Battlezone 1

I have released a double-patch for the games Battlezone & Red Odyssey. This patch and its information can be found at the links below. This patch is confirmed to work with the following versions of the game:

Battlezone (Original Install Disc)
Battlezone 1.4M & Expansion
Red Odyssey (Original Install Disc)
Red Odyssey 1.3M

[align=center]DO BZ-RO Compatibility Guide & Files[/align]

Also, for your convenience I have compiled a small list of fixes for other erroneous errors I have encountered on my journey to get Battlezone working completely on my machine.

[align=center]Other General Battlezone Bug Fixes
This contains a bug fix for NVIDIA Cards to fix your framerates without downgrading drivers! Amongst several other issue fixes.[/align]

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Please note that everything included her has allowed me to run Battlezone flawlessly, at a locked 60 FPS on the following machine:

OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64 Bit
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
Processor: Intel Q6600 2.4ghz Quad Core
RAM: 4GB Corsair DDR3

Just a quick note, so I know whether or not this is working for people: If you use this patch, and it successfully work-arounds an issue you have been having, please post here and let me know.

Also, if you continue to have issues after installing this patch, also post here so I can work on adding support for the issue in the patch.

Just tried your directions and all I got was an UE error.

I have to admit I haven't followed BZ for quite a while so I'm not too familiar with the BZ 1.4M type installer.

Here is my system specs

Vista Ultimate x64
4GB DDR2 RAM
ATI Radeon 3650 512MB
AMD 64 x2 3800+ (2.2GHz)

One of the first problems I ran into was installing the BZ 1.4M... the installer asks me to install into:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Activision\Battlezone
However if I install it there I can't run the BZConfig utility. I get a 'cannot find BZ' error.
So I install it into it's original location:
C:\Program Files\Activision\Battlezone

That gets me able to run the BZConfig utility, but it is all down hill from there.

Whenever I try to run HW accelerated it just craps out on me and gives me a blank screen with an UE error, I have to end task on bzone.exe just to get control of my system back.

If I run it in SW mode I can move around for about 2 seconds before the video locks up.

Some things you might want to elaborate on in your instructions.

1. Do you need to set bzone.exe to any compatibility mode?
2. I installed the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit... do I do anything with it??!?!
3. Any minimum set of settings to mark off in the configuration utility to just get up and running?
4. Explanation of the compatibility files that are thrown into the BZ dir.

Although I haven't made any progress I do appreciate that there are some people out there trying to extend the life of this great game.

Maybe one day Virtual PC will emulate some basic 3D video card instead of the S3 Trio and we can have BZ live on indefinitely!

Hey Mike (can I call you Mike? ),

I can only answer you on a questions regarding the installer.

Seems that Vista adds "(x86)" in default BZ1.4M installation path, because I'm pretty sure I set C:\Program Files\Activision\Battlezone as default.

As for Configuration Utility, that's not part of the BZ, it's 3rd party program added to M installer for easier configuring of render.cfg. It is "looking" for BZ in default folder, even if you install it separately. With original BZ and previous installers you can configure render only with notepad.

As for your system specs, you have Dx10 card which, by the last reports, doesn't work with BZ.

And yeah, improved Virtual PC seems like only solution for our present and future problems, because without Activision/Atari support for BZ we will have to fight with every piece of new technology on our own...

Before running Vista 64 I was running XP 64, just so you know any of the 64-bit versions of Windows will install 32-bit apps in 'Program Files (x84)' and install 64-bit apps in 'Program Files.'

Is that configuration utility opensource? maybe someone (me maybe?) can modify it to find the default BZ directory instead of expecting the default.

Thanks for the info about Dx10 cards... even if it's not good info. At least I won't keep trying in vain!

A few answers to your questions:

1. Do not set battlezone.exe or any of its shortcuts to use compatibility mode. It causes more problems than it fixes and negates this patch.

2. You should not have to do anything with the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit, it is simply there to make your OS recognize the patch.

3. The Configuration utility is purely there for troubleshooting graphical display errors.

4. Explanation of the Compatibility Fix:

What this patch is essentially is a suite of legacy commands that Microsofts Application Compatibility Toolkit informs your OS it needs to recognize for the particular executable you have it programmed for. (In this case, bzone.exe)

Basically in a nutshell, the patch lies to bzone.exe about a great many things, just to name a few, it lies about the version of DirectX (To bypass DX10 cards, like mine.) It also lies about the windows version, returning a Win 98 version. It masks the memory for the application (Your ram) telling the game you only have the max ram for Win 98. This allows users with more ram than battlezones maximum amount to play flawlessly.

Also, there is a suite of other commands utilized to allow battlezone to operate with full functionality. Also, I have tested this patch on four computers total now.

1. Best Friend, Win XP Pro (Worked Perfectly)
2. My Primary PC, Win Vista Ultimate 64b (Worked Perfectly)
3. GF's Brothers Vista Laptop, Win Vista Home (Worked Perfectly)
4. My secondary PC, Win XP Pro (Worked Perfectly)

All of those machines had one error or another while playing, this patch fixed them.

-----------------------
Some steps to get your install working:
Try this, hopefully it will work.

1. Open BZ Config Tool
2. Enable High Resolutions
3. Enable Show Statistics (doesn't have to be, but you can see your FPS in-game)
4. Under "test these settings" Check window mode, skip intro and then click "start battlezone" select hardware mode when prompted.

Hopefully this will get you in game while under hardware rendering.

5. Go to options, change resolution to 1024x768 or 1280x1024
6. Join/Play a SP or MP game to ensure your game works.
7. If game works, restart game, launch without windowed mode (Unless you prefer windowed)
8. Launch game normally, it should launch without issue. If it does not, return to and play in windowed mode.

The reason this may or may not work is sometimes Battlezone will mess up with smaller resolutions, and some video cards don't even support 640x480 resolutions as a primary resolution anymore (I know mine doesn't.)

This should get you going without a problem.

Did you ever try this solution? Did it work? Did it fail? If it failed, what can I do to help you further your progress?

Still doesn't seem to work. I tried uninstalling/reinstalling several times. If I have XP SP2 compatibility enabled I can launch the game into it's menu system but when I try to actually play I can hear everything, including the cannon fire when I shoot, but it's all black.

If I disable compatibility mode the game wont even launch and I get a memory error saying that I need at least 50MB of memory. (I have 4GB).

Ok alternatively, follow these instructions:

• Disable Current Compatibility settings
• Go-To: Start>Programs>Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit
• Launch: Compatibility Administrator
• Click Open: and browse DO BZ-RO Compatibility.sdb and open the file in the Compatibility Administrator.
• Right Click & Install: The new database at the bottom of the list, titled "Battlezone & Red Odyssey Compatibility [File Path]"
• Close: The compatibility administration service.
• Re-Launch the game.

If this doesn't solve your problem let me know.

Now all I get is an Unhandled Exception. I tried various config settings.

First, try launching the game with -win in the shortcut to force windowed mode. If the game launches, your only remaining problem is resolution and video card settings. This is a good thing if it occurs.

Once you launch the game, go to the settings, and change your resolution to at LEAST 800x600, odds are you will be running the game with a bit higher resolution anyways, probably 1024x768 or 1280x1024.

Once you change your resolution to something other than 640x480 and something 800x600 or higher your UE on launch problem should be solved.

The reason this is happening is because most modern video cards no longer support 640x480 screen resolution. Which means your computer will not change the screen resolution to the games when it tries to launch it, battlezones resolution change gets denied, so it crashes.


Let me know when you've tried this solution.

Still nothing works. It won't launch ever since I enabled the compatibility database.

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. To be honest, I am at a complete loss as to what the problem is with your system.

If you go to my website and check my NVIDIA post here maybe you can find and change some similar settings on your ATI card, or see if it itself has compatibility modes for Battlezone. If that doesn't work, uninstall (Through Add & Remove Programs) my patch, remove the file from your directory and try troubleshooting from scratch.

Beyond that I can't help you much without actually physically getting my hands on your machine. (Or remote desktop)

EDIT: Fixed link.

DarkOddity,

I know 4 more people who tired your compatibility patch (3 with Vista, 1 with XP Dx10 card) and it wasn't helpful. In fact, except those PC you worked on, it was helpful to no one.

I also know few Vista players who did nothing except install 1.4M and it all worked well.

It seems that your patch is not for all PC's.

People, we need more info for making a better patch. If you have Vista and/or Dx10 cards post your info whether BZ works for you or not.





Thank you,

Mr. Spock

I guess it depends on what version of vista you have, then.