The Test Channel

[thedereksmart]

As per this thread, I gave some people access to the build before it goes live in the coming weeks. I am shooting for on or before Oct 1st.

The compendium contains four games, but only BCM Gold is installed by Steam.

I don't plan on making any code changes to any of the 4 games; though I will probably compile BC Gold for DX9 at some point. I already have it all setup in a VM, but haven't done it yet. Plus I would rather release them as-is for now.

The game isn't live yet, so the store page and forums aren't open to the public. Below are images of what it looks like when it goes live.

http://www.3000ad.com/bin/bc_comp_store_page.jpg

http://www.3000ad.com/bin/bc_comp_store_banner.jpg

KNOWN ISSUES

The game requires WINXP SP3 compatibility mode to run under WIN7 or WIN10.

1.0 The Steam installer isn't updating BCSETUP.INI to reflect the install folder. So saved/restore of games won't work.

FIX: The defaults are now as indicated below

cdrom=.\
home=.\

2.0 The game requires some DirectX components which aren't part of WIN10. Steam should automatically run DXSETUP.EXE but sometimes it doesn't. You can do it manually.

FIX: Run DXSETUP.EXE from the \_CommonRedist\DirectX\Jun2010\ folder where the game is installed.

3.0 The game was built with DX8, which has problems in WIN10 - even with compat mode. So you will probably see some visual artifacts and super high frame rates which can affect the AI tick rate.

FIX: Go to http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2/

- Download dgVoodoo v2.75.1
- Extract contents to a temp folder
- Copy all 4 files in .\MX\x86 into the game install folder
- Read the QuickGuide for more info

Then, you can either run the game as-is or create a shortcut to BCM.EXE and run it in WIN XP compat mode.

4.0 WIN10 doesn't have the Indeo 5 codecs used for the 3000AD logo movies. So you will hear audio but not see any visuals during playback. The issue is that the movie player written into the game code is only going to use specific code to render it to screen; that's why having the codec installed isn't going to work like it does for the in-game animations which use a different process to render into 3D world space, instead of a window.

FIX: For now, add /n to the shortcut to bypass the intro animations. This is also forced when the game is run from the Steam client.

5.0 Without the Indeo 5 codecs, in-game animations (explosions, jumpgate, fluxfield etc) won't play.

FIX: See 2-3 above

6.0 There are 3D audio processing issues on WIN10.

FIX: For now, add /x0 to the shortcut to disable 3D spatial audio processing. This is also forced when the game is run from the Steam client.

7.0 If Steam doesn't run install_extras.exe, you have to run it manually from the Steam game folder. See BCG_COMP_README.PDF for more.

FIX: I can't fix it. That's a Steam client quirk.

NOTE

I won't be fixing any bugs, as that would mean code changes. So all I am focused on is addressing legacy type issues as per the above; so that they can be addressed before I set it live.

[shingen36]

I am still having savegame issue. The BCSETUP.ini is configured to the install path, but the game doesn't recognize the file. There is a save file created in /saves; but the game doesn't see it.

[ShoHashi]

shingen36님이 먼저 게시:

I am still having savegame issue. The BCSETUP.ini is configured to the install path, but the game doesn't recognize the file. There is a save file created in /saves; but the game doesn't see it.

That's odd, Shingen! I have mine edited to the install path and haven't had any problems with my saves.

[thedereksmart]

Yeah, I have the K-Lite Mega pack installed, but for some reason it's not actually activating the codec. Which is why I had to resort to the forced regsvr32 method.

[thedereksmart]

I have pushed a minor update.

- Update via Steam client

- Go to the Start menu, uninstall "Battlecruiser Millennium Compendium Extras"

- Run the updated INSTALL_EXTRAS.EXE file in the game folder

- To make 100% certain that you have all the DX runtimes installed, extract DX9_Jun2010_Redist.zip and run DXSETUP.

This build now also has the complete GBS-II distro with new docs and all the source scripts from both BCM and BCM Gold.

[thedereksmart]

shingen36님이 먼저 게시:

I am still having savegame issue. The BCSETUP.ini is configured to the install path, but the game doesn't recognize the file. There is a save file created in /saves; but the game doesn't see it.

From the video you uploaded, you were trying to save using the menu system. Try ALT+Q and see if you can resume thereafter.

Also, if there's no AI tick, then there's nothing to save. So starting, then immediately trying to save (like in your video) probably will result in an empty saved game.

Also, the path allows for 128 chars, so as long as the path used in 'home' and 'cdrom' matches your actually Steam game folder, it should work.

[thedereksmart]

I am looking into this path issue, and it looks like a problem with the long path. I tried it with a long path and ran into the same issue whereby I couldn't resume or load a saved game.

Anyone else getting this?

I tested using a path like this:

cdrom="U:\STEAMGAMES\steamapps\common\Battlecruiser 3000AD Compendium\"
home="U:\STEAMGAMES\steamapps\common\Battlecruiser 3000AD Compendium\"

Removing the quotes makes it work. Weird AF. It shouldn't work with spaces in filenames.

[Satoru]

Hmm odd when launching the game I get an "Error loading connect.dat"

[thedereksmart]

Got that earlier. It's a Steam delay in updating files. You need to force a Steam update.

[shingen36]

Currently, there is just a savegame issue on my i5 win10 kit.
On my older, winxp kit, the game saves fine.

[shingen36]

Satoru님이 먼저 게시:

Hmm odd when launching the game I get an "Error loading connect.dat"

I get that too

[thedereksmart]

shingen36님이 먼저 게시:

Satoru님이 먼저 게시:

Hmm odd when launching the game I get an "Error loading connect.dat"

I get that too

It only happened once because Steam didn't pull all the files. That CONNECT.DAT file is inside SCENARIOS.ZIP

[thedereksmart]

shingen36님이 먼저 게시:

Currently, there is just a savegame issue on my i5 win10 kit.
On my older, winxp kit, the game saves fine.

I am quite certain that it's not an OS issue.

[shingen36]

dsmart님이 먼저 게시:

shingen36님이 먼저 게시:

Currently, there is just a savegame issue on my i5 win10 kit.
On my older, winxp kit, the game saves fine.

I am quite certain that it's not an OS issue.

It's something that is a software issue. It's not a hardware issue.

[thedereksmart]

I looked at the code. I have no clue why it even works without the quotes when there's clearly a space in the path name. I have no interest in debugging it since I can't even build it yet.

I tried it on WINXP (VM) and WIN10, and the results are the same.

I have no clue why it works on your WINXP machine and not on WIN10. But I am pretty certain it has nothing to do with the OS.

[shingen36]

So. you can fire up the current build without issues?