Steel beasts on Windows 10

[armouredtrooper]

Years ago, my son bought me this game for my laptop with Windows xp. I've since upgraded my operating system to Windows 10 and now find that I can no longer play this fantastic game. Can anything be done to allow this old tanker the joys of this game? I'm pretty PC illiterate as I come from an era of clay tablets and chisels....

[Rotareneg]

Steel Beasts or Steel Beasts Pro PE? The original SB won't run right on anything newer than XP. I use VirtualBox to run a virtual install of XP on a Windows 10 system, which then can run the old SB just fine.

[Stevo]

i run steelbeasts on windows 10 without any problems,have you tried running the program as "administrator"? or maybe you're missing some directxdrivers.

Edited June 3, 2016 by Stevo

[Gibsonm]

13 hours ago, armouredtrooper said:

Years ago, my son bought me this game for my laptop with Windows xp.

 

I think Rotar is correct.

 

If "years ago" is quite a while ago you may have Steel Beasts or Steals Beasts Gold.

 

This sort of thing:

 

 



 

 

Steel Beasts Pro PE (the current software - itself roughly ten years old) will run fine.

 

Edited June 3, 2016 by Gibsonm

[Swordsmandk]

That's some old stuff ?

[armouredtrooper]

Thanks gents, I think I'll run this PC down to my repair outfit and see what they can do for me. And yes there are drivers missing. 

I guess "years ago" is a bit of an understatement. 1998 if memory serves. I had just retired from the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps, and had trained on the

Leopard 1 A3 (Leopard C1)

Edited June 3, 2016 by armouredtrooper
Explanation of years ago

[Ssnake]

SB1 is "15 years ago", SB Pro PE is "10 years ago". So if we're indeed talking about SB1 my only advice would be to try out a virtual machine with Windows 98. There are numerous problems - starting with the use of DirectX 7, or the fact that most graphics card drivers these days no longer support 256 color mode (8 bit) with 640x480 screen resolution - and given that we discontinued the original Steel Beasts in 2003 I see myself unable to render detailed assistance.

 

Simply put, installing a current version of SB Pro PE is the by far better choice. Not only is it the better simulation, it looks much prettier, it offers essentially the same game style and user interface but has a vastly expanded tactical scope. Above all, it installs comparatively painless. Tinkering with SB1 these days is a terrible waste of limited life time.

[colin]

I have SB Pro I think build 2.082 and just tried installing it on my Win 10 machine, installs, but does not start, says Codemetter or Wibukey runtime system is not installed. I tried 2 installs and I have the dongle in a usb port.

[Mirzayev]

Have you installed the CodeMeter software? If not, download it here: http://codemeter.com/us/service/downloads.html

[colin]

thank you!!! I kept thinking it was on the disc/ I see I have 2.460, now to see if there are any free upgrades.

[Ssnake]

Yes, 2.483, but it ends right there.

Your license upgrade option in our web shop would catapult you right into version 3.0.

 

Your 2.4 license is unfortunately not eligible for a direct version 4.0 upgrade, as licenses of type 2.5 or later will be required.

[colin]

thanks I will chew on that for a wee bit

[SippyCup]

Thread isn't that old and I found a solution, so I don't feel bad resurrecting it.

 

I used the "Battle Pak" CD version. Doubt that it matters, but worth mentioning. Here's how I got it running on Windows 10 X64:

 

Set "setup.exe" to Win XP SP2 compatibility mode, and run as admin. Install the game

Don't set any compatibility settings with SBLoader.exe or tankSim.exe

Download d3drm.dll and place it in the "release" folder (I had an error saying I needed it the first time I tried running the game. I assume it meant in System32, but I just fired it into the game directory)

Download and install DXWnd

 

DXWnd instructions:

 

Edit > Add

Browse to tankSim.exe and select it

Run it from DXWnd

Default settings work, but you can modify the properties to run fullscreen, windowed, and a few other things.

 

That's it... Steel Beasts Legacy in Win 10. Wish I had figured this out during the Win 7 and 8 days. Ah well... makes it all the more fun to play it after so long. I play Pro PE, but Legacy is its own beast with its own feel. I'm sure we all have fond memories.

 

Create a DXWnd shortcut, change the name to Steel Beasts, change the icon, and you're all neat and tidy.

 

Attached is a screenshot of it running windowed.

 

Edited September 6, 2017 by SippyCup

[Rotareneg]

Ah, cool! Also works with Dangerous Waters, thanks!

[Agathosdaimon]

On 9/7/2017 at 7:28 AM, SippyCup said:

Thread isn't that old and I found a solution, so I don't feel bad resurrecting it.

 

I used the "Battle Pak" CD version. Doubt that it matters, but worth mentioning. Here's how I got it running on Windows 10 X64:

 

Set "setup.exe" to Win XP SP2 compatibility mode, and run as admin. Install the game

Don't set any compatibility settings with SBLoader.exe or tankSim.exe

Download d3drm.dll and place it in the "release" folder (I had an error saying I needed it the first time I tried running the game. I assume it meant in System32, but I just fired it into the game directory)

Download and install DXWnd

 

DXWnd instructions:

 

Edit > Add

Browse to tankSim.exe and select it

Run it from DXWnd

Default settings work, but you can modify the properties to run fullscreen, windowed, and a few other things.

 

That's it... Steel Beasts Legacy in Win 10. Wish I had figured this out during the Win 7 and 8 days. Ah well... makes it all the more fun to play it after so long. I play Pro PE, but Legacy is its own beast with its own feel. I'm sure we all have fond memories.

 

Create a DXWnd shortcut, change the name to Steel Beasts, change the icon, and you're all neat and tidy.

 

Attached is a screenshot of it running windowed.

 

although i have SBpro pe 4.0, i really like  old games and in particular the old SB, which i have the Strategy First version of. I installed it and have it running in DXWND and it runs fast and smooth, however teh tank textures are a bit weird in that the seem to be come transparent and then you see the textures inside out - do have this issue with the game in DXWND - granted i didnt install it in  compatibility mode, but would that really make a difference?

 

(edit) i also find i cant run the tanksim.exe file unless i still the D3DRM.dll file in that release folder also - surely you have to do this too?

incidentally i did a reinstall and did setup with xp sp2 compat setting but still the game needs the D3DRM.dll file to run

Edited February 16, 2018 by Agathosdaimon
i need to add an extra question

[Ssnake]

I should point out that dropping some DLL from some source on the internet is a serious assault on your own computer security. DLLs aren't just any file. They are almost the same as program executables, except that they need to be called by other program executables, and they run within the security context of the calling program. That means, if you run the tanksim.exe "as administrator", the DLL will have admin privileges as well!

 

Anyone can program a DLL and call it D3DRM.dll; a really good programmer might even enable the same functions as the MS version, just add/hide some extra functionality on top of it.

 

So, for the sake of IT security I feel compelled to warn about this dangerous practice, and strongly advise against it.

[Rotareneg]

To fix the inverted tanks when using DXWnd, enable expert mode in the options menu, right click on your SB shortcut in DXWnd and pick modify. In the Tweaks tab enable "ddraw:AllowSysMemoryOn3DDevices". And just in case anyone is curious, d3drm.dll is for Direct3D Retained Mode, which was not updated past DirectX 3 and was dropped from Vista or 7, not sure which.

[Gibsonm]

Depends on what you mean by "tweak" ????????

[stuvak12]

First of all thank you. I tried the above (downloading the DLL and using DXWnd and the tweak of "ddraw:AllowSysMemoryOn3DDevices" and it works and allows me to play. Its amazing to be able to play this game again. However, after playing a mission and wishing to play another, a dialogue box appears that says "ERROR INITIALIZING D3DRM!" and I have to exit out of the game and restart it in order to play another mission. Any ideas on why this is happening ?

[Ssnake]

On 4.6.2016 at 10:07 AM, Ssnake said:

Tinkering with SB1 these days is a terrible waste of limited life time.

I guess it's justified to repeat myself just this one time.

[Gibsonm]

3 hours ago, stuvak12 said:

However, after playing a mission and wishing to play another, a dialogue box appears that says "ERROR INITIALIZING D3DRM!" and I have to exit out of the game and restart it in order to play another mission. Any ideas on why this is happening ?

Yes, you are trying to get something to run on an operating system that it isn't designed to run on.

 

You future is bound to be filled with frustration for very little return (esp. as there is a newer, better, product that does run on Windows 10).

 

What next, trying to get a Beta video tape to work on a DVD player and then be upset that it looks terrible on a 4K monitor?

 

Edited March 3, 2019 by Gibsonm

[Ssnake]

Well, no need to get hostile over this. Some people like to tinker, and there's nothing wrong with that. We just can't provide tech support for reasons already outlined in this thread.

[oathkeeper451]

i honestly i like the work that the community put into the first with the missions maps etc its just good. i like the new but why let hard work of other die for a buck  same amount of effort would go toward conversion if can get it to convert.

Edited October 1, 2021 by oathkeeper451

[RS88]

Those declared dead live longer

Yes, I still belong to the old guard and am a friend of the SB1 legacy.

For various reasons, but that is not what I am concerned with now.

 

I know that 25-year-old software is not very attractive and can only cause concern.

Sales and support have long since ceased. But I still enjoy it.

 

There are people who also want to keep older and well-made software alive. For this purpose they have developed a powerful tool called DxWnd. Very useful for retro gamers on new hardware.

 

And for anyone who's interested, here's my experience with it.

CU -RS88-

 

 

[Captain_Colossus]

if i recall, the t-80 model was peculiar in that it was represented as a T-80U, which it was not- at least not visually. i could not really identify what it was supposed to be since there are K1 bricks painted on the glacis and the turret top, nothing which looks like ERA on the turret front, the side skirts look like the rubber canvas on the t-72 without anything additional, so it was a sort of a T-80BV without the complete set of ERA protection on the turret, unless it was more of the effect of the low resolution textures

 

and therefore i think that viewing recorded video at your desktop resolution fails to capture just how low resolution it tended to look when you were running it in its native resolution, in particular the infantry looked like pieces of television static animated and moving around

 

more than all of that you have more content - if you wanted to operate the bradley or the t-72, they were not available. no prepared positions for the vehicles or the infantry, so it is not only the form but the function as well which has improved. maybe it would make sense out of habit or nostalgia to return to it, but i will never get why anyone would actually prefer to run legacy SB1 and only that