Zephyr Net

Hi All:

I do most of my FA work on a Win98 SE box, but last night I tried FA on WIndows XP. The stock game runs beautifully, however, many custom LIBs (my own included) cause FA to crash without any error message when attempting to play a single mission, quick mission, or enter the Mission Editor.

I found a few discussions here that seem to indicate that some LIBs are XP compatible while others are not. So, what's the secret to making XP compatible LIBs?

I tried deleting the EA.CFG file and rebuilding one of my LIBs in XP, but that didn't work. Am I right in assuming that the root of the problem is a file format issue?

Thanks,

Eric L. Howes

Dont know, I can only tell you that when I added a customised AMRAAM or a Navy plane that it would run, no idea why.

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I have found the solution to be very elusive.

Usually the solution is based on having all items in the lib having the same creation date (skins, shapes, objects, etc)

And you cant simply add a new skin or shape file, using an existing skin or object file in a default lib.

You have to have all the new items in the libraries together, and you cant create libs over certain item limit numbers.

Also having a GUI screen in the lib helps stabilize it as well...

You need to experiment on creating libs that dont go over specific file numbers also.

As I have said above it is very elusive and there is no set pattern.

My best guess is to follow Kap's and my info above when building your libs and do alot of experimenting.

Good luck!

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KAPTOR & CAG Hotshot:

Thanks for the advice, which proved right on the money. In my case it was the .JT files -- too many in one LIB, apparently. Once I split the .JT files between two LIBs, everything worked beautifully. The threshhold was right at 117 -- any number of .JT files over that in the same LIB and FA croaked.

Thanks,

Eric L. Howes

Dont be so certain! I have found that libs can be XP compatible on some machines, but not be so on others...

The best way to find out is to have them tested on a cross section of systems.

You may want to post to ask people to run the libs on their various systems and to post their experiences...

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CAG Hotshot:

Thanks again. I've actually got access to a number of XP machines myself, but reports from others are always valuable.

If any XP users reading this thread have the time and inclination, I would appreciate a quick test of both of the following LIB sets:

GT-ELH
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/fa/GT-ELH.zip

NAM-ELH
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/fa/NAM-ELH.zip

By "quick test" I mean installing the LIB sets (one set at a time), loading FA, then attempting to play or edit a mission. Does FA crash to the desktop w/ the new LIBs, or can you actually play or edit a mission?

Thanks,

Eric L. Howes

I would suggest you also have them test the quick mission...

running them with and without the edit weapons loadouts option checked...

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FA Futures/FA-2 is Still Being Worked On and Will Be Released...

Hey guys,

I was wandering around the WWW today looking for this game that I used to play and low and behold I found this super awesome site.

Though I haven't played in years because I didn't believe that I could get FA to work on xp. I tried a long time ago and while the game started out and seemed to work ok, the sound didn't, and if I remember correctly the game would crash. Hehe this is the just the basic game... hehe I wasn't nerdy enough back then to install library's.

So, since I run xp exclusively now, and I plan on buying this game this weekend. Anything I should do that will let me run it smoothly, other than partitioning the hard drive and installing 98/ME on it?

Striker:

I installed FA on a Win98SE box and got it working just fine. Here's what did:

1. Installed Win98SE on the C-drive, which was uncompressed, formatted with FAT-16 (not FAT-32), and had several gigs of free space.

2. Installed the "Unofficial Windows 98 SE Service Pack," which effectively installs all the patches and updates that Microsoft released for Win98SE:

http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.html

3. Installed the latest Win98 sound and video drivers from the manufacturers. When downloading Win98 compatible drivers, be sure to note the version of DirectX required. Win98 installs with DirectX 6. You may need to update to DirectX 8 or 9, depending on the drivers you're using.

4. Installed the appropriate version of DirectX for the sound and video drivers. This actually should be done before you attempt to install the drivers.

5. Used the MSCONFIG utility to ensure that a minimum of programs were auto-starting with Windows. Particularly troublesome are resident programs that hook the keyboard (usually to provide extra hot-key support), which (in my experience) can cause you to temporarily lose the keyboard while in FA. In my case I had to disable the tray utility that my video driver installed (which didn't affect the drivers for the card at all).

6. Installed software for my joystick & throttle (HOTAS Cougar) and verified both, along with my rudder pedals, were working in the Control Panel game controllers applet.

FA works beautifully in Win98SE for me. The drivers for the video card I'm using do lose some ground textures, but that's the only anomaly that I've noted.

Others more experienced with FA here may have additional advice.

Best,

Eric L. Howes

Aye, I had the same expierence using win 98 burger, but I really was trying to avoid having an old version of windows on my computer at all. I have seen compatibility options under properties if you right mouse click the .exe file of software you are trying to run...

wonder if that would work.

Striker:

Sorry, I misunderstood your question. I also have FA running on XP. Most of my previous suggestions are still applicable: get the latest drivers and appropriate DirectX, reduce the number of other resident apps, etc.

I have heard that there are problems with FA on FAT-32 formatted drives; mine is formatted NTFS. ALso, be sure to install the 1.02F patch, which is available from the FARC:

http://farc.3synergy.net/misc/fae102.exe

No need to use the "Compatibility" option on WinXP.

Best,

Eric L. Howes

I'm currently finishing up FA Advanced v1.1(Windows XP Home SP2) and I keep having the same experience over and over. I add a ship, build the lib file, run the game, no problem. I exit the game, add another ship, build the lib file, run the game, crash.

When it crashes, I've found that adding another ship doesn't help, but adding or even subtracting an aircraft fixes it! So, I add a dummy plane file, rebuild the lib, and it works.

This only works for another two or maybe three rebuilds until finally it crashes yet again. I then either add another plane, or remove a plane, rebuild, and presto! It works again.

The feeling I get is that FA wants the lib itself to be either of a certain size or to contain a predetermined number of each particular item type.

Just a thought.

JJ:

Sounds like you'rein the same spot I am with my NAM-ELH LIB set, which is comprised of two LIBs (one for aircraft and associated items, one for ground vehicles/ships and associated items).

If I add a new item to one of them, it's almost guaranteed to to cause a CTD. What I've been doing is keeping two or three items for each LIB that I can add to or remove from as needed. These items are actually used by aircraft or vehicles in both LIBs, so adding them a second time to one of the other LIB doesn't effectively add a new item to the LIB set.

Sometimes I need to add an item or two to one LIB; other times I need to remove an item or two from the other LIB. There's no rhyme or reason. It's a bit like trying to find the right mix through trial and error.

The tests I run for stability are:

1) Open Quick Mission editor.

2) In Quick Missions, configure the player's aircraft for a custom loadout, then start the mission, which should immediately bring up the custom loadout screen.

3) Open the Single Mission selection menu.

4) Open the Custom Mission editor.

If I can get through all four without a CTD, then the LIB set is good. The above is list is ordered such that if the first tests fail, the remainder are guaranteed to fail. Thus, if I can't even open the Quick Mission editor without a CTD, I know the remaining three will fail as well.

Very annoying, to say the least, but at least I've worked out some kind of method to diagnose and fix the problem.

Eric L. Howes

Thanks Burger. I will try it out with the patch, I am currently running a GeForce 8800 GT with duel core processors. So running the game shouldn't be a problem and I always have direct x updated as I need it for other games as well.

Hopefully with the patch everything should run smoothly. Thanks for the link.