Battlezone 1

Let's see who can run BZ in a HW mode and who can't. And with how many problems, if any. This should help those with fixable BZ issues and those who are buying a new PC or setting up an old one.

System Specs important for BZ:


render.cfg:


GRAPHIC OPTIONS:


NSDF - Mission 10:

Dell Vostro 1500, Intel Core 2 duo, T5270 @ 1.40 GHz, 1534 RAM, DX 10.0



[NormalView]
VisibilityScale=200
HiRes=1

[Debug]
TrackFPS=1

[D3D]
TripleBuffer=1
ZBuffer=0
MipMaps=1
LargeAssets=1
PreLoad=1
loadsprites=1
halftexel=1
alpha=1
SplitZBuffer=1

HP Pavilion Notebook:

(The one I use at home on dial up)

Toshiba Laptop:

(The one I use at home for making single player videos, and at library on high speed)

render.cfg


Graphic Options:


NSDF Mission 10:


I usually play in 640x480, especially when making videos, but I sometimes switch it up and play 800x600.

I've had to go back to software, windowed after that, it's impossible to play a proper strat or single player with the Radar like that, you lose direction, and not being to tell units apart, or Nav numbers on the map makes it extremely difficult to play.

Baldrick & Spork,

Processor is not important for BZ (at least no one ever reported it is). You two forgot to post most important thing; your graphic card model and driver version, even if it is integrated.

Baldrick, you also needed ACT to get HW mode to work. Explain what you did.

Nvidia GeForce 8400M GS with the latest patch (7th may),
As regards ACT I did it exactly as it says on the page, including the extra tickbox or two suggested further down.
Then ran Hardware, out of window, in 800 x 600 (1024 x 768 was too big, the radar was too small to use)

OK, I had to look up where to find information on whatever graphics card my computer has, so I followed the instructions and I wasn't sure how much info I needed, so I have edited my post with a screen shot of the information for the HP Pavilion Notebook and Toshiba Laptop.

System Specs:


NSDF Mission 10 (loaded from Config Utility):


Render & Graphic Options are the same as in my first post.

Disclaimer:
There's an issue with MP... I can't get into BZ menu in full screen with 3D ON, I get UE. However, with 3D OFF or in Window Mode I can. There's something in BZ menu shell, preventing it to load...

I have dual boot (Win XP on other hard) and MP works flawlesly there. I also heard from navbeacon that his NVIDIA on Win 7 works. So the issue is in ATI drivers for Win 7. I hope that next month's edition will fix this...

Hi, first of this is my first post in this site, it's great, never thought there could be so many people playing this game, now I don't feel alone

Anyways, I wanted to participate in this place, besides that I have a few problems yet, but its only some minor graphic issues I managed to play the game perfectly thanks to DarkOddity's tutorial.

Here's my problem, as you can see in the image below the font looks strange and there are missing details in the hud, also when I fire there are white squares that follow the bullet (maybe something wrong with light effects?)

I set different options in the configuration utility tool and different resolutions as well, every option with the same result. What could be the problem for this? All of this is using my original BZ disc with 1.4 patch. My top priority is the text, with that fixed I can at least play it well, I'll keep troubleshooting, if anything comes up then I'll let you guys know. Thanks in advance.

I know that there's no need for all the specs but here are my rig specs just in case:
Win Vista Ult 64-bit
nVidia 9800 GTX+ (186.18 driver) (DX10)
6GB Corsair Dominator
Intel Q6700 3.33 GHz

Halftexel ON (halftexel=1, without semicolon) should fix grabled text.

Thanks!! I thought the troubleshooting box didn't had an affect with the visuals :S, thanks again!
Now the only thing left is the white squares but that isn't a big deal, now I can play!
I really appreciate your help, this is a great site!

WinXP pro sp2
EVGA 9600 512 ram
4gb patriot extreme performance sys ram
1280x1024 at average 75 fps

connection to slow to upload pics, but still totally FLAWLESS

Nice to see that there are still people playing this thing... I was crazy about it back in `98, but it has been some years since I actually played the game...

Anyway, I followed Dark Oddity`s tutorial and fixed settings in render cfg same way as baldrick did in 3rd or 4th post... I have Vista Bussines 64-bit SP1, (machine specs; GeForce 8600 GT running on 178.13 drivers, 2 GB DDR RAM, AMD Athlon 64 3000+) and I keep getting those Unhandled Exceptions no matter what I try...

There are some things that still confuse me... first, I patched BZ with activision`s 1.4 patch... is that the same one you people are using?
Second... how in the bloody hell am I supposed to run this in "windowed mode"? And last, should I or not tamper with compatibility settings in
properties of the executables shortcut (well since I fixed the game with compatibility toolkit, it`s probably redundant, if not conflicting).

Any clarification is welcome, since I`m really irritated by those unhandled exceptions already... oh yeah, I turned off UAC if someone asks...

Hi,

To run in windowed mode there are 3 ways. easiest for BZ is to use the config utility and hit the tickbox run in window mode, under test these settings. if you also click skip intro and untick the level select then you can start BZ from here everytime in window mode.
This is not always ideal if you just want to use the original shortcut for Battlezone 1998, So. Right click on the shortcut, in the compatibility mode section is another window mode tickbox, OR you can put " /win" on the end of the file path name. THIS IS VITAL IF YOU WANT TO PLAY INSTANT ACTION!! if you don't do this on the filenames of the instant action levels in the folder then you can't run them in window mode.

The white squares are a fault caused by your Nvidia card, this is as of yet unable to be fixed. keep trying their new patches/thingies (the word escapes me) (Edit: DRIVERS!!!)
For me I run strat and single player in Software mode by turning 3D card off in options. This is because the NVidia radar bug makes strat games very confusing to play (nav beacons all look the same so you can't select the right one instantly for example.) and then running in window mode with 640x480 res, (also in the compatibility section of the shortcut options) this runs the game fine, with low graphics, full radar but also FPS bug.
If I run in Hardware (3D on) I have to turn it off in a window mode, restart the game for changes to take effect, then change the screen res again after turning off window mode. Confusing I know, hope this helps even a little.

Thanks for the thorough answer ... those instructions will help. As soon as I download Battlezone 1998 though. I actually installed the game using my 11 years old game cd,
and then I saw that everyone switched to that handy all-in-one package. That`s what I`ll do before tinkering with the game itself...