Posted May 06, 2016
I had the devil's own time trying to get CMBO to run at all, or not jankily, on my Surface Pro 3, Win 8.1. After many hours I figured out a workaround. It isn't perfect, because there's just no way to get around the Surface's inherent problem dealing with resolutions less than its native maximum -- even reducing the screen's own inherent resolution will result more often than not (or always?) in a screen less large than the physical maximum! Upscaling is just a problem.
(Also, for power consumption efficiency perhaps, the Surface tends to refresh at 48 hz instead of 59 or 60. I don't know for sure whether this contributed to the problem, but I figured out how to adjust the frequency back up to 60, just to be safe: right click on the general desktop; left-click "screen resolution"; left-click "advanced settings" (above the "apply" button on the lower right); left-click the "Monitor" tab on the new window; there should be a "screen refresh rate" drop-menu now, at about center window, where you can left-click and choose the hertz refresh rate.)
So the steps:
0.) Find the install folder for CMBO. Depending on how you installed it, it may be in its own separate folder, or under */GalaxyClient/Games. The folder should be named "Combat Mission Beyond Overlord". Open this. You should see things like the Combat Mission exe (which may have a small tank icon, but which may not have .exe after it depending on how you have your folders set up to show).
1.) Look for "Combat Mission Bynd Ovr Prefs". Sort your folder alphabetically if necessary. Depending on how far you've gotten in trying to play the game, it may or may not be there. Delete it if you find it -- if it isn't there, great. This will force the game to test for new graphic resolutions. As far as I know, deleting this file is the only way to change resolutions once you set them! Also, unlike most pref files, this is in some kind of code and can't be easily altered (by loading it into a text editor for example).
The next steps will open the properties tab and set the program to run as admin in Windows 98/ME mode. If you already know how to do this, or if you've already done it, you can do it and then skip ahead to step 7. NOTE! -- not Window XPSP3 or SP2 or whatever! That might technically work, too, but it'll take a lot longer to get to a workable state.
2.) Find the "Combat Mission" exe file, and right click it, then left-click "Properties" near or at the bottom of the drop list. This should open up a new small window with tabs at the top. If you don't see "Compatibility" among those tabs, you may have right-clicked the wrong thing. Close the window and try again.
3.) Left-click "Compatibility" tab at the top of this window.
4.) If you've got a fresh install, you probably aren't running this program as an administrator yet. Left-click the checkbox for doing so, near the bottom of this window. (Or ignore if already checked.)
5.) The checkbox for "Compatibility mode" may or may not already be checked. If not, check it. When checked, click the drop-down menu and choose Window 98 / Windows Me. NOTE! -- some people on other systems find that XPSP2 or SP3 solves all problems, but it never did for me on the Surface Pro 3 running Win 8.1.
6.) Left-click "Apply". I don't recommend clicking "OK", since this will both apply and close the window. If things don't go quite right when choosing graphics next, you may have to change compatibility briefly to something else and then back again to this.
7.) Launch the game. I did all my tests using a double-click on the Combat Mission exe, but other methods may work just as well.
8.) If everything is going to plan, you should see a black screen with a small white box asking you to accept or skip the current resolution option (which if I recall correctly should be 1024 on its second number). If you leave things along it'll go to the next option by itself after 10 or 15 seconds, but it's okay to click skip. DO NOT ACCEPT THIS OPTION!
9.) The game will offer you this (and each) resolution twice, once for the Primary Driver and once for the Intel chipset (which is the same thing). Skip each offer.
NOTE: CMBO can get unstable and crash while skipping to the first functional resolution. If that happens, just launch the game and start the process over again. There's no way to completely avoid this risk, so far as I know.
10.) The game will offer a new resolution in the low 900s. Skip this for both the primary driver and the intel chip set (the game will offer the resolution twice).
In other words, you will be skipping the first four resolution offer screens, for the first two resolutions.
11.) The game will offer a third resolution of an unusual sort, in the mid 800s if I recall correctly. THIS IS THE FIRST RESOLUTION THAT WILL WORK ON THE SURFACE! Accept this. (If you accidentally click skip or you wait too long, it'll offer this resolution again for the Intel chip set, which I suppose will also work.)
NOTE: this tedious process is why I said don't choose XPSP2 or SP3 compatibility. If you choose this, the game will offer many more unworkable resolutions until it gets down to this one, each offered SIX TIMES instead of twice! -- twice (as primary driver and as the intel chip set) for each of three possible refresh rates. The odds of the graphic choice screen simply crashing out to the desktop before reaching the first usable resolution are very high.
The game will now go to the intro screen, which will be pretty small compared to the Surface's total screensize. It isn't possible to make this much better, but the game will be (eventually) playable.
12.) The next step is one you may have to take every time you first load up or create a mission. If the game freezes and then crashes to desktop when you tap the "esc" key on your keyboard, then you've probably done something wrong somewhere in the process. Start over again from step 1 (since it may have created a pref file now). If you can see figures in the game turning their heads, and you can move the camera around, you're almost good to go. But camera movement may be very janky. You should tap the "esc" key once, which is how this old game inherently alt-tabs out to the desktop; then left-click on the game's running icon down in the taskbar to go back into it. (There may be other ways to get back in, but this is how I tested it.)
For some reason, escaping the game while running and getting back into it, solved my camera-janky problems: the camera should now flow around smoothly, and the movies should run smoothly.
The last remaining problem is what I can't figure out how to fix yet: the gameplay window will be pretty small compared to the Surface screen, with lots of black around it. It could be worse (if you chose a smaller resolution past the 850ish one!), but it's still a little squinty. The game should work smoothly now at least!
(Also, for power consumption efficiency perhaps, the Surface tends to refresh at 48 hz instead of 59 or 60. I don't know for sure whether this contributed to the problem, but I figured out how to adjust the frequency back up to 60, just to be safe: right click on the general desktop; left-click "screen resolution"; left-click "advanced settings" (above the "apply" button on the lower right); left-click the "Monitor" tab on the new window; there should be a "screen refresh rate" drop-menu now, at about center window, where you can left-click and choose the hertz refresh rate.)
So the steps:
0.) Find the install folder for CMBO. Depending on how you installed it, it may be in its own separate folder, or under */GalaxyClient/Games. The folder should be named "Combat Mission Beyond Overlord". Open this. You should see things like the Combat Mission exe (which may have a small tank icon, but which may not have .exe after it depending on how you have your folders set up to show).
1.) Look for "Combat Mission Bynd Ovr Prefs". Sort your folder alphabetically if necessary. Depending on how far you've gotten in trying to play the game, it may or may not be there. Delete it if you find it -- if it isn't there, great. This will force the game to test for new graphic resolutions. As far as I know, deleting this file is the only way to change resolutions once you set them! Also, unlike most pref files, this is in some kind of code and can't be easily altered (by loading it into a text editor for example).
The next steps will open the properties tab and set the program to run as admin in Windows 98/ME mode. If you already know how to do this, or if you've already done it, you can do it and then skip ahead to step 7. NOTE! -- not Window XPSP3 or SP2 or whatever! That might technically work, too, but it'll take a lot longer to get to a workable state.
2.) Find the "Combat Mission" exe file, and right click it, then left-click "Properties" near or at the bottom of the drop list. This should open up a new small window with tabs at the top. If you don't see "Compatibility" among those tabs, you may have right-clicked the wrong thing. Close the window and try again.
3.) Left-click "Compatibility" tab at the top of this window.
4.) If you've got a fresh install, you probably aren't running this program as an administrator yet. Left-click the checkbox for doing so, near the bottom of this window. (Or ignore if already checked.)
5.) The checkbox for "Compatibility mode" may or may not already be checked. If not, check it. When checked, click the drop-down menu and choose Window 98 / Windows Me. NOTE! -- some people on other systems find that XPSP2 or SP3 solves all problems, but it never did for me on the Surface Pro 3 running Win 8.1.
6.) Left-click "Apply". I don't recommend clicking "OK", since this will both apply and close the window. If things don't go quite right when choosing graphics next, you may have to change compatibility briefly to something else and then back again to this.
7.) Launch the game. I did all my tests using a double-click on the Combat Mission exe, but other methods may work just as well.
8.) If everything is going to plan, you should see a black screen with a small white box asking you to accept or skip the current resolution option (which if I recall correctly should be 1024 on its second number). If you leave things along it'll go to the next option by itself after 10 or 15 seconds, but it's okay to click skip. DO NOT ACCEPT THIS OPTION!
9.) The game will offer you this (and each) resolution twice, once for the Primary Driver and once for the Intel chipset (which is the same thing). Skip each offer.
NOTE: CMBO can get unstable and crash while skipping to the first functional resolution. If that happens, just launch the game and start the process over again. There's no way to completely avoid this risk, so far as I know.
10.) The game will offer a new resolution in the low 900s. Skip this for both the primary driver and the intel chip set (the game will offer the resolution twice).
In other words, you will be skipping the first four resolution offer screens, for the first two resolutions.
11.) The game will offer a third resolution of an unusual sort, in the mid 800s if I recall correctly. THIS IS THE FIRST RESOLUTION THAT WILL WORK ON THE SURFACE! Accept this. (If you accidentally click skip or you wait too long, it'll offer this resolution again for the Intel chip set, which I suppose will also work.)
NOTE: this tedious process is why I said don't choose XPSP2 or SP3 compatibility. If you choose this, the game will offer many more unworkable resolutions until it gets down to this one, each offered SIX TIMES instead of twice! -- twice (as primary driver and as the intel chip set) for each of three possible refresh rates. The odds of the graphic choice screen simply crashing out to the desktop before reaching the first usable resolution are very high.
The game will now go to the intro screen, which will be pretty small compared to the Surface's total screensize. It isn't possible to make this much better, but the game will be (eventually) playable.
12.) The next step is one you may have to take every time you first load up or create a mission. If the game freezes and then crashes to desktop when you tap the "esc" key on your keyboard, then you've probably done something wrong somewhere in the process. Start over again from step 1 (since it may have created a pref file now). If you can see figures in the game turning their heads, and you can move the camera around, you're almost good to go. But camera movement may be very janky. You should tap the "esc" key once, which is how this old game inherently alt-tabs out to the desktop; then left-click on the game's running icon down in the taskbar to go back into it. (There may be other ways to get back in, but this is how I tested it.)
For some reason, escaping the game while running and getting back into it, solved my camera-janky problems: the camera should now flow around smoothly, and the movies should run smoothly.
The last remaining problem is what I can't figure out how to fix yet: the gameplay window will be pretty small compared to the Surface screen, with lots of black around it. It could be worse (if you chose a smaller resolution past the 850ish one!), but it's still a little squinty. The game should work smoothly now at least!