Earthsiege 2 Error on startup under Windows 8.1

[dis astranagant]

Every time I try to start the game I get a white screen with an error popup that says:

Assert::err: Line 842 in "src\winstuff.cpp": coulnd't [sic] create dd surface.

And have to kill the game processes.

[Collector]

Did you use the installer from here?

[dis astranagant]

Yes. Without the music because the mp3 ripper crashed (not hung, windows asked me to kill it pretty much immediately). The error message looks like dx11.2 must have broken the ancient ddraw calls it uses.

[Collector]

The ripper part relies on cdda2wav, which some recent update seems to have cause problems for it with certain CD. I have started adding oscdimg instead for those games. You can manually rip the tracks and drop them in the game's folder. Look at the _inmm.ini for whatthe files should be named.

The Compatibility patch for ES2 was broken with a previous update and I temporarily pulled the installer for it. The patch started working again with a later update and I made it available again. This is the problem with the Windows games in that compatibility fixes are a moving target. I do not have Win8, so I have no way of testing, but it is currently working on Win7. The error looks like the compatibility patch addresses, so perhaps it did not get installed or Win8 breaks it, but not 7. I doubt that DX11 has much to do with it as Vista+ has both DX9 (for backwards compatibility) and DX10 to DX11. It is true, however, that some aspects of DX are being depreciated. 8 probably has more than 7.

It may be more of a Win8 issue, so I might be of limited help, but run the diagnostic tool and attach the log here. I take a look to see if there is anything obvious.

[dis astranagant]

Any issues with this installer can be reported on the Sierra Help
Pages Forum:

http://sierrahelp.com/forums/


If requested, please include the following information:


EarthSiege II

diagnostic information:

======================== System Info ========================

Microsoft Windows 8.16.2.9200.0 64-Bit, en-US
Service Pack :
Account type : Administrator
UAC status : On

CPU : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4570 CPU @ 3.20GHz
Memory : 7.93 GB
Graphics Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 w/ 2048 MB of Video RAM
Screen Resolution : 1920 x 1080, 32 bit color
DirectX Version : DirectX 9.0c
CD-ROM Drive(s) : G:\ (DAEMON Tools Lite is installed.)



========================= Game Info =========================

Game : EarthSiege II
Game Version : define GAME_VERSION:
Game Path : C:\Dynamix\EarthSiege 2
Installer Version : 3.0.0.0
NSIS Version : define NSIS_VERSION:
Start Menu Directory : Dynamix\EarthSiege II
Uninstall string : C:\Dynamix\EarthSiege 2\uninst.exe

Compatibility Mode:


define GAME_EXE2:: Not set
define GAME_EXE3:: Not set


================== Game Configuration File ==================

C:\Dynamix\EarthSiege 2\define GAME_CONFIG::

Not found


=============== Secondary Configuration File ================

define GAME_CONFIG2::

Not found


====================== Game Files List ======================

GDF.dll
BWCC32.DLL
CW3220.DLL
SOS9503.DLL
SOSLIBS3.DLL
DiagnosticTool.exe
EarthSiege 2.exe
uninst.exe
DBSIM.EXE
ES.EXE
VSHELL.EXE
LANGUAGE.INF
SIERRA.INF
SOSLIB.INI
assert.log
ES2_FLCS.M50
ES2_TQS.M50
ES2_WCS.MDF
GAMEDAT.SHP
Installer License.txt
New Installer README.txt
ESREADME.TXT
VERSION.TXT
HMIDRV.WIN
HMIMDRV.WIN

AVI\
AVI\ALPHA.AVI
AVI\ALPH_TH.AVI
AVI\AS1.AVI
AVI\AS2.AVI
AVI\AS3.AVI
AVI\AS4.AVI
AVI\AS5.AVI
AVI\AS6.AVI
AVI\AS7.AVI
AVI\BRAVO.AVI
AVI\BRAV_TH.AVI
AVI\C1.AVI
AVI\C2.AVI
AVI\C3.AVI
AVI\C4.AVI
AVI\C5.AVI
AVI\CO1.AVI
AVI\CO2.AVI
AVI\CO3.AVI
AVI\CO4.AVI
AVI\CREDITS.AVI
AVI\DEATH.AVI
AVI\DELTA.AVI
AVI\DELT_TH.AVI
AVI\DROPSHIP.AVI
AVI\END1A.AVI
AVI\ES1.AVI
AVI\ES2.AVI
AVI\ES2CREDC.AVI
AVI\ES2DROP3.AVI
AVI\ES3.AVI
AVI\ES4.AVI
AVI\ESTAB2.AVI
AVI\EX1.AVI
AVI\EX2.AVI
AVI\EX3.AVI
AVI\EX4.AVI
AVI\FL1.AVI
AVI\FL2.AVI
AVI\FL3.AVI
AVI\FL4.AVI
AVI\GD1.AVI
AVI\GD2.AVI
AVI\GD3.AVI
AVI\GD4.AVI
AVI\HC1.AVI
AVI\HC2.AVI
AVI\HC3.AVI
AVI\HC4.AVI
AVI\INTR_PT1.AVI
AVI\INTR_PT2.AVI
AVI\LUNA.AVI
AVI\OMICRON.AVI
AVI\OMIC_TH.AVI
AVI\PT1.AVI
AVI\PT2.AVI
AVI\PT3.AVI
AVI\PT4.AVI
AVI\PT5.AVI
AVI\PT6.AVI
AVI\RC1.AVI
AVI\RC2.AVI
AVI\RC3.AVI
AVI\RC4.AVI
AVI\RC5.AVI
AVI\RD1.AVI
AVI\RD2.AVI
AVI\RD3.AVI
AVI\RD4.AVI
AVI\RF1.AVI
AVI\RF2.AVI
AVI\RF3.AVI
AVI\RF4.AVI
AVI\RS1.AVI
AVI\RS2.AVI
AVI\RS3.AVI
AVI\RS4.AVI
AVI\SC1.AVI
AVI\SC2.AVI
AVI\SC3.AVI
AVI\SC4.AVI
AVI\SC5.AVI
AVI\SK1.AVI
AVI\SK2.AVI
AVI\SK3.AVI
AVI\SK4.AVI
AVI\SP1.AVI
AVI\SV1.AVI
AVI\SV2.AVI
AVI\SV3.AVI
AVI\SV4.AVI
AVI\TRANSM3.AVI
AVI\VICTORY.AVI

DATA\
DATA\DRIVE.CFG
DATA\EXIT.CFG
DATA\KEYJOY.CFG
DATA\LANGUAGE.CFG
DATA\PREFS.CFG
DATA\SOUND.CFG
DATA\MAT0.DAT
DATA\MFORMS.DAT
DATA\MAPLABEL.STR
DATA\MISSION.STR

ENGLISH\
ENGLISH\ES2GUIDE.HLP
ENGLISH\LANGUAGE.INF
ENGLISH\README.WRI

ENGLISH\BILLBRD\
ENGLISH\BILLBRD\LOAD1.BMP

SAV\
SAV\GAMEFILE.STR

SIMVOICE\
SIMVOICE\TM1_0001.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0003.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0006.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0007.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0008.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0010.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0012.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0013.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0014.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0015.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0017.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0019.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0020.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0022.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0025.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM1_0026.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0001.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0003.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0004.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0006.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0007.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0011.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0012.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0014.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0015.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0017.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0019.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0020.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0021.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0022.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0023.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0024.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0025.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0026.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0027.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM2_0029.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0001.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0003.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0004.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0005.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0007.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0009.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0011.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0012.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0014.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0016.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0017.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0019.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0021.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0022.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0024.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0025.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0026.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0027.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM3_0029.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM4_0001.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM4_0003.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM4_0005.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM4_0007.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM4_0009.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM4_0012.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM4_0015.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM4_0017.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM4_0018.WAV
SIMVOICE\TM4_0021.WAV

TAPES\
TAPES\DEMOLIST.STR
TAPES\DEMO1.TAP
TAPES\DEMO2.TAP
TAPES\DEMO3.TAP

VOL\
VOL\LANG0.VOL
VOL\SHELL0.VOL
VOL\SHELL1.VOL
VOL\SHLSOUND.VOL
VOL\SIMALERT.VOL
VOL\SIMPATCH.VOL
VOL\SIMSOUND.VOL
VOL\SIMVOICE.VOL
VOL\SIMVOICF.VOL
VOL\SIMVOICG.VOL
VOL\SIMVOL0.VOL
VOL\ZONES.VOL

[Collector]

I am not seeing much wrong, outside of the missing ripped tracks and the _inmm.ini. It looks like that this may be a netbook with onboard graphics and without a physical CD-ROM., which would explain why the ripping failed. If you mounted an ISO, the audio tracks are missing. ISO will only image the data track. You need to use a format that will image the entire disc, including the CDA tracks. Also, cdda2wav does not seem to like DAEMON Tools and will fail. If this machine does not have a physical CD-ROM, you may need to rip the tracks manually.

As to the graphics error, check your add/remove programs and look for "ES.EXE custom database" listed. If it is missing, the compatibility patch did not get installed.

[dis astranagant]

It's there. No physical CD-ROM because I forgot this mobo doesn't have IDE ports when I was grabbing parts off my old one. Definitely not a netbook or using on board graphics, that processor alone draws more power than a typical netbook.

[Collector]

Ripping will work with DAEMON Tools, but there are workarounds. But that is a separate issue from the graphics. Unfortunately, I do not have a Win8 machine to test. The compatibility patch was created with MS Application Compatibility Toolkit. If I had Win, and it was failing for me, I would see what I could do with ACT. It is a free download if you want to mess with it. If you do, I would appreciate if you let me know what you find. I might be able to add the fix to the installer.

[dis astranagant]

I think I'll just run it in a VM. Sounds like less of a pain in the ass then letting SQL Server run on a desktop.