Dune 2000 Gruntmods Edition 1.6.1.9 Versus Win 8.1 x64 Pro

[Tumbler]

Greetings Experts;

 

I have been trying (and failing) to run Dune 2000 Gruntmods Edition 1.6.1.9 on my new gaming machine (Win 8.1 x64 Pro).  I've downloaded both the full and lite versions from the Gruntmods site.  Installed each separately and tried to run them.  Regardless of the compatibility modes I've tried the result is always the same; one black window hanging and a second window behind it with the error message.  This is before the Dune 2000 splash screen (which I have yet to see). I've tried compatibility modes for Win8, Win7, XP and Win 98.  What is especially aggravating is that Edition 1.6.1.9 plays just fine on my old Win7 x32 system. 

 

The error message window is titled: Blt

The exact error message, with spaces included, reads: Windows can not create any more DCs. [ gGameTicks = 0 ]  

 

I am using a single monitor (screen). My video card is an MSI GeForce GTX 970 TwinFrozr (4GB) on an MSI Game5 mobo running an i5-4460 Haswell (3.2 GHz) chip with 16GB DDR3-1866 RAM.

[FunkyFr3sh]

This is not a problem with the game, you will have to search for the root of the evil.

Google for the error message "Windows can not create any more DCs" or "Windows cannot create any more device contexts"

 

DDERR_CANTCREATEDC

Windows cannot create any more device contexts (DCs), or a DC has requested a palette-indexed surface when the surface had no palette and the display mode was not palette-indexed (in this case, DirectDraw cannot select a proper palette into the DC).

 

[Tumbler]

Thank you FunkyFr3sh;

 

I am grateful for your assistance.  Now I have something to look for.

 

Cheers,

Tumbler

 

For anyone's future reference this is what the error message looks like:

 

 

[Gruntlord6]

Thanks for the help Funky. If you find a solution Tumbler, please let us know.

[Tumbler]

Greetings happy campers;

 

I now have Gruntmods 1.6.1.9 Lite running on my Win 8.1 system without any issues.  Using a popular search engine I queried Directdraw and Device Contexts and reviewed many of the hits that were generated therein.  One in particular was a post by a programmer requesting the assistance of other programmers, who all displayed their code and discussed alternatives to alleviate his error message.  That suggested to me that the source of my issue did not lie in my operating system but in how the o/s called up surfaces as directed by the software.  So with some small measure of faith in Microsoft restored, I looked at what I had been doing with my installations.  I unninstalled all my Gruntmods files, deleted the folder, restarted my system and installed the Gruntmods Lite checking none of the install boxes except the top one for Gruntmods Lite, no cutscenes or mapping tools.  Once the bare bones 1.6.1.9 was installed, I ran the msvbvm50.exe file and opened the Old Spice launcher. From that launcher I clicked the Launch Campaign button and voila; I saw the Dune 2000 splash screen for the first time, minus the sound effect.  Now it plays, without sound effects or cut scenes, but with the voice in the background telling you you're building, that you're under fire etc.  I haven't tried the multi-player yet, I suppose that's next after I get Dungeon Seige running.  Many many thanks to Funkyfr3sh for your assistance and to the Gruntlord for making it all possible in the first place.  Cheers to you both.

[SuperemeDalek]

The problem I have solved at least on a  computer system with windows 8.1 and running an Nvidia 970 graphics card, Open with launcher go to the settings, Click  Video options, Check Mark Video Back Buffer The Most Important one is Force Direct-draw Emulation, This forces the game to emulate the graphics for direct X 5, Remember windows Vista and above have Direct X 10/11/12 Support but has problems going below there versions with out the run times added. Yes I do know that 10/11/12 Has all the files needed to run all the other versions of its predecessors but it is a Graphics Driver/OS Issue that has been around for ages, It is a huge problem when version 9 or lower is needed, So this should solve the problem. Hope this works for you.

 

 

 

Best of Luck to all.

 

Now I wonder if someone can help me with my problem I can get the game to load but I have to disable video's in the INI so that the videos don't load at all (which MHO is the best part of this game and helps you understand and get into the game). Because when they are on the game freezes and will not let me do anything it is blank screen and you are (I am ) forced to restart windows or log off to kill Dune 2000. I have tried a lot and the Support email for them they directed me here since they don't know the issue so hopeful you can help me.  

[FunkyFr3sh]

Sadly i don't have a solution for that :( The game itself should work perfectly fine on windows 8 / 8.1 with the default settings, a lot of people seem to have problems recently with nvidia cards, maybe your problems are related to the graphic card/drivers too

 

Some people reported success while changing their display settings to use the on-board graphics card instead of the nvidia one

 

Check this video to see how it's done (skip the first 2min 20sec)

Might be the best to try it with the default settings (Backbuffer=on and force direct draw emulation=off), but you can experiment around ;)

[SuperemeDalek]

Sorry Just don't think that would apply to me lol here is my specs, I build Gaming Systems for a living own a computer company it is a fun thing to do but just some of theses problems are new not like oh I remember lol. Mircosoft needs to quit changing things every other release of there OS. This is a my main rig, thinking about building one just to play C&C and dune 2000 lol, hope specs can help others help me if they can :)

Summary

 

Operating System

Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center 64-bit

 

 

CPU

AMD FX-8150: 

13 °C

Zambezi 32nm Technology

 

 

RAM

24.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 666MHz (9-9-9-24)

 

 

Motherboard

MSI 890FXA-GD70 (MS-7640) (CPU1): 

35 °C

 

Graphics

S27C230 (1920x1080@60Hz)

 

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (NVIDIA): 

29 °C

 

Storage

931GB Western Digital WDC WD10JPVT-75A1YT0 (SATA): 

23 °C

931GB Seagate ST1000LM024 HN-M101MBB (SATA): 

26 °C

167GB INTEL SSDSC2BW180A4 (SSD): 

25 °C

149GB INTEL SSDSA2CW160G3 (SSD)

 

 

Optical Drives

No optical disk drives detected

 

 

Audio

Sound Blaster Audigy Fx

 

 

Operating System

 

Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center 64-bit

 

Computer type: Desktop

 

Installation Date: 2/22/2015 1:29:00 AM

 

[FunkyFr3sh]

Thanks for providing the informations about your system, we'll have to wait until more people with the same problem post up their hardware to be able to see what it could be.

 

Microsoft is shipping each windows release with a compatibility database that contains all the needed settings to get a lot of old games running, dune 2000 is in that database too. The guy who is providing the Gruntmods dune 2000 download (Gruntlord6) is using windows 8.1 too and he was testing everything on 8.1, I also know a lot players on CnCNet using 8.1 without problems, so I wouldnt blame microsoft for it :D

[SuperemeDalek]

Well that does sound like a fair statement, don't get me wrong I have heard of windows 8.1 users solving it, it could ever well be a software issue I do have a lot of different software on here, so lets hope (not being rude) others have the same problem and we can get this solved. Would you like me to post a new thread instead of piggy backing on his the OP.

[FunkyFr3sh]

Yes, you better create a new thread so we can keep track easier

[creptree]

Hi to all
I have bad monitor, max resolution is 1680x1050
And I can´t see full game f.e. I don´t see starport..... or better to say I can´t order, because of my monitor which don´t show me full "game window" ...

Don´t you know what to do?

[Bulzzi]

Hello! I have different problem GruntModEditons, my problem is when i ENABLE MOVIES game freeze before MAIN MENU appears, when movies are DISABLED game works like a charm, what can cause this?

My specs: Win 8.1 x64 GPU: nVidia 670 latest drivers CPU: i5 4690 Sounds: Asus Xonar DGx, windows is uptodate game settings u can see here:

 

[Options]

ScrollRate=9

GameSpeed=94

GameBitsPerPixel=16

SFXVolume=66

MusicVolume=66

MoviesEnabled=No

SoundsEnabled=Yes

VideoBackBuffer=No

ForceNoCD=Yes

GameWidth=1024

GameHeight=768

SlowSideBarScrolling=Yes

FirstTimePlay=No

 

[Hotkeys]

SelectAllUnits=69

Scatter=88

CenterNextUnit=78

Repair=84

Sell=89

Guard=71

CenterBase=72

Stop=83

Bookmark1=120

Bookmark2=121

Bookmark3=122

Bookmark4=123

SidebarUp=38

SidebarDown=40

Alliance=65

Retreat=82

OptionsMenu=27

Team1=49

Team2=50

Team3=51

Team4=52

Team5=53

Team6=54

Team7=55

Team8=56

Team9=57

Team10=48

CTRL=17

ALT=18

SHIFT=16

PrivateChat1=112

PrivateChat2=113

PrivateChat3=114

PrivateChat4=115

PrivateChat5=116

PublicChat=117

WOLPageReply=119

WOLProposeDraw=68

CenterSelectedUnits=36

ScrollLeft=97

ScrollDown=98

ScrollRight=99

ScrollUp=101

[MultiPlayer]

UnitCount=10

TechLevel=7

StartingCredits=7000

AIPlayers=0

Crates=No

Worms=0

PlayerName=NONAME

PlayerSide=0

PlayerColor=0

PlayerHandicap=0

IPAddress=

ModemPhone=

SerialComPort=1

[WOL]

AllowFindUser=Yes

AllowPageUser=Yes

LanguageFilter=No

ShowAllGames=No

Microphone=No

 

Video Options:

 

Video BackBuffer: Disabled

Show FPS: Enabled

Single Processor Affinity: Disabled

Force DirectDraw Emulation: Enabled

Fake Vsync: Disabled

No Video Memory: Disabled

Resolution: 1024x768

Bits Per Pixels: 16

[FunkyFr3sh]

I see your video options are not the default ones, did you try to play the game before you changed the settings?

 

Try to get the latest dune2000.exe and Dune2000config.exe from here:

http://forum.dune2k.com/topic/26661-dune-2000-106p-game-patching-bug-fixes-new-features/

 

If it still doesn't work then try play around with the newly added DxWnd options in the config program

[Bulzzi]

I see your video options are not the default ones, did you try to play the game before you changed the settings?

 

Try to get the latest dune2000.exe and Dune2000config.exe from here:

http://forum.dune2k.com/topic/26661-dune-2000-106p-game-patching-bug-fixes-new-features/

 

If it still doesn't work then try play around with the newly added DxWnd options in the config program

 

Thx for fast reply and help, it start working when downloaded latest Dune2000.exe and Dune2000config.exe now my settings look like this and works like a charm.

 

[Options]

ScrollRate=12

GameSpeed=85

GameBitsPerPixel=16

SFXVolume=10

MusicVolume=5

MoviesEnabled=Yes

SoundsEnabled=Yes

VideoBackBuffer=Yes

ForceNoCD=Yes

GameWidth=1920

GameHeight=1080

SlowSideBarScrolling=No

FirstTimePlay=No

DisableMaxWindowedMode=Yes

Language=Eng

 

[Hotkeys]

SelectAllUnits=69

Scatter=88

CenterNextUnit=78

Repair=84

Sell=89

Guard=71

CenterBase=72

Stop=83

Bookmark1=120

Bookmark2=121

Bookmark3=122

Bookmark4=123

SidebarUp=38

SidebarDown=40

Alliance=65

Retreat=82

OptionsMenu=27

Team1=49

Team2=50

Team3=51

Team4=52

Team5=53

Team6=54

Team7=55

Team8=56

Team9=57

Team10=48

CTRL=17

ALT=18

SHIFT=16

PrivateChat1=112

PrivateChat2=113

PrivateChat3=114

PrivateChat4=115

PrivateChat5=116

PublicChat=117

WOLPageReply=119

WOLProposeDraw=68

CenterSelectedUnits=36

ScrollLeft=97

ScrollDown=98

ScrollRight=99

ScrollUp=101

ToggleLiveStats=9

PlayRandomSong=187

[MultiPlayer]

UnitCount=10

TechLevel=7

StartingCredits=7000

AIPlayers=0

Crates=No

Worms=0

PlayerName=NONAME

PlayerSide=0

PlayerColor=0

PlayerHandicap=0

IPAddress=

ModemPhone=

SerialComPort=1

[WOL]

AllowFindUser=Yes

AllowPageUser=Yes

LanguageFilter=No

ShowAllGames=No

Microphone=No

 

[DxWnd]

EnableDxWnd=Yes

RunInWindow=Yes

ClipCursor=Yes

ModalStyle=Yes

GDIMode=No

Width=1280

Height=1024

LimitFPSDelay=17

 

[FunkyFr3sh]

nice! So you had to enable the window mode to solve the problem? Or did it work right away with the fresh dune2000.exe and old settings? Would be nice to know what exactly solved the problem, just in case someone else is running into the same problem later :)

[Bulzzi]

nice! So you had to enable the window mode to solve the problem? Or did it work right away with the fresh dune2000.exe and old settings? Would be nice to know what exactly solved the problem, just in case someone else is running into the same problem later :)

 

I Need to ENABLE window mode that solve my problem.

[FunkyFr3sh]

k, thanks for the info!