WC3 Kilrathi Saga WinXP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Unregistered
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A real fix!

Users having problems with WC3 who also have high end ATI Video Cards should immedietly upgrade to catylist 4.6. It solved my WC3 freezing up/crashing problem as well as making other games more perty.
 
To set a program's priority, hit CTRL-ALT-DEL, then go to the Processes tab. For WC3, look for WC3W.exe. Right-click on it, and then select "Set Priority." Click on Normal, and you are done. Note that this must be done each time you run the program.
 
Hey, thanks for the help but it turns out I didn't need to do that.

Here are my system specs...

Windows XP Professional w/ SP1
AMD Athlon XP 2100+ (1.7GHz)
512MBs PC2100 DDR-RAM
MSI GeForce4 Ti4400 128MB
MSI K133 VIA mobo (can't remember actual name)
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1+
DirectX 9.0b

Anyway, I just installed WC3 KS version, applied the Win2K fix on it and ran it... and it ran very smoothly... intro video played out, no crashes and flew the first couple of missions without a single glitch. I didn't have to alt-tab out and reset the priority settings or any some such... I guess I got lucky. Finally, I can enjoy WC3... been looking forward to this moment for NINE years!
 
Users having problems with WC3 who also have high end ATI Video Cards should immedietly upgrade to catylist 4.6. It solved my WC3 freezing up/crashing problem as well as making other games more perty.
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Thx a lot for that info :D I'll try out that one as soon as I've got enough time. I already downloaded them, but haven't tried them out yet. And I didn't think it would help such an old game :o

P.S.: We are getting nearer and nearer to finally solve this bug :)
 
Unregistered said:
I've gotten WC3 to work perfectly now! Little did I know, but there is an option to run the game in a windowed mode, instead of fullscreen. Simply hit ALT and ENTER. Now, after I did this, I CTRL-ALT-DEL'd to look at the processes running. WC3W seems to run in high priority mode. I switched that to Normal, and everything runs fine.
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Same here, until it kicks me out and complains that I have run out of virtual memory. How do I increase my amount of virtual memory?
Btw, this thread already helped me a lot, thx.
 
To increase the amount of virtual memory, go into the Start menu, and find the Control Panel. Open "System," then go to the Advanced tab. Click on "Settings," then go to the Advanced tab (in the new window.) At the very bottom you should see a button in the Virtual Memory section, click this. The optimal amount of virtual memory varies, depending on how much physical memory you have. I run with 768 MB DDR RAM, so I'm set at around 1000 MB.

Whatever value you choose, SET THE MIN AND MAX VALUES THE SAME. This will improve performance by reducing write time on the hard drive. Also, if you have multiple hard drives (or multiple partitions, at least) set all of your virtual memory in a drive (real or fake) seperate from the C:\ drive. This does help, but not as much as the first tip.
 
Wow, a Gig of virtual memory is alot, esp. considering you have already 768MB of physical mem. nice.
 
Wow, a Gig of virtual memory is alot, esp. considering you have already 768MB of physical mem. nice.
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Ah, compared to the amount of RAM it isn't that much anymore, but just about right ;) - At least I learned to use 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 virtual mem compared to RAM.

AND: Bad news :( The latest Cat 4.6 drivers didn't help my ATI 9700 Pro. The Game still crashes :(
 
Hey I got a suggestion.

Try running parts of the game in windows mode, whenever you're on board the Victory... switch to windowed mode using alt-enter, and then switch it back to full-screen during missions.

This worked for me on the first CD when it occasionally crashed when I was on the Victory when I was going from one area to the next, or initiating a cutscene. But when I reached CD2 I was running it fine in full-screen mode all the time. Right now I'm on the 3rd CD and it's been smooth running ever since.
 
Try running parts of the game in windows mode, whenever you're on board the Victory... switch to windowed mode using alt-enter, and then switch it back to full-screen during missions.
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I tried that, still crashes :(
 
I'm playing WC3 in Windows XP perfectly

Hello people, I was able to play WC3 under Windows XP without any crash.
My machine is PIII, 256 MB
Windows XP SP1
Gforce 2 64 MB
Sound Blaster Live MP3
Joystick Force Feedback2

Windows 2000 patch aplied
WC3W.exe set to Windows 2000 compatibility mode
No ALT-Enter required
No priority setting required

I Hope this can help you as this forum helped me
 
THE_WUQKED said:
I tried that, still crashes :(
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Did you set WC3W.exe's priority setting back to normal? What I have to do is load up the game, ALT-ENTER the game to windowed mode, then hit CTRL-ALT-DELETE to bring up the task manager. Under the "Processes" tab (I assume it's called the same thing in the German version of XP, it's the second from the left), right-click on WC3W.exe. The bottom-most option, "Set Priority," will be set to high, or above average. Set this down to Normal (third from the bottom).

If I don't do this, the game WILL crash.
 
Whenever I alt enter the game, press ctrl-alt-del it crashes after the movie finished - no matter what settings I select. For me ctrl-alt-del is a totally nono :(
Here is a quote from another Thread:
THE_WUQKED said:
I've fiddled arround some more with my KS WC3 and found out the following:
- although I run your bat file, which sets gamepriority to low, Windows still runs it at High Priority
- Using windowed mode (like someone here or in another Thread suggested) also didn't help me
- Whenever I ALT-Tab, or Alt+Ctrl+Del to the Task Manager, the game will stop at the end of the current movie (so switching to low priority afterwards doesn't work for me)
- If the game stops at a certain point, and I don't reboot, it always stops there (for example: after the origin log)

I hope that'll help somehow...
Click to expand...

Anyway, our university got a nice offer from Microsoft and no I can get quite some MS stuff for 0€ - including Virtual PC. Hopefully that'll do it for me :)

P.S.: And like you can see in this Thread, that is not everything I've tried out so far. I'm just unlucky, I guess :(
 
Neither w2k compability, nor the patch or priority setting seems to have a satisfying effect. Even the promising " kick you pc in the chops?"-solution didn´t do.
I was able to fly two missions in a row, but the debriefing with rachel afterwards seemed to much for the game.
Darn i was hoping i could play them one after another, but looks like i have to play that shitty WC4 DVD-edition first. Will be a pain in my eyes...
 
I am running the dos version, I have tried everything, and it went well till after the first mission. Once I got to the area outside the briefing room after the first mision was completed, it locked up. I had it in windowed mode, and I had the priority set at normal. I also had my task manager window up the whole time> I checked the processes on my task manager right after it locked up and I believe I have found all of our problems. When it locks up, it saps up 99-100% of the CPU usage, thereby locking up the game. Now that I have found this out, does anyone know how to prevent this from happening?
 
Hrm. WC3 (the kilrathi saga version) managed to work in windows 2k, after I applied that patch and set the priority to low. But at every new nav point during the game, the music fades out.

Additionally, Wing Commander 1, 2 closes itself down randomly.
 
Hi guys. Bumping an old thread again. Sorry. :)

I played WC1 and 2 in KS without issue, got to 3 and had no issue until after I talked to Vaquero for the first time. Then it locked, and had been unplayable ever since.

Then I discovered and applied the Win2K patch, but still no luck. I tried all the compatibility modes, and still nothing. I tried VDMS to no avail. Nothing worked.

I was getting ready to mess with sound card acceleration just for giggles, and noticed in this thread that hardware and OS and SP and DX had all basically been ruled out. Including various combos, even mine.

I decided to do a little maintenance and hit Windows update (still on SP1 and plan to stay there, at least for a bit), got everything they had except for DX9c and SP2. Then I went to Creative and got a new driver for my Audigy.

Then I decided to try the alt-tab priority change method. With compat mode on, it's in normal to start with, but would still lock up between movies. And previously I was unable to alt-tab at all, only the 3 finger slaute worked. But, for some reason it started working, and w/o compat mode on, it's in high priority again, and changing it to normal really does do the trick. But I can't run for too long. I have to follow the old Sierra game motto - save early, save often. It still never locks during a scene or combat, only in between.

40.72 is a very early driver. I'm glad I didn't have to try that. I'm on 61.77 (GF4Ti4200), and also just got the most recent Audigy driver available.

Since hardware basically been ruled out, it looks like it's down to driver combos. (that would be my guess at least)
 
Kilrathi Saga works 99.99999% for me on XP The only problem is I crash in between screens from time to time, but with savegames it's not a problem, just a slight annoyance.

Even the combat missions run fine, and at the same speed as they did for me back in the day on a 133mhz machine.

Anyway. I used the Win2k patch, and run it in Win2000 compatibility

and my specs are

3.0ghz P4
1gig RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 pro driver:6.14.10.6476
Service Pack 2 WinXP


Someone claimed in another thread there was a way to shut off the between screen movies, he/she thought it was CTRL-P or ALT-P but that didn't work. Anyone know what it is?
 
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