HCI
I'm using the Glide wrapper and haven't had to limit RAM. I ran it previously under D3D and had no problems, either (other than it looked like crap compared to Glide). We may need to ask the people that experienced problems and needed to limit RAM to post their chipset/video card/OS/RAM specs and see if anything becomes apparent from that. There's got to be a common factor/combination that causes it (or I would think there is). It hasn't really been addressed in a scientific manner yet, that I've seen.

Evil Lurker: Good idea there, having that kind of information may provide important clues.

By the way, where can i find your objview mod? Looking forward to give it a try :-)

Mario

I had Longbow Anthology installed it a few months ago, and got it to work flawless (except for the kiowa/training missions ordeal). I never had to limit my ram.
Then I upgraded my RAM from 512 megs to my current 1GB. I reformatted my HDD and started from scratch. I just tried LB2 again since the upgrade, and get a CTD everytime. I haven't tried the RAM trick yet (havent had time), but I'll try it tonight.
not sure what this means.
anyways, keep up the good work! I wish I had programming skillz so I could pitch in...
I love this game!

Here is my system specs:
Asus P4800 mobo (800 mhz bus)
2.4 ghz pentium4
1gb ram (generic) - 2 512mb DIMMS
Nvidia GeForce FX5900 w/256 mb ram

I'm pretty sure it happens in both modes.

In my case, I get a M$ error displayed once I launch a mission. I see a couple of "bars" on loading of the mission , then a CTD. An error code is then displayed. Digging into the basic details on the error, it's related to an aclayers.dll file. Not sure if that file is the cause of the error or a victim of the issue.


Now the real permanent fix for this error (for those effected by it) is to adjust you maxmem setting to 366, some PCs work fine with 512 or somewhere in between. There's no rhyme or reason to it.

There are two other fixes you can try that also work fine. Some systems use only one, some require both.

I need to use both if not using maxmem (and I loose the Kiowa in any case, maxmem is the only fix where I won't loose Kiowa access).

EmulateHeap is one of these fixes.

"This compatibility fix emulates the functionality of the Windows 9x heap manager. It is is full implementation of the Windows 9x heap manager ported to Windows XP. Applies to: Windows 95, Windows 98"

GlobalMemoryStatusLie is the other.

“This compatibility fix modifies the memory status structure so that it reports a swap file that is 400MB in size regardless of the true swap file size.”


Again, this was discovered more or less by using trial and error, in conjunction with the M$ compatability tool.

Hmm, now the only difference between the systems I owned (other than the TI-4200 anomaly) is that on one the FSB is faster, the AGP card/slot capable of faster speeds, as well as the RAM being faster. I don't even want to think about documenting this for everyones system! Man that would be some spreadsheet.


System 1.
P4-2.4Ghz.
512MB RAM - 333Mhz RAM.
ATI 7500 AGP card.
Worked fine.
Then I added a Nvidia Ti-4200 128MB card to it (removing the 7500). The game wouldn't run at all. A number of people have issues with this card so I'm not alone.

System 2.
P4-3.2Ghz
1GB RAM - 400Mhz
ATI 9800 Pro
Game CTD issue unless I use maxmem.

HCI
Here is what I am currently using in my objview.ini file (it's not the entire file, it overwrites the lower 2/3 or so). You may want to backup the original before you try this, I renamed my original objview.bak. It hasn't caused me any problems, except a possible frame-rate hit (hard to tell as I'm running turbo.exe in the background, but I imagine it's more demanding on the video side)
You'll recognize where to start pasting into the copy. Tell me if this is a big improvement to the terrain "warping" right in front of you, or am I deluding myself.
Any feedback welcome, I won't take it personally.

[CTS]
Num256Buffers=4
Num128Buffers=2
Num64Buffers=1
Num32Buffers=1
DetailLevelling=1
TextureDLDepth0=70000
TextureDLDepth1=120000
TextureDLDepth2=200000
TextureDLDepth3=350000

[TerrainSystem]
MaxPolys=9000
PerspectiveDepth=40000

[CacheInterface]

[VFXOASystem]
NumLODs=15
EndDepth00=15000
EndDepth01=30000
EndDepth02=45000
EndDepth02=60000
EndDepth02=75000
EndDepth02=90000
EndDepth02=105000
EndDepth02=120000
UseShadows=1
DefaultShadowWidth=64
DefaultShadowRecalcRate=1

[BitmapSystem]

[SkySystem]
NumCols=8
NumRows=8
SkyColor=236
HazeColor=224
SkyFile=polarsky.raw
Coarse=0
HazeWidthAboveHor=37000
HazeWidthBelowHor=90000

There can be as many LODx detail settings as you want, up to 16.
The terrain detail level (0-15) will map linearly from LOD0 to the highest
you go to. This is why, if you have fewer than 16 LODx sections, some of the
terrain mesh detail levels will map to the same LODx section.

[LOD0]
NumLODs=8
NumTransitionsLog2=9
MorphDepth00=15000
EndDepth00=25000
MorphDepth01=30000
EndDepth01=45000
MorphDepth02=50000
EndDepth02=75000
MorphDepth03=80000
EndDepth03=120000
MorphDepth04=150000
EndDepth04=250000
MorphDepth05=300000
EndDepth05=400000
MorphDepth06=450000
EndDepth06=500000
MorphDepth07=550000
EndDepth07=600000

[HField]
Scale=8

I doubt the meory isue is related to the motherboard alone.
An example:
A friend has an identical coputer to mine except he has 1GB RAM and a FX5900u while I have 2GB and a 6800gt.
I run LB2 just by disabling the pagefile while he have to limit his RAM to 366 but can still keep pagefile enabled.
When we moved 1GB from my comp over to his then his LB2 worked without limitting the RAM too, but then I had to limit my RAM to get LB2 to work.

Here's the different specs:
P-IV 3GHz
1GB / 2GB Kingston DDR400
GF FX5900u / GF 6800gt
WinXP SP2
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe (875 chipset)
SB Live / SB Audigy
220GB Seagate / 2x120GB Seagate (all from same series)

And I have an AMD system with 512M RAM. I don't have to disable my page file or limit my memory with a 9700Pro. I have my page file set at 768M and a single 120G HDD. WinXP Pro SP1 and running Omega 2.5.58 drivers. Task manager shows 364k available memory while I'm surfing and about the same with LB2 /turbo running.

I've tweaked a few parameters on my system and was finally able to reproduce a few problems. Thanks to all your help, i think i now have an idea why the game fails to run on the different setups. The only common factor between all the different setups seems to be the high ammount of RAM. Also, the GlobalMemoryStatusLie fix provided an important clue.

The GlobalMemoryStatus call returns various information about the memory present in the
system, including the ammount of physical memory and pagefile. What is happening is that a signed 32-bit number is used to store these values, which means it will overflow after 2GB.

So, as far as i can tell, if you have more than 2GB of RAM or more than 2GB of pagefile the game won't run. I've ran a few tests that seem to confirm this on my system (with only 384MB of RAM i never set my pagefile so large until now). This explains the need for GlobalMemoryStatusLie. I've made a small test program to test the values returned by GlobalMemoryStatus, let me know if anyone wants it.

The Kiowa training missions still fail with this alone. However, after changing a heap creation parameter on tutor.dle the problem seemes to be solved. The easiest way to edit this parameter is to add the following to CA.INI:

[Backdoors]
HEAP_PERCENT=0

(this will override a default value on tutor.dle)

And this is all i have discovered so far going through the EXE and DLLs. Of course, what worked for me may not work for everyone, so let me know if you have any problems and i'll try to reproduce the issue here. I'll have some spare time this weekend to look into it in some detail.

Mario

Excellent!!!

The built in Windows XP compatability modes (selecting Windows 95 or 98 Compatability settings) once selected for the game, provide the EmulateHeap function.

EmulateHeap
"This compatibility fix emulates the functionality of the Windows 9x heap manager. It is is full implementation of the Windows 9x heap manager ported to Windows XP. Applies to: Windows 95, Windows 98"

Now with one CA.INI file adjustment, the same functionality is provided.

[Backdoors]
HEAP_PERCENT=0

I've tried the game using just the GlobalMemoryStatusLie option, NO XP compatability settings and NO MAXMEM.

The game now works with the Kiowa training missions, removing this setting from CA.INI and the game doesn't work for the Kiowa.

This fix seems to cause other issues with the noCDROM EXE. I'd suggest we all use the original EXE for now, while testing.

To be honest, I've seem to always have issues exiting the game or finishing a mission. When I ALT+Q to leave, the program stops responding and I have to ALT+TAB out and kill it manually, works fine in game though. Does this in either the 3DFX Glide Wrapper or the D3D mode.

HCl at that rate in 2 months LB2 will be a complete new game.

So perhaps let me add some to that progress too.
It appears that all map files in LB2 terrain folder can be opened "as RAW" with this or similar results. TER_hm.map below:



The trick is to figure out the size of the picture, channel # and possibly header size. Could be perhaps probed with Hex Editor prior to opening each file.

Anyone is making out some resemblance to any of the terrain in LB2? Desert? It got to be desert, because that is what I had played lately. I hear, the last map loaded remains in the terrain folder until it is overwritten by the new terrain during decompression. Is this the case?

Anyway not much but always litlle by little.
Predictably this one and perhaps the others are greyscale hight map.

Yes, if you shut down the PC and restart, you have the last map loaded instantly without decompressing anything. If you move from NTC to Azer, you need to decompress an entire 3 sector set, and vice-versa. In campaign, it only moves you 1 sector at a time (until you complete and restart, then it's a 3 sector decompression).
If you got that map from your terrain folder, it's either one sector of the last mission you flew, or it's all 3 sectors (the entire flight area you last flew in).

You're right...the last terrain that was decompressed stays in the terrain folder. Thats why whenever you choose instant action, it loads whatever map is decompressed (to save on load times). And that map does look like the desert since there isnt much elevevation change. So does this mean people can possibly create their own maps? obviously the tiles might not match up...but still, that's kick ass!!

Polak,
The more I look at that picture you posted, the more I'm convinced it's a close-up of Pamela Anderson's chest X-ray. You wouldn't be doing something like that, would you? :rolleyes:

well...HCI, you just saved the day! you're little .ini edit fixed EVERYTHING...now I get the Kiowa, Training Missions, Janes Reference, and the Navigation Map!!! Now I can play the game just like the old days, hehe. keep it up!

Is it possible to take a look at wrapper.dle?
I know if I enable my pagefile again and wether I limit my RAM or not I always get "this program wil close bla-bla-bla... in wrapper.dle". When I have my pagefile disabled I don't need to limit my RAM.
I'm using 2GB RAM and WinXP SP2.

First, big kudos for HCl for this masterstroke little edit. It is sometimes really awsome to see how such a little thing can change so much. I wonder how many other things can be changed in all those ini files.

I was asking to pinpoint resemblance and now I got it. That is it! Wait to fly it over in 3D

This I can confirm: OBJPICS.TRE contains:photos, 3-view line drawing and small model which can be rotated - and all used in "Read Janes section". Likwise OBJTEXT.TRE - that text and technical spec database.

Eventhough I still have a problem to convert palette used by shp2bmp I can clearly identify photos and drawings, 3D models and text in the data spec windows.

PS. Anyone knows how to make full screen screenshot of anything from LB2 running?

I thought it was her brain. It looks so.... empty
Fraps or just use print screen and paste in any image editor.