SH1 Hangs on Radar Screen

[SinkemAll]

I am having a problem with my XP load of SH1. I have followed the procedures for the XP install, and the game starts fine, however, when I look at the radar screen in a scenario, the video flakes out and the program hangs. I cannot get out of it without shutting everything down. DOSBOX is not an option (long story). Does anyone know a fix? Thanks!!

[Buddahaid]

Are you using the VDMSound install referred to in this forum? I've done that and it seems to work although I haven't ran a whole mission through. I'll see if I have the problem when I'm home. My video card is an ATI 850.

I have used VDMSound to run a few other games I have played without problems.

Buddahaid

[SinkemAll]

Yes, I am using the VDSM shortcut. I have researched Subsim, SubSoWesPac, and Valor at Sea for the "best" ways to install the game, updates, and mods on my XP laptop. I thought it might be something related to the Patch.bat file (Ver 1.3 update), as the Custom folder was not built automatically per the instructions. The rest of the update seems fine. My Video Card is an ATI Mobility Radeon 9700.

[Buddahaid]

I used the SubSuWestPAc install. That's a pretty involved procedure to follow so give it another try I suppose. I thought maybe it could be a video card driver problem as well. I installed this before installing the latest xp service pack which is another consideration.

I realize it's not your preferred choice, but I also keep a PII-400 98se system around for the older games. Some DOS games like Strike Commander will not run on anything but DOS period. I'm pretty sure you could find an older system at a recycler business for $40.00 or so. Just a vanilla 98se install will work with the only caveat being DOS sound card drivers. I needed to boot from a DOS 6.22 setup disk in order to install those drivers. It won't install DOS as 98se is there, but it dumps you at the C prompt in a pure DOS mode that allows the DOS sound card driver setup to run instead of refusing to install because it still knows 98se is there. One other benefit to this is fast bootup and shutdowns as you don't need virus software or any other gizmo's to bog it down. Just keep it off the www and scan anything you put on it from your main system before.

My main snafu is getting Command Aces of the Deep to run in xp. It's been done but I still get insufficient memory error as it tries to load the mission.

Buddahaid

[Buddahaid]

Checked it and it still works after sp3.

Buddahaid

[SinkemAll]

I wiped out everything and attempted a reinstall (I have XP SP3 too), being careful to follow all instructions on the SubSoWesPac site. Now when I try and launch, I get a message about needing the CD in the drive, but hitting OK just loops back to the same screen and Cancelling kicks me out. I've done the registry fix and its OK and I've also done the BUD folder fix. Where have I messed up?

[Buddahaid]

Here's the install directions for that. Maybe you missed it.

Silent Hunter - Eliminate the CD-ROM Requirement:
The "copy protection" used by Silent Hunter was to require that the game CD-ROM be inserted into the CD drive for the game to function. The copy protection 'check' was made by looking for the presence of the 17,028,772 byte file named "10.SMK" in the "\SH\BUD" sub-directory on the game CD-ROM. The following method eliminates the need for the game CD-ROM to be present in the CD drive when playing the game:
First, create a sub-directory named "\BUD" in the game sub-directory on your WinXP hard drive. From our above example, in the "x:\GAMES\SILENT" location we would now have "x:\GAMES\SILENT\BUD"
Second, now copy all of the "*.SMK" files in the "\SH\BUD" sub-directory from the game CD-ROM to the above created "x:\GAMES\SILENT\BUD" sub-directory on your WinXP hard drive. This will require an additional 115 MB of hard disk space over and above the 83 MB required by the Silent Hunter Maximum Install.
Third, with NOTEPAD edit the file "ShPath.ini" located in the "x:\GAMES\SILENT" sub-directory to look identical to the below file configuration:
ShPath.ini file contents:
DATA =DATA\
ART =ART\
SFX =SFX\
SPEECH =SPEECH\
CINES =CINES\
SCEN =SCEN\
BUD =BUD\
SAVE =SAVE\
You have now eliminated the need to have the game CD-ROM inserted into your WinXP CD drive when playing Silent Hunter. This will make execution under WinXP easier, and will not require that the WinXP DOS (NTVDM) CD-ROM emulation be activated.

Buddahaid

[SinkemAll]

Yep, I doubled up the BUD folder (i.e. x:\games\silent\bud\bud). No wonder I had a problem. Now that it is cleared, the game starts normal and still "hangs" on the radar screen. It looks as though 1/2 the window freezes and another portion(s) shifts to the top of the screen but keeps going. The mouse tail dissappears off of the frozen section, but does appear to work on the shifted blocks. Switching back to another station via the F keys, locks it up.

After rebooting I tried a different mission (pre-radar) and the program "hung" in the periscope view. This has got ot be video card related, but I see nothing that references a fix.