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Installing European Air War & EAW 128e -- Windows 7 x64

Posted By: TravChar

Installing European Air War & EAW 128e -- Windows 7 x64 - 01/11/11 08:19 PM

I did several searches to see if this topic didn't already have a thread going. My apologies if this is old hat, but I've seen some pretty complicated solutions offered and the approach I found below is at once simple and strange. Again, forgive any newbie blunder.


1-11-11

Installing European Air War & EAW 128e -- Windows 7 x64
Travis Charbeneau -- One User's solution:

I have an HP Pavilion p6330f, Core i3 CPU, Windows 7 Home Premium x64, 6GB RAM, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD (Core i3), Realtek integrated Audio. This is definitely _not_ a "gamer's machine," but it runs EAW and the 128e mod very well. The strange tale:

I've seen EAW advice for virtual machines, etc. that seemed fairly complicated, but I found that "Setup.exe" from the Microprose factory EAW disk was a _definite_ no-go. "Setup.exe" failed with all "Compatibility" settings or "Run as administrator" permissions. One day I just double-clicked on the eaw.exe sitting on the factory CD. To my surprise, the sim just started right up and ran from the CD tray.


I copied the factory CD to its own directory (buried in My Documents) and ran the Microprose patch eawv1-2.exe. It went through its motions uninterrupted and seems to have installed. (After applying the patch, the eaw.exe that launches the sim is still reading "0.0.0.1," but that's just as it is on my XP machine where I'm sure the 1-2 patch applied correctly.)


Windows 7 would not accept the very nice Enemy Coast Ahead mod, but all the zipped stuff went in as one would expect. I was able to use the zipped audio and graphics files in my own collection (and, later, those of 128e, below) by just unzipping to the main EAW directory. It also accepted the dummy "Movies.cdf" file (from SimHQ.net: http://tinyurl.com/4myzg5u "Open Notepad, and then click 'save as,' all files**, 'Movies.cdf.' Copy the new Movies.cdf file to your EAW folder, and you will save 291,806kb per install")


The d3d windower app sometimes recommended to get EAW running wasn't necessary. My HP box uses the integrated i3 CPU's graphics, not the nVidias to which this patch seems addressed.


None of four No-CD hacks I tried would work. This includes eawv1-2.exe, a fairly-extensive early EAW mod/No-CD crack. However, I did find a work-around (below).


I made a "128e" mod from the factory EAW folder (just as I did with factory RB3D and the FCJ mod below). Before any of my own zip files were added, I made a copy of the working EAW folder and renamed it "EAW 128." I then unzipped ("7-Zip") the three main mod files 128e.exe, ETO.exe and Planes.exe to this new EAW 128 folder. 'So far, it runs fine.


EAW 128e Note: As with my XP EAW 128e install, I had to use Notepad to edit the EAW 128e eaw.ini file under [CONTROLS], changing the standard install's default "Windows Joystick=0" to "Windows Joystick=1," otherwise it locked up immediately. Also joystick-related, be aware that 128e will freak out if you try to run it with no joystick plugged in and "Windows Joystick=1" still selected in its eaw.ini. The factory install doesn't seem so picky.


The no-CD hack involves another eaw.ini edit. In the little [Miscellaneous] section, the default is Debug Flags=0 stacked on top of Debug Path=E:\ (assuming "E:" is your CD drive) Since I had two copies of the factory disk already on board, I just changed this to "Debug Path=C:\Users\Travis\Documents\UTIL\Games\EAW\EAW 128" (and "EAW v1.0" for the factory version's folder).
Your nomenclature will naturally vary. This works for both 128e and the factory install, but after a single play and exit, the factory install insists on rewriting the [Miscellaneous] value to "Debug Path=" which prompts for the CD next time you launch. 128e doesn't mess with the ini and consistently loads without a CD. If anyone knows why this should be ...

Good luck!

TC

NOTE: Windows 7 x64 runs several other Windows 98-era sims, often performing better than XP. So far I'm running Red Baron 3D, a factory install and a duplicate with the excellent Full Canvas Jacket mod applied. (Only the original dgVoodoo 1.26 Glide wrapper works here, and I tried several). I also got Janes WW2 Fighters and Mig Alley to work. Janes USAF is _supposed_ to run, but I've
had no success. The fun shooter Crimson Skies is a fairly notorious W7 x64 no-go.
Posted By: Knegel

Re: Installing European Air War & EAW 128e -- Windows 7 x64 - 01/11/11 08:34 PM

Hello,

good you found all problems and got it running.

I love such customers. biggrin

I think one could talk about luck that your onboard graphiccard support the 8bit mode of the older games, what is the main problem on newer PC´s.
Specialy Nvidea fails to make their homework and from one driver to the next the 8-bit support was buggy or missing at all. Though, ATI dont do it much better and it depends to the graphiccard and driver combo, if EAW will run or not.

For sure Win7 is not worse than any other OS.

Thanks for the very good input, i hope others will read it.

Greetings,

Knegel
Posted By: Pobs

Re: Installing European Air War & EAW 128e -- Windows 7 x64 - 01/12/11 12:05 AM

Hi Travis,

thanks for that, it is always helpful if someone overcomes a problem to let the community know how to do it. I have copied your comments to my eaw 'library' so it will be available in future too smile

cheers,


Pobs
Posted By: Autolite

Re: Installing European Air War & EAW 128e -- Windows 7 x64 - 12/04/20 08:55 PM

I've got EAW up and running on Windows 7 Home Premium 64. It seems to be working okay but the introduction videos and the menu pages are all scrambled and pixelated. What would be the fix for this? What do I need to adjust to rectify this???
Posted By: SkyHigh

Re: Installing European Air War & EAW 128e -- Windows 7 x64 - 12/04/20 09:06 PM

You're probably advised to turn off the introduction videos-if I remember correctly, there is a line for this in the eaw.ini. I solved the menu page problems by running the game through DgVoodoo 2 on d3d, using the GeForce FX 5700 emulation. DgVoodoo is a free download.
Posted By: MrJelly

Re: Installing European Air War & EAW 128e -- Windows 7 x64 - 01/19/21 04:51 PM

To fix those problems use the d3d windower in Windows7, and turn off the introduction videos.

wink Jel
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