This game is unplayable

[Masonwheeler]

The title says it all.

Even with the fan-made patch, even running in compatibility mode, this game does not play properly on Windows 10.

- No matter what options are selected, pressing ALT-TAB garbles the display to the point of breaking the game entirely.
- It resets the screen resolution, causing problems for the rest of Windows.
- Pressing ALT-F4 causes the game to crash.
- Attempting to start a new game often (but not always) causes the game to crash.

This game is unplayable. Triumph needs to either dedicate the resources required to actually fix it so that it runs on modern Windows, release the source code so that the fan community can do so for ourselves, or take it off of Steam. Because right now they're actively selling an unplayable game under false pretenses.

[Crawling Chaos]

If the game is unplayable for you it does not mean that it is unplayable in general. It is playable for the majority of players (since there are no other threads about the complete unplayability on this forum, you are probably one of the very few players who has the same problem). Do you really think that it is reasonable to take the game off Steam so that hundreds of people won't be able to play or buy it, just because you and few other people did not manage to launch it? It is equal to banning effective drugs just because they have not helped a few out of several thousand people.

[Masonwheeler]

Originally posted by Crawling Chaos:

If the game is unplayable for you it does not mean that it is unplayable in general. It is playable for the majority of players (since there are no other threads about the complete unplayability on this forum, you are probably one of the very few players who has the same problem).

Does ALT-TAB not break the rendering for you?

Does running the game somehow magically not change the screen resolution out from under you?

Does ALT-F4 not cause the game to crash for you?

Even if you're somehow able to consistently get into the gameplay, this is not a well-behaved game on modern, supported versions of Windows. These issues have been well-understood problems with well-understood solutions in the world of gamedev for over a decade, and Triumph has known for years that they need to be fixed in this particular game, but it has not deigned to fix them.

Do you really think that it is reasonable to take the game off Steam so that hundreds of people won't be able to play or buy it

I think the best solution would be to actually fix it, or to release the source so that we can fix it. But failing that, it is dishonest to sell non-usable software.

just because you and few other people did not manage to launch it?

How do you know how many people are having the same problems? It's a well-understood principle that for every one customer who complains about a problem, there's between 100 and 1000 who have the same problem, never say anything, and just don't use your product anymore.

[5M0k1N]

ALT f4 crashing the game? i mean you want to close it so whats the issue there? also yea cant alt tab out of very old games most just dont react well to that
just refund it if youve been less than 2H inside the game it should be done without any issue, otherwise you might still get lucky since yea the game doesnt run great on new systems so you might be able to get a refund anyways

but with old games its normally a given they wont be very stable and wont work out of the gate just like that, especially on win10

[GreyHuntr]

Have you tried running it in windowed mode? I find that to be the best if I need to alt-tab. You have to use the keyboard arrows if you want to scroll the map though.

[Masonwheeler]

Originally posted by 5M0k1N:

ALT f4 crashing the game? i mean you want to close it so whats the issue there?

The issue is that it should close smoothly rather than throwing an error box in my face.

also yea cant alt tab out of very old games most just dont react well to that

Most of the ones I've seen worked fine. The only one that really comes to mind that screwed up this badly from an ALT-TAB was Warcraft II, and IIRC the developers were aware of it and had some hotkey you could hit that would re-initialize the rendering and fix it. (Though I might be misremembering; it's been more than 20 years now since I played it.)

[Vladimir Putin]

The game works fine on Windows 10 with the showscene patch plus compat mode plus windowed (the window can be made fullscreen anyway)

[Cato]

Exactly what Bing XI Lao said, run the game in windowed mode if you are having Alt + Tab issues. This game is very playable on WIndows 10 and in our experience 99% of issues are resolvable.

The official patch: http://aow.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=850
Showscene patch: https://github.com/int19h/aow-patch/releases/tag/v1

We have a small but active community on discord should you require further assistance or wish to have friends to play with!

[J.C. Denton]

Originally posted by Masonwheeler:

- No matter what options are selected, pressing ALT-TAB garbles the display to the point of breaking the game entirely.

Alttab isnt working in win 10 indeed. Alt+enter and switching windows works okay tho. Or run in windowed mode if you need to use other programs while playing. This is not perfect, but common solution for old games.

Originally posted by Masonwheeler:

- It resets the screen resolution, causing problems for the rest of Windows.

Compatibilitymode does it. What sort of "problems for the rest of Windows" you have? I've just ran game on latest win10 version, x64. No compatibility mode. Had no problems at all.

Originally posted by Masonwheeler:

- Pressing ALT-F4 causes the game to crash.

This one also true but... Why do you even need to use alt+f4? Regular menu-end game - exit to windows works perfectly well.

Originally posted by Masonwheeler:

- Attempting to start a new game often (but not always) causes the game to crash.

Just started campain and scenarios about 10 times. No crash or whatever.

While I can agree that if you sell something you should care about compatibility, I totally cant call this one "unplayable". If you have your special issues on your hardware (or either software) you are always free to try out tech support or refund the game. Dont get me wrong, I'm not working for them or defending, I just dont get this post and disagree with your points.

[GreyHuntr]

It is an odd thing that they sell older games that aren't patch to be compatible on newer systems. On the other hand, I have seen cases where they were patched, but they just incorporate an existing fan patch without crediting them. Basically stealing their code. Can get messy.

[Masonwheeler]

Originally posted by J.C. Denton:

This one also true but... Why do you even need to use alt+f4? Regular menu-end game - exit to windows works perfectly well.

Because that's the standard way to quit a program in Windows. Not to mention it's the fastest way, significantly faster than mousing your way through a bunch of menus that are tiny because they weren't designed for modern screen resolutions; you get all sorts of Fitts' Law (look it up!) problems with that.

[J.C. Denton]

Consider how terribly slow this game (I mean gameplay) loosing extra 2 seconds to quit it is sorta last thing I would think about lol

[Christian88]

Originally posted by Cato:

Exactly what Bing XI Lao said, run the game in windowed mode if you are having Alt + Tab issues. This game is very playable on WIndows 10 and in our experience 99% of issues are resolvable.

The official patch: http://aow.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=850
Showscene patch: https://github.com/int19h/aow-patch/releases/tag/v1

We have a small but active community on discord should you require further assistance or wish to have friends to play with!

My game cannot start so I decided to install these patches. But now the game says "please insert the CD-ROM."
What can I do?

[Laggio]

alt+enter

fix the bug with graphic glitch after alt tabing