Kroah's Game Reverse Engineering Forum

CoCoNet 0.9.13 released!

Download link: CoCoNet section

Changelog:
New: Double clicking on a row in the Internet games list or LAN games list auto-join the game.
New: The LAN games tab lists all available CoCoNet servers in local network (uses UDP ports 10415 and 10416).
Fixed: Missing some unicode glyphs.
Fixed: Exception when client disconnected during game configuration.
Fixed: Some minor bugs.

Any feedbacks are welcomed!

Hello Pascal!

Yesterday a friend of mine tried to play CoCoNet, but couldn't start it.
Installation of CoCoNet, xna and .NET runtimes seemed to work fine but when trying to start the game, an error occurred. Any ideas what the problem is?

Greetz, Monty

Monty wrote:Yesterday a friend of mine tried to play CoCoNet, but couldn't start it.
Installation of CoCoNet, xna and .NET runtimes seemed to work fine but when trying to start the game, an error occurred. Any ideas what the problem is?

Hello Monty!

It seems your friend does not have a single 3D device .

You'll ask me: "but why does he need a 3D device? I thought CoCoNet was able to run in 2D mode?"
Yes, CoCoNet can run in 2D mode. But it checks the capabilities of the hardware at runtime. And to do this, it needs a 3D device (sick!).
I've coded CoCoNet to let the users run CoCoNet in 2D mode if they don't have a powerful enough 3D device. But i did not wonder someone would not have ANY 3D device.

Nowadays, every computer has a 3D device. Even an integrated graphics chipsets will run fine to allow CoCoNet to check the hardware and then run in 2D (because most integrated chipsets don't have the required caps), but the check will pass OK.

Of course i can change the way the check is done and allows a computer without a single 3D device to run CoCoNet in a 2D mode, but i'm really surprised your friend does not have at least an integrated chipset.

So i think the problem may come from elsewhere:
- Does your friend have a 3D device?
- Are his graphic drivers up to date?
- Can you send me some info on his 3D device?

If your friend really does not have any 3D device, i will update CoCoNet accordingly to let the users without ANY 3D device to run the game (i will change the capabilities check).

Thank you!

Hi Pascal,
that's what he anwered me:

my pc is just 2 months old and i'm pretty sure that i do have a 3d-device. just tell me where i have to look to give you the specs...

Thanks for your support!

my pc is just 2 months old and i'm pretty sure that i do have a 3d-device. just tell me where i have to look to give you the specs...

Well, run "dxdiag" and post a screenshot of the "System" and "Display" tab (Dxdiag is the DirectX Diagnostic Tool from Microsoft shipped with Direct X).

A walkthrough to run dxdiag can be found here: http://www.windowsresource.net/xp/guides/hardware.php

well, i think you were right then...
but no worries, he told me he had a netbook, where he could play it

Monty wrote:well, i think you were right then...
but no worries, he told me he had a netbook, where he could play it

Effectively, the shuttle Atom does not come with a 3D device. I thought they had at least an integrated chipset...

Anyway, this is a bug in CoCoNet, it should not crash. I will fix it in the next release.

Thanks for your feedback!

ok, another friend another problem
this guy can't play it on windows 7 64bit. even the win xp and win 2000 compatibility mode does not work...
should he normally be able to play it on win7?

Monty wrote:ok, another friend another problem
this guy can't play it on windows 7 64bit. even the win xp and win 2000 compatibility mode does not work...
should he normally be able to play it on win7?

I tested it on XP (32bits) and Vista (32bits), but not Seven (64bits). But i think it should work. I don't know if this is the 64bits or the Seven that make it crash.

Do you have some logs?

windows 7 is just reporting that it is searching for a solution
he then tried to run it with virtual pc in an win xp environment but the following error message appears...

Monty wrote:he then tried to run it with virtual pc in an win xp environment but the following error message appears...

This message is normal because the virtual PC does not emulate any 3D device, so it's like the Atom shuttle seen above.

But i don't see why it doesn't run in 32bits emulation mode (without virtual PC).
A 32 bits application runs flawlessly on a 64 bits windows in a 32bits emulation mode.

It seems one of the DLL was still targetting "Any CPU" which will try to run in 64 bits on a 64 bits system.
I've just recompiled everything with "x86", which should force Windows 7 to run in 32 bits emulation mode.

Can you try the following build to test on Windows 7?
CoCoNet - Windows 7 - Test 01.zip

PS: i haven''t changed anything to the previous problem above (hardware caps).

Hi Pascal!
Thanks to all your help we were able to play a little bit CoCoNet tonight!
And we produced a few crashes too
The first game we played with 3 players with the 0.9.13 version. From time to time someone got disconnected, but we could reload the autosave game. The logs and the savegame are appended below.
The second game was a 3 player game too, but one player was replaced by the windows 7 guy, so we all had to use the 0.9.14 version, which was no problem. Eventually someone got disconnected too, and so we ended the game for tonight.
The logs and savegame are appended below too.

In all games I had been the host, maybe another host could have established a better connection, i don't know.
I had many apps running in the background and at one point my computer got very slow and we lost connection. But that was not the case at every connection loss...

Greetz and thanks again for your work,
Monty

Hello Kroah's !!!

I'am a colonial conquest french fan and i want to congratulate you about your great job !

I just ended my coco party for this night and woaow !!!!!! The "portage" from atari to pc of this game is good, very good ...

I have one question about programming. How is made the game map ? Is it a simple world bitmap or is it automaticaly generated ? I'am in trouble because your map world is very better than the one i watched on my atari st.

When i made a navy move, it will be interesting to have two windows : one to choose the number of boats, and one to choose the number of men inside these boats. I have made plenty of mistakes because i sent my fifty boats to porto-rico but i forgot to board 50000 men too ... With two windows is more difficult to do this.

Tomorrow i continue my game ...

Good night !

Ps : Sorry for my english but i want to progress, so i write on forum

Hi erastase!

Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad you have some fun with CoCoNet.

erastase wrote:I have one question about programming. How is made the game map ? Is it a simple world bitmap or is it automaticaly generated ? I'am in trouble because your map world is very better than the one i watched on my atari st.

The map is built from the original game data.
I have only enhanced the user interface (arrows for moves, army/navy number, gray shading during combat phase, etc...).
You should have a crispiest image if you use a LCD monitor (comparing to an old TV or cathodic monitor), but beside this, the map should look like the one on your Atari ST.

erastase wrote:When i made a navy move, it will be interesting to have two windows : one to choose the number of boats, and one to choose the number of men inside these boats. I have made plenty of mistakes because i sent my fifty boats to porto-rico but i forgot to board 50000 men too ... With two windows is more difficult to do this.

I agree with you.
I initially thought using one window for the whole navy move would be easier and more intuitive. But this is not the case.
I put your idea on my todo list (if i work again on it).

If you have more ideas (or found some bugs), let me know!