about windowed mode in 2.01 release

[Kleitos]

so happy with this new release.
just some question about the windowed mode. i never used that except in EB 1 in some step when moving characters. ..so for some it may seem to be a stupid question.

the game starts now in windowed mode by default.
starting it, i got a smaller picture than my screen - so i tried to adapt the resolution within the game with the outcome that altough a nice full screen the text and HUD elements were blurred. the graphics itself, the campaign map and the units and environment in battle were sharp.
then i adapted the screen-resolution to the same one as in the game. (..no problem as i can change the screen-resolution anyway when not playing.)
or is there another way of getting a full screen when playing the game in this mode?.

anyway it works perfectly now! :2thumbsup:
with the additional possibility of changing to other applications in case of need! it seems that windowed mode only has advantages - or is there some disadvantage i am not aware of now? ...something like performance or the like?

[Nightshift]

It's recommended to play in windowed mode for stability reasons. I played a lot last week on an older pc with winxp in fullscreen and had no issues though. Now have to play on laptop with win8 were it used to crash after some turns for every 4th or so turn. Will try now with 2.01. If that doesn't work I'll have to try a reinstall.

But the main reason seems to be stabilty. (It says so in FAQ or troubleshooting).

[Kleitos]

well, ok then - i also, only see advantages in the windowed mode.

before, with the first release i also played in "normal" fullscreen - and i had no troubles at all. but ok, i only played about 48 seasons or so..

[Nightshift]

Have to agree, in version 2.0 I tried manually to get it into windowed mode wich worked but allways left that window-frame for me wich bothered me alot. Now with the borderless window there is nothing to coplain.

(I'm trying now compatibility-mode: winxp maybe that helps for me)

[Kleitos]

Nightshift: if you read here again - maybe you could drop some knowledge what you mean with compatibility-mode. (...i know im a real dummy :shame: when i comes to the intestines of software or the like.)

because i experience the campaign map now v e r y slow with the graphic enhancement mod installed (dont wanna go to much into details here as i wrote anyway in the enhancement mod thread about it)- im searchin for the reason why - in battle map everything is perfect though.

..and maybe another mode, besides windowed, might change there somethin - i only can try.
so im really interested what "compatibility-mode" is and how to set it.
(just curious about: to get a full-screen now with windowed mode - i adapted the screen-resolution to the one in game. ..is it intended like that or is there also another way to achieve this, which im not aware of)

much obliged,
Kleitos

[Fluvius Camillus]

I don't like windowed mode. An excellent game like EB should be full immersion by default, especially in today's world with ever-decreasing attention spans (TL;DR, TL;DW, etc...).

Of course everybody can enjoy it as they please, this is just my view on the matter. Haven't encountered any stability issues yet so that might also explain my preference.

~Fluvius

[Nightshift]

As for 2.1 you won't notice any differences. It really looks like fullscreen but you don't have loading times when alt-tabbing, for example if you want to rename a screenshot for future references. Give it a shot, I thought just like you before.

[Nightshift]

Kleitos
If you right click on kingdom.exe you can go to compability-mode and set it to winXP. Or if you right-cklick your game in task manager while running it.
But for me campaign is really slow now too-unlike on the much older XP-pc I played before. But for some reason it seems to speed up after 10 turns or so. Maybe it has to do with scripts or so.

At least I had no crashes so far - keeping fingers crossed -.

Its 2.1 now so I really dont know if it's my attempts or if something has been revisited in codes and scripts and such (or both).

[Kleitos]

Nightshift: sorry for late reply (totally installed the pc new - was about time and took some time) - well i didnt find anything which sounded like compatibility mode when right clicking on kingdom.exe or the other exes - dont know what you mean.?

but good to hear that it will speed up after 10seasons - must come there though. ..the campaign map was really jerking all the time when i moved around on it.

Fluvius Camillus: yes i understand what you mean - but when i play EB i dont have other distractions running or care for that (dont even have facebook for instance) - i was referring to stuff relating to my game experience like the recruitment viewer in EB1 or for research in wiki and if its just to see some images of the real landscape in those areas of my campaigns.
..to be honest - i dont know what "TL;DR, TL;DW" stands for.?

[joshmahurin]

Right-click -> Properties -> Compatability tab -> check the box for "Run this program in compatability mode for:" and then select Windows XP (probably most recent service pack but not sure as I don't use this option)

TL;DR means too long didn't read

[Nightshift]

After a fresh install my campaign runs very fast now from the very beginning (no compability mode). Don't know yet if it solved the CTD-issues yet but if you have done a complete overhaul of your pc maybe you have better results now too?

[Kleitos]

sorry im to late for responding - had some pc troubles, also internet connection, and install and deinstalling for quite a time - so i still dont know if EB will run faster now with my now almost comlete overhaul.
joshmahurin: thanks - will try that sometime.
Nightshift: that sounds good - but do you actually use the graphic enhancement mod? ...i just had time for a few seasons now but until now again without this mod - now its again fast in the campaign map. (with fast i mean the movement on the map with the arrow keys or mouse)
will see soon if it will be faster with the enhancement mod installed again - before it was way too slow with it. ...anyway on battle map everything was perfect.

[alex86]

You guys need to change the in-game resolution in medieval2.preference.cfg to match your native resolution, to prevent the "window" from being smaller than the full screen.

There is an awful, awful lot of confusion about this.

If the installer could detect the resolution and write that into EBII.cfg, that would be great, or some other form of instruction for users...