Dangerous Waters on Windows 8 / 10

[Onkel Neal]

Mod by Komat

Original text:http://www.jiri-dvorak.cz/dangw/index.html

This page contains very early version of simple wrapper which improves compatibility of Dangerous Waters with Windows 8 and Windows 10.
Background of the problem(s)

The Windows 8 does not directly support 16-bit display modes anymore. For old applications it provides a thin emulation layer which transparently changes the parameters used to create the default back buffer from R5G6B5 to X8R8G8B8. This works well for applications which render geometry using the standard drawing calls and do not care about the real layout of the buffer. Unfortunately DW draws its UI by locking the buffer and manually writing it here. While the game seems to contain some code to support 32bit back buffers, it was likely not tested, does not work and will crash the game.

On Windows 10 (at least Nvidia driver) the Present call will generate black screen if the device was created with D3DSWAPEFFECT_COPY swap effect.

What the wrapper does

It redirects all rendering of the game to separate new lockable 16-bit color buffer and when the game wants to show the result, it blits that buffer to the 32-bit one created by the compatibility layer. Please note that the wrapper is designed to work with DW and it only implements the minimal functionality required by the game.

It also replaces the swap effect with D3DSWAPEFFECT_DISCARD and removes unnecessary D3DPRESENTFLAG_LOCKABLE_BACKBUFFER flag just to be sure.

Installation

Unpack the archive to the game directory.
Download

This one: Version 0.02 (3.8.2015) - Very experimental.
Source code
Fixed black screen on Windows 10.
History

Version 0.01 (26.10.2014) - Very experimental.
Source code
Initial version. I did only minimal testing. There is a known issue with crash when trying to change resolution in game options screen. Until that issue is fixed, edit dangerouswaters.ini to change the resolution.

Joao Martins: This fix is good for win8 and win10. but changing resolution in the settings screen will crash the game. Solution is to change the resolution ModeID at the dangerouswaters.ini file. You may have to change it at:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\ Program Files (x86)\Sonalysts Combat Simulations\Dangerous Waters\DangerousWaters.ini

[Orbiter688]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Mod by Komat

Original text:http://www.jiri-dvorak.cz/dangw/index.html



Joao Martins: This fix is good for win8 and win10. but changing resolution in the settings screen will crash the game. Solution is to change the resolution ModeID at the dangerouswaters.ini file. You may have to change it at:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\ Program Files (x86)\Sonalysts Combat Simulations\Dangerous Waters\DangerousWaters.ini

Thanks everyone! I installed the dll to both Sub Command and Dangerous Waters and both launched successfully, no joy with 688i though. Since Sub Command is a extension of 688i (but with Akula and Seawolf) I can live with these two working. Is it possible to run 688i missions in Sub Command? I know there were a lot of good missions made back in the day for 688i.

[Onkel Neal]

It's worth a try.

As for 688(I), I got the Steam version to work right out the gate, it was SC that I needed Komat's dll to get going. Check out the Steam package.

[roger_9774]

hey guys I keep coming up with an invalid value for registry warning when I try to download this. Is this something with windows 10?

[Martillo1]

What can I say?

Thanks Komat!

[Aktungbby]

Martillo1! After a nine year silent run!

[Martillo1]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

Martillo1! After a nine year silent run!

Is it the record?

BTW, what Komat has done for us deserves acknowledgement, appreciation and gratitude. I was keeping an i7 laptop from updating from W7 to W10 because of DW. No more. Bye bye W7.

[briane941]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Mod by Komat

Original text:http://www.jiri-dvorak.cz/dangw/index.html



Joao Martins: This fix is good for win8 and win10. but changing resolution in the settings screen will crash the game. Solution is to change the resolution ModeID at the dangerouswaters.ini file. You may have to change it at:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\ Program Files (x86)\Sonalysts Combat Simulations\Dangerous Waters\DangerousWaters.ini

No one seems to be able to mention what you set the ModeID to. It's defaulted to "1" and I've tried various different numbers but I don't get any different result. I just want a better resolution than 800x600 after the Komat fix for Windows 10.

[FPSchazly]

Originally Posted by briane941

No one seems to be able to mention what you set the ModeID to. It's defaulted to "1" and I've tried various different numbers but I don't get any different result. I just want a better resolution than 800x600 after the Komat fix for Windows 10.

Are you running full screen? It's going to be hard to notice a difference if you are since most monitors nowadays are not 4:3 ratio so it's always going to be scaled.

1 - 800x600
2 - 1024x768
3 - 1280x1024
4 - 1600x1200

[Pisces]

Are those then hardcoded? As 1440x1080 should also fit that ratio.

[FPSchazly]

Originally Posted by Pisces

Are those then hardcoded? As 1440x1080 should also fit that ratio.

I know that 1, 2, and 3 are correct. I'm guessing I've seen 4 somewhere or I extrapolated it, can't remember which. I would love to know if there's a way to get 1440x1080, that would be incredible. 1280x1024 is 5:4, though, it doesn't fit with the rest of them but it's still there.

EDIT: I remembered where I got those numbers from. They correlate to the resolutions in the graphics menu.

[briane941]

Thanks to Komat and FPSchazly (fan of the youtube vids btw).

I got it working just like I had it before the Windows 10 upgrade. Set ModeID to 3, compatibility mode for Vista (Service Pack 2), and finally Run as Admin. Running Full Screen just fine @ 1280x1024.

[Micksp]

Hello Captain's,
I'm CaptMick, former DRD in GNSF community. I've abandoned the DW since 2011 but now it is a time to come back a board again. The last night I've installed the DW clean stock ver. patced to 1.4 on my home PC. The PC is running under Win7-64. The game started normaly, watched the intro without any graph troubles, but after that the Voice recognition program starts up and I can't bypass it. Have any ideas and recommendations how tou run the game properly under Win7-64?
Tank You in advance!

[FPSchazly]

Originally Posted by Micksp

Hello Captain's,
I'm CaptMick, former DRD in GNSF community. I've abandoned the DW since 2011 but now it is a time to come back a board again. The last night I've installed the DW clean stock ver. patced to 1.4 on my home PC. The PC is running under Win7-64. The game started normaly, watched the intro without any graph troubles, but after that the Voice recognition program starts up and I can't bypass it. Have any ideas and recommendations how tou run the game properly under Win7-64?
Tank You in advance!

What starts up is an initializer to that speech recognition program. Just leave that running, speech recognition isn't turned on with that running, and proceed to play the game and enter options without the game minimizing to go back to that menu. I run the game in a window because it's easier for my purposes.

[Micksp]

Originally Posted by FPSchazly

What starts up is an initializer to that speech recognition program. Just leave that running, speech recognition isn't turned on with that running, and proceed to play the game and enter options without the game minimizing to go back to that menu. I run the game in a window because it's easier for my purposes.

Thanks! It was the same I was thinking about, now confirmed. I'll report here late this evening when I'm back home.

BTW, I'll start working at some new scenarios especialy for the stock game and will keep you updated.

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