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GOG PATCHES 5-14-2026
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| Written and Edited by MarkEAW
CONTENTS
OTHER PROGRAMS INSTALLED MODIFICATIONS AND FEATURES -+-
Clean Installed Folder For
GOGv1.28 | Versions (128) , a and b -+-
This help document provides information about the GOG (and Steam) re-released purchasable digital downloads of the 1998 EAW Win9x PC Game. Some brief notes about the EAW GOGv1.2 Game, re-re-released 3-27-2021. The game is the MicroProse official fully patched v1.2 version. However, the game exe was also modified by Retroism / GoG afterwards. It includes all MicroProse's official game assets and data files, untouched. It has been suspected that Retroism used some powerful tools with brute force to hack the eaw.exe, primarily and possibly to update the DirectX version instructions in the eaw.exe to DX7. The 'new' improved super game exe is slightly larger than the official game exe from MPS. (The d3d.dll files are identical). They have not shared the improvements with the community. The
GoG newly provided Automated Installer, installs the EAW game files and four Wrappers.
Finally DirectX 9.0c is added to your system. Normally you wouldn't
need to have 9.0c installed unless a file was missing, however GOG may believe the game
may now need it...(its unclear to me if it does or does not. I found the
standard MPS EAW worked fine without it). Either way, its safe to
install and it will not overwrite other versions of DirectX. See my 'First Use Help Document' for more details on GOGs EAW game type.
For GOGv1.2 (for reference)
This is only showing the single changed file, the game exe. The rest of the files are the same as the Official EAW MPS 1.2 install. This new eaw.exe is CRC32: C757AE47 from the GOG installer: setup_european_air_war_1.20_(45828).exe , the installer archive is 599.8MB. \EAW12GOG\ See a complete official v1.2 game folder, the official file list, in my 'Install Help Document'.
Other Programs Installed (for reference) You'll find these files in your EAW GOG game folder as well. Only separated here for reference.
GOG DirectX 1-7 Wrapper (by GOG)
The game; the super patched eaw.exe requires this wrapper (or more precise, a ddraw.dll
must be present in the game folder, this is the actual wrapper) to function correctly. If this "new" dll is not present, the game
will most likely become non responding
(at least on Win10). A Pain to get out of. Hint: This wrapper also comes with a configuration file dxcfg.ini that
the ddraw.dll reads from. Both those files are placed in the games main folder,
where the super patched eaw.exe is sitting. You use the dxcfg.exe wrapper setup program
(placed in the same location as the other files) to configure
those settings (saved in the dxcfg.ini). The GOG ddraw.dll will use
default settings if the saved configuration file is missing. Note: About Up scaling; The actual game resolution is set in the
eaw.ini file, however GOG's wrapper can upscale the default resolution
(640x480) of the games screens to a larger res....: See my 'Troubleshoot Wrappers Help Document' to read more about GOGs DirectX Wrapper and it's use.
Glide Wrapper (Portable/Local nGlide by Zeus)
This is a portable version of nGlide, all the files get dumped into the games folder. Support becomes local for only the game folder its placed in. Instead of system wide, like nGlide normally installs itself into.
Direct Input Wrapper (by ?)
This wrapper allows the more modern Control Pads to be used with EAW. (If your standard 'three in one Joystick' doesn't work, removing this dll if all else is correct with Windows, will detect your device properly). HOTAS devices still seem troublesome to get used properly.
IPX Wrapper (by Solemn)
IPXWrapper allows using EAW that needs IPX/SPX support on
recent versions of Windows which no longer support it. Software that
uses WinSock 1.x and/or DirectPlay (before version 8) is supported. It
will Tunnel IPX to UDP. (GoG uses this wrapper for EAW, EAW needs these
files in the game folder too activate and make available the IPX
Protocol choice on the multiplayer set-up in game. IPX is designed for
LAN use, however some online services will allow IPX through DirectPlay
allowing online playing. Without these files, EAW may not display the IPX
option, or the protocol option won't be click able. The two reg/registry files configure windows for DirectPlay. However, Windows 10 will normally ask you if you wish to install the legacy application; DirectPlay upon running this game for the first time. OR you can add the option yourself by configuring Win10 to add Legacy Support and DirectPlay in Windows Program and Features>Turn Windows Features On or Off.
Other GOG Files (by GOG)*
*There are many more files (not listed or shown here) that make up approximately 12megs that are placed in the Main EAW Game folder. Some are from the GoG Setup Installer; which would include an Uninstaller program and related installer configuration files. There are also GOG Server used files. All those types of files not listed are not at all necessary for the EAW GOG1.2 version to run properly. Note: Some files maybe be required for GOG to save files into the cloud..... The firewall.cmd file is to add a rule to the Windows Firewall to allow
EAW to pass through. However, normally Windows 10 will ask you to allow
EAW to pass through upon selecting a protocol in EAW's multiplayer
configuration screen, and applies the firewall rule.
If you wish to make a portable version of the game (stripped down to
just the game files); you should
first make a copy of the newly installed game directory and then place it somewhere
else. You will be using the new copied folder as the portable version. You can use the included GOG uninstaller to remove the actual EAW GOG1.2
installed game folder once you've done this
(or leave the game in place, your choice).
Here are some of the known changes done to the MPS game by GoG and or Retroism. (The digital publishers).
Modifications
Features Restored
NoCD:
Related to hardware and modern
Windows:
Some brief notes about the GOG Automated Installed EAW GOG v1.28 Game, re-released 2-12-2021 (discontinued). Note: EAW GOGv1.28 is no longer available from GOG, since the roll-back to EAW GOGv1.2 on 3-27-2021. That version is listed in the above section. (The Code-Group required 128 to be pulled as it is their build of the game and some of the game data, which can not be sold). The GOGv1.28 game is based on the MPS and the un-official Code-Group source modified game. This means the game exe was modified beyond the CodeGroups version by Retroism / GoG afterwards. It also includes MicroProse official v1.2 CDF game data files, however some of that was modified by the Code Group (meaning they replaced some of the official 1.2 CDFs and some other assets). The
'new' improved GOG super game exe is the same size as the old Code Groups
v1.28 game exe, however CRC values say they are different (The d3d.dll files are identical).
The EAW GOG v1.28 eaw.exe is 1,310,720 bytes (1,280KB) (1.25MB) with a CRC of
29E0814E. From installer: setup_european_air_war_1.28_(44653).exe , the
installer archive is 618.7MB. See my 'First Use Help Document'
listed under the section titled "CodeGroup Patches", for more
descriptions and highlights.
Clean Installed Folder For GOGv1.28 (for reference) This is a folder without any specific GOG files present (other
than the GOG eaw.exe); Stripped down to the unmodified EAW default files, then
overwritten with the modified CodeGroup game data files. No file dates are
present because the GOG installer uses current date and time of the
install. \EAW128GOG\ \Savedata\
Read my 'CodeGroup Patches Help Document' for more in depth details on the un-official v1.28.
Here is the release list of the GOG type. -June 16 2022 -March 26 2021 -February 12 2021
See my 'Performance Help Document' for test results with wrappers and without. See my 'First Use Help Document' for more highlights on the GOG type release.
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