Bandy

Hello all, posted this at another forum but no reply so trying here. While I own a bona fide retail version of CFS3 (swear on my Mother's grave), I rather foolishly tried the no-CD.exe hack file in order to save wear and tear on my DVD drive and resulted in buggering-up a Win7 system file. I know, I know... Now I get a non-initialization error wmp.dll cannot be found. No fun in sim-land. I've googled the issue, it is related to that bloatware Windows Media Player, and there seems to be no solid answer. Re-install CFS3 and OFF has not helped, nor system update. And oh! When I went to try system restore NONE OF MY 3 EARLIER RESTORE POINTS WERE THERE!!!! They just weren't there and I know I made them prior to the error. Has anyone encountered and overcome this error or have some good advice? I am trying to avoid a complete OS reinstall since I just got the system in a sweet-spot (other than this issue!), but failed to clone the complete drive to backup. I was going to do it over the holidays. Go figure... Many thanks if you took the time to read this.

THIS F*%&^%$ing PROBLEM IS SOLVED!!!! Was in Control Panel/Uninstall Programs in Win7 to trash my OFF when I happened to look to the left and saw a side panel selection, "Turn Windows features on or off". I am a curious fellow and always on the look out to find easier ways to turn unnecessary win-bloat off, and since 7 is new to me... or maybe I was just delaying the PITA of uninstall/re-installing OFF since I had no faith that it would help with the wmp.dll error... ANYWAYS, I saw an entry for Media Features, clicked the '+' and saw Windows Media Player was not checked. So I checked it and thought, "No, can't be THAT simple", but it was. OFF now runs. Go figure. Using that no-cd file zapped something, that seemed obvious, but maybe I simply needed to check this box? I do not know, maybe never will. My final question though is how is Windows Media Player tied into OFF??? EDIT: And oh, thank you to everyone who was trying to help. I suppose we've all been there before.

While the first point is certainly true, having extra cores DOES help if one uses a processor affinity tool (many free or demos available). I have a quad and put all OS processes on the second core (cpu 3 and 4), run TIR4 and joystick on cpu 2, and sim on cpu 1 with high priority. Nice boost in performance.

You know what? My config had been zapped, so I reset no movies etc. but didn't help... I did google the error when it happened a few days ago and found the site mentioned above and tried the manual registration of the dll and it reported success, but sadly didn't help... Also I'm running win7 so XP advice is slightly different, but helped point me in directions I hadn't thought of. This error is insidious (as per other reports) and may in fact not be directly related to Win Media Player, but you got to start somewhere. Going to try the Win7 Startup Repair tool! On new territory here, but what the hell AND to the last poster with the unintelligible online handle, I wouldn't worry about what you wrote, most of us agree with you whole-heartedly. My CFS3 purchase was less than $10 with free shipping, a new DVD drive --would have-- cost me into the hundreds but was still under extended warranty and even though I installed it DIY... EDIT: Nope, Win7 Startup Repair tool found Nadda. I'm figuring this'll take a fresh OS re-install. I will however try one last dump/re-install of BHAH (just because I like banging my head against the wall and such )

The pagefile (virtual RAM) can be put onto another drive to reduce the need to read and write to the same drive as the sim or OS. BUT if you run a 64 bit OS, then you can max out RAM and not worry about that so much. Do a search for pagefile in Win help, there will be lots to read... Having a dual core processor is not involved, though you could use a processor affinity tool to assign the sim to one cpu and the OS (and its many processes) to the other core. THAT should give you real benefits.

Von Paulus, That makes a lot of sense to run only the game off the SSD. Having never run programs off a different HD than the OS, are there any tricks involved?

Don't quote me on this, but my understanding is that 'Ultimate' only adds extra language support for the OS. Unless you need extra languages, go for 7 Pro, it is the same otherwise. Have access to an email addy with .edu at the end? Then there is a great sale on for the next few days. Win7 Pro (32 or 64 bit, but not both) for $30 at Digital River. You have to drill on the site through the edu offer for Home Premium version to find the Pro version BUT it is there, trust me, I bought it and am running it! Best R.

Thanks, will try setting 5. But I KNOW it did work in OFF2 on my ATI card...

Make sure you get a compatible aftermarket cooler for your CPU. Artic Cooling or Zalman are good names and very affordable. My Artic Cooling cooler for my ATI 4870 lowered my GPU temps by over 20 degrees Celsius at idle and close to 40 C at full load. Not a word of a lie! As far as SSD go, I've heard (and don't flame me if I got bad info!) the current life expectancy is 10,000 read/writes, which doesn't sound like a lot to me. You mentioned adding a butt-load of RAM for your x64 OS, which basically eliminates the need to put the pagefile onto another drive.

I love the Nieup 17, it turns circles on ANYTHING, but too bad the mirror doesn't work anymore. Just get rid of the mirror off the model, or tell me how to get the reflection back (even though it doesn't really help in dogfights).

I initially bought CFS3 ONLY to run OFF. I was pleased. Then I discovered CFS3-ETO and am hooked! Now I want all the 3rd party mods, Korea, MAW, PTO. I'm sure you have heard of them, but if not, these are simply spectacular mods for WWII and beyond. Trouble is, I sure am finding CFS3 to be a very fragile program, and not easy to mod/install or troubleshoot compared to one of those other more 'moddable' flight sim series...

Odd, this has been bugging me after reading post after post about people needing to run CFS3 under win7 compatibility for XP SP2 or SP3. I have not yet had to use this XP compatibility feature for -Anything- on my win7 x64 install. I'm wondering since my OS is win7 Pro (which has XP emulator built in) whether it is simply doing it automatically?

Thanks for support fellows, The 'sfc /scannow' command found nothing, though it seems a powerful tool so thank you for enlightening me to its existence. I also replaced the wmp.dll file from another win7 install (my brother's) and still get this error from the OFF Manager below. I will try a win7 'Repair Install' next and report. It is a shame this happened before I 'Caspered' the OS install as I just got my system and sims tweaked nicely. Since it is specific to the OFF Manager, I sure wish one of the Devs might provide some insight to the error link to wmp.

S_D, thank you, I'll give that repair command prompt a try. Yes, it is freaking bizarre because I can still run CFS3 no problems, and am currently using the no-CD file with ETO. It only happens with OFF, and I did a complete reinstall of it, so I am stumped. uncleal, as mentioned am not being naughty, I HAVE a legal copy. I recently had to replace my failing DVD drive and am limited in the replacement hardware I can use. But I'm sure you're being facetious.

I've been experimenting with it for a few weeks in BHAH and was waiting to post on it, but Dimus beat me to it . To my eyes ENB series makes the environment look like you're wearing a pair of good polarizing sunglasses. Maybe not historically accurate all the time, but I bet some pilots did wear shades during certain daylight conditions It sort of makes all surfaces have a luminous effect, like light is emitting from them, very dreamlike in some ways, a little like the extradimensional travel sequences from 'Contact'. You should also be aware that once installed (2 simple files) that it can be turned on and off (toggled) by simply hitting 'shift + F12', so it is no big deal if you don't like it to turn it off, OR it may work for you under some light conditions but not others. Try it! You just might like it!!! ENB has been found to improve fps in some flight sims, but you must be running Vista or win7 to get this advantage, otherwise no benefit other than the effects. It has been described as "eating videocards for breakfast" otherwise, but that just might be with other sims...

Good news Jan, but please make sure you look after your real life first.

Thanks gents, I see some demo's and patches of X-wing Alliance (and X-wing vs. Tie fighter, etc.) are still available for download off CNET. The game may have started in Win98 days, but it shows up as XP compatible. The demo should be enough to tide my son over till he gets more sophisticated... Best regards!

Pol, apologies for rehashing old news apparently, but thanks for replies. The posts in this forum fly faster than, well you know. Just can't keep up with the volume with what little time I have to browse... My rig is already tweaked to all the posted BHAH tweak threads mentioned, 30 fps max setting, etc., even tried setting CPU affinity for my 4 cores with a fine program I found on CNET for Win7 x64. FPS ain't my problem, I have lots of that...

Pol, I too see lack luster AI performance BUT did not change a single scenery setting (all 3's). You can waltz right up their AI heine giving both barrels all the time and the AI barely flinches. Now, that said, my stutter has gotten much worse. I thought it was a side effect of the wind buffet, so I turned it off, but the stutter kept up. Much worse than before HITR. It's giving me a head ache! My FPS are well into the 30's, 40's and 50's still, but HITR is making BHAH nearly unplayable for me. 3 year old rig with upgrades: fresh install Win 7 x64 (did wonders for basic BHAH), 4 x 2.66 GHz Xeons, 11 GB 667 RAM, XFX 4870 1 GB vRAM, HD Western Digital black edition (my bottleneck, but solution?). EDIT: not wishing to be all negative, there are many enjoyable features, thank you.

Wow! Glad I've seen this thread, because I was getting worried I had botched my HITR install! Only getting a chance to play it extensively today (sick day from work) and was a both pleased with many aspects, yet disappointed with the AI vs. player activity. The lack luster performance ranges from EIII's, Halb's, to Alb DV's from what I see so far, though when AI vs. AI fight each other they seem to put on a relatively good show. Very odd. EDIT: forgot to mention fighting against ace AI in QC... It will be corrected, of that I have no doubt. Meanwhile thanks.

This is a FlightEngine.INI mod I found posted by Stary either in a thread somewhere now buried (or perhaps in Stary's terrain mod?) to push the horizon out and reduce the ugly gray band - it works very well in FE and has literally rejuvenated the game for me. Many thanks! I make no illusions to being involved, I repeat this here only because several people have asked me about my mention of it elsewhere, and I could not point them to the right place to get it. The portions with // are code comments or stock code left in place to revert back to the original. Experiment and see if your rig can take it, it has had very little impact on FPS, perhaps only a little when close to the ground. Remember to run in-game terrain settings at unlimited to use this mod, see relevant portions of code below: FlightEngine.INI . . . [GraphicsSettings] ZBufferDepth=24 MaxVertexCount=16384 MaxIndexCount=32768 MaxTextureCount=8192 //MaxModelType=2048 //MaxMeshPerScene=4096 //MaxModelPerScene=4096 //Stary's suggestions>>> MaxModelType=4096 MaxMeshPerScene=8192 MaxModelPerScene=8192 MaxLightPerScene=256 AspectRatio=1.333333 MinPixelSize=1.0 [FarSceneClip] //FarClipDistance=20000.0 FarClipDistance=35000.0 NearClipDistance=1000.0 [NormalSceneClip] //FarClipDistance=15000.0 FarClipDistance=25000.0 NearClipDistance=149.9 [NearSceneClip] FarClipDistance=150.0 NearClipDistance=0.4 [LowDetailOption] HorizonDistance=6000.0 DetailMeshSize=4 DetailLevel=0 WaterEffect=0 NoiseTexture=0 MaxTextureRes=128 [MedDetailOption] HorizonDistance=7000.0 DetailMeshSize=6 DetailLevel=0 WaterEffect=1 NoiseTexture=0 MaxTextureRes=256 [HighDetailOption] HorizonDistance=7500.0 DetailMeshSize=8 DetailLevel=0 WaterEffect=2 NoiseTexture=1 MaxTextureRes=-1 //[unlimitedDetailOption] STOCK values>>> //HorizonDistance=8000.0 //DetailMeshSize=10 //DetailLevel=1 //WaterEffect=2 //NoiseTexture=1 //MaxTextureRes=-1 [unlimitedDetailOption] HorizonDistance=20000.0 //HorizonDistance=15000.0 DetailMeshSize=10 DetailLevel=1 WaterEffect=2 NoiseTexture=1 MaxTextureRes=-1 . . .

Well that is not an acceptable option in my opinion, but to each his own. "Insurance"? Smacks of "gouging" to me, but this is of course just my opinion, and in no way reflects on the fine work of the OFF team. My copy of HITR is backed up on a gold archive quality CD and is going into the small fireproof safe with the rest of my software.

This looks great! Thank you.

Hi, Usually spend my time in prophead sims, but now that my son is of age (and of course he loves SW), I was wondering what the BEST starter Star Wars spaceship sim is??? i.e. get behind a stick and blast tie-fighters, the death star, fly the Mil Falcon etc... Not so much into mixed land combat/space games, but I'll consider it if the space sim part is outstanding! Must be PC also, I will not buy a console. Sorry, but it is a bit confusing with all the choices I saw listed in this thread, and who knows about compatibility with some of the old titles (!). I'd really appreciate any advice, hopefully somebody still browses here... Many thanks.

Thank you very much OFF team, smooth process and download BUT QUESTION! The Avangate link says I have 3 tries to download and then the link expires Dec 26, 2009. I DO plan on burning the expansion pack to CD, BUT what happens if luck plays against me and I happen to need to download again in the future? I assume all will be well and my receipt will be honored, 'cause you're honorable kinda guys, but just thought I'd ask so this is up front.