Windows 8

[MattCaspermeyer]

I'm not sure how many people are trying to play TL in Windows 8, but I've started to experiment with it and here are some observations:

• Standard Running with H3B Mod
  • I've had crashes when trying to transfer save games from Windows 7 to Windows 8. I'm not sure what is going on here for certain, but it appears to be related to file credentials.
  • I was able to copy a save game from my Windows 7 install to my Windows 8 install by:
    • Copying it to the root folder of my Windows 8 install (i.e. C:\)
    • Then copying it to my Windows 8 user folder
  • I was able to play for the most part, except that when I try to go to the Western Islands, the game crashes.
  • In my current transferred Windows 7 to Windows 8 game, I haven't gotten past Ellinia and so am uncertain if the game crashes in Demonis, Mehgard, and beyond.
  • I also tried a new game with Windows 8 and was also able to make it to the Western Islands without it crashing (but haven't played further yet).
  • I have been unable to copy a save game from my Windows 8 install to my Windows 7
    • The file simply doesn't appear in the save game list when I'm trying to load a save game from Windows 7
    • I'm not sure what the problem is here.
  • So it seems best to just stick with playing your games in the Windows you started them with and to just start a new game if you want to switch O/S's.
• Development Mode
  • I've noticed that I get more diagnostic error messages when running the game in -dev mode with Windows 8 than with Windows 7
  • Because of this, I've found quite a few more bugs than when I was developing on Windows 7 when it comes to modding.
  • I'm not certain whether there are differences between LUA from Windows 7 to Windows 8 or that there is more diagnostic capability.

All the above is with a fresh install of Windows 8 Pro. So you mileage may vary, but it'll be interesting to hear about your TL experience with Windows 8.

/C\/C\

[Sir Whiskers]

Have you seen any indications that modding in Win8 would cause issues if the mod was played on a Win7 machine? For example, if you create a new LUA or other file?

[MattCaspermeyer]

I don't think there are any issues with modding in Windows 8 and playing the same mod in Windows 7.

All the error messages I've received in Windows 8 seem to play fine in Windows 7, but when I fix them in Windows 8 so that I don't see the error message then they work great in Windows 7 as well.

They are mostly issues with "nil" values in the LUA code that I guess I must have missed, although I have an issue in Windows 8 with "clamping" of the Leadership Reduction counters that is not mentioned in Windows 7. I have not fully tested this out to see if the counter limits are simply being ignored in Windows 7. I've also had issues with how I was trying to use some of the animation LUA libraries and Windows 8 has helped me fix some of the errors in the animation sequences that I was doing.

I'm uncertain as to whether there is an actual problem in Windows 7 when it is not enumerating the same error messages in the code as in Windows 8, or if it is simply suppressing the errors and continuing to execute the code anyway (although I suspect that this is indeed the case).

But I've found that developing in Windows 8 seems to provide a better modding experience due to it being more strict with changes and I have to do a better job of coding to eliminate the error messages.

I've actually been able to fix a lot of bugs in my latest H3B mod (I hope to release soon) due to receiving error messages in code that I thought was working when I was developing in Windows 7. I haven't played with AP / CW, yet, but will provide my experience with them when I do...

Fortunately, I can dual-boot between Windows 7 & 8 right now and try certain things out in both (although I do have the transferring of save games issue I mentioned earlier).

Maybe a dev could chime in and let us know what their experience was...

/C\/C\

[MattCaspermeyer]

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

I'm uncertain as to whether there is an actual problem in Windows 7 when it is not enumerating the same error messages in the code as in Windows 8, or if it is simply suppressing the errors and continuing to execute the code anyway (although I suspect that this is indeed the case).

As it turns out, Windows 7 is simply not reporting the problem, but the issue is still present.

I've switched to developing in Windows 8 because of this since it is more informative with respect to enumerating problems, which I can't fix if I don't see them present themselves...

/C\/C\