Darkest hour and Windows 8 - Need heavy support!

[Thegreatgeneral]

Good morning everyone, I'm a newbie of this forum and actually of the whole Hearts of Iron series, I "met" it only this summer, and I practised on Doomsday version with the scenarios and on Darkest Hour with the Russo-Japanese war by siding with Tzar's army and leading it to a successfull defense.

So, I immediately apologize for my very simple and maybe not fully respectufl of grammar English, I am an Italian 19 y.o. learner.

But let's get into the real reason of the topic.

I recentely obtained a new laptop. Wonderful stuff and wonderful hardware, for my not-so-high standards. And Windows 8. Not so comfortable but I have to get used to it, I thought.
So, installing a good free antivirus, some good programs to keep it clean and fully operative, Google Chrome, Skype. Something missing. Oh yeah, I think. It's my copy of DH. I try to install it, but it runs very very poorly.

So, I tried to make it run just in compatibility. I tried at first with Windows 7. My former laptop had it, and DH was running like with NASA's PCs. But it went wrong. So I tried with XP SP3 and then with SP2. Still nothing.

Before getting very mad, I tried to look for solutions here, because I knew the forum and the related wiki (which is wonderful).

So, I find tons of solutions. I tried to follow every tip but with poor results, about nothing changed.

Then I find the topic with eeex's guide. Wonderful, I think.

I install again DH, and it tells me to install it in compatibility. I accept, it looks like I manually configured it. Then, I make the "FixDH.reg" file with notepad, with copying/pasting the code he published. But nothing worked, Windows gave me an error window where was reported that it required "binary" and other stuff (if I remember well)

So, I know that mine is another topic about this issue and I'm sorry for this bothering. But I would like a detailed help.

May it be a problem that I have 64-bit system? Then, in the .reg file should I just copy and paste the code or replacing the D: part with the actual directory of the game on my laptop? Do I have to copy also the first line, without the code? Should I still run the game windowed, even if when I tried it went in crash?
Should I use counters instead of animated figures (actually, I hate counters but if I have to, I will use it. And I thought about this particular only this morning, but my game is uninstalled now)?

So, I would be very glad if someone is so kind to give me a step-to-step guide in order to enjoy it.
I really don't want to be forced to play HoI3 in order to play a great WW2 grand strategy game, its mechanics are so difficult to understand and there are even no tech teams! I hate this feature

 

[Stuka Ju87 D3]

Microsoft has a perverse release cycle of following any decent OS release with the world's worst piece of crapware ever (XP -> Vista; Win7 -> WindCrap8).
In other words they punish you for no reason so next time when they release something a lil' bit better you think it's awesome (CEMENT -> XP; Vista -> Win7; WindCrap8 -> Win9)

As to your problem,

If:
1. You have indeed tried all available fixes posted on this forum.
2. Nothing else anyone offers you works.

Then one of these may fix your problems:
1. Check with your manufacturer if they have Win7 drivers and make sure you have "downgrade" rights. Then clean the WindCrap8 from your PC and install Win7.
2. Install VirtualBox; Install Linux Mint 17 32-bit (or something else if you prefer) in VirtualBox; Go through the forums again, this time replacing "WindCrap8" with "Linux" in your searches. Warning! - this may leave you equally frustrated.

Good luck.

 

[Thegreatgeneral]

Hello. Thank you for your suggests. I'll take them in account. So, I am using my time to surf a bit the guide better. You know, maybe I missed some parts.

Can you tell me if I need to put in the notepad .reg file "Windows registry editor 5.00" or similar? I am really thinking that I got wrong as a stupid

And do you think that putting counters instead of animated troops (It will cost me "blood, toil, tears and sweat" lol) I can reduce the lagging of graphic?

EDIT/Update of the situation: I tried again the "registry way" and looks like everything is good. Do you think that I should use counters or that I can also try to use unit spirites?

 

[Egg Bub]

Try using the windowed mode fix (read the instructions carefully!), it's the simplest and it works for me with Win8 64 bit.

 

[Thegreatgeneral]

thanks for the tip, can you link me this utility?

 

[Egg Bub]

thanks for the tip, can you link me this utility?

If you are referring to the 'borderless windowed mode program' then I can't help you as I have never used this. If your screen height is greater than 768 pixels then such a utility isn't necessary.

 

[Thegreatgeneral]

Guys, thanks a lot for support. I solved the problem.

I apologize with admins for this topic about a very common problem

 

[Pasha]

Guys, thanks a lot for support. I solved the problem.

I apologize with admins for this topic about a very common problem

How did you solve the problem? I've tried all of those steps too with no luck. I've gotten used to lag though, and holding out hope that Windows 9 will be another solution

 

[Thegreatgeneral]

I just followed eeeex's guide with the registry file.

I can't say that it runs perfectly, but I can say that it runs ok with very few lag. And, thanks goodness, Darkest Hour basic version is Hoi2 DD+Arma. DD is my first love, suggested by my father who is keen on this kind of games.

Darkest hour full mod (1914 scenario) is very difficult for me to understand... the "decision" area, that replaces events, as it looks, and the manpower, which is very hard to manage. The only good aspects I noticed for now are 7 tech teams with major powers and more IC

 

[Egg Bub]

I've tried all of those steps too with no luck.

Probably a long shot, but what GPU are you using? If you are using integrated graphics, use the official (Intel?) drivers, not the Windows rubbish which gets installed by default. The Windows drivers can miss all kinds of files which might be used for DH.

 

[Pasha]

Probably a long shot, but what GPU are you using? If you are using integrated graphics, use the official (Intel?) drivers, not the Windows rubbish which gets installed by default. The Windows drivers can miss all kinds of files which might be used for DH.

Thanks for the tip. I'll take a look at it tonight after work.

This is a silly question, but I have an old hard drive from my previous laptop (I spilled wine on the keyboard and it stopped working) that's still working. Can I simply swap out the Windows 8 hard drive from my current laptop and install the Windows 7 hard drive? Or is the Windows 8 laptop "Optimized" for Win 8?

 

[Egg Bub]

If there are Windows 7 drivers for the hardware, then I would say give it a try. You should check the manufacturer's website though.

 

[eeeex]

Fixing proposal

Ok.. I found this one: http://steamcommunity.com/app/215930...38051580729916

This here worked for me (I think this works only for NVIDIA users):
File: WineD3D - 1.5.22
1. Copy the content of the "WineD3D 1.5.22" folder in your Darkest Hour Installation directory (Files ONLY needed are: ddraw.dll, libwine.dll and wined3d.dll) the other files are useless.
2. Edit the 'settings.cfg' file in your Darkest Hour Installation directory
-> Set Start-up movie = 0, save the file and close it
3. Open the NVIDIA Control Panel -> Manage 3-D Settings -> Program Settings -> and add the Darkest Hour.exe, to run with the NVIDIA Processor (I have in my case 2 graphics processors, one integrated and one NVIDIA)
4. Run the game via Darkest Hour.exe

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This here might work for AMD users:
File: WineD3D - 1.5.22
1. Copy the content of the "WineD3D 1.5.22" folder in your Darkest Hour Installation directory (Files ONLY needed are: ddraw.dll, libwine.dll and wined3d.dll) the other files are useless.
2. Edit the 'settings.cfg' file in your Darkest Hour Installation directory
-> Set Start-up movie = 0, save the file and close it
3. Right click on the Darkest Hour executable (Darkest Hour.exe), edit the properties and check the "Compatibility" mode
4. Set the Windows 8 color mode to 16 bit and to Windows XP SP 3 mode
5. Run the game via Darkest Hour.exe as administrator

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If the two above mentioned steps don't work, try this:

GameDir content: WineD3D
1. Copy the content of the "GameDir" folder in your Darkest Hour Installation directory
2. Edit the 'settings.cfg' file in your Darkest Hour Installation directory
-> Set Start-up movie = 0, save the file and close it
3. Right click on the Darkest Hour executable (darkest hour.exe), edit the properties and check the "Compatibility" mode
4. Set the Windows 8 color mode to 16 bit
5. Run the game via Darkest Hour.exe as administrator

Hopefully this works for some of you..

eeeex

Disclaimer:
I am not responsible for any damages caused, to your computer or health, by the use of this modification/fix!

 

[Thegreatgeneral]

And does it make the game run without any lag (even mouse and others)?

 

[eeeex]

And does it make the game run without any lag (even mouse and others)?

Yep

 

[Thegreatgeneral]

Thank you! It runs perfectly!

 

[eeeex]

Thank you! It runs perfectly!

Glad that it worked for you!

 

[eeeex]

Thank you! It runs perfectly!

Uhm just for feedback, which fix worked for you?

eeeex

 

[Thegreatgeneral]

so, I used at first your registry fix and now wineD3D, if I were you I would write it in the sticked topic