How do you minimize, or get it windowed? [Archive]

miketh200

8 Oct 2008, 19:43

Whenever I minimize by using the option when you press ESC or by pressing Alt + Crtl + Del, when I bring it back up it won't work and I either get an error or I have to shut it down with Task Manager. It could fix the problem if I can get it windowed...

Scrub555

9 Oct 2008, 04:37

Click on the bottom of the screen or Shift+Escape.

franpa

9 Oct 2008, 05:27

Did you update to v3.6.29.0?

miketh200

9 Oct 2008, 17:57

yes i did, and i get an error when i clkick bottom of screen

CyberShadow

9 Oct 2008, 21:25

What error?

miketh200

9 Oct 2008, 21:36

The Title of error window says: Front-end video initialization error

The Error Message is:

** Error ** : from Graphics Subsystem . Can't create video surfaces

The only Button I can press is: OK

CyberShadow

9 Oct 2008, 23:53

How odd.
What Windows version and video card?
Did you try updating your video drivers?

miketh200

10 Oct 2008, 00:40

I have Windows Royale, which is based off of XP, lemme try updating...

miketh200

10 Oct 2008, 01:03

I tried upgrading my ATI X3100 and it still happens...

CyberShadow

10 Oct 2008, 01:30

Windows Royale is just a skin, available for download from the Microsoft website. If you installed a Windows XP distribution with that skin preinstalled, it's almost certainly a pirate copy. My guess is that some software that you're running is interfering with minimizing.

miketh200

10 Oct 2008, 04:54

It is not a theme, this is the CD I got: http://i33.tinypic.com/iw0ksi.jpg

It has everything Microsoft, and no viruses, I scanned it.

Microsoft Windows Royale Professional 2007

I've made screenies:

http://i29.tinypic.com/15xlbbq.png

http://i1.tinypic.com/814wzgh.jpg

http://i16.tinypic.com/8a9z580.jpg

http://i3.tinypic.com/6olil1j.jpg

It's basically a tweaked (and faster) version of XP...

So...what program could it be?

MrBunsy

10 Oct 2008, 07:54

Try searching "Microsoft Windows Royale Professional 2007" in Google :p

Where on earth did you get it?

franpa

10 Oct 2008, 08:36

It is a Windows Media Center hack for XP, makes XP look like Windows Media Center. It may be legit, the Zune (black MCE) theme was legit from MS. (The Zune theme is mentioned in the "Update" link)

http://skattertech.com/2006/02/royale-theme-for-xp/

thomasp

10 Oct 2008, 08:37

According to Wikipedia, XP Royale is also known as XP Media Centre, but you can download it as a skin for normal XP as well.

Edit

*Bans franpa for beating me*

franpa

10 Oct 2008, 08:39

Lol :D

bonz

10 Oct 2008, 09:20

http://i33.tinypic.com/iw0ksi.jpg
That CD looks very illicit to me.
Or have Microsoft suddenly stopped using those hologram security logos? :-/

franpa

10 Oct 2008, 09:43

** Error ** : from Graphics Subsystem . Can't create video surfaces
Can't W:A ignore the error? I get the "Surface lost" error in eDuke when ever I minimize that game too, the only reason I noticed it though is because 1) it prints it into the console and 2) it was trying to apply gamma settings while the game was minimized (that caused a error popup but was solved pretty quick from the eduke author).

Plasma

10 Oct 2008, 11:36

I'm with Bonz, that certainly doesn't look legitimate.

Why would a CD say "Certified for Windows Royale" anyway? That's the sorta thing you'd find stuck on a laptop, not an installation disc.

yakuza

10 Oct 2008, 11:52

HaloDude89: ****ING CRAP DOOD VISTA IS SLOW AS **** I CAN'T LOAD UP MY FPS ON MY 1GB RAM COMPUTER
ShadowGrrrrl: yes but my pink vaio looks amazing with Vista, look this cute aero sfx

And so some clever guy had a great idea, compiled a bunch of crap into a CD and sold it in the black market to these kind of people. Local computer guys here have a lot of **** like this, I have friends who tell me their PC guy told them Daemon Tools (which I installed on their computers) was a virus, and then proceeded to install them OSX skins on Windows Xp and all this **** that takes up all RAM. Retards they are.

CyberShadow

10 Oct 2008, 12:29

Can't W:A ignore the error? I get the "Surface lost" error in eDuke when ever I minimize that game too, the only reason I noticed it though is because 1) it prints it into the console and 2) it was trying to apply gamma settings while the game was minimized (that caused a error popup but was solved pretty quick from the eduke author).
Lost surfaces are normal while minimizing. Originally W:A ignored all graphics errors, and just crashed when anything went wrong - errors like the one miketh200 is getting means W:A just got in that would-crash situation.

Anyway, I'm inclined to blame the (likely pirate) OS hack.

miketh200

10 Oct 2008, 23:31

Well, all I can say is that, this OS works fine and I've never ever had any problems with it. I just checked with my friend who is running XP, and he gets the same error.

CyberShadow

10 Oct 2008, 23:35

Well, all I can say is that, this OS works fine and I've never ever had any problems with it. I just checked with my friend who is running XP, and he gets the same error.
In that case, it must be something common to your and your friend's computer.

yakuza

11 Oct 2008, 13:57

In that case, it must be something common to your and your friend's computer.

The WA CD? :p

miketh200

11 Oct 2008, 22:37

In that case, it must be something common to your and your friend's computer.

That's not very helpfull...if you checked the wa coding, figured out what causes the error and came to a conclusion, it would help if you could explain your reasoning.

Example:

"The error is caused by the graphics engine getting corrupted, when the game minimizes it loses surfaces, when you maximize it, it does not re-create the surfaces, and the error appears, some software could be running the clashes with the grahpics engine, and that's why the error is appearing."

As franpa said, eDuke had the same problem and the developer fixed it, since your in charge of WA now, you should be able to fix it just as eDuke was fixed, for a problem to be fixed, you need to know what's causing it, which you know, and how to fix it, which should be easy in most cases if you know what's causing it, tell me why you can only give me "It's one of your applications."

CyberShadow

11 Oct 2008, 23:02

Because you and your friend are the only people that, to my knowledge, are experiencing this problem. And this has nothing to do with this "eDuke" you speak of - it's neither the same problem, nor (according to franpa's post) has it been "fixed", whatever you meant by saying that.

franpa

12 Oct 2008, 02:55

As franpa said, eDuke had the same problem and the developer fixed it,
1) each time it happens in eDuke, no "crash" situation occurs. It is simply printed in the console for debugging, no harm is caused by this issue though.
2) the error dialog i spoke of only appeared because "gamma" was being applied after the surface was lost and before the surface was restored.

miketh200

12 Oct 2008, 21:32

CyberShadow

12 Oct 2008, 22:00

Because, as far as I can tell, it's not broken. The problem is likely not with W:A, but with the common element that you and your friend's computer have that is interfering with W:A's proper functioning.

miketh200

13 Oct 2008, 00:07

I see, i minimized it and left it on for awhile and I got a new error:
http://i35.tinypic.com/308wk9l.png
Should I give you the error log?

franpa

13 Oct 2008, 00:58

duh, of course you should :P and is your friend using that Pirated Royale thing too?

CyberShadow

13 Oct 2008, 01:43

Should I give you the error log?
Yes. However, note this first: http://worms2d.info/Troubleshooting_FAQ#WA_crashes_when_I_minimise_and _then_try_to_maximise
That only applies to crashes like the kind posted above, and only for certain situations (a dialog box showing up in-game while the game is minimised).

miketh200

13 Oct 2008, 02:33

it's not pirated I bought it! and i told you he's using XP :)

CyberShadow

13 Oct 2008, 03:09

Pirates that try to sell illegal copies to unsuspecting users are the worst kind...

miketh200

13 Oct 2008, 04:30

so should i post the error log or not? my stupid bro bought it, but i dont care, it works...

CyberShadow

13 Oct 2008, 04:34

I will look at it.

miketh200

13 Oct 2008, 23:49

here you go!

CyberShadow

14 Oct 2008, 00:24

Could you please also compress and upload the file CRASH.DMP from your W:A folder?

miketh200

14 Oct 2008, 05:41

rename it to .dmp ;)

Yes. However, note this first: http://worms2d.info/Troubleshooting_FAQ#WA_crashes_when_I_minimise_and _then_try_to_maximise
That only applies to crashes like the kind posted above, and only for certain situations (a dialog box showing up in-game while the game is minimised).

so when if ever will it be optimised?

CyberShadow

14 Oct 2008, 17:24

Well, I think I fixed that crash (and possibly other crashes of that type). Time will tell. Thanks for the errorlog/minidump.

miketh200

14 Oct 2008, 18:32

No, problem, I can wait ;) so your still releasing updates?

CyberShadow

14 Oct 2008, 19:15

Of course we are.

miketh200

14 Oct 2008, 20:42

I thought Worms Armageddon is kinda out-dated, instead of fixing this old classic, why don't you make a whole new 2D worms for the PC, which hasn't been done in 8 years now! It's like Ford refining the Model-T all the time and not making any new models.

Also, why is W:A being updated more, when WWP is newer?

franpa

15 Oct 2008, 02:41

theres a thread discussing why WWP is not being updated. A complete new version of W:A is planned and being worked on (v4.0), but until the 3.x.x series is stable and fairly feature complete, focus won't be on 4.0.

version 4.0 will be a complete rewrite of v3.x.x that will be coded from the ground up using the current developers current knowledge and will allow for even more features, less obscure bugs and the ability to run the game in a window etc.!

miketh200

15 Oct 2008, 04:36

wow that sounds really nice, but i still think they should make a new one instead of updating an old one...

CyberShadow

15 Oct 2008, 04:57

That's Team17's job. We like W:A just fine.

miketh200

15 Oct 2008, 18:53

Hey, after days of troubleshooting, I dled your WormKit which enables to use of using the Windows Key and I press that and it works just fine :). But it's REALLY werid and odd, and maybe this will help you fix it, if I press Alt + Tabs, or Ctrl Alt Delete, I will get the error, but if I press the Window key, it works just fine. Werid, huh?

EDIT: Actually it was an accident, lol, I accidently pressed the Windows key one time, and it minimized it so im like, o crap, now im gonna have to restart, and to my suprise it worked, so im like "what button did I press?" lol and i found out it was the Windows key that works...

EDIT2: I can use Alt + Tabs to maximize it but i have to use the Windows key to minimize.

CyberShadow

17 Oct 2008, 09:18

That does sound like a 3rd-party program is interfering with something.

Lisboa

31 Oct 2008, 09:24

Same things happened to me on both W:A and WWP, my way around it is to just ctr-alt-del my way out and restart the game. When i try to maximise it, it just turns out all white and stuff, can hear sound but do or see nothing. And that's on both versions. But i'm not worrying because i'm aware i'm using vista and the games are built more for XP and stuff : P

Also another thing is that sometimes the game loads up with what looks like inverted colours. sometimes thing happens from the begining onwards (team 17 logo onwards) or when a worms arena loads up, the cake or the w:A logo turns into a black square and the black on the screen turns pink lol.

Although my way around this one is ether taking the disc out and putting it back in and starting again, else if that fails, log out of my account and log back in, and it works fine. Again I think it's a vista thing, similar to the windows royal. I updated my graphics driver and it now tells me after exiting worms that resolution was changed, but i'm aware it's the graphic's processor trying to cope with all the changes in screen colouring and res, hence not being able to maximise.

so that's my life story... lol

StepBack!

8 Jun 2009, 09:35

I have the exact same problems as Lisboa.

Vista x64, system information in an attached file. I am running 3.6.29.0 in compatibility mode for Windows 98/Me

Ever since updated to 3.6.29.0 I can no longer minimise the WA screen. Either I immediately get the "Error: Cannot ceate Video Surfaces" error, or I get it when I try to maximise. A screenshot of the exact error is attached.

I do not get an ERROR LOG text file.

Please help, as I would like to stick with 3.6.29.0 so I can use WormKit and wkRubberWorm, but if this minimisation problem isn't fixed I will have to downgrade to 3.6.28.0, as I didn't have this problem back then.