Integrated Intel graphics and EAW

[TheRandoGuy 0]

Well DxWnd seems to work with that other game that I mentioned before, the main menu is a little off center but ingame is fine though. So i dunno either... Maybe my retro machine doesn't like those glide wrappers. I tried dgvoodoo but i dunno how to set it up, settings wise for EAW.

This game might be a lost cause.. shame though because i can play Red Baron 3D, & iPanzer44 perfectly. All of which are from the same win95/98 era.

Edited July 14, 2022 by TheRandoGuy

[MarkEAW 63]

naw, not a lost cause.

You would need to stick with the patched stock version 1.2, no GOG/Steam if possiable....why? well they have their own directdraw wrapper, and if the related DX dll is not present, those types of eaw.exe's won't run correctly.
WinXP even Vista isn't listed as supported by the Gog/Steam type of eaw.exe.
You may get a black screen and become stuck in EAW. You'll have to swapp program windows or task view the processes, or sign out of windows to close the open window down.

 

If you had a decent GPU I would recommend the GOG/Steam versions as its easy to configure winxp for the game, but for you, you have to fool your winxp system in thinking you have a better GPU. (than the older Intel one).

Off hand it maybe DxWnd that does just that. I can't recall right now. I know one of them has its own video card subsitute, or even a geforce card. The same wrapper may have a basic eaw config file already setup to load into the wrapper program.

 

Make a new folder called EAW12 and place all the files for that version in a folder on a 2nd drive or someplace like C:/Microprose/EAW12/ 
You may also have some silly reg entries that winxp has created, those could be cleanned out. I have info on my site for that. or use CCleaner reg cleaner to do it. (expecially if you been moving stuff around alot)

 

Once you have MPS EAW v1.2 working you can copy that folder and drop in EAWPRO or other unofficial versions into the new folder. I have I think about 5 installs of the game for an example.

 

Anyhow https://eaw.neocities.org thats my site URL if you need it :) Someone does if there not logged into the forum :o)

 

 

[TheRandoGuy 0]

Alright so i have a clean EAW 1.20 folder install now. I messed around more with an old version of dgvoodoo 1.31 settings even though i had no idea what they did, and i got EAW working and the stutter when i hit T is gone. But i have the old school glide graphics now, which is ok i guess... i mean it's the look i remember back in the day, I suppose you can't have everything. One thing i do prefer in this version is how i can see my machinegun/cannon fire more easily, unlike the newer versions. The MPS loading screen was not as fast as it should be, but not terribly slow, still tolerable. Sometimes when level out the aircraft the horizon doesn't look right as in there is a gray line until i turn the aircraft... not sure if it's dgvoodoo causing that or just the old school glide graphics

Edited July 14, 2022 by TheRandoGuy

[TheRandoGuy 0]

And that's the horizon gray line btw. So you know what i'm talking about.

Gray Line.bmp

[MarkEAW 63]

yeah, that must be the glide failing. Could be more settings but I don't have experience in dgvoodoo.

No idea how to fix it. I just know that the older versions of EAW use glide 2.43.

You could try the nglide wrapper for winXP instead, I belive older versions support winxp, but not the newer versions or keep setting different settings in dgvoodoo one at a time to see if you can find the right cure.

BTW The MPS globe at the begining you can skip with ESC key

Also remember that everything but the flight screen uses DirectX/DD, this includes the globe and menu screens.

 

EDIT:

Try a different resolution too in the games eaw.ini, maybe 800x600. It seems your using 640x480 right now, that would provide the 2D cockpits, try to up the res and stick with the 3D Virtual Cockpits(they are less detailed), and see if that cleans up the faulty glide.

Edited July 15, 2022 by MarkEAW
resolution and edit

[TheRandoGuy 0]

I tried different higher res through the eaw.ini file it didn't solve the gray line horizon. Btw dgvoogoo doesn't seem to like the dd wrapper it crashes during MPS. I found nGlide092 version which is apparently supported at the time for XP but when i click on fly now i get Glide init error.

Edited July 15, 2022 by TheRandoGuy

[MarkEAW 63]

Did you remove dgvoodoo first before installing nglide?

You can dl a portable version of nglide too I belive, where you place the wrapper files into the game folder.

A quick look at nglide web site, it seems the latest still supports WinXP.

[TheRandoGuy 0]

Yes I did remove dgvoodoo first, i figured two wrappers would conflict with each other. However i'm not sure where to find a portable version of nGlide though can't seem to locate it on their website.

Edited July 16, 2022 by TheRandoGuy

[TheRandoGuy 0]

Just tried another game which has glide graphics and yeah even this game gave me errors. So yeah, i think my retro PC just doesn't like any glide wrappers at all. I must of tried at least 10 different ones to no success. I'll just have to play EAW on my windows 11 RTX rig and just move the keyboard outta the way to make room for the joystick, my monitor is huge. Sometimes we don't get what we want. Anyway though, thanks for all ya help Mark, most folks would of either not replied or would have bailed awhile ago but you stuck around and i really appreciate it.

[MarkEAW 63]

You worked alot on this, more so than most.

okay, . I know I couldn't help too much, but your welcome.

 

EDIT:

I couldn't locate the portable version of nglide either. I swore I seen it before/used it before.

The reason I asked you to use that as its not system wide as the installed version. and you could use other wrappers if its portable for each game or game folder.

Aw well , where you using SP3 with WinXP and the last release of your intel gpu/chipset drivers? Just wondering.

Edited July 16, 2022 by MarkEAW
nglide portable?

[TheRandoGuy 0]

I've only seen a portable nGlide with some gog games, i even tried to "borrow it" from one game and use it for EAW but no luck there. And yes, my retro machine has the last of the XP updates before it became out of support. The only update it doesn't have is that un-offical SP4 update. And i believe it has latest Intel drivers for the chipset.

[MarkEAW 63]

SP4 , heh. weird stuff out there :) I know nothing about the unoffical winxp sp4....

I have a winxp system but it has a sloted Nvidia GPU and an Intel chipset and CPU. I think intel either barried or removed there old drivers now, last I looked. But it could have been just a different layout of their website.

The point is I grab everything for my MB before the change. so instead of a 2002-2004 system, I updated bios and chipsets etc and upgrade cpu so its about a 2006-2007 system now.
Thier stuff was newer than the HP brand computer web site had.

Maybe update your intel drivers then, and check your MBs bios, see if intel still has those updates. Atleast thats what I would have done before fiddling with the game :)

 

About the gog portable nglide...maybe thats where i seen it with gog games. IDK. 

 

 

[TheRandoGuy 0]

I never considered to install the un-offical update lol seemed to be dodgy. One thing that my retro does pack really well is the Pentium 4. I mean it ran most of my old school games well such as All Command & Conquer games (Up until C&C 3), AVP1 & 2, Conflict Desert Storm 1 & 2, ShellShock Nam 67, MechCommander 1 & 2, Emperor Battle for Dune, Descent 1 & 2 (even with the upgraded graphics rebirth mod), Classic Doom 1 & 2 (Brutal Doom mod), and many more i could mention on here... there's something about playing classic games on old hardware it's like going back in time..

it's an early 2000s Dell machine maybe there's drivers that i missed and those are still on Dells website. Might need to check it out.

[MarkEAW 63]

Check what motherboard Dell used. It maybe an intel MB with drivers and bios at the intel site, which seem to be newer than what Dell brand has.

I too have a Pentium 4 HT, think it might be 3.2ghz, up graded from a 2.6ghz. The upgrades I put in my WinXP system seem to run much faster even with the SP3, which is known to slow down most early 2000 machines.

I also bought new old type of ddr ram 4gigs, cost me alot to get it but there the best ram with heat sinks you can by new. Unfornatly the system uses over a gig of memory.

 

 

[+gerwin 451]

On 22-5-2022 at 4:00 PM, TheRandoGuy said:

I have an old Pentium 4 Windows XP PC with integrated Intel extreme graphics 2

Oh man, I never really considered this properly. You cannot expect much 3D gaming on Intel graphics in the Pentium 4 era. 2D will work, but 3D....

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Extreme-Graphics-2.2179.0.html

That is december 2003. And intel was not serious about their 3D hardware, it was just an integrated solution for users who did not game much. In 2003 NVidia came with the GeForce FX or "GeForce 5" series. Which was miles ahead of intel in 3D rendering. Same for ATI cards.

In comparison, I have this netbook from 2009 with intel graphics, even that was very limited for 3D games. At most it could run Call of Duty 1 from 2003, at rather poor framerate. That is an OpenGL game btw.

Then this EAW test I did earlier in this topic, that was a 2011/2012 laptop with intel graphics. The intel graphics being the weakest part of the laptop of course, but at least it never overheats. :) 2011/2012 is when many vendors chose to stop supplying any Windows XP drivers.

 

 

 

 

[MarkEAW 63]

Thanks for the Intel history lesson. 

I have a Geforce FX I think its called, not the top model but somewhere on the lower end on my WinXP Intel Pentium 4 HT. It runs even WinXP SP3 like a dream.

 

What we where trying to do is get the OpenGL by intel to accept the Glide API, in sorta a up convergense. I've seen the old Intels work well with wrappers since they use not just the intel IGP but the CPU too.

In this case it seems to have failed partialy....atleast at the moment :)

[+gerwin 451]

2 hours ago, MarkEAW said:

Thanks for the Intel history lesson. 

I have a Geforce FX I think its called, not the top model but somewhere on the lower end on my WinXP Intel Pentium 4 HT. It runs even WinXP SP3 like a dream.

 

What we where trying to do is get the OpenGL by intel to accept the Glide API, in sorta a up convergense. I've seen the old Intels work well with wrappers since they use not just the intel IGP but the CPU too.

In this case it seems to have failed partialy....atleast at the moment :)

Yeah, sorry about the lecture. ;) Here is a nice graph I just found. Intel extreme graphics 2 is the second bar (yellow). The red bar below that is the cheapest addon videocard by ATI at that time. Your Geforce FX should be at least on par with that ATI R9200.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/integrated-graphics-performance,674-17.html

 

Yeah I know the Glide to OpenGL wrapper method a little. I used some of them briefly.

Edited July 19, 2022 by gerwin

[MarkEAW 63]

I didn't mean to sound like I was complaining. I was thankfull :) My fault for not being clearer.

I just didn't know what the version of OpenGL needs to be to get error free Glide conversion. I was hoping TheRandoGuy could update that portion of his system to help out.

The DirectX portion should be 9.0c I think in WinXP, and EAW uses 5/6 in its programming. DX7, I *belive* if its the GOG/Steam types. I'm just saying incase someones reading and needed to know.....

Anyhow thanks for the information, I was never a Intel guy back in 2002, I got my 2nd WinXP system in the last 5 years. The first I had a Nvidia card in it too.

 

[+gerwin 451]

19 hours ago, MarkEAW said:

I didn't mean to sound like I was complaining. I was thankfull :) My fault for not being clearer.

 

Glad to hear that. Yes, I was in doubt there.

Also because I normally don't like to come into the discussion saying "buy something better if you want it to work." Which is always easy to say.

Instead, I like old hardware and still have about 30 older videocards here: AGP, PCI and even ISA and Vesa Local Bus slotted ones. Nothing intel based from around 2003 though, so cannot test anything like that.

[MarkEAW 63]

Another very old XP Glide Wrapper if anyone needs to try it.

http://evoodoo.emulation64.com/us/home.html

This site mentions that it supports: Intel i740, i810, i820 graphics/chipsets

http://evoodoo.emulation64.com/us/evreq.html

Edited December 20, 2022 by MarkEAW
added intel info.