NII and Windows 8

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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [Napoleonics] >> Napoleon in Italy >> Napoleon in Italy Support >> NII and Windows 8

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NII and Windows 8 - 12/28/2013 2:15:19 AM

jonesrl

Posts: 34
Joined: 9/27/2008
Status: offline

I received NII as an Xmas gift and immediately installed it. I was surprised when it didn't work and turned to the Matrix Games forums for assistance. Of course, I found none for Windows 8. The screen was flashing about once every two seconds. I fiddled with the compatibility and display settings, but could not resolve the problem.

Having an old copy of Windows Vista, I created a guest OS under VirtualBox and installed NII using the compatibility settings that I found in this forum. Unfortunately, the VirtualBox kept crashing on me when I tried to go to the tactical map. I installed all updates for Windows Vista and fiddled with the settings again. I believe that I eliminated the crashing, but now only pieces of the map appear. All the sprites are showing, but for the most part they are only displaying on a black background.

Any thoughts on getting NII to work under Windows 8 or in the VirtualBox? My dxdiag is attached.

Doc Jones

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< Message edited by docjonesrl -- 12/28/2013 3:17:24 AM >

Post #: 1

RE: NII and Windows 8 - 12/28/2013 5:31:57 AM

Agathosdaimon

Posts: 1034
Joined: 7/8/2012
Status: offline

Hi - i have windows 7 and had probls trying to get it to work there and what you describe sounds like the initial problems i had, if
i have it working in win 7 now, though at first i got all manner of errors with crashes to desktop or a blackground
in my comp settings i have just two options selected - 1 is disable desktop compoistion and run as admin
for the games graphics i have it running through my nvidia by default - at first it was using my integrated intel card by default (which cna work well for some old game sthough)

also i have tried using a bat file to kill explorer while in the game - not sure if that will help
to do so, make a text file in the game folder and just copy and paste this in: (change the directory listed to the correct one for your game folder)

rem First kill Explorer.exe, which messes up the colors
taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe

rem Change to the application directory
cd D:\Matrix Games\Napoleon in Italy

rem run the application
Napoleon.EXE

rem Wait for the game to quit, press Enter to continue
pause

rem Restart Explorer.exe
start explorer.exe
exit

save it as NII.txt go out and change the extension by typing it to be 'bat' so that its NII.bat
again not sure if this will work for you but for some it can

lastly when int he game set the frame rate right down to 8 - this wont effect tactical battles, just ont he campaign map it will make the men move slower but it will avoid freezes.

if all else fails use VMware player to install a guest XP os if you have it and it will work in that okay. I have done that also when before i figureed out how to get it going in t win 7 - i dont know about virtualbox, vmwareplayer though has graphics acceleration and can run things as well almost as a the host system - i can evenplay Lock Modern Air combat fine through it

(in reply to jonesrl)

Post #: 2

RE: NII and Windows 8 - 12/28/2013 6:20:16 AM

Agathosdaimon

Posts: 1034
Joined: 7/8/2012
Status: offline

also in the game, i think setting the resolution to the 1024 made a big improvement

its a good game, good AI that will put up a fight and only retreat when it deems it necessary, which can vary depending on thee commanders abilities also and combination of campaign and tactical battles

(in reply to Agathosdaimon)

Post #: 3

RE: NII and Windows 8 - 12/30/2013 6:20:46 PM

jonesrl

Posts: 34
Joined: 9/27/2008
Status: offline

After my unsuccessful attempt with VirtualBox, I discovered that Windows 8 comes with a virtualization environment: Hyper-V. I enabled Hyper-V and installed my old copy of Vista. After waiting for 103 updates to complete, I installed NII 1.1, adjusted the compatibility settings and started the tutorial campaign. It worked without any problems. The graphics were fine at 1024x768. The tactical map pulled up easily and did not crash the game when I finished a battle. There were no lags or delays in selecting or moving units. I completed the tutorial. Hyper-V does not include audio, so I'll work on adding sound to the game through remote desktop connection.

Doc Jones

(in reply to Agathosdaimon)

Post #: 4