Help please - RA 1.49 Documentation?

MarkShot · 11-08-20, 04:45 AM

Yesterday, I reinstalled my favorites:

AOD-DOS
SHCE-DOS (PZK utils)
SC
SC/SCXIIc+SCU
DW
DW/LWAMI (3.11)
DW/RA (1.49)

I have tons of documentation on all of the above. Even hard copy commercial strategy guides for AOD.

But I have a absolutely no documentation on DW/RA (1.49). RA was just getting started when I sailed away for a long, long time. I am just returning from much ancient Rome.

Is there any documentation for RA? Sadly, I don't read Russian.

Thanks greatly!

MarkShot · 11-08-20, 05:56 AM

Never mind.

I think everything I am going to need is in the manuals directory.

The Weapons programming they did is amazingly impressive!

ET2SN · 11-08-20, 01:24 PM

I just wanted to add a quick post on installing RA over DW for the folks who are either coming back to DW/RA or are new to DW mods.

Older versions of RA might be tough to find, but I'm sure someone archived them somewhere.

The majority (if not all) of RA installers require a STOCK install of DW that has the Sonanylsts 1.04 patch installed. Do NOT try to install a newer version of RA over an older version of RA.

I recommend keeping a stock-and-patched version of DW somewhere on your system in case you need it.

The install procedure for RA is very simple, BUT you need to make sure the installer has completed running and shut itself down:

-You should have some version of Winzip on your machine (Winzip, 7Zip, etc.) although later versions of Win10 seem to handle the files with no issue.

-Unzip the RA package prior to install. Where you unzip the files doesn't seem to matter as long as you can find them. You should see the RA Installer (.exe) and a folder of data goodies. Place these items in your main DW folder (you must see the DangerousWaters.exe icon in this folder). Then, click INSTALL and be patient. Even on fast desktops, the RA installer can take a while (figure on 5 to 10 minutes) to do everything it needs. What you should see is a "DOS Box" with the installer running. If it pauses, don't worry. This is normal. Wait until you see a message that says something like "Install complete. Press any key to continue" before you do anything. The installer should then shut itself down. Again, give the installer time to run, I've seen other folks who had problems (myself included) because they thought the installer was either done or had frozen and quit the install too early.

-At this point you should be ready to test your version of DW/RA and make sure everything runs. If you are running Win8 to Win10, you will NEED to install a display converter .DLL file. On later versions of RA, this converter DLL is located inside a folder of your newly installed version of DW/RA called "Windows 8".
NOTE: the DLL file MUST be located in the main DW folder. If you can see the DangerousWaters.exe icon and the DLL file in the same folder, you're ready to go.

One quick point about the converter DLL, it works great BUT it converts DW's 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:9. What you see in the game will always be stretched slightly. If that bugs you, there are converters that will run DW in a windowed display mode. Just check the forum for your options.

One last quick tip. You get DW/RA set up and running and you notice:
"Hey, I was watching that guy on Twitch/YouTube play the game and his install looks a lot better than mine. What happened?"

Nothing, you just need to set your display options like you used to do in the game (the DW install file always defaults these values to minimums). Only now, if you try to change your display options (Win 8 and newer) DW will crash.
You get around that by manually editing the DangerousWaters.ini file. Right click the file and MAKE SURE you only use NOTEPAD to edit it. Check these forums for a better guide on how to edit this file, but for the most part you want to set DISPLAY QUALITY to "3". Avoid the temptation to set it to "4", it still doesn't work and DW may not start at all or start then shut down.

Now, go out and sink something.

MarkShot · 11-08-20, 01:37 PM

Interesting.

I was not even aware of the aspect ratio issue using the DLL for SC and DW.

I have 2 displays:

21" 1600x1200 NEC LCD Monitor

32" SONY 1080p TV (1920x1080)

I use the latter mainly for games. I had used the former for my old sub games. So, the GPU was readjusting the aspect ratio back I guess.

I chose GPU and opposed to DISPLAY, I figured my GPU is probably better at this type stuff than the DISPLAY. I wanted 1024x768 to keep the text readable.

MarkShot · 11-08-20, 01:38 PM

BTW, if you know any of the RA modders. You can tell them I was very impressed with the scope of the mod.

And the quality of the documentation, and that it is in readable English.

Thanks.

p7p8 · 11-08-20, 02:04 PM

Why you play RA 1.49 if latest version has number 1.50 beta?

11-08-20, 04:45 AM	#1
MarkShot Ace of the Deep Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,134 Downloads: 93 Uploads: 0	Help please - RA 1.49 Documentation? Yesterday, I reinstalled my favorites: AOD-DOS SHCE-DOS (PZK utils) SC SC/SCXIIc+SCU DW DW/LWAMI (3.11) DW/RA (1.49) I have tons of documentation on all of the above. Even hard copy commercial strategy guides for AOD. But I have a absolutely no documentation on DW/RA (1.49). RA was just getting started when I sailed away for a long, long time. I am just returning from much ancient Rome. Is there any documentation for RA? Sadly, I don't read Russian. Thanks greatly! __________________ War games, not wars! --- Only a small few profit from war (that should not stand)!

11-08-20, 05:56 AM	#2
MarkShot Ace of the Deep Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,134 Downloads: 93 Uploads: 0	Never mind. I think everything I am going to need is in the manuals directory. The Weapons programming they did is amazingly impressive! __________________ War games, not wars! --- Only a small few profit from war (that should not stand)!

11-08-20, 01:37 PM	#4
MarkShot Ace of the Deep Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,134 Downloads: 93 Uploads: 0	Interesting. I was not even aware of the aspect ratio issue using the DLL for SC and DW. I have 2 displays: 21" 1600x1200 NEC LCD Monitor 32" SONY 1080p TV (1920x1080) I use the latter mainly for games. I had used the former for my old sub games. So, the GPU was readjusting the aspect ratio back I guess. I chose GPU and opposed to DISPLAY, I figured my GPU is probably better at this type stuff than the DISPLAY. I wanted 1024x768 to keep the text readable. __________________ War games, not wars! --- Only a small few profit from war (that should not stand)!

11-08-20, 01:38 PM	#5
MarkShot Ace of the Deep Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,134 Downloads: 93 Uploads: 0	BTW, if you know any of the RA modders. You can tell them I was very impressed with the scope of the mod. And the quality of the documentation, and that it is in readable English. Thanks. __________________ War games, not wars! --- Only a small few profit from war (that should not stand)!

11-08-20, 02:04 PM	#6
p7p8 Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 742 Downloads: 136 Uploads: 6	Why you play RA 1.49 if latest version has number 1.50 beta? __________________

11-08-20, 01:24 PM	#3
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	I just wanted to add a quick post on installing RA over DW for the folks who are either coming back to DW/RA or are new to DW mods. Older versions of RA might be tough to find, but I'm sure someone archived them somewhere. The majority (if not all) of RA installers require a STOCK install of DW that has the Sonanylsts 1.04 patch installed. Do NOT try to install a newer version of RA over an older version of RA. I recommend keeping a stock-and-patched version of DW somewhere on your system in case you need it. The install procedure for RA is very simple, BUT you need to make sure the installer has completed running and shut itself down: -You should have some version of Winzip on your machine (Winzip, 7Zip, etc.) although later versions of Win10 seem to handle the files with no issue. -Unzip the RA package prior to install. Where you unzip the files doesn't seem to matter as long as you can find them. You should see the RA Installer (.exe) and a folder of data goodies. Place these items in your main DW folder (you must see the DangerousWaters.exe icon in this folder). Then, click INSTALL and be patient. Even on fast desktops, the RA installer can take a while (figure on 5 to 10 minutes) to do everything it needs. What you should see is a "DOS Box" with the installer running. If it pauses, don't worry. This is normal. Wait until you see a message that says something like "Install complete. Press any key to continue" before you do anything. The installer should then shut itself down. Again, give the installer time to run, I've seen other folks who had problems (myself included) because they thought the installer was either done or had frozen and quit the install too early. -At this point you should be ready to test your version of DW/RA and make sure everything runs. If you are running Win8 to Win10, you will NEED to install a display converter .DLL file. On later versions of RA, this converter DLL is located inside a folder of your newly installed version of DW/RA called "Windows 8". NOTE: the DLL file MUST be located in the main DW folder. If you can see the DangerousWaters.exe icon and the DLL file in the same folder, you're ready to go. One quick point about the converter DLL, it works great BUT it converts DW's 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:9. What you see in the game will always be stretched slightly. If that bugs you, there are converters that will run DW in a windowed display mode. Just check the forum for your options. One last quick tip. You get DW/RA set up and running and you notice: "Hey, I was watching that guy on Twitch/YouTube play the game and his install looks a lot better than mine. What happened?" Nothing, you just need to set your display options like you used to do in the game (the DW install file always defaults these values to minimums). Only now, if you try to change your display options (Win 8 and newer) DW will crash. You get around that by manually editing the DangerousWaters.ini file. Right click the file and MAKE SURE you only use NOTEPAD to edit it. Check these forums for a better guide on how to edit this file, but for the most part you want to set DISPLAY QUALITY to "3". Avoid the temptation to set it to "4", it still doesn't work and DW may not start at all or start then shut down. Now, go out and sink something.