SH3Gen and Windows 7

[rudewarrior]

Hi,

Is anyone out there running SH3Gen with Windows 7 successfully. I can't seem to make it run, and I can't figure out what the issue is. It opens, but after I pick the save game, the "generate" button remains greyed out, and I can't press it in order to run the program.

Any help?

[Pisces]

I don't know if this is the cure but I suspect that Sh3Gen tries to make files and folders inside it's own folderstructure inside c:\Program Files\Sh3Gen. But Vista and Windows 7 doesn't like it if programs do that.

Try to install it somewhere else and see if it works then.

[rudewarrior]

Thanx for the idea, but that is not it. I have it installed under my personal folder. I also tried running it as an administrator b/c of that whole altering files issue, but that doesn't work either.

Thanx for the try, tho.

[bsalyers]

I am running Windows 7 and have exactly the same issue. I tried the same things, running as administrator, compatibility-mode; no love. Has anyone else had any luck?

[irish1958]

I can't either. I PM the author without response re windows7.

[FIREWALL]

With Win7 as with Vista you can partition on the fly and reinstall XP.

Sadly everything works on XP when it comes to SH-3 and Mods/Addons.

[rudewarrior]

Unless the author responds, I don't think there is much merit to using the mod at this point. I like it, but I'm guessing it hasn't been maintained in a while. It was definitely a cool add-on, but I could do without the Icebergs that get plotted in the English Channel. Oh well, eventually all mods die...

[Pisces]

Well, with Windows 7 you can use Virtual XP mode to run applications (through a virtual environment) that do not work in plain W7. I haven't seriously tried it yet so I can't help further. And it depends on your CPU (does it support virtualization technology), and edition of 7 if you can actually run it. But this link should point in the right direction:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

[Talyllyn]

The virtual XP patch only works for the versions above the Home Premium unfortunately.

[Pisces]

Yeah, that's what I meant with "edition of 7". But according to this wiki page ("I" note under the compatibility table) you can sort of bypass this limitation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Virtual_PC#endnote_I3

Though I do not understand how they manage to get it to install XP Sp3 as a virtual machine in Virtual PC with one of the lesser versions of 7. Maybe you could stubbornly try to download the files for the Professional version and install it anyway. Virtual PC 2007 wasn't supposed to work on my Vista Home Premium either, but it did. It just gave a meaningless 'thou shall not install' warning message when I installed it. The virtual machines didn't care it was a lesser edition of Vista.

[irish1958]

I checked my install of windows7 and found that I had Net Framework 3.5.1 (sp1) on my computer and I did not have NF 1 and 2. The specs for SH3Gen require NF 2.
When I checked at the Microsoft web site, there was a thread that stated that NF 2 needed to be uninstalled before installing NF 3.5
Is this the reason that SH3Gen won't work on windows7?
If so, does anyone know if it is safe to install NF 2 on windows7?
Has anybody been able to run sh3Gen on windows7?
If one installs virtual PC as Pisces suggests, is it safe to also install net framework 2 as it is not included with the virtualPC install?

[Pisces]

A virtual pc can be considered completely seperate from the os/machine that it runs from (complete with BIOS startup). Things you install inside the OS of the virtual machine can't corrupt/disrupt the host OS. Unless there is still a serious bug, but Virtual PC 2007 has stood the test of time by now. Virtual PC for Windows 7 I don't know yet. Or possibly a virus/worm spreads via the simulated network connection from the virtual machine (if you have it enabled) into your lan to your host pc. Or through sharing the host-pc windows-folder. But that is a matter of keeping your systems updated and clean and secure. (theoretically you should install all updates and a virusscanner/firewall if you use it to go on the internet, but it does put extra strain on the system)

I've installed and run dozens of virtual machines (some times 4 at once) over the past months and I have never seen a hickup in my host OS because of them.


PS. It's probably obvious, but don't use a virtual PC when you still have the game running in the background.

[GlobalExplorer]

Sorry guys, but there isn't much I can do for you since I don't have Windows 7, and plan to stick with XP for quite some time. Sure someone can drop me a mail if he wants the sourcecode. But I don't want to see it uploaded to the web.

[slipper]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone has managed to get SH3Gen running in Win7 yet?
Just coming back to SH3 after a while a way and i miss this great little program.

If not has there been an alternative made somewhere?

Thanks for any replies

regards

slipper

[irish1958]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone has managed to get SH3Gen running in Win7 yet?
Just coming back to SH3 after a while a way and i miss this great little program.

If not has there been an alternative made somewhere?

Thanks for any replies

regards

slipper

Not that I know of
and Not that I know of

I really miss the program as I used it with every patrol when I had XP.

[U-snafu]

crap---coming back on vista figured this would be the case---oh well---twas a great program that i always ran -----cheers to global for the hours of fun i got out of it on old xp

[slipper]

Just a bit of an update as to a bit of an experiment i tried last night.

I have a desktop PC that has SH3 installed (GWX3.0 and SH3Gen) and operating Win7, as mentioned above SH3Gen does not work on this setup.

I also have an old laptop running XP, so i installed SH3 and SH3Gen on this (not really capable of running the game).

Then i started a career on my desktop Win7 PC, saved the game when out to sea, and exited SH3.

Next i copied the save game file from My Documents\SH3 on my desktop PC and transferred the save game to my laptop.

I then ran SH3Gen on my laptop, directed it to the save game and managed to generate a report.

Next i copied all the save game info from my laptop to my Win7 PC, restarted my career and low and behold the SH3Gen info was in game.

As a further test i exited the game and started SH3Gen on my Win7 game, directed it to my copied saved game files and was able to generate a further report different to the original.

I am no computer expert by far, but it would appear that SH3Gen runs on Win7 but is not able to generate an initial report. If it has an initial report it seems to work ok.

just maybe there is an easy workaround to this.

regards

slipper


As an update to this

I started a new career separate to the one mentioned above on my desktop Win7 PC. saved and exited the game, run SH3Gen directed it to my new career and was able to generate a new report for my new career on a Win7 PC. So it would appear if you manage to get SH3Gen running initially by using a SH3Gen saved game, then it runs ok under Win7. Early days yet but it appears to work.

[Pisces]

I just installed SH3Gen on my Win7 (64bit) system. I didn't install it into the Program Files folder (since I know it wants to write some backup files into it's folderstructure, and Win7 doesn't like that there), but into a manually created folder where SH3 itself and SH3 Commander also reside. Afterwards the application did start to run, but the Generate button didn't work because I forgot to set the path to the SH3 game folder in the General settings. When that was done SH3Gen worked as designed. Proven with markings on the map in the game. No need for the XP SP3 compatibility setting in the sh3gen.exe file properties either. I haven't tried the TatukGIS extention yet though.

So I see no special reason why SH3Gen fails to run in Win7. I suspect Slipper installed SH3Gen into the Program Files folder which prevented the files and folder from being created. I'm not sure why he managed to get it to work on the new career though. But there is definately no need to use an XP system as intermediary.

[irish1958]

Pisces,
Thanks for the info. I tried SH3GEN on Vista 64bit (installing it outside of the program files) and gave up after many hours of frustration with trying to get it to run, including XP compatibility mode.
I never tried it on Windows7; I just assumed it wouldn't run since Windows7 is just Vista with most of the mistakes corrected and not really a new operating system.
I'll give it a whirl when I have time to see if I can get it working. I'll also try to get the TatukGIS viewer to work.

I have been spending most of my computer time with the SHIV radar mod but I still don't have it completely down.

In the mean time, my golf game is suffering.:damn:

[Pisces]

For the record, my SH3Gen version is v082. To my knowledge the last one ever released.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Having used SH3 Gen on XP, I'd forgotten about it for my new Win7 system until I bumped into this thread earlier today.

I got home, downloaded SH3 Gen, ran it and it works fine, just pointed it at my SH3 location and all is well. I'm currently downloading the GIS viewer for mapping.

I tried to get dotnet 2.0, but it's not available on 7, so I tried for 3.5 which includes it, but couldn't get that for 7 either so just the 4.0 that was already on seems fine - I couldn't see anywhere it includes 2.0 or 3.5 but it works (albeit some convoys are inland?):)

Hope the rest of you guys can get it sorted soon.

[rudewarrior]

I didn't notice this thread had so much activity out of nowhere. I'm glad to see some people enjoyed this application as much as I did. It was wonderful for immersion.

Keep trying guys! You're doing great work! If you can get this running again, I'll be your best friend!! :yeah:

Thanx for putting so much effort in!

[slipper]

Thanks for replies all.

Really busy at moment so no chance to experiment, i am using the 0.7.1 version (never tried the TatukGIS viewer or its version 0.8), but will try when i get time.

As long as everyone seems to be getting it working though then alls good. will try the 0.8 version without my longwinded workaround :).

cheers all
regards

slipper