How stabilize Bridge Commander

[ash]

it's a REALLY old mod called _F_TNG_Eximius...which means it's for the first Voodoo card, and maybe a 256 texture set   i think it's in a KM.

and the core use tweak you mentioned must be exclusive to W8's and 10

Frankly, I have no idea. Maybe 7 also? 

[ash]

Here we go. Consider that with reshade the screenshot is at 3840x2160, without it is at 1600x1200 (that is the actual config.cfg setting)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=11NWMgfUnuMi66yd3Ir6GY7fwvABLmXVB

[King Class Scout]

Frankly, I have no idea. Maybe 7 also? 

I'm ON a 7 machine...just so I can use the older hardware, software and peripherals we still have.  and, yes, my machine IS a multicore

[JimmyB76]

ok well the only thing you can do is try and maybe it will work for you and maybe it wont...

im curious to see others outcomes...


i tried this all step by step, carefully, and now none of my BC installs work...   
on any of them, i click on stbc.exe, the first movie bik comes up, then it looks like the next loading screen at 1920x1080 starts to load (when hitting ESC to skip the bik) and then crash right to desktop...   on all of my installs...

i really hope there is a way i can roll something back because it looks like all my installs are broken now
please walk me through whatever just happened because honestly, i am freaking out right now just a little bit...

i just spent months combining the best of a few different installs into one giant perfectly working one and now that one and any of my backups, none of them work - they all crash right to desktop...

[ash]

ok well the only thing you can do is try and maybe it will work for you and maybe it wont...

im curious to see others outcomes...


i tried this all step by step, carefully, and now none of my BC installs work...   
on any of them, i click on stbc.exe, the first movie bik comes up, then it looks like the next loading screen at 1920x1080 starts to load (when hitting ESC to skip the bik) and then crash right to desktop...   on all of my installs...

i really hope there is a way i can roll something back because it looks like all my installs are broken now
please walk me through whatever just happened because honestly, i am freaking out right now just a little bit...

i just spent months combining the best of a few different installs into one giant perfectly working one and now that one and any of my backups, none of them work - they all crash right to desktop...

This procedure is a total injection and don't modify nothing , scripts or exe nor system stuff. In fact your game starts but it crash when try to access directX. Don't worry it's impossible to really break the game. Texture are just texture no way could do something. Reshade is a dumb file without DGVODOO. you can leave there, it works only if it finds a DX11 working flow.
On Nvidia tweaks you can disable the AA but only for lower gpu load.
Affinity tweak is something that can be done only after game start.
About dgvodoo you have 2 ways : 1) delete the dlls you put in the root, 2) open control panel (dgvodoo) and , on DIRECX tab, click on "Disable and pass thru real directX" (best).

I tried to install on 4 different BC, 2 fresh, 1 only KM and mine huge build. Never had a crash or something. A couple of questions:

Do you have any compatibility flag on stbc.exe? (right click , properties , compatibility tab). The only options i have selected are "disable fullscreen optimization" and "Change dpi high setting--->override by application"

When you start the game, do you see the dgvodoo watermark on lower right as you can see in my screenshot and reshade start loading? If not somehow you can't load directX 11 but it seems really weird.

When you say HD you mean you select this resolution in option.cfg or in dgvodoo panel? As I know, the best "natural" engine resolution is 1600*1200, the scaling should be done by Dgvodoo. You can try to leave it unforced  in dgvodoo (first option) and select 1600*1200 manually in cfg.

for example this is my config file:

"
[Annoyances]
Quit Game Confirmation|1

[General Options]
Enhanced Glows|1
Tool Tips|1
Subtitles|1
Space Dust|0
Difficulty|1
Game Path=I:\Bridge Commander
KM Version=BC-202001
Collisions|1
Collision Alert|1
Played Tutorial|1.000000
Lines in Mission Log|100
Captain Name-A s h
Data Path=D:\Build
Specular Maps|1
Motion Blur|0
Glow Maps|1

[Graphics Options]
Texture Detail|2
Number of Lights|8
MipMaps|0
Display Depth|32
Display Height|1200
LOD Skip|0
Visible Damage|3
Display Device=dgVoodoo TnL HAL on dgVoodoo DirectX Wrapper
Display Width|1600
Fullscreen Mode|1
Effect Detail|3

[QuickBattle]
Ships Unlocked1|-1
Ships Unlocked2|-1
Regions Unlocked1|-1
Regions Unlocked2|-1

[Multiplayer Options]
Internet Host|0
Direct Join Address- 
Game Name-B C - 2 0 2 0 0 1   |   M y   G a m e
Dedicated Server|0
Player Name-A c e
Password- 

[Sound]
StreamBufferSize|1
SFX Damping|0.500000
Voice Volume|0.800000
Voice Enabled|1
OutputRate|22050
Sound Enabled|1
Music|1
StreamMusic|1
Music Volume|0.088061
SFX Volume|0.961532
ProviderReserveList=LowQualitySoftware
OutputBits|16
StreamVoices|1

[Unified MainMenu Mod Configuration]
AutoFdtnMutatorFix|1
Master Switch|1
EraSelection|1
KM Intro played|1
GravityFXConfig|1
KMIntro09|1
AutoTestMode|1
BridgePlugin|1
SlipstreamConfig|1
JaggieFix|1
QBStartShipSelector|1
ReplaceIntros|0
QB start ship|210
DS9FXConfig|1
ExtraResolutions|1
QB start bridge|4
ExitGameCrashFix|1
GalaxyChartsConfig|1
BCSTheBeginning|1
FoundationMutators|1
LoadGameConfig|1
DS9FX: Game Crash Fix|1
NanoFX|1
"

I'm working on Windows 10 1809 with 2 days ago nvidia drivers. 

I did not mention I have patched the exe for Large Address Aware but you have already a big stick topic about it. Now that i'm thinking, i had the same crash sometimes ago with another game (i applied this to almost 50 old games) and the reason was  i did not copy D3DImm.dll from Dgvodoo/MS folder. The dll you need for Bridge Commader are ddraw.dll and D3DImm.dll. Those Dll are the starting point , if you erase them you will be exactly as before , apart from the textures.

Let me know please!

[ash]

this is a video of the first step , can you replicate this?

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Y3k9pcYJ41FRVxJ_ywwj84swyfwU1CVR

Fresh installation + official patch.

[JimmyB76]

thank you very much for those steps to troubleshoot!
i will carefully go through everything one at a time this weekend (when i am off from work next) and post here
i must have done something wrong, i will double check...

[Lurok91]

Here we go. Consider that with reshade the screenshot is at 3840x2160, without it is at 1600x1200 (that is the actual config.cfg setting)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=11NWMgfUnuMi66yd3Ir6GY7fwvABLmXVB

Thank you. 

But there isn't any significant difference in visuals based on those screenshots. Unless you can visually demonstrate otherwise, I think you should delete from thread.

[ash]

Thank you. 

But there isn't any significant difference in visuals based on those screenshots. Unless you can visually demonstrate otherwise, I think you should delete from thread.

You're welcome! Anyway I wouldn't rely on a bit of a hurried screenshot, I'd try it first. Real bloom, Ambient light, Lumasharpen Leveladjust and Godray, may not be as obvious in screenshots but give life to the game live.

Consider that the possibilities are practically endless, it is I who am not very good at setting it.

However, if you still want, I'll take a second to delete it, but obviously I'd be much happier if you tried it and helped me create a better , more evident, profile.

[King Class Scout]

Bloom?!  Really??!  you'll be throwing on a brown "next gen" filter, next.
Save that for use inside nebulas, please

yes, I can see a bit of it even in the thumbnails.  can't bring up a big image due to connection limits

frankly, I'd like to see some of the ambient light coloring in certain systems turned down.

[Lurok91]

Didn't mean to come across as douche-y.   Appreciate all your hard work     

I'm just not sure how much reshade can add to such an old game, and your screengrabs seemed to confirm that.  But I'm happy to be proved wrong 

[ash]

Didn't mean to come across as douche-y.   Appreciate all your hard work     

I'm just not sure how much reshade can add to such an old game, and your screengrabs seemed to confirm that.  But I'm happy to be proved wrong 

Ohh yes i got it but is actually really hard to set-up as it should be. Anyway reshade has also a collateral effect that is great for old games: you can "move" calculation load from engine to Gpu. In BC for example you can unload glow effect from game and replace it with a good bloom (it's better to have both but we all know how is important leave the game light) . STALKER call of prypiat is the perfect example of this workaround, it has a great bugged engine and if godrays are active, no matter what, after 5 min you will have 20 fps so you have to replace it. I'm going to try different technique so we can choose the best one! 

[ash]

Bloom?!  Really??!  you'll be throwing on a brown "next gen" filter, next.
Save that for use inside nebulas, please

yes, I can see a bit of it even in the thumbnails.  can't bring up a big image due to connection limits

frankly, I'd like to see some of the ambient light coloring in certain systems turned down.

I'm going to make another reshade profile from scratch! There are plenty bloom technique i can test let's see what happend. Reshade is so easy to install as hard to set-up.

[JimmyB76]

ok i have double checked everything and i think this is where i went wrong because all of my installs are now working again   

Now that i'm thinking, i had the same crash sometimes ago with another game (i applied this to almost 50 old games) and the reason was  i did not copy D3DImm.dll from Dgvodoo/MS folder. The dll you need for Bridge Commader are ddraw.dll and D3DImm.dll. Those Dll are the starting point , if you erase them you will be exactly as before , apart from the textures.

i will look more deeply into how things are playing now, when i have a bit more free time in the next few days... 
will all of my BC installs need to have all the new dlls and everything you mentioned added to their folders as well?
as of right now, all the steps and configurations you mentioned on the previous page of this thread have been done only for my primary install..  if i were to delete this install for any reason, would my other backup installs have any issues working as before?  if the only oneto contain the new dlls and configurations was deleted without any of the others being changed?  am i making any sense?


one question - how do i remove the dgvoodoo logo in the bottom-right portion of the screen ingame?

[ash]

ok i have double checked everything and i think this is where i went wrong because all of my installs are now working again   


i will look more deeply into how things are playing now, when i have a bit more free time in the next few days... 
will all of my BC installs need to have all the new dlls and everything you mentioned added to their folders as well?
as of right now, all the steps and configurations you mentioned on the previous page of this thread have been done only for my primary install..  if i were to delete this install for any reason, would my other backup installs have any issues working as before?  if the only oneto contain the new dlls and configurations was deleted without any of the others being changed?  am i making any sense?


one question - how do i remove the dgvoodoo logo in the bottom-right portion of the screen ingame?

Glad to ear!  It depends: nvinspector settings will be applied to every file named stbc.exe so , yes, every BC set up you will run will have the nvidia tweaked setting. Nvinspector is the nvidia control panel extention.

All the others will work only for the BC build you are going to install into. Reshade dll is DXGI.DLL and depends from  DDRAW.DLL and D3DImm.DLL  for start working. So if you delete this two you will have exactly the same as before tweaks.

For disable watermark you can open dgvodoo control panel, directX tabs,   in the bottom-right "dgvodoo watermark"

[King Class Scout]

good to see you got them fixed, Jimmy.

@ash:  if I remember right, the last time I tried to do anything with DirectX, the comp nearly bluescreened, and the last time I DID try a new piece of hardware, it black screen of reinstall -ed.  I have no idea if I can even use the Tower again.

unfortunately, the most we can afford is "revamp" towers with all stock hardware.  at least I'm getting decent BC performance out of the one I'm currently using.  there's not much you can do with stock hardware, after all.

and I was serious about the bloom effect in nebulas.  can you come up with a bloom formula that emulates the reflection nebula around the Pleadies?

[ash]

good to see you got them fixed, Jimmy.

@ash:  if I remember right, the last time I tried to do anything with DirectX, the comp nearly bluescreened, and the last time I DID try a new piece of hardware, it black screen of reinstall -ed.  I have no idea if I can even use the Tower again.

unfortunately, the most we can afford is "revamp" towers with all stock hardware.  at least I'm getting decent BC performance out of the one I'm currently using.  there's not much you can do with stock hardware, after all.

and I was serious about the bloom effect in nebulas.  can you come up with a bloom formula that emulates the reflection nebula around the Pleadies?

I think yes , it's possible do something similar. Reshade is incredibly powerful but it comes with some limitations: Every effect you are going to apply will work with everything in game, included GUI. In other words everytime you talk with an officer every yellow strings will cast a star in your face, for saying one. 
Another big deal is many old game cannot access to Depth Buffer creating big limits. There are some workaround like for example, if an effect is good in space but less on bridge we can bind the effect to spacebar so it get deactivated when switch (I still don't know how do it ).

It's so hard tune a great reshade!