Ship conversion in win7

[Starforce2]

For ever now I'ev used max3.1 to convert ships. Now I have windows 7, will it work? Also, I thought I heard someone with the newer maxes could convert to the old 3.1 nif formatt?? What about old versions of photoshop? I'ev had the one I got since I started modding. If this would be easier of msn, feel free.

[baz1701]

Sadly I have not managed to get it working in Vista 64, but does run in virtual PC. The problem BC will not install from the CD and if you copy the files over it will install but noy run. Until you have run once the SDK exporter will not work.

I have both working fine on my old XP laptop and I belive Windows 7 has a free to download virtual PC with XP included free of charge.

[Nebula]

baz are you talking about installing BC on a VPC?

[King Class Scout]

and, of course, you should hold on to that max as well.  character and bridge models are only recognised by BC if they're done with that one.

[Vladko1]

Indeed. On the Virtual PC the max 3.1 should work, but in Windows 7 x64, you can't run the Max 3.1

[genty]

Sadly I have not managed to get it working in Vista 64, but does run in virtual PC. The problem BC will not install from the CD and if you copy the files over it will install but noy run. Until you have run once the SDK exporter will not work.

There is a way around that, if you open up regedit on a system with BC installed and export the registry keys assosiated with the game and then import the keys into the system without BC it should get the esporter working. I'm sure I've done this before and it's worked.

Edit:
I've managed to get Max 3.1 working on W7 x86 by setting compatibility mode to XP SP2 and removing the file iptex.dlt fro the stdplugs folder. Don't know if this would work with x64 though.
Importing the reg file also worked to get the exporter working.

[baz1701]

baz are you talking about installing BC on a VPC?

Yes it if fine on the main PC but I get a setup error once the wiz starts to copy files from the CD. And when I copy the CD to the HDD it installs but gives me a d3d error which I belive is something to do with direct X. I'm running Win98SE on the virtual machine.

I have not tried to copy reg files, but to be honest i can build PC's from scratch but I am a Electronics Engineer and software is not my strong point.

[genty]

On the comp with BC installed click start then run and type regedit. You will open a program which looks a bit like explorer except for reg keys. Open the
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Activision folder. You should see the folder for Bridge Commander. Select this folder and click on file then export. Give it a name then save the file. Next transfer the file to your VPC then double click it and click yes to import data. This should work, I've not done it on a VPC but it does work on a PC without BC installed.

[markeno]

Good to see 3.1 is working for 32bit, for 64bit I doubt it would.  I've had to use virtual pc and xp mode to get Max 5 to work on Windows 7 64bit in the past.

Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate both allow free download and installation of what is called XP Mode which is virtual pc with XP loaded and you don't need any cds or license keys.  For all version of Windows Virtual PC is available and you can load XP or 98 or whatever OS you like on it, you just need the disk and key for the os.   Neither of them support Direct 3d so you wouldn't be able to launch BC.  Max 5 works on XP Mode, so I would expect 3.1 to as well.

I would expect genty's instructions to grab the proper registry keys would make it seem installed properly, which might let your exporter work, so long as you don't require launching BC at any point.  Just have a properly installed BC with the SDK already initialized on another pc and copy the entire folder (and get the registry keys) to the virtual pc drive to the same path.  The registry keys will likely point to the folder so it will most likely need to be the same "location" and name on the virtual pc.

Another option if your using 64bit would be a dual boot setup with XP.

[King Class Scout]

this is why I'm glad I still have XP.  if the programmers wouldn't change the software so dang fast...

i just had a similar problem with mum's printer.  it recognises there's a printer there, but won't run the associated ink notices or the automatic cartrige alignment for fresh ink.

[Starforce2]

I had no issue getting BC to install from the disk nor fire up, nano's BCMP and BCMI also worked fine. Not yet tried the MPE and mark allen tactical display editor.

[JimmyB76]

nano's BCMP and BCMI also worked fine.

SF - for gods sakes man, get rid of those old outdated and buggy programs!
use Bridge Commander Universal Tool instead - it does everything thet BCMP and BCMI did and a whole lot more!

mark allen tactical display editor.

SF - for gods sakes man, use this Tactical Display Icon Editor instead!  

get with the times for gods sakes man!  *slaps SF*
lol

[Morgan]

Sometimes those old programs can be a tad useful - not often but sometimes...

[eclipse74569]

SF - for gods sakes man, get rid of those old outdated and buggy programs!
use Bridge Commander Universal Tool instead - it does everything thet BCMP and BCMI did and a whole lot more!

 
SF - for gods sakes man, use this Tactical Display Icon Editor instead! 

get with the times for gods sakes man!  *slaps SF*
lol

Get'im Jimmy!

And SF, if you need anyone who uses outdated software like XP and 3.1, send me a shoutout LOL I'll be glad to do some conversions for you

[Meteorafallen]

One thing I noticed when using Windows XP Mode Is the virtual graphics memory, it's restricted to 64mb. And from what I know there's no way around it unless there's a registry hack. You might have better luck with VirtualBox, or VMWare. Or dare I say get yourself another hard drive, and install XP on it and keep those older programs installed on that. I know a lot of people have yet to upgrade for the exact reason.

[Starforce2]

SF - for gods sakes man, get rid of those old outdated and buggy programs!
use Bridge Commander Universal Tool instead - it does everything thet BCMP and BCMI did and a whole lot more!

 
SF - for gods sakes man, use this Tactical Display Icon Editor instead!  

get with the times for gods sakes man!  *slaps SF*
lol

No thanks on the new editor. I found the icons are out of position ingame (and when loaded in mark allens) when I use that but fine in said editor so obviously something not quite right with it. Mark allens gives you EXACTLY what you get ingame. And his works in testing on win7, though not loaded anything in it or the MPE beacuse I have no ships on here. Working on that in the next few days.

[JimmyB76]

aah i see, ive not tried Mark Allen's TDIE...

[MarkyD]

Hmmmm, this made an interesting read, I am running Win7 64BIT Ultimate, and max 2011 64bit stu lic and I am obviously going to run into a few issues when converting then. Mabey I should partition my HDD and dual boot my system with Win XP 32bit pro and win 7 64bit. Giving me the option then to install max 3.1 onto the XP partition.??

[Nebula]

hmm I recall later versions of max can convert to the proper nif for BC.

[genty]

That is probably using niftools.
http://niftools.sourceforge.net/wiki/NifTools
I don't think it works for bridges though. Scroll down and click on downloads and then scroll down to max_plugins. If you go to the forum there are also pre-release builds you can get.