Missing Text on 3.6.28.0

[gerritcar]

Hi all,

I recently downloaded both the WA v3.0 patch and the 3.6.28.0 update. I've got Windows 98 installed. Oh, and I have an original 'legal' WA CD.

After running both the aforementioned patches, I noticed a problem regarding missing text in the game. It seems to only happen in the menus, as the worms' names appear during gameplay.

For instance, when setting the time a worm has to finish its turn, the box which normally shows '30', '60', '90' etc is blank after each click, except for the infinity sign.

Also, when creating a team, the name of a worm disappears as long as you are focused on a text box. The moment that box loses focus (ie. click on a different box), the name reappears.

Does anyone know what it could be? Someone told me it's got to do with the language of your system (set up through Regional Settings), but it is set to English (United Kingdom).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Gerrit

[CyberShadow]

Hmm.
Did you try reinstalling the game and the update?
What video card do you have? Tried updating the drivers?

[Muzer]

BTW, with the latest update, as long as you have an internet connection whilst installing, there is no need to separately install the patch. Just install the update, it will automatically download and install the patch if required.

[bonz]

Could this be related to the same issue that made the pull-down boxes in the lobby have their Windows context menu appear?
IIRC, DC said that was caused when he introduced the scrollable pull-down menus.

Also, this somehow reminds me of that issue where some of the images didn't "load" (e.g. the light bulb) and only a small, black "place holder" was clickable.

[gerritcar]

Thanks for your replies guys.

OK, here's the deal. I uninstalled WA and reinstalled it. So now it is version 1.0. I ran the game, and found that the only missing text was on the Create New Team screen. All other screens had visible text.

Next, I installed the v3.0 patch. Same story as with v1.0. Next, I installed the 3.6.28.0 update. Now all of the text is missing again.

Oh yes, the only difference with 3.6.28.0 is that on the Create New Team screen you can now select/highlight text in a box, and as soon as I do that, the name appears. So highlighted text (ie. with a white background) is visible, but when the background is blue (as it normally is), the text is missing. Mmm...

Just btw, I've got an nVidia GeForce 2 MX (yes, I know, it's a bit old...) but I've got the latest Win9x ForceWare drivers installed (81.98). Oh, and I'm running DirectX 7.0.

What could it be???

[robowurmz]

It is quite a dated card, but that shouldn't pose any problems. Missing text sounds like a DirectX error. I can't remember, can you install Dx 8 on a windows 9x machine?

[Plainplane]

You can use Windows Update to install DirectX 9 on a Windows 98 machine.

Plainplane :)

[CyberShadow]

Could you make a few screenshots?
In 3.6.28.0 you can make screenshots by pressing the Pause/Break key. They will be saved to the User\Capture subfolder.

[franpa]

You can use Windows Update to install DirectX 9 on a Windows 98 machine.

Plainplane :)

there is no such thing now for windows 9x and hasn't been one for quite some time now. i tried in a VM to use the online installer for direct X under windows 98 and it got stuck downloading like the last 3 cab files saying they arnt there anymore.

old video cards should use the drivers provided with them, especially if your running windows 9x.

[Plainplane]

there is no such thing now for windows 9x and hasn't been one for quite some time now. i tried in a VM to use the online installer for direct X under windows 98 and it got stuck downloading like the last 3 cab files saying they arnt there anymore.Microsoft must have gotten rid of them because they want people to get Vista. I put DirectX 9 on my Windows 98 machine about a year ago by using Windows Update.

Plainplane :)

[franpa]

yep, windows fully dropped support for all windows 9x which also includes the removal of windows update for them.

[bonz]

Download DirectX 9.0c (Aug 2006) here (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a1788990-5e11-4ae2-b5e7-cc576822aed4&DisplayLang=en).
It's the redistributable version and it supports Windows 98 too.

As for the Forceware drivers, it seems that according to the search tool on the Nvidia page 81.89 are indeed that last drivers for Geforce 2 cards and Windows 98.

Although, I do remember that I was using much newer drivers back in the day when I still had my GF2.
IIRC, up to a certain version all Forceware drivers are backwards compatible.
It might be everything older than 8xxx series drivers, but I'm not sure anymore.

[franpa]

there are newer versions of direct x for windows 98, but microsoft no longer host them.