Game freezing in fullscreen/DirectDraw mode using Win7 - SOLVED!

Khris · Thu 20/01/2011 23:34:05

I've tested a 2.72, a 3.1.2 and a 3.2 game on Win7 32bit.

They're all 320x200 or 320x240, and I've tested them in fullscreen using every possible combination of DirectDraw, DirectX and the x2 and the x4 filter.
All of them worked perfectly fine, the only odd one out was x2 & DirectX; even with the 85Hz option checked, the screen was slightly off-center. That's my monitor settings I assume, it's weird that 640x480 and 85Hz gives two different images depending on the graphics driver though. Dunno, maybe this is not that weird.

I'm running an ATI Radeon HD 3850 / DirectX 11 on a CRT set to 1280x960.

Dave Gilbert · Thu 20/01/2011 23:42:24

Compatibility Mode was the first thing I tried. So I know that doesn't work.

Dave Gilbert · Fri 21/01/2011 17:23:57

Sorry for the double post, but this is becoming quite a big problem.

Gemini Rue won't work at all on this new computer, for three reasons:

The game is a 16 bit game, using the snowRain plugin, so it needs to run in DirectDraw mode.

1 - As mentioned, my computer won't run DirectDraw games in fullscreen mode

2 - Win 7 won't run 16 bit games in windowed mode, so playing it in DirectDraw/windowed mode is out (it forces the computer to switch to a different color scheme, which locks up the game).

3 - Switching to direct3D won't work, since the snowRain plugin is incompatible with Direct3D.

So... I find myself completely stuck. I can't run the game at all, in windowed mode or in fullscreen, unless I muck with my computer's settings and switch the game to 16 bit color mode. This is not an optimal solution, since your average customer won't know or even want to do that (especially for a game released in 2011). Does anybody have any other ideas? I could drag out my old laptop to test the game on, but the fact that this happens at all makes me sure that others will encounter it as well. I'm supposed to be launching this game in 4 weeks so I'm going crazy trying to get it resolved. So, any more help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

-Dave

Snarky · Fri 21/01/2011 17:43:51

The simplest solution (for you and your customers) would seem to be to offer an option to disable the SnowRain plugin, or maybe even rewriting it so that it's compatible with Direct3D, if that's feasible.

Dave Gilbert · Fri 21/01/2011 17:55:59

Not really feasible at this point, I'm afraid. The main issue here is getting AGS games to run in DirectDraw mode in fullscreen on this computer. Anything else is a bonus.

Dave Gilbert · Fri 21/01/2011 19:50:27

WOOOOOOOOOO!

After two hours with tech support, we figured it out! And it's the most convoluted and arbitrary solution ever.

Basically, the laptop was running in something called "Entertainment Mode." I'm not sure what that means, but all I had to do was switch it to "High Performance Mode" and magically all my problems went away. I never would have thought of that in a bazillion years.

So. Phew. That's a relief. Thanks for all the advice, everyone. As for me, it's back to testing, I suppose.

Igor Hardy · Sat 22/01/2011 20:42:29

Boy, did you get entertained in that mode!

Good to hear you solved the problem.

cianty · Sat 22/01/2011 23:07:31

Wow. What a weird thing is that? Glad it's solved now. Can't wait for the game.

Pumaman · Sun 23/01/2011 16:20:36

Was that "Entertainment Mode" a Windows setting or something specific to your graphics card drivers?

Dave Gilbert · Sun 23/01/2011 17:17:48

It was something specific for the laptop, more specifically the battery. I think "High performance" mode means it uses more of the laptop's processor power to run, while "entertainment" mode does not. I'm not sure of the details, but I know that it works.

Pumaman · Sun 23/01/2011 17:58:07

Ah ok, thanks for the info!

subspark · Tue 25/01/2011 07:22:34

Hmm this means my issue may also be related to performance. I'll have a fiddle with the performance settings in my control panel and let you know how I go.

Sparky.

Dave Gilbert · Tue 25/01/2011 16:10:21

I don't know if you have a laptop or not, but the option to change this was located under the battery settings. If you have a desktop, it probably does not have a battery.

Snarky · Tue 25/01/2011 16:27:51

Older versions of Windows have a couple of settings somewhere for Audio and Video acceleration, which also tend to disable DirectX features if you turn them down (causing very odd symptoms, like static in mp3 files). Sounds like this "entertainment mode" might be the Win7 name for the same, maybe.

CoolGuy · Fri 11/11/2011 01:26:35

Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Fri 21/01/2011 19:50:27
WOOOOOOOOOO!

After two hours with tech support, we figured it out! And it's the most convoluted and arbitrary solution ever.

Basically, the laptop was running in something called "Entertainment Mode." I'm not sure what that means, but all I had to do was switch it to "High Performance Mode" and magically all my problems went away. I never would have thought of that in a bazillion years.

So. Phew. That's a relief. Thanks for all the advice, everyone. As for me, it's back to testing, I suppose.

Switching to "High Performance" mode on my laptop also worked to fix the problem for me. My problem was slightly different in that the games would run, but the mouse would freeze every 5 seconds or so, and sometimes the mouse would freeze altogether until I left the window and came back to it. How awkwardly convoluted.