Battlezone 1

Well I took delivery of my new machine today along with Vista!! Everything was working well finally under XP but now with bloody Vista it ain't!

I'm running an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260

I have read the topics about Visa and followed all that I can but still have problems.

I have followed the tutorial about downloading the Compatability Administrator and I followed it step by step and did everything as instructed (great help file that, best I've seen)

I have done all this too:

2. Install Indeo codec (Vista only).

3. Turn OFF User Account Control (UAC).

4. Run Bz as Administrator.

5. Try OS compatibility mode.

If you have dx10 card:

2. Turn shadows off (graphic options in Bz).

3. Run Bz in 640x480 resolution.

I presume by point 5 above that I tell my computer to run BZ in compatability mode but only have the following to choose from and none seem great:

Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows NT
Windows 2000
Windows XP (SP2)
Windows Server 2003 (SP1)

I'm not sure what verion of DirectX I have and I have not yet tried to use older drivers (Try different graphic card drivers backwards, from newest to oldest)

Problem I'm having (tried in Single player - first mission when you have to build a scav and get in a tank and protect it) is I can see the vehicles but cannot do anything. Cannot really run or move so basically nothing works!! Help?

Unfortunate to see that my tutorial didn't get things working for you.

A couple questions, you followed my tutorial: Did you use the tutorial in addition to performing ALL of the other methods you've used? My tutorial is meant to be completely standalone. Any information you can get me will help in getting the tutorial to work better.

If you did do the tutorial with everything else, undo the other changes and only utilize the fix in my tutorial. It should work if it is standalone with no other changes.


Setting any compatibility modes in the properties of the shortcuts or bzone.exe themselves *WILL* over-ride the fix in my tutorial.

SIDE NOTE: You can check your DirectX version by searching (you can do this in your vista start menu search bar) dxdiag and running it. Your DirectX version will be on the first (and open by default) System tab, down at the bottom. You can also get more intimate specs of your computer through this means, as well as performing more specified information dumps on your machine that tell everything about it.

Thanks for the feedback.

Firstly yes it is DirectX10
Secondly if I try launch BZ without the compatability mode stuff as instructed I am still getting the exact same problem. (well the compatability mode for Windows 95, 98 / ME caused UE's but I don't have this problem running without compatability mode)

I believe the only other fix that I am now running (other than your stand alone fix) is the Indeo codec program that I downloaded. Should I uninstall that and try again.

Other than that I now just have the 1.40 download and the Vista fix from your tut. Should I now be looking at different versions of DirectX10 drivers?

I can get into an online game fine but then cannot move from the start point and in single player I cannot move either (well it sort of jumps 50 meters after about 10 seconds) and the into video for the missions does not run. It starts running and the sound is fine but the video is not playing.

Any ideas appreciated.

And just now, after your recent return to Bz, when you were about to get in form and reach your old playing field... Damn new PC's! I hope you haven't trashed old one... Many have spare PC just for Bz.

My guess is your problem is not in Vista, it's in Nvidia 260. That's the newest series of the cards in the market. As far as I know no one in Bz has it. People with promblems have series 8 or 9. Your card came after those, it's a brand new, so there are no older drivers. Just make sure you have the lastest ones (181.20 - released January 8, 2009.). If you do, there's nothing more you can do with your card but to wait for the next drivers release (every month new driver) and hope that those will work better.

Those 1,2,3... points to follow for Vista/DX10 are not a guarantee for a fix, because as I already mentioned, there's no general Vista/DX10 fix yet. For every PC is a different story. That's why I hoped Dark Oddity's suggestion of using MS Compatibility tool will work. Those points (1,2,3...) are things I collected from other posts and even other forums, which were helpful to other players with the same problems, so I put them into same place (same post) to be easier to find. One, with the problems, should do a single change then test, then if it wasn't helpful undo the change, then the same procedure with the next point. And, of curse, notify us what was helpful.

Now, Indeo codec is missing in Vista and it's needed for Bz video files to run. I have original Bz CD (Xplosiv) with 2 extra programs on it (Abobe reader for PDF guide and Indeo codec for videos). Also reaper's BzE mod is coming with that codec too. What I want to say, that codec can't hurt you, but you can try to uninstall it, to be sure.

As for compatibility mode, Bz is written in Windows NT 4.0 (between win95 and win98). Win98 are the best Windows from that era, and it is confirmed that some things in Bz won't work (few single player mission intros, like Lander scene in the 1st) without setting the compatibility mode on the application after the install (any of those 3 mentioned windows, but I suggest win98).

You tried all that and it didn't work. Besides waiting for the new graphic card driver, I suggest you to turn 3d card off in Bz options and play in software mode. Won't be the same look, but hat should work for you.

I knew there was something off about that video card! lol

As far as the codec is installed, keep it installed. Unistalling it wont do anything but prevent the videos from being played.


As far as fixing the issues with your game, try creating a Battlezone specific setting in the NVidia Control panel (the newer cards should use the same panel).

Here is a step by step guide:

1. Right click the Desktop, select "Nvidia Control Panel"
2. In the left window, select "3D Settings" then open the "Program Settings" tab on the right window
3. Click "Add" to add a program, and navigate to your bzone.exe file.
4. Once you've added the bzone.exe select it in the list and move down to the second box.
5. Change all options to "Application Controlled" or "Off" if application controlled is not available.
6. Apply Changes and test in game.
7. Let me know if it helps.

One of the things you can also try are the Nvidia Omega drivers, which you can find here. There are also ATI omega drivers available as well. I personally find that the Omega drivers are the most stable drivers available. They are from a third party but are highly trustworthy.