How I got SH4 running on win 10

harlikwin · 05-07-17, 11:18 AM

Well I figured I'd post this in case anyone else is having issues.

First, this was the gamers gate version of the game.

It uses the Tages client to run the serial. However my Tages kept erroring out when I tried to run the serial.

The fix for this is simple, goto the tages website and download the newer drivers (x64 in my case)
http://www.tagesprotection.com/main....ge=minimum.htm

Restart the game and it worked. I had the intro movie. But an immediate crash. I tried the various compatibility settings, but still it just immediately crashed. I settled on the XPsp2 compatibility settings as "what it should be" I also tried the high DPI setting button, again no joy, but I left that on.

Manually edited the Main.cfg files. There are 2 of these, one located in the SH4 data/cfg directory, and another one in the documents/sh4 directory. This was based on a youtube vid I found.

What worked for me, was to turn all the video settings to "no" so full screen = no, synchrnized = no, Dynamic shadows = no, Texture resultionhigh=no.

At this point the game booted in windowed mode at crappy res... Progress.

Then while in game I changed the gfx settings to allow full screen. and changed the resolution from 1024 to 1900. Exited out of the game and restarted. Then I slowly turned up the gfx settings.

Now I'm running at pretty much full GFX.

Hope this was helpful for anyone who has had issues.

Now I just need to figure out which mods are the good ones.

Contemplative Flame · 07-05-17, 10:55 AM

Hi, I really appreciate you doing this it helped me a lot. I edited the cfg files and now have it running in the 1024x768 window. The difference between me and you is, when I go into the settings in game to either 1) uncheck windowed mode and make it fullscreen, or 2) simply change the resolution to something other than 1024x768, it doesn't do anything. So close the game to restart it, but then it does what it was doing before editing the cfg files: not opening but running in the background and taking up system resources according to the Task Manager.

Now, I looked at the cfg files (both) after doing these things, and I found that only the secondary one in the Documents changes according to what you do in the in-game graphics menu. I did then go over and duplicate what was in the Documents cfg in the one within the SH4 files themselves, but this made no difference. The only way it opens at all for me thus far is by the way the video had it: everything off and only 1024x768 resolution manually set in *both* main.cfg files. Any ideas why you might be able to change things in game once yours opens, but mine is still giving me crap? Any help much appreciated

UPDATE: Apparently it also works on manually setting 1280x768, 1360x768, and 1366x768 in both cfg files. Apparently it only works when the second value is 768 for some reason....I will do more digging and see if any others work...

propbeanie · 07-05-17, 11:43 AM

Contemplative Flame, where did you get your SH4 from - Steam, Amazon, DVD? Which version of Windows do you have? What directory (folder) did you install the game to? Do you happen to know whether you have v1.3, v1.4 or v1.5 (U-Boat Missions) of the game? That is all for now... twenty more questions later after you answer these...

Contemplative Flame · 07-05-17, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Contemplative Flame, where did you get your SH4 from - Steam, Amazon, DVD? Which version of Windows do you have? What directory (folder) did you install the game to? Do you happen to know whether you have v1.3, v1.4 or v1.5 (U-Boat Missions) of the game? That is all for now... twenty more questions later after you answer these...

Ahhh, propbeanie again! You are of great help. I am using an old, original SH4 PC-DVD. I have patched to v1.4 however immediately after installing from the disc. It is in the standard C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter Wolves of the Pacific folder. I then access the Data\Cfg\Main.cfg file exactly as detailed in the above Youtube tutorial. As I stated, it appears to work whenever the second res value is 768, and I can change any of the other graphical settings in-game, check boxes and sliders included. The sensitive area seems to be the resolution for some reason.

One other interesting anomaly I have noted is that changing the textures to high resolution in the game menu does not cause it to not open upon restarting the game. This is unlike selecting "Fullscreen" in game.

To show you, this is what I see in the cfg file in the Documents right now

[VIDEO]
Resolution=1366,768,60,22
DynamicShadows=No
FullScreen=No
Synchronized=No
TextureResolutionHigh=Yes

This is what I see in the cfg file in the main game folder right now:

[VIDEO]
Resolution=1366,768,60,22
DynamicShadows=No
FullScreen=No
Synchronized=No
TextureResolutionHigh=No

So for starters, any changes made in game in options only affect the cfg files in Documents. What is very interesting though is that previously, all of the four conditions had to be "No," and it seemed they had to be the same in both the main location and Documents. This was certainly true of "FullScreen." Now, we see here however, that things work when TextureResolutionHigh is "Yes" in Documents, and "No" in the main files. I found this intriguing....

propbeanie · 07-05-17, 12:18 PM

Thanks for that... but what directory did you put the game in?

Your update to v1.4 may not have "taken" correctly or fully. Days of old (10 years ago), you had to have the original disk in the drive when you went to update. I don't remember if the v1.3 needed that, but the v1.4 will eliminate the disk requirement.

Also, especially in Win10, but also in the older versions to a lesser extent (somewhat dependent upon your Windows UAC settings), you might have to right-click the SH4.EXE file in the game folder, left-click on Properties at the bottom of the resultant menu, then click on the "Compatibility" tab. Place a tick-mark in the "Run this program as an administrator" toward the bottom of the little window, and try just that. A second step would be to place a tick-mark in the "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" up towards the top of the little window. If you've got Win8 or 10, try "Windows 7". Try again. Do NOT go below Windows XP SP2 on that list. In fact, I don't think it'll work in any of the "Server" modes either. Some folks need those settings, others don't. It all depends upon the computer.

The ~big~ one anymore, is the install directory (but again - dependent upon UAC). If you're in a Windows Protected area, most of what you do won't "stick", and Windows will go behind your back and put some of the changes back the way it was, and not tell you a thing about it. The Program File directories are the most common ones that cause trouble, but there are others...

05-07-17, 11:18 AM	#1
harlikwin Swabbie Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 11 Downloads: 13 Uploads: 0	How I got SH4 running on win 10 Well I figured I'd post this in case anyone else is having issues. First, this was the gamers gate version of the game. It uses the Tages client to run the serial. However my Tages kept erroring out when I tried to run the serial. The fix for this is simple, goto the tages website and download the newer drivers (x64 in my case) http://www.tagesprotection.com/main....ge=minimum.htm Restart the game and it worked. I had the intro movie. But an immediate crash. I tried the various compatibility settings, but still it just immediately crashed. I settled on the XPsp2 compatibility settings as "what it should be" I also tried the high DPI setting button, again no joy, but I left that on. Manually edited the Main.cfg files. There are 2 of these, one located in the SH4 data/cfg directory, and another one in the documents/sh4 directory. This was based on a youtube vid I found. What worked for me, was to turn all the video settings to "no" so full screen = no, synchrnized = no, Dynamic shadows = no, Texture resultionhigh=no. At this point the game booted in windowed mode at crappy res... Progress. Then while in game I changed the gfx settings to allow full screen. and changed the resolution from 1024 to 1900. Exited out of the game and restarted. Then I slowly turned up the gfx settings. Now I'm running at pretty much full GFX. Hope this was helpful for anyone who has had issues. Now I just need to figure out which mods are the good ones.

07-05-17, 10:55 AM	#2
Contemplative Flame Watchman Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: USA Posts: 20 Downloads: 35 Uploads: 0	Thanks! Hi, I really appreciate you doing this it helped me a lot. I edited the cfg files and now have it running in the 1024x768 window. The difference between me and you is, when I go into the settings in game to either 1) uncheck windowed mode and make it fullscreen, or 2) simply change the resolution to something other than 1024x768, it doesn't do anything. So close the game to restart it, but then it does what it was doing before editing the cfg files: not opening but running in the background and taking up system resources according to the Task Manager. Now, I looked at the cfg files (both) after doing these things, and I found that only the secondary one in the Documents changes according to what you do in the in-game graphics menu. I did then go over and duplicate what was in the Documents cfg in the one within the SH4 files themselves, but this made no difference. The only way it opens at all for me thus far is by the way the video had it: everything off and only 1024x768 resolution manually set in both main.cfg files. Any ideas why you might be able to change things in game once yours opens, but mine is still giving me crap? Any help much appreciated UPDATE: Apparently it also works on manually setting 1280x768, 1360x768, and 1366x768 in both cfg files. Apparently it only works when the second value is 768 for some reason....I will do more digging and see if any others work... Last edited by Contemplative Flame; 07-05-17 at 11:31 AM.

07-05-17, 11:43 AM	#3
propbeanie CTD - it's not just a job Join Date: May 2016 Location: One hour from Music City USA! Posts: 9,760 Downloads: 440 Uploads: 2	Contemplative Flame, where did you get your SH4 from - Steam, Amazon, DVD? Which version of Windows do you have? What directory (folder) did you install the game to? Do you happen to know whether you have v1.3, v1.4 or v1.5 (U-Boat Missions) of the game? That is all for now... twenty more questions later after you answer these... __________________ "...and bollocks to the naysayer/s" - Jimbuna

07-05-17, 12:18 PM	#5
propbeanie CTD - it's not just a job Join Date: May 2016 Location: One hour from Music City USA! Posts: 9,760 Downloads: 440 Uploads: 2	Thanks for that... but what directory did you put the game in? Your update to v1.4 may not have "taken" correctly or fully. Days of old (10 years ago), you had to have the original disk in the drive when you went to update. I don't remember if the v1.3 needed that, but the v1.4 will eliminate the disk requirement. Also, especially in Win10, but also in the older versions to a lesser extent (somewhat dependent upon your Windows UAC settings), you might have to right-click the SH4.EXE file in the game folder, left-click on Properties at the bottom of the resultant menu, then click on the "Compatibility" tab. Place a tick-mark in the "Run this program as an administrator" toward the bottom of the little window, and try just that. A second step would be to place a tick-mark in the "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" up towards the top of the little window. If you've got Win8 or 10, try "Windows 7". Try again. Do NOT go below Windows XP SP2 on that list. In fact, I don't think it'll work in any of the "Server" modes either. Some folks need those settings, others don't. It all depends upon the computer. The ~big~ one anymore, is the install directory (but again - dependent upon UAC). If you're in a Windows Protected area, most of what you do won't "stick", and Windows will go behind your back and put some of the changes back the way it was, and not tell you a thing about it. The Program File directories are the most common ones that cause trouble, but there are others... __________________ "...and bollocks to the naysayer/s" - Jimbuna