Airline Tycoon v1.28 (ger)

[helgo1506]

Hi there,

I started the game with your DLL and it craches right after the start.
I tried some settings combonations but it still craches at start. I tried all renders already.

[FunkyFr3sh]

It seems to have all kinds of weird issues, I'll have to spend some more time with it the next days.

Here is a quick fix to at least fix the crash, but I'm not sure if it's fully playable already:

cnc-ddraw.zip

[helgo1506]

Wow, fast response! Your right, it starts now, but it seems after it load, it wont show the menu (still loading screen and no "update" of the screen), but this happends without your DLL too, so i could be some issue from the game. Thx for now.

EDIT: I tested it on Win NT 4.0, Windows 2000, XP (Virtual Box VM) and Win7, and it didnt work. It did work on Win ME though. So it seems it only works on non NT based windows.
The Problem is all the same on NT based windows : You start the game, after intro and loading the game crashes. Perhaps that helps.

[FunkyFr3sh]

I just noticed I had the wrong version, I had the "first class" version, that's why it was working past the menu for me. I tested it now with the first release and I have the same problem there too.

Nice tests! So the problem is probably not related to the renderer, it's a different compatibility issue then

[helgo1506]

Done some testing again. In general its all the same even with the WineD3D ddraw.dll, like i said already above. The only thing i noticed, that with hook=2, the font wont get displayed (only this game so far), dont know if this is intented here. But the cursor changing and respose to click is working fine (i tried to "shadow" click the menu and see if i get ingame but did not work. I did make it to the option menu sometimes, but it lags there and when i "exit" the option menu, it dont change visual, so it seems a visual/render problem.

In the normal game it seems that some plane "fly" around on the screen, when you dont move the mouse as a joke, or so on ME/98 VM. When you move the mouse, the "last" planes "fly" out of the screen and you see the menu clear. When you start moving the mouse again, the planes are "flying" again into the screen (left to right and right to left)

I tried to capture the API calls to DDraw.dll with API Monitor, but i can only upload it next month when i got DSL inet again, perhaps that helps, Will upload it then.

[helgo1506]

So, here is the API Monitor Capture file. It was created with v2r13 Portable version of it (its still the lasted lol)

AirlineTycoon_api_monitor.zip

Can you upload me the debug version of your fixed DDraw DLL for Airline Tycoon? Perhaps that helps you too.

[FunkyFr3sh]

Cool thanks. The game was actually crashing for me on windows 10 when it reached the main menu, will test it again soon on XP just to make sure.

So for you it doesn't crash, it just doesn't draw the menu but it keeps running?

Edit: updated the debug build #44

[helgo1506]

Hmm, the game was flicking like crazy and when it should go to the menu it was in top-left corner flicking and mouse was locked in the normale size place there. I tested the passthrough option here too, but no change.

This are the settings i used :
width=0
height=0
fullscreen=true
windowed=true
maintas=true
boxing=false
maxfps=-1
vsync=false
adjmouse=true
renderer=auto
devmode=true
border=false
savesettings=0
resizable=false
vhack=true
noactivateapp=true
maxgameticks=0
hook=4
minfps=0
nonexclusive=false
fixpitch=false
singlecpu=true
fixchildwindows=false

And here are the logs (prefix with the renderer at the end, if that helps)
AT_cnc_ddraw_logs.zip

[FunkyFr3sh]

Hmm, the game was flicking like crazy and when it should go to the menu it was in top-left corner flicking and mouse was locked in the normale size place there. I tested the passthrough option here too, but no change.

Yeah, I added some additional tweaks that I don't have in the debug build yet.

I just installed it on XP and I also crash there at the same location, I can't even get to the menu.

Same result with/without 1.28 patch. Did you install something else to be able to get to the main menu? no-cd patch?

[helgo1506]

Hm, i have a old special version what is called "v1.29" from "play the game vol.2" (old game collection thing).
Like i said, it does load but in the end i dont see the main menu, but i can click exit for example.

EDIT: When i use the ddraw.dll from "WineD3D for Windows v. 6.x" i get to the same thing. You can test it with that to see to where i come.

I uploaded my AT.exe, perhaps that helps, i dont think that other files are patched by this game, but not sure.
AT.zip
Cant upload the whole game dir, cause i use my handy inet atm.

[FunkyFr3sh]

Same issue with that exe too

[helgo1506]

Hm, i see. I got the same Problem on my WinXP VM. Here are the log and the dmp file. It seems its XP related.

AT_log_cnc-ddraw.zip

[helgo1506]

I think i found something (not sure if this is it) : In "IDirectDrawSurface:Flip" on "DDInternalUnLock"(?) on WinXP you do release a Semaphore(?) and there it craches with "STATUS_SEMEPHORE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED". On Win7 it seems you dont get an error. Not sure why

[FunkyFr3sh]

I have the exact same crash on windows 10 too (I already checked with a debugger), so it's not a XP only crash. It does happen without cnc-ddraw too. No idea what it's about

[helgo1506]

EDIT: OKAY...its weird of doom. In my Win7 VM it crashes too without your dll. When i use your DLL there i got the same then on my real machine (except the intro dont runs in my real machine, which does in the VM). When im on WinXP/Win10 i got the same problem with crashing (doesn't matter if i use your DLL or not). Seems more like a bug, which cant really get pinpointed. So if you don't got anything, i think you can close the issue, if you want. I don't think it can be fixed on the DirectDraw side.

[helgo1506]

It's a sync bug with the threads from the game. Dont know 100% why, but on my real machine it seems to work, but it seems like it's a bug from the game. If i remember correctly on Win98/WinME there wasn't real Multithreading, so there it worked. On other Windows it could come out of sync and then the threading fails. So i close the issue with it, cause it's 100% a game bug.