Black screen problem

[Danish]

I got all excited when I saw WA on Steam - assuming someone had finally fixed the black worms screen of death problem after all these years - only to have falsely gotten my hopes up. The in-game menu and everything works fine but as soon as I try to actually PLAY a game of Worms Armageddon, I get sound but complete blackness. I don't even see the loading icon before I have the black screen of death.

I saw in the pinned FAQ thread that a way around this problem is to "import" the Direct9Shader.reg file (which i assume is what i did when i opened it and it added it to the registry), but that did nothing. Did I miss something?

[Danish]

When I switch back to DirectDraw, this problem is negated. I just have to suck it up and play without access to the Steam overlay. Boo.

[StepS]

Hi. Was it on the same system that you previously had this issue? I can only think of some external software interfering with the game, since that's an extremely rare case that the gameplay is black and not the menu screens.

Do you have something that works with your mouse cursor, adjusts its speed, or modifies mouse movements in any way? What's your screen resolution? Do you use DPI scaling in your system? Do you use multiple monitors?

What happens if you try to install the D3D9Wnd windowed mode module (download link[files.steps.club] | forum thread)

To install the module:
- Open the "Tweaks" directory and import "LoadWormKitModules_Enabled.reg" and "Renderer_Direct3D_9_Shader_Palette.reg"
- Extract the archive's contents into the root directory of the game (called "Worms Armageddon")
- Start the game.

If this solves the issue, you might want to return fullscreen mode for the menu screens. To do this, open wkD3D9Wnd.ini and change the "Fullscreen" setting in [FrontendSettings] to 1 (enabled). This will make the menu screens run in native fullscreen, but the gameplay process to run in a window (in either "borderless" mode or windowed with a border).

[Danish]

Different system. I use Windows 7, but I distinctly remember the game not working with XP back in the day. I don't have any software that messes with my mouse or DPI scaling (don't even know what that is). My resolution is 1440x990 and everything else works fine. When I switched the graphics mode back to DirectDraw, the game played fine. I just had to suck it up and not be able to use the friggin' overlay, which is extremely annoying.

So "Importing" is just copying things into the base folder? I wish that had been specificed in the sticky thread.

[StepS]

Originally posted by Danish:

So "Importing" is just copying things into the base folder? I wish that had been specificed in the sticky thread.

No, you import registry files by double-clicking on them and clicking "Yes" to accept changes to the registry. This only applies to the .reg files.
Please see the installation steps for D3D9Wnd if you want to keep Direct3D 9 and/or have steam overlay, play in windowed mode or spanned across multiple monitors.

[Danish]

Am I meant to do anything with that "AntiKeyboardHookA.reg" file?

[StepS]

Originally posted by Danish:

Am I meant to do anything with that "AntiKeyboardHookA.reg" file?

That registry tweak will disable the Microsoft compatibility flag which prevented the user from using Alt+Tab and Win+key combinations while W:A is on foreground. It's purely optional but I figured it would be useful if I added it into the archive so people don't have to search through tons of websites again.

[Danish]

Now it's running just the way I wanted it to run fromt the beginning!! Thanks so much, mate!!

[Danish]

I should note, however, that even with activating that keyboard thing, it still leaves the game smeared all over the desktop and i essentially can't use anything else bar what is in my taskbar/quicklaunch bar or whatever the hell it's called these days.

[StepS]

Originally posted by Danish:

I should note, however, that even with activating that keyboard thing, it still leaves the game smeared all over the desktop and i essentially can't use anything else bar what is in my taskbar/quicklaunch bar or whatever the hell it's called these days.

What do you mean? Is that when you do Alt+Tab, during the game or while in menu screens? If you do Alt+Tab during the game, the game will normally stay running on background but its window won't be topmost. Win+D or Shift+Esc minimize the game.
By the way, the size of the window during gameplay is determined by the screen resolution that you choose in settings. If it's smaller than the resolution of your desktop then you'll see a window in the center, either with or without a border (depending on the "WindowBorder" setting in the wkD3D9Wnd.ini file). Menu screens are still locked to 640x480.

I still find it strange that 1) the issue affected gameplay instead of the menus, 2) only exclusive fullscreen mode is affected by the issue. If I could reproduce the issue here then maybe I would have found the true reasoning to it, as well as something that could be taken into consideration for the future patches to the game.
If you don't mind sending me your DxDiag (which includes information about system specs and the installed drivers), that could be helpful later. To perform a DxDiag, press Win+R, type "dxdiag" and press OK. Then, after the window appears, press "Save all information", and save it to a text file. Then upload the file to some website like pastebin.com and post the link here.
Have fun with the game!

[Danish]

http://pastebin.com/7J6tSvwk - Should work, I think. Also, when I leave the full-screen mode I get a whited out box on my screen that doesn't go away and I think I'll just use DirectDraw anyway, but thanks for all the help!

[Danish]

I meant to say when I alt-tab during an actual game, I get that whited-out box of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on the left, just above the little drop-down menu that appears when you right-click. I should have a screenshot of it.

[StepS]

Thanks for the file.

Originally posted by Danish:

I meant to say when I alt-tab during an actual game, I get that whited-out box of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on the left, just above the little drop-down menu that appears when you right-click. I should have a screenshot of it.

Ah, I think I know what you mean. But a screenshot would indeed be good to have.
[If I understood this correctly]
That comes down to the initial design of the game back in 1999. However it's odd because that box should go away when minimizing the game.
Fortunately this issue shouldn't be happening if you enable the "FullscreenAlternative" setting instead of "Fullscreen" in wkD3D9Wnd.ini. This will enable an arbitrary (non-exclusive) handmade fullscreen mode for the menu screens that both eliminates the white boxes and prevents other issues caused by exclusive fullscreen (such as the multi-monitors issue on Windows 7).
But I'd need to see a screenshot to be sure whether I'm thinking of the right issue.

[NogardDerNaerok]

Originally posted by Danish:

I use Windows 7, but I distinctly remember the game not working with XP back in the day.

The problem back then, around the time Windows 2000 and XP had only just been released, was that the WA patches (Antisilk we called them; see here[worms2d.info]) that fixed the game to be compatible with modern operating systems were considerably less official than they are today, and consequently that much harder to learn of and find. Luckily Team17 then ended up recruiting Deadcode and started hosting the updates on their website and forum, now the game is even here on Steam, so those dark days should be well and truly behind us!

[Danish]

Ok, changing that "FullscreenAlternative" thing seemed to work at getting away from WA altogether when I go to minimise and that mysterious white box of bollocks is nowhere to be found. Yay!! :D Did that link I sent end up working, StepS? It's really kinda depressing. I seem to be plagued by bullcrap computer errors that nobody else seems to get and have been since the late 90s when games like Ultima 8 and Tie Fighter wouldn't work properly on our family's 486 for whatever bloody reason!

[Merzbau]

Originally posted by Danish:

It's really kinda depressing. I seem to be plagued by bullcrap computer errors that nobody else seems to get and have been since the late 90s when games like Ultima 8 and Tie Fighter wouldn't work properly on our family's 486 for whatever bloody reason!

Hey, are you me??