
I'm the proud owner of the Subcommand & DW DVDs that I bought and have played years ago. I'd like to re-visit these games and my concern is to install and run them correctly on today's systems.

My current OS for gaming is Windows 7 x64 on a i7 4GHZ with 16 GB RAM and a NVidia GTX 960 4GB VRAM; VMWare to emulate Windows XP + Win98 CE.

Can I run DW or Subcommand in VMWare + Windows XP? Or should I install these with Dosbox + DFend in my Windows 7 ?

Then I don't remember: Is the submarine part of DW the Subcommand game on steroids, or is Subcommand the better choice if you are interested in Sub warfare alone? I have for both SubC + DW a lot of mods that I have saved on CD years ago, I vaguely remember that DW has more random elements in the missions and warfare (also when it comes to create missions with the editor), but I can't remember exactly, thanks to refresh my memory

Thanks for a feedback!

[FPSchazly]

Hello!

Dangerous Waters and Sub Command will run on Windows 7 just fine without any fancy emulation or anything. Dangerous Waters is the better game, but I tend to like the missions in Sub Command better. Dangerous Waters has more of a modern day, littoral combat feel to its missions whereas Sub Command has more of a Cold War type feel to its missions, IMO. The Sub Command missions can be played in Dangerous Waters, anyway. Hope this helps.

[XenonSurf]

Thanks very much for your feedback, FPSChazly, I'll try first to install it straight in my Windows 7. Currently I'm running Red Storm Rising in Dosbox and playing the new Cold Waters, but at first glance the new CW seems to be on the arcadish side of a sub sim, but I like it. This has given me the idea to reinstall DW and other subsims I have.

Cheers and thanks,

[ET2SN]

Just make sure your install of DW is patched to version 1.04.
If your disks are old enough, you may have to find the patch and run it.

With Sub Command, you may want to install the SCX mod. You can find it at the other sub sim web site. SCX adds newer 3D models and expands the data base of countries and platforms. SCX is actually several SC/688i mods combined into one mod, think of it as a "one and done" type of upgrade.

As Chazly has already mentioned, Sub Command has more of a cold war, blue water feel while Dangerous Waters is based more in a post-cold-war era. DW has a slightly better "world map" (its more defined) to reflect missions in shallower waters. You may want to install both games in case one of them becomes tiring, just realize that SC and DW are essentially the same game.

[tAKticool47]

Just curious- is the deal you PREFER Win 7? -- edit- what I mean is, are you wondering if it will run Win7+ on down the line, or specifically on your Win 7 rig.

My home-built custom hi-performance rig is based on an i7-4790K (that I have hit 5.1 GHz at 1.4V but I prefer to run at 4.8 @~ 1.24 to 5.0 @~ 1.34-1.35) , a MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G, and 16GB G.SKILL Sniper ... among other things. I run DW fine, albeit of course I can't get it to run in a window, oh well.


And you'd be surprised how DW can tax your system if you add a ton of aircraft and especially Shipwreck-shooting subs/ships on the badguys side lol.

[ET2SN]

Yep, that brings up a good point.

I'm running Win10 (64 bit) and so far its a great OS for running older games.

Keep in mind that most older games were published back when multi cores and threads were a pipe dream. They just weren't designed for them. I'm running an i3 CPU and the biggest bang I get comes from the 3.7 Ghz clock speed on the chip.
With Win10, things don't crash. The worst that can happen (at least so far) is a CTD or as I call it, a blink. I just click the shortcut again and everything's back where I left it.

I'm not saying Win10 is the perfect solution, its also fantastic if you enjoy being nickled and dimed for software as an example, but its doing this job well.

[ET2SN]

Something I may as well post in this thread.

If you want to install Sub Command from the original disk in a Win10 system, there are a couple of things you'll need to do.

First, to install- insert the disk and let your machine chew on it for a bit. Eventually the SC icon will show up on your disk drive. Click it open then run SETUP. Do NOT try to click on INSTALL, Win10 just doesn't like it. You may see a couple of "Are You SURE??" type messages, don't worry you'll be fine. Sometimes these message boxes can be tricky and it will look like Win10 will not allow an install. Just look at the message box carefully and you'll find the "install it anyway" option.

For Win 8 and 10, you WILL also need the d3d8.dll file. You can find it here in the downloads section and its also included in the later Reinforce Alert downloads. Just be SURE you place the dll in the same folder where you see the Sub Command main exe program.

Win10 will really, really want to install Sub Command in the Program Files (X86) folder. It runs fine from there, you're just going to have to put up with compatibility mode (aka Nanny Mode) when you start it. I've tried moving Sub Command out of the (X86) folder to the main C folder but so far no luck.

As Win10 users know, Compatibility Mode can be a pain when installing patches and mods. In case you need to, you can copy the entire game and its folders to the desktop, then run the patch or mod, then drag everything back to its Program Files location.

[Barleyman]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Something I may as well post in this thread.

If you want to install Sub Command from the original disk in a Win10 system, there are a couple of things you'll need to do.

First, to install- insert the disk and let your machine chew on it for a bit. Eventually the SC icon will show up on your disk drive. Click it open then run SETUP. Do NOT try to click on INSTALL, Win10 just doesn't like it. You may see a couple of "Are You SURE??" type messages, don't worry you'll be fine. Sometimes these message boxes can be tricky and it will look like Win10 will not allow an install. Just look at the message box carefully and you'll find the "install it anyway" option.

For Win 8 and 10, you WILL also need the d3d8.dll file. You can find it here in the downloads section and its also included in the later Reinforce Alert downloads. Just be SURE you place the dll in the same folder where you see the Sub Command main exe program.

Win10 will really, really want to install Sub Command in the Program Files (X86) folder. It runs fine from there, you're just going to have to put up with compatibility mode (aka Nanny Mode) when you start it. I've tried moving Sub Command out of the (X86) folder to the main C folder but so far no luck.

As Win10 users know, Compatibility Mode can be a pain when installing patches and mods. In case you need to, you can copy the entire game and its folders to the desktop, then run the patch or mod, then drag everything back to its Program Files location.

You could just give yourself full access to the game folder in program files. Or, heck, everyone.

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

... I've tried moving Sub Command out of the (X86) folder to the main C folder but so far no luck.

It should work. I've had it run in a custom folder C:\Games\Subcommand. But there are some registry keys that need to be changed to the correct folderpath. Also, iirc 64 bit Windows needs the registry keys in a different place of the registry hive compared to 32bit.


Sub Command is found under Electronic Arts instead of Sonalysts iirc:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Electronic Arts\Sub Command\1.0

The following is for DW.
32-bit:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Sonalysts Combat Simulations

vs 64-bit Windows:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\S onalysts Combat Simulations

[Barleyman]

Originally Posted by Pisces

It should work. I've had it run in a custom folder C:\Games\Subcommand. But there are some registry keys that need to be changed to the correct folderpath. Also, iirc 64 bit Windows needs the registry keys in a different place of the registry hive compared to 32bit.


Sub Command is found under Electronic Arts instead of Sonalysts iirc:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Electronic Arts\Sub Command\1.0

The following is for DW.
32-bit:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Sonalysts Combat Simulations

vs 64-bit Windows:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\S onalysts Combat Simulations

Nothing to stop you from declaring DW folder free for all.

https://m.wikihow.com/Change-File-Pe...s-on-Windows-7

It's not quite as complicated as they make it sound like. You can probably ignore "login as administrator" bit and there's already permission for "everyone", probably read only for program files. Change that to "full" and you're golden.

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by Barleyman

Nothing to stop you from declaring DW folder free for all.

https://m.wikihow.com/Change-File-Pe...s-on-Windows-7

It's not quite as complicated as they make it sound like. You can probably ignore "login as administrator" bit and there's already permission for "everyone", probably read only for program files. Change that to "full" and you're golden.

It's not that simple. There is more going on than NTFS file/folder permissions restrictions when you want to modify things in Program Files. User Account Control: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...-control-works

Windows doesn't even take administrator-users at face value when they want to modify files and folders. They have to acknowledge that they want their admin-cap on (get an administrator access token to elevate their rights) to do things. If not they are regarded just as any other common user. If not acknowledged it out right fails the action or the change is virtualized stored in the user's profile but not actually applied to the filesystem in Program Files.

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/old...02-00/?p=91681

Installing old games outside of Program Files solves a lot of problems. Same goes for SC and DW. Saving games in the Scenario folderbeing the first one. It doesn't solve all problems, but many. Also execute old installer.exe or setup.exe executables as administrator thesedays. Or parts of their tasks will not succeed.

[Barleyman]

Originally Posted by Pisces

It's not that simple. There is more going on than NTFS file/folder permissions restrictions when you want to modify things in Program Files. User Account Control: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...-control-works

Windows doesn't even take administrator-users at face value when they want to modify files and folders. They have to acknowledge that they want their admin-cap on (get an administrator access token to elevate their rights) to do things. If not they are regarded just as any other common user. If not acknowledged it out right fails the action or the change is virtualized stored in the user's profile but not actually applied to the filesystem in Program Files.

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/old...02-00/?p=91681

Installing old games outside of Program Files solves a lot of problems. Same goes for SC and DW. Saving games in the Scenario folderbeing the first one. It doesn't solve all problems, but many. Also execute old installer.exe or setup.exe executables as administrator thesedays. Or parts of their tasks will not succeed.

All right then, I have resolved some similar issues by adjusting the permissions. But mostly for programs that want their plugins etc in the program folder or something.

These days windows actually asks something to the effect of "do you want to give yourself permanently access to this folder" when you go poking somewhere "protected".

If you really wanted to be difficult you could try moving the folder and making a link to the program files that points to it. Not sure how windows permissions handle these cases, on *NIX links do not have restrictions but the targets obviously do.