Troubleshoot - European Air War Help Site

TROUBLESHOOT 6-07-2025

Written and Edited By: MarkEAW

CONTENTS

PROBLEMS RUNNING THE GAME
Issues On Modern WinOS
Are You Getting Any Of These Errors Listed Here
Running in Win95 / Win98 / WinME
Running in Win2000 or WinXP | Running in WinVista / Win7 | Running in Win8.1 / Win10
Win11

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CODEGROUP VERSION CONTENT

OTHER PROBLEMS RUNNING THE GAME
Conflicts With The Compatibility Tab

INTRODUCTION

This document was written to supply technical support information , to cover problems and issues you may have, and point you in the right direction.

(For your Info: 32 bit or 64 bit computer systems will run EAW.) However, depending on which Windows OS you have you may have some problematic issues with the game. Those issues and their remedies are covered in this Help Document to get the game running properly, regardless of the Windows version your using.

However, the new idea (for 2023 and currently) is to use a well coded Wrapper Program(s), regardless of your OS. :)

PROBLEMS RUNNING THE GAME

This section is very helpful of informing you of the errors and issues you may encounter. The information explains to you the actions you may need to take to run your game problem free. Helpful for stock EAW and even modified EAW versions.

Issues On Modern WinOS:
To some degree on Modern Windows OS, all versions and types of the eaw.exe when run natively, with no wrapper will have trouble with:

7217 graphical EAW error 'may' occur when run in native mode (no wrapper). (Windows Auto Compatibility is not set in registry).
NoCD Function. (only works if a CD-ROM drive/driver is present, even if it's not needed anymore).
HOTAS Controller configuration support is limited. (preferred is an all-in-one/three in one Joystick).
No Horizon Fog in Direct3D Mode for NVidia Cards. (They dropped support for Table Fog long ago).
Terrain Shimmer is present, mid distance is not smoothed. (mipmap issue, need mipmap setting).
Aliasing along lines is present, like wings etc. (jagged lines).
Mission Parameter Screen selections cycle too fast. (Mouse Polling 'speed' un regulated).
Garbled Colors on Menu Screens. (primarily Win7 users). (8-bit DirectDraw Screens).
Tearing of the Briefing Map Screen. (primarily Win7 users). (8-bit DirectDraw Screens).
View Objects screen crashes game. (typical, older draw code).
Career Movie Viewing crashes game. (typical, WinNT/WinCompat layer can't play older .smk movies).
Slow Menu Transitions. (An old Win10 directdraw update issue, Resolved 1 month later).
Career Saves Error / Can't Create Save Career File. (File save access Win10 error, issue for Dec 2023. Resolved in Win10 on or before 7-07-2024).

There are workarounds for most of those issues listed above. On this web site, I technically guide you the best that I can as I cover various topics in my Help Documents, including those workarounds. However!, the easiest way to 'fix more issues at once' is to use a Wrapper Program (I prefer the one named DxWnd done by ghotik), I found that this program works very well with EAW and Win10 (and other Window versions). The wrapper itself is a Win32 program meant to run on all WindowOS Versions.

Are You Getting Any Of These Errors Listed Here:

Here are some of the errors messages and conditions you could receive when trying to run the game:
(These are typically related to graphical problems)

"not a valid win32 application"
"7217"
"Sorry, EAW will not run under WinNT"
Crash to Desktop (CTD)
Your menu screen colors are messed up
Your map screen is garbled or tearing

The following information will help you get around them.

Running in Win95 / Win98 / WinME:
The stock game is designed for Win95.

ISSUES:

Installs and runs on the older OS versions. You do need to have old hardware with old supported drivers. As always if onboard or Integrated Video fail, discrete (external) video cards are best to use. Otherwise try a Wrapper Program if your hardware is newer than the OS.

Running in Win2000 or WinXP:
If using fully updated versions of Win2000 or WinXP and the game won't run normally, read below.

ISSUES:

For the game not running on W2k:
Win2k requires some extensive but effective manual OS configuring to use what is called a Compatibility Database from Microsoft to get EAW to run natively. (Read my 'Windows ACT Toolkit Help Document' for advanced help with Win2k, If you run natively with the configuration for W2K, you won't need a Wrapper Program).
For the game not running well on WinXP:
WinXP only needs some updating and guidance. I think it requires SP1 at least, but I would goto SP3 to run natively. (Read my 'Windows ACT Toolkit Help Document' for some simple help with WinXP to run natively. If you run natively you won't need a Wrapper Program).
For the garbled screens, menu color issues, or other errors:
You may try using a special programs called Wrappers to run the game for an overall workaround of any errors, you should have great success with them. However, if your hardware and video drivers allow it, I recommend you try to get the game to run without a Wrapper Program first. Read Above.
Integrated Intel Graphics:
For these you will want to use a Wrapper Program, especially for hardware from the early 2000 to 2005. Those Intel Chipsets lack full proper 3D support for EAW use. Make sure you have updated everything regarding the Intel Graphics/Chipsets; like OpenGL (part of the Graphics Driver), DirectX (part of the OS), MB Bios etc.... then try the Wrapper Programs, either for DirectX or glide Mode. It will be best to find a Wrapper that directly supports Intel IG. Try using the old Wrappers that were designed for your old WinXP OS. If your CPU has enough power, running under Wrapper 'emulation' should work for you just fine. I don't have much more information regarding these options with Intel Integrated Graphic Chips, However I've seen wrappers work for some and not other Intel users on a WinXP SP3 machine.

Running in WinVista / Win7:
If using WinVista/Win7 and you have the OS fully updated, the game can and should run "natively" in full screen with-OUT wrappers using D3D Mode and with out problems, normally faster than on Win10 (nearly double the FPS).

ISSUES:

For the garbled (tearing) menu and map screens:
Try using the special programs called Wrappers to run the game to correct this type of error. This seems to be the only current fix for Windows Vista / Win7. (On my Win7 system I did not have tearing of menus or map briefing screens, I don't know why others may have tearing issues on Win7, (it maybe something to do with the capabilities or settings for display and monitor used)).
For If Menu colors are messed up:
If the game is running properly with out using a Wrapper program and the only problem is the colors of the Menu Screens are messed up, I highly suggest you to use only a special registry entry fix designed for this Windows versions. See the 'Troubleshoot Registry Help Document' and read the topic titled "Direct Draw Menu Color Registry Fix" for more information on how this is beneficial to you.
It is possible to have one or both of the above issues.

Running in Win8.1 / Win10:
If using Win8.1/Win10 and the OS is fully updated, with basic support the game can run "natively" in full screen with-OUT wrappers in D3D Mode, with out problems. The use of the automatically applied Windows OS built-in Compatibility Fixes and Modes allows the Menu Screens to display correctly with correct color and no tearing.

ISSUES:

Standard Reduced D3D Speed Performance (reduced from Win7 performance level):
This issue is when you run the game natively (without a Wrapper). This is because there is a flaw due to DirectDraw being deprecated by Microsoft in favor of something new called Direct2D, this maybe why it slows down the game to around 30FPS or lower on most systems, that's half of what it should run at on the same system.

There currently is not any known fix other than to use a good workaround; use a Direct3D or Glide Wrapper Program to possibly gain more Frames Per Second. Running in Window Frame Mode using a Wrapper Program may be an option for you to help speed up the game, as it appears to use older tech.

Read my 'Performance Help Document' for tests conducted with and with out Wrappers.
7217 Graphical EAW error:
Getting this error for no apparent reason when not using a Wrapper Program (running natively); Add (or re-add) the Windows registry fix value. Described in the 'Troubleshoot Registry Help Document', at the topic 'Windows 8.1/10 Compatibility Layer'.

Sometimes this special registry entry provided by MS Windows is removed when using a Wrapper program as an option, other times its left in place by the Wrapper Program or the Wrapper Program doesn't have means to remove the registry entry, which in turn can cause the EAW graphical error 7217. (On older legacy systems, It use to mean that your video card is incapable of running 640*480 screens in 8 bit mode, 256 Colors).

Running in Win11:
If using Win11. I have no reliable testing information on running in this OS natively.
Current situation warrants a Wrapper program to be used to launch and run your game, its ideal for all WinOS versions at this time. (noted 5-2024)

ISSUES:

OTHER PROBLEMS RUNNING THE GAME

This section is for other important problems and issues with the game you should know about.

Conflicts With The Compatibility Tab:
Using the following settings will cause problems if they are enabled.

Do not run the game with Compatibility Mode (This is the "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" setting) in the games shortcuts Compatibility Tab in any version of Windows (except Win2k), its not required for the game to work properly. This should remain un checked.

Problems that will arise include.

Conflicts with a D3D Wrapper program (If you use one of these programs):
That will result in a 7217 error. (even if the eaw.exe was "corrected" to bypass this error, such in EAWv1.26e).
A few issues with your Controllers (The Compatibility Mode setting effects this):
Your Joystick may not be detected by the game properly resulting in the axis for movement not working, only the buttons will function, your Keyboard can possibly become unusable during the game as well. (W2K users have a special workaround, see my 'Windows ACT Toolkit Help Document').

None of the the shortcut Compatibility Tab Settings need to be checked, (uncheck all of the items if you had them checked and click Apply) before running the game, this only needs to be done once.

This includes not using "Run this program as an administrator" (If your already logged into Windows OS as an Admin), Its not required and may interfere with the game working properly. Note: The right-click "Run as administrator" seems to be the same as this setting...

Insure you followed my 'Install Help Document' with the placement of your game on your Hard Drive, specific locations can cause problems. See the topic '\Program Files sub-folder' further down in this help document as to why.

Sound Problems:
It's quite common for people with Win9x and WinXP that have better sound cards than the average to actually have sound problems where some or all game sounds don't work. You can fix this by turning sound hardware acceleration down a bit, or off altogether.

To remedy some issues, make sure you have a full installation of EAW, without full installation the game will expect to find sounds on the CD during Play resulting in delays and freezes of the game.

Problems with Music/Sound stuttering or pausing game:
can occur on older systems without a full installation, if you have this problem try to use at least a Quad-Speed CD-Rom with a small cache setting. Also if your Sound Cards IRQ is too high you may get stutter, try physically re-inserting the card on the motherboard in the last (or bottom) PCI slot to obtain the correct IRQ. If all that doesn't work and you have a full EAW installation, try using a good NoCD patch so the game doesn't use the CD in the drive at all.
Problem with no Career Briefing Speech:
Make sure on Windows 95/98 that you have the standard audio compression codec installed, the Microsoft ADPCM Codec. This should not be a problem on later windows OS versions.
Problem with Campaign Crashing to Desktop:
can occur when playing some campaigns such as Battle of Britain campaign in September, change your sound settings from 16bit to 8bit (or vice vera) and try to finish the campaign. There maybe a custom sound that you put in the EAW main folder that's corrupt in some manner, that maybe causing the crash.
Problem with no Engine AND no Gun Sound:
This occurs when there is still Bullet sound and Wind sound is still heard. This seems to be a problem with the newer (newer than EAW itself), "sound hardware accelerated" systems, but is usually easy to fix. The problem is when you have a type of Sound Card mounted where its in a slot on your motherboard and normally the acceleration slider for the sound card is set to the max for best performance. This is a known problem in Win9x and WinXP with Creative / Ensoniq PCI cards. To fix the issue, For Windows 98, go to the control panel and select "multimedia." Next go to the Audio tab and then click the "advanced properties" button under "playback." Then click the "performance" tab. Move the hardware acceleration slider to the left. How far depends on your hardware. Some people only have to move it two units to the left, and others might have to move it all the way to the left. Try moving it one unit at a time until you find where you need to be.
Crashing With This Error Message:
If the game keeps crashing and quitting mid-game, with an error on screen: start_sound_channel(): Fail to play DS buffer. First Make sure your sound card is selected as "Game Compatible Device" in the Control Panel> Multimedia> Playback> Preferred Device. You can also try reducing your sound hardware acceleration slider. See the previous troubleshooter paragraph for instructions on how to do this.

Sound Wrappers:
Sound Wrappers tend to allow a game with true 3D sound to be used with old popular 3D Sound Drivers, like EAX and A3D using 3D Buffers, through DirectSound3D translated up to a different type and current sound driver / API. However EAW does not use DS3D (no 3D sound buffers). It uses plain DirectSound with 2D sound buffers for panning left, center (both speakers have sound), and right. Further testing on a standard Realtek Codec Integrated Audio on 5.1 speakers produce no sound in any of the surround speakers. (I'm using standard default settings. I'm not using the Audio's generic spatial functions, which are not Dolby anyhow BTW).

EAW it does claim to have stereo "surround" via a Dolby Surround Logo on the Box and CD label. This may be just for the smacker movie playback. (Some say EAW uses Miles Sound) but nothing is mentioned in the games manual about this type of superior sound oddly enough. So we think it might be a custom DX engine.

All you need for the game to hear the sound is a set of 2 desktop speakers or a 2 speaker set of headphones. What also works and will improve your sound experience with any game is if you use a "fake" 2.1 speaker system; this is where the subwoofer connects to the two front speakers (rather than having a real subwoofer connection; which would have its own plug that goes into the desktop's port). The sound quality is improved as the speaker system will move the lows to the subwoofer away from the desktop 'satellite' speakers. The amount of quality will depend on watts supported per speaker and the maker of the equipment.

It works with a 'real' 2.1 setup as well (Also on a 5.1 speakers when setup for Stereo). Just as before, the lows are moved to the subwoofer.

Hardware Acceleration:
Windows earlier than Win10 have an option to adjust HW acceleration with a slider... However Win10 has HW acceleration on at all times, to full. (Only the mixing of sample rates is software driven when using integrated sound).

\Program Files sub-folder:
If you followed my manual install directions, you placed your game in a folder other than \Program Files. If you did not you maybe wondering why the game is Crashing to the Desktop (CTD) as soon as you load the game with errors like "European Air War Has Stopped Working" and "A Problem Has Caused The Program To Stop Working".

This is because EAW wants and expects the games configuration file, the eaw.ini, to be in the games main root folder next too the eaw.exe file. However by 'installing' the game in the \Program Files\ folder, Windows Vista/7/8/10 expects to have the eaw.ini file in the \AppData system folder to write too. Under this circumstance, Windows stops EAW from writing and updating the correct copy of the "eaw.ini" file causing the CTD errors mentioned above.

(This is because of the security permissions configured for this folder. Standard users and applications do not have rights to write data to \Program Files\).

If you happen to get pass the initial load of the game you may notice that none of your game settings are staying where you set them, including your controls key assignments. This is for the same reasons. You may not even have an eaw.ini in the games root folder as a result.

The above reasons are why NOT to place the game in the \Program Files sub-folders as these problems will always happen. So move your game elsewhere as mentioned, such as "C:\MicroProse Software\EAW" or on a separate partition or hard drive in a folder named of your choice.

(Note: This could be tied to the "User Account Control" or UAC built into windows; UAC can stop EAW.exe from writing to your disk as a precaution. In other words if EAW.exe tries to modify it's own eaw.ini file without your intervention of clicking OK when it appears, it is prevented from doing so. However I highly recommend you do NOT turn off your UAC. It's better to just move the game out of the \Program Files sub folders).

Career Save Error: (resolved on Win10 on or before 7-07-2024)
Campaign save error, (not related to the films that have trouble playing). This error occurs when ever you try to save career progress or the game try's to auto save a career file (144KB). Upon saving or Aborting (ESC) a career (auto save), from the Flight Screen, you press Y then click OK, then at this point, there is a save error, it displays a EAW error message; "Can't create ':\savedata\CAREER00.SVE'.

This may be an old issue on WinNT machines, however it recently manifested on Win10 (from what I can tell a security update 12-2023 may be the cause). So perhaps it is a new problem (A permission or file write error), even when running the game in as an Admin or in Admin mode. I have not looked into it too much, but it seems the game can still save changes from the in game menu system to the eaw.ini file.

Note: Some of the WinNT issues where solved in later released un-official EAW versions (the hex edited 1.26 and the FXEXE, and the code group v1.28 etc). They do not have this save error, even when run natively (without a wrapper). I don't know what was exactly changed to have avoided this new Win10 "bug". I do know a NoOS fix was made in those versions to avoid the problem of the eaw.exe from not allowing you to run on WinXP back in the day.

The only way I know how to fix this at the moment (6-2024) for the likes of the standard EAWv1.2 is to use the DxWnd Wrapper (by ghotik) with any version of the game as it has a known tweak workaround built in that can be added to patch the game in memory and avoids the system write error, by ignoring the error and writing anyhow.

See my 'Troubleshoot Wrappers Help Document' on how to configure the wrapper. Also See my "GOG Patches Help Document' if you use that type to see how to use a different wrapper with it.

Please let me know if you find a solution or solutions to this error. Any information is normally useful.

Game Crashes To Desktop CTD Solutions:
These are all the known CTDs for the EAW game itself. A CTD is either a lockup at a Blank Screen or the game Drops Out with no error to your desktop. (There are some related Stop Error Message issues mentioned with in the section shown above).

Game CTD after flash or After Blank Screen When Loading Game Issue 1
You may get a Blank screen when the game first loads, hitting the ESC key (or click the mouse button) should get you passed the globe and intro movies before they possibly CTD your game.
Solution: Open your eaw.ini file (this file is in your game folder and opens with Notepad) and change the line PlayIntro=1 to a value of 0.
Solution 2: If you still have the full official MOVIES.CDF (284Megs) file in your games main folder and your not using the 'empty' movies.cdf (1KB) file, you can have a CTD. This is because the Smacker Videos are not playing properly (Natively run in Win10, can sometimes play back the globe video, however it might be done slowly).
Game CTD When Loading Game Issue 2.
Your using a in-game resolution that isn't supported by your monitor or graphic card.
Solution: Change the eaw.ini Width and Height settings to something your system supports natively.
Game CTD When Loading Game Issue 3.
You installed / patched a newer version of EAW over an older incompatible installation.
Solution: Delete your eaw.ini file, then let a new default one get created when you run the eaw.exe again.
Game CTD When Entering Flight Issue 1.
You may have set the Display Device (the 3D Renderer) to "software" mode and your system doesn't support it (because of bad 8 bit support).
Solution: You want to change the 3D Render Mode with the in-game menus. Goto "Configure game->Graphics" set "3d renderer" set the "3D Video Mode".
You can also change your display device in the eaw.ini. To change which card/vid mode EAW uses, follow the steps below;
1. In your European Air War folder, open the file called "eaw.ini" with notepad.
2. Scroll down until you find the section "[Graphics]", then under that the line that reads "DisplayDevice=".
3. Changing this number will alter the display mode based on the chart below.
4. The next time you run the game, these settings will be in effect.
DisplayDevice=
0 for 3Dfx GLIDE API
1 for PRIMARY D3D CARD
2 for SECONDARY D3D CARD
Note: I do not know why when set to 1, the game on occasion seems to do a new detection and changes the value to 2 often.
Game CTD When Entering Flight Issue 2.
Flight screen plays for a brief second, then freezes and game crashes to desktop.
Solution: Set Windows Joystick= to 1 if there is nothing set for the Flight Controls (such as no Keyboard keys, nor a Joystick).
Solution 2: Use the in-game Configure Controls menu screens before going into flight.
Game CTD Just Before Entering Flight (mission loading) Issue 1.
You don't have a Joystick plugged in or its not FF capable, but the setting for "Force Feedback=1" is set to 1 (ON) in the eaw.in file.
Solution: Open the eaw.ini and set "Force Feedback=0" or plug a FF stick in and leave it ON (1). You can find this entry under the headline [CONTROLS] (See the Code-Groups CTD information below in its own section if using the 1.28c/d versions, there's a bug that turns FF to 1 at all times).
Game CTD Just Before Entering Flight (mission loading) Issue 2.
If you have a joystick configured in the game previously, but when you go to load a new mission and you get a CTD. Its possible your stick is not plugged in anymore / installed or is turned off at the time loading fuel gauge % complete screen is displayed, this could cause a Crash to Desktop at that point. Note: If you launch the game without your Joystick plugged in or it's not detected properly, you will loose all assigned buttons.
Solution: Unplug your controller, wait a few seconds for WindowsOS to unload it, and re-plug in your controller. Reinstall / configure your device in WindowsOS. Then reload the game to the flight screen. (Unfortunately you must reconfigure your controller settings in EAW again, as they where lost).
Game CTD When Launching To Fly.
There is a common problem with the savedata due to a changed scenario; For an example: If you fly a default game mission in a Spit IX (Slot 11) offline the settings are saved in a file named "Default11.msn" which is placed in the "Savedata" folder, with details of the mission in it (targets, bases, support aircraft, enemy aircraft etc). The next time you fly a Spit IX the eaw.exe reads that file and uses it for the default mission settings. However, if afterwards you fly a custom add-on that uses the same slot, then the eaw.exe tries to use the settings in the "Default11.msn" file, this is when the problem occurs. Since you switch scenarios, and the values in the "Default11.msn" file no longer make sense as they do not apply to the new add-on, this will crash the game. Note: Also some of the "last game" settings are also stored in the "eaw.ini" file
PlayerPlane=11
PlayerNation=1
LastCampaign=3
These may also cause a problem when a change of scenario is made.
Solution: Delete all of the "DefaultXY.msn" files from "Savedata" folder...
Game CTD After A Duration In Flight.
If you been flying about for several minutes or more and the game closes. It could be the "Extrasquads = " setting in the eaw.ini is set too high for your computer system, as the extrasquad setting requires a much more memory usage for the use of extra planes, It also could be that in combination with the lot of additional planes (plus more bombs) cause a memory overflow... It could lead to a somewhat unbalanced dynamic campaign, especially the missions set toward the end of the war. During some tests it looks like at a certain point the career files don't know what to do with the additional squads... You can also, at times get CTD whenever you try to use the [Alt N] skip function when there are very many planes in the air near by.
Solution: Use a smaller value when setting it like 1 or 2, if that doesn't work try the Default of 0, if your having too many CTD and can't resolve it otherwise.
Solution2: Avoid skipping sections of flight with [ALT N], especially when using Extra planes.
Game CTD During A Campaign Mission.
You may get a CTD during flight in a Career Mission, as it is part of the dynamic campaign. It can be buggy in Campaign Career Mode.
Solution: For testing with improved memory usage, set all graphic options in EAW configured to "low" to save memory usage.
Solution2: Remember the Campaigns put the most "stress" on the Win95 EAW game, and the games memory use is dated; uses legacy system memory, more so than GPU. Try using a Wrapper with Win95 Memory Compatibility if you have frequent Campaign drop outs. See my 'Troubleshoot Wrappers Help Document'.
If using a Wrapper , even the GOG wrapper. Remove the automatically applied registry entry if its present. See my 'Troubleshoot Registry Help Document' for more info.
Game CTD After A Campaign Mission.
You may get a CTD in Career Mode after a mission has ended. This is because the Smacker Video playback may have failed. If you still have the full original stock MOVIES.CDF file and not the blank movies.cdf file in your game folder this may happen. You may also have a custom movie that's not playing back properly.
Solution: To avoid this change the Video Playback=1 setting in your eaw.ini file (this file is in your game folder and opens with Notepad), change the value to 0. OR use the empty blank movies.cdf to see if you can get to the next screen...
Game CTD When Using View Objects.
If you use the View Objects selection on the games menu to View Planes on anything other than a Win9x/ME system. This could cause a Blank Black Screen or CTD cause it was coded with an earlier and buggy game code.
Solution: Don't use it. Use ESC to get out of Blank Screen.
Game CTD When Loading Game / It will never run.
If you ran into a big problem (this doesn't happen for normal use, nor often, so don't worry) because something went wrong and the game won't run anymore (after it was working for a duration at one point). You may be experiencing odd errors or a quick flash and the game CTD. Meaning the game no longer runs and will not ever run again.
Solution: To correct this go to the WINDOWS REGISTRY section of my 'Troubleshoot Registry Help Document' and read the topic titled 'Cleaning Out The Registry Of EAW' for the some what in depth solution.
*CTD Any Time.
If none of the above solutions work, try this.
Delete or rename your eaw.ini file (to eaw.ini.old) and disconnect any gaming controls , including gaming mice or gaming keyboards / keypads that require a special or extra driver to support those gaming devices. Launch the EAW game again directly by double clicking your eaw.exe, for testing purposes (without wrapper support)....do some investigation of your controls, see your control device instructions.

Mouse Pointer On Screen:
The desktop mouse pointer will sometimes appear in the center of EAW's game screen, frozen. The game will work fine and you can still use the in-game mouse to move around. Other times there can be two mouse pointers moving around on the game menu screens. One would be the desktop pointer and the other would be the game's pointer.

Its unclear why this happens, perhaps something to do with priority or focus.

Below are some options you have to solve the issue you maybe having with the mouse pointer. These are remedies from nearly 20 years ago up to today (2019).

A game restart will normally fix this problem temporarily.
Run the game as Administrator (If not already logged in as an Admin).
Right clicking on the eaw.exe in windows explorer and selecting "open". (instead of double-clicking it).
Try turning off in Windows; 3D Pointer or Animated Pointers or Shadow Pointer.
Turn off Turn on Clicklock and Display pointer trails and Show location.
Set custom mouse pointers back to Windows default.
Turn off program and or game overlays.
Run EAW by using a Desktop Shortcut.
Run EAW by using a Taskbar Shortcut.

EAW Downloaded from EB Games:
If you purchased the 183MB download setup install file program from EB Games back in 2006/2007, this installer program will not run under any operating system other than one of the Win9x operating systems, even when you have set the compatibility tab for the installer program.
You will need to be able to install EAW (using the Full Install option) on a Win9x system, then burn the resulting EAW folder to CD or DVD. Take the disc to your system running Windows 2000, Windows XP, or any other WinNT OS and copy the EAW folder to your hard drive.

D3D.DLL Missing Error:
For some reason the Windows OS (or antivirus) likes to remove the d3d.dll file from your game folder on occasion... This prevents the game from loading up. Simply replace the dll again with a copy of the same version of the dll that your using. (Some unofficial versions may have a different dll than the stock game). It should remain once you replace it.

If you determine why this happens please let me know.

Missing Horizon FOG:
This is a problem with NVIDIA Drivers (not a XP/Vista/Win7/Win8/Win10 issue really) that occurs in D3D mode, there is no Horizon Fog in the flight screen when run natively. (there will be a sharp boundary between sky and ground. You will see the corners of the square EAW world) which ruins the visual quality. (Note: Even with the HorizonDistance setting in game set to the maximum view distance (minimum fog), the Fog is still suppose to be present.) It would be displayed from ground to sky.

However for best gameplay its advised to set the Horizon Distance as if it was still displayed as AI may be effected by the visual distance they can see, even if the FOG isn't "really" there.

The current solution to the missing fog is to use an AMD / ATI Video Card in native or wrapped D3D mode. For NVidia cards, use Glide Mode, use a Glide wrapper program. Some DirectX Wrappers will provide forced FOG support in Direct3D mode now (June 2023), such as the DxWnd Wrapper (by ghotik). So NVidia cards are no longer without fog when wrapped with a good wrapper.

Stretched Game Screens:
While running the game "Full Screen" Stretching can occur if your in game resolution does not match the desktop screen resolution. If you have a Wide Screen Monitor and the game is using the entire screen, its very possible its stretched. You'll notice this on custom resolutions very easily, as everything may appear squashed. For an example: 1680x1050 Desktop and your Game screen is 1024x768. You can also check this during the games Flight Screen; see if your Gun Sight is oval or circler in shape. If it's Oval, this indicates the image is stretched, the sight would be squashed.

You can use your video card drivers Video Control Panel to maintain screen 'Aspect Ratio". This will produce the screen with black side bars aka pillar columns to display the game properly when using certain resolutions, thus preventing the game screen from stretching to the size of your desktop/monitor resolution.

If your getting screen stretching when entering or flying in the game. Do the following to avoid it and the game will display correctly. (I only have instructional steps for the NVIDIA Control Panel).

Open your Nvidia Control Panel,
Select under Display on the left; 'Adjust desktop size and position'.
On the monitor you use to display EAW (if you have more than one monitor) select the tab 'Scaling'.
Set the Scaling Mode to: 'Aspect ratio'. (or 'No Scaling' if you like smaller screens).
Next set Perform Scaling on: 'GPU'. (Your monitor may support scaling correctly by itself. You can set it for 'Display', use this setting for optimal use with newer monitors).

Scaling Modes:

Aspect Ratio:
While using a Wide Screen Monitor, I have a 4:3 Aspect Ratio (square) Resolution set for my game in the eaw.ini. So with this setting set, the game displays proportional now with black bars on the left and right side of the screen. The top and bottom of the actual game screen should touch the top and bottom of your monitor. All un stretched.
No Scaling:
Now if you want or need black bars across the top and bottom as well, then Select the No Scaling option under Scaling Mode. This will place the game in the center of the screen at actual game resolution. The menu screens will display at there given size while your flight screen will also. (Its like setting the Res 0x0 in a Wrapper, auto).
Full Screen:
This is the mode that will use your entire screen, and most in-game resolutions will be stretched. You may find you like it, but that's up to you.

Perform Scaling On:

GPU:
You may prefer this setting for older wide monitors, as they do not have the built-in hardware to scale.
Display:
You may prefer this setting for newer, more capable wide monitors, as they do have built-in hardware scaling.

If you want to use the game in a Wrapper program to maintain aspect ratio you can do that too as most provide proper aspect ratio settings or do it automatically. They also have other scaling options as well.

See my 'Troubleshoot Wrappers Help Document' for that information.

More On Known Video Problems:
Also read my 'Known Bugs Help Document' if you are really interested in learning more background info about the errors listed within this section. You will find more in depth descriptions about each error there. There are a whole bunch of other problems with the graphics portion of the game. Not required reading, more for the technically minded.

Video Post Processing:
Video Post Processing software that was tested; SweetFX and the newer version, now called, Reshade fail at providing any benefit to this DirectX6 coded game, such as on Win7 and Win10. Those programs do not support DX6 games as it was determined that Shades where introduced in DX8 games. Since these programs require Shades to be available through the game to alter them, the DX6 code in EAW would not benefit from such programs.

**For more advanced technical information regarding getting your game to run properly, please read my 'Troubleshoot Registry Help Document'. Perhaps that help document will guide you if the above info has failed in helping you properly. Be-advised, it may be difficult to understand, be patient, ask for help if needed.

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