Post by RavMahov on Nov 18, 2012 15:10:17 GMT -5
Hello.
We all know that PK2 has been suffering heavily on modern PCs and operating systems like Windows 7. Not only you needed to change graphics mode, run in compatibility mode, but also to turn off explorer.exe. Everybody playing it nowadays knows what I mean.
Also, I hated how PK2 wasn't designed to play in window, and all that resolution increase does is to fill blank space with black. Not to mention lack of even Alt+Tab or printscreen support in game.
I've been thinking about it a bit today (not much, really), and I remembered that there was an utility that does allow you to switch any DX-powered game into windowed mode, hopefully solving most of problems, and I found it once again. Well, my fellow Pistegamerz, it indeed works.
Introducing DxWnd
This little program does it's best to allow you to run any DirectX-powered game to run in windowed mode. It works pretty nicely with PK2, too.
1. Get it from there
2. Unpack it somewhere. You need to know that it will need to be running before PK2 is run. You may also want to read manual.pdf file
3. Now run it. Edit>Add. You will now have this window:
Each of green-marked fields are either harmless or vital for something. Do not turn on red one (DirectInput Hooking) or you will lose mouse in PK2.
1) Set profile name to Pekka Kana 2 or whatever
2) Set path to your game executable
3) DirectX Version Hook: either Automatic or DirectX 7
4) Window initial position & size: set W to width (PK2's default: 640) and H (default: 480). You can resize it for your needs later or now, it will get pixelated, but still better than 640x480 + black screen like in original.
5) Emulation: Primary Surface - most important setting. Without it your screen will get PK2 palette, and become laggy until you turn off the game. It's the main reason of using this program so TURN IT ON
6) Surface handling: You may check everything, but the most important one is probably "Suppress DX common errors" because without it, after minimize action, your game will hang. As I said, try checking everything because it seems harmless.
7) Cursor handling:
-Use "Hide Cursor" if you don't want cracked egg cursor appear.
-"Force cursor clipping"+"Keep cursor within window" will make sure that you won't go with mouse somewhere you don't want to.
-"Intercept GDI Cursor clipping" seems to catch Mouse lock again if you Alt+Tab back to the game. You may turn Mouse lock with (left)Alt+F12 in game to lock and unlock cursor (to Maximize for example).
8) Generic:
-Check "Do not notify on task switch" to prevent game to close in event of Alt+Tab or clicking elsewhere. That will also allow game to catch keys (probably) mouse movement even if minimized, but it's still better than having game quit by itself.
-You may also check "Optimize CPU", might help with slower PC's somehow.
-"Intercept Alt-F4 key" allows you to instantly kill game with Alt+F4.
-"Handle exceptions" might also help with some crashes, like with Minimize event.
9) Windows handling:
-"Fix Window Frame Style" is important if you want to move game, resize, minimize and maximize (turns border on, otherwise you have borderless window in the top-left corner of the screen).
-"Hook CHILD windows" - game screen is actually a child window of launcher, so it's better to check it anyway.
-"Simulate 8/16BPP desktop" might be not important, but I still checked it since game uses (I think) 16bit depth.
-"Fix Parent Window" seems to make launcher's layout less... broken (bottom was cut somehow).
-"Modal style" probably doesn't allow you to click on Launcher window again.
-"Keep aspect ratio" is useful in window resizing
4. Press OK. If you close window now, program will ask you
---------------------------
Warning
---------------------------
Task list has changed.
Do you want to save it?
---------------------------
Yes No
---------------------------
Press yes.
5. Now run program back and have fun with PK2. You can also use File>Move to tray. If it's not self-explanatory for you, it should now be visible in "that area next to the Windows clock on task bar".
"manual.pdf" file in DxWnd directory contains info about useful key combos, like that one for enabling/disabling Mouse lock.
Well, that's all. I haven't tried every single combination, so some of these might not be needed, but should be harmless. I hope it will be useful. Cheers
-RavMahov
Edit:
Our new member, Friedslick6 has posted an updated version of the settings for the new version of DxWnd.
We all know that PK2 has been suffering heavily on modern PCs and operating systems like Windows 7. Not only you needed to change graphics mode, run in compatibility mode, but also to turn off explorer.exe. Everybody playing it nowadays knows what I mean.
Also, I hated how PK2 wasn't designed to play in window, and all that resolution increase does is to fill blank space with black. Not to mention lack of even Alt+Tab or printscreen support in game.
I've been thinking about it a bit today (not much, really), and I remembered that there was an utility that does allow you to switch any DX-powered game into windowed mode, hopefully solving most of problems, and I found it once again. Well, my fellow Pistegamerz, it indeed works.
Introducing DxWnd
This little program does it's best to allow you to run any DirectX-powered game to run in windowed mode. It works pretty nicely with PK2, too.
1. Get it from there
2. Unpack it somewhere. You need to know that it will need to be running before PK2 is run. You may also want to read manual.pdf file
3. Now run it. Edit>Add. You will now have this window:
Each of green-marked fields are either harmless or vital for something. Do not turn on red one (DirectInput Hooking) or you will lose mouse in PK2.
1) Set profile name to Pekka Kana 2 or whatever
2) Set path to your game executable
3) DirectX Version Hook: either Automatic or DirectX 7
4) Window initial position & size: set W to width (PK2's default: 640) and H (default: 480). You can resize it for your needs later or now, it will get pixelated, but still better than 640x480 + black screen like in original.
5) Emulation: Primary Surface - most important setting. Without it your screen will get PK2 palette, and become laggy until you turn off the game. It's the main reason of using this program so TURN IT ON
6) Surface handling: You may check everything, but the most important one is probably "Suppress DX common errors" because without it, after minimize action, your game will hang. As I said, try checking everything because it seems harmless.
7) Cursor handling:
-Use "Hide Cursor" if you don't want cracked egg cursor appear.
-"Force cursor clipping"+"Keep cursor within window" will make sure that you won't go with mouse somewhere you don't want to.
-"Intercept GDI Cursor clipping" seems to catch Mouse lock again if you Alt+Tab back to the game. You may turn Mouse lock with (left)Alt+F12 in game to lock and unlock cursor (to Maximize for example).
8) Generic:
-Check "Do not notify on task switch" to prevent game to close in event of Alt+Tab or clicking elsewhere. That will also allow game to catch keys (probably) mouse movement even if minimized, but it's still better than having game quit by itself.
-You may also check "Optimize CPU", might help with slower PC's somehow.
-"Intercept Alt-F4 key" allows you to instantly kill game with Alt+F4.
-"Handle exceptions" might also help with some crashes, like with Minimize event.
9) Windows handling:
-"Fix Window Frame Style" is important if you want to move game, resize, minimize and maximize (turns border on, otherwise you have borderless window in the top-left corner of the screen).
-"Hook CHILD windows" - game screen is actually a child window of launcher, so it's better to check it anyway.
-"Simulate 8/16BPP desktop" might be not important, but I still checked it since game uses (I think) 16bit depth.
-"Fix Parent Window" seems to make launcher's layout less... broken (bottom was cut somehow).
-"Modal style" probably doesn't allow you to click on Launcher window again.
-"Keep aspect ratio" is useful in window resizing
4. Press OK. If you close window now, program will ask you
---------------------------
Warning
---------------------------
Task list has changed.
Do you want to save it?
---------------------------
Yes No
---------------------------
Press yes.
5. Now run program back and have fun with PK2. You can also use File>Move to tray. If it's not self-explanatory for you, it should now be visible in "that area next to the Windows clock on task bar".
"manual.pdf" file in DxWnd directory contains info about useful key combos, like that one for enabling/disabling Mouse lock.
Well, that's all. I haven't tried every single combination, so some of these might not be needed, but should be harmless. I hope it will be useful. Cheers
-RavMahov
Edit:
Our new member, Friedslick6 has posted an updated version of the settings for the new version of DxWnd.
so i can watch movies on my second monitor while creating levels.
?