CFS2 and Win7

[Gonzo27]

I was wondering if anybody else was running CFS2 on a Windows 7 machine. I am trying to, but having some problems getting things rolling. For one, some addon planes won't work when trying to fly them in Quick Combat. (Now Stock planes don't as well). Either Quick Combat won't even load, or if it does, then I get a screen lacking the plane's panel, just the outside with 3d gunsite only and a black strip on the bottom of the screen, where the game freezes. I also get no engine sounds, only guns, and sometimes not even guns. Are there special tweaks needed for Windows 7 regarding CFS 2?

My Rig:

Core2Duo E6550, X-Fi Extreme Music, Radeon HD4850, 4 gigs of PC6400 memory. (Latest drivers on soundcard and GPU).

[bismarck13]

I have Windows 7 and CFS2 runs perfectly . . .

:applause:

[Cowboy1968]

same here, no problems running on a Win7 machine............what version are you running......i am running Win7 Home premium 32 bit

[Wildcat-87]

I run it on Win 7 with no problem. I have had the panel thing happen a few times, usually if I shut the game down it fixes it. Have you tried reinstalling the game?

[SdC Redux]

Regarding QC: make sure that when you run your QC-editor to run it as Administrator.

[igacci]

Hi, Gonzo

I have similar problem. In my case, it's somewhat randam.
2D panel does not appear properly at all.
In 3D mode, sometimes CFS2 runs OK, sometimes not.
No matter it is stock aircraft or an add-on.
The mouse cursor act strangely too. It always appears on the
screen and drawn in black.

My rig is

Core2Duo 8400, RADEON 4890 with 1G VRAM, DDR2-800 (PC6400) 4GByte
(I updated the video driver 9.10 to 9.12 but no luck.)
Windows 7 64Bit Japanese version.

It looks our rigs are close.
Intel chip, AMD/ATI GPU and same amount of memory.
Not sure if you are using 64bit, though.
As far as I have searched, CFS2 looks running fine on Windows 7 32bit.
If you are using 64bit, it most likely is the clue.

I don't think being Japanese version do harm with CFS2, since my copy is Japanese localized too.

Since GPUs are often responsible for troubles in 3D games, I would like to
know what kind of video board those who succeeded to run CFS2 properly are using.
One thing I concern is that late-ATI boards lack hardware support of DirectDraw.
It's related to 2D function so that I think it's unlikely, but might affect CFS2
which is build on comparably-old directX7.

FYI, CFS2 runs on VMWare player. It's apparently slow but can be a workaround for tweakings.

Daisuke

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I have no problems with CFS2 or the Mission Builder in Win7

[bearcat241]

...One thing I concern is that late-ATI boards lack hardware support of DirectDraw.
It's related to 2D function so that I think it's unlikely, but might affect CFS2 which is build on comparably-old directX7....

ATI PCIex cards always suck - they did a much better job with their now obsolete AGP products. Thanks for sharing the tech detail Daisuke. I think you've connected the dots with DDraw and 2D functionality. Dump the ATI and go Nvidia. Check your mobo manual to determine if your PCIex 16x slot is 1.0 or 2.0. For NV cards, 1.0 interface works well with the GeForce 5-7 series cards. The GF 8's and higher should have a mobo with a 2.0 16x interface for most stable performance, although some folk may find an exception to this rule. By the way, in DirectX gaming there's always a connection between sound and video performance, so if you're having problems primarily in one of these, in many cases you will see quirky symptoms in the other too.

[Wildcat-87]

I actually run it on Win 7 64-bit, i have the cursor issue as well, but for the most part it runs fine.

[Gonzo27]

Thanks for all the input guys. Igacci, you're right, the issue does stem from Win 7 64bit. Here is my fix I just did. Although I have the latest X-fi drivers (June '09, go figure), there is another patch, not full driver, that is more recent. After trying some 3rd party drivers, I installed this patch from Creative and now all is well.

[igacci]

I installed this patch from Creative and now all is well.

Good to hear things went well.

It's kind of surprize that an audio driver fixes visual issue.

I have kept it stay default from the moment of OS upgrade.
I'm gonna try the newest driver tonght.

Thank you for the info, Gonzo.

Daisuke

[Gonzo27]

I'm resurrecting this thread just to let people know that I'm still having problems. Sometimes stock planes are ok, sometimes not. A few addons fly ok, most do not. It's the same thing: no 2d panel and the 3d cockpit is cut off for 1/3 of the screen on the bottom, and the plane is frozen in place. Sometimes there is sound, sometimes not. There is the black 'aero' mouse curser as well. Shutting it down and restarting cfs2 doesn't help.
It really is frustrating, when I can run old games that are known to be toublesome like System Shock 2 without a problem, but not CFS2. It's making me seriously think about setting up a 2nd system with XP just to play it. But that can be a bit expensive. Any ideas? Anyone? Please?

[bearcat241]

Possibly two things...you might be experiencing a graphical conflict between the system's Aero theme style, your Vcard and the sim's internal graphical control elements. First, go to the Control Panel > System > Advanced Settings and choose the Best Performance option. This will disable the default Aero theme, turning off the cute bells and whistles and give the sim a no-frills shell environment to run in.

If this fails to remedy, uninstall your Vcard and its drivers with the Contol Panel > Programs and Features utility. Shut down the computer and remove the card from the box and attach the monitor connector to the VGA port on the motherboard. I'm certain your motherboard has an onboard video chip, most do. This will serve as a troubleshooting testbed. If using the onboard video proves successful, then your problem is video hardware incompatibility with CFS2 in the Win7 platform. You'll need to replace it -- pass on ATI and go Nvidia.