BlueFlower
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 160
Registered: 10-27-2013
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As the title says, whenever I open the game it runs super slow, is there anything I can do to alleviate the problem?

I am using a win 10 System.

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Radiant
Level: Moderator

Rank Points: 142
Registered: 02-05-2003
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The easiest thing you can do is help greenlight the upcoming sequel, which is written to run on more modern computers.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=864103923

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= Radiant =

Movac
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 24
Registered: 09-01-2014
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I was able to get SubTerra running smoothly on Windows 10 using WineD3D. I can't guarantee that it will be flawless, but I ran through a few levels and it seems to work. There's no official Windows release of WineD3D, but this build seems popular. For my own use I compiled it myself from the current 2.0 stable release; I've uploaded my personal copy here. (Security note: you shouldn't just trust software uploaded by random forum users! Even though I'm not trying to trick you, you have no reason to trust me. If you upload the .zip file to VirusTotal you can see that 59 different antivirus scanners give it a clean bill of health.) To install it, just unpack the contents of the .zip file into the folder where SubTerra is installed. (Or just copy ddraw.dll, libwine.dll, and wined3d.dll, which should be all that SubTerra needs.)

Some background info: Wine is a system used to run Windows software on other operating systems. They have their own implementation of the Windows graphics system that they call WineD3D. It's not perfectly compatible, but in cases like this where Microsoft has made changes that break older games, WineD3D can often work better than Microsoft's code.

BlueFlower
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 160
Registered: 10-27-2013
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Radiant wrote:
The easiest thing you can do is help greenlight the upcoming sequel, which is written to run on more modern computers.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=864103923

Already did. The reason why I even asked is the nostalgia I felt after seeing that. Hopeully it comes out soon. You guys make some of the most interesting and fun games, and I say keep up the good work.


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Danjen02
Level: Roachling

Rank Points: 11
Registered: 11-08-2007
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Oh cool, I didn't realize it was being remade and on Steam. Apparently they're dropping (dropped?) Greenlight soon.

Will it still run such that timing-dependent puzzles work the same? I remember something in the help files stating it ran at 256 ticks per second or something like that.

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SubTerra
- Ultimate rank
- 2009 level design contest, 2nd place

Natnee
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 12-26-2008
IP: Logged

Movac, could you post that copy again, or PM me? The link is dead I'd love to get subterra working on my windows 10 computer.

Looking forward to seeing an updated version on steam, will it be compatible with old levels?

Natnee
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 12-26-2008
IP: Logged

Tried using two wine builds from that link, by pasting the files from the zip into the directory, but it just comes up with a black screen now unless I run in windowed mode (which worked before... just about an inch wide on my screen). Do I have to edit the .exe file like the wine instruction suggest for pre-directx 7 files? Any help getting this running on windows 10 with a 4k monitor would be appreciated!

Movac
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 24
Registered: 09-01-2014
IP: Logged

My apologies, it looks like Dropbox either disabled public file hosting or hid the feature somewhere I can't immediately find. Here's that same copy of WineD3D uploaded to another host (the forum doesn't seem to like linking to this format of URL, you'll need to copy/paste):

https://mega.nz/#!9xZzEYaI!gh5A_jIQFahjZknErfxQZuuHoq1He6_gn0URims674k

I don't have a 4K monitor to test on, but full-screen mode works for me using this build.

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[Last edited by Movac at 08-28-2017 08:28 PM]

Fizzii
Level: Goblin

Rank Points: 22
Registered: 07-16-2007
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Looking forward to seeing an updated version on steam, will it be compatible with old levels?

It will have a selection of the best levels from Sub Terra 1&2, as well as new levels.

Natnee
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 12-26-2008
IP: Logged

Thanks for the upload. I copied the files into the subterra 1 directory, couldn't get it to work so I tried it on another machine with windows 10 but normal resolutions, it loads up but freezes on the login page. Tried various compatibility modes and high dpi settings.

Am I missing something obvious, like making wine a part of the exe path, or editing something to point to these dlls?

Movac
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 24
Registered: 09-01-2014
IP: Logged

I'm sorry, I know "it works for me" is unhelpful, but I'm not sure what's going wrong. I didn't need to edit any files to make it work, and SubTerra.exe runs without any compatibility options set.

Just in case, I've gone ahead and uploaded this full working copy of SubTerra. (I hope that's not a problem with the Crystal Shard folks, since the game's free. Please PM me if you want me to take it down!)

https://mega.nz/#!hhhHHAKB!p6wFC6nEDYf5X7r7ycxvKFno_78OfVXczNnZnYj4umU

If you replace the contents of your SubTerra installation folder with what's in this zip file, it should hopefully run. It contains just the required DLL files from WineD3D: ddraw, libwine, wined3d. I also went ahead and followed the hex-editing directions from that other WineD3D build: ddraw.dll is renamed to ddsub.dll, and the reference to ddraw.dll in SubTerra.exe was changed accordingly. Again, it worked for me without that step, but I thought it was worth a try in case there's some odd compatibility issue. I've tested this copy of SubTerra on my 64-bit Windows 10 PC, and it runs at full speed without crashing.

There's another graphics compatibility tool that might be useful: dgVoodoo2. It's a few more steps to set up than WineD3D usually is, but I just tried it and it seems to work about as well. Here's the process, starting from a clean installation of SubTerra (with the original SubTerra.exe, no compatibility modes set, and no extra .dll files in the folder):

1. From the dgVoodoo2 zip file, copy dgVoodooCpl.exe and the DLL files from the MS folder to the SubTerra install folder. All files should be in the same folder as SubTerra.exe, don't leave the DLLs in a separate MS folder.

2. Right-click dgVooDooCpl and run it as an administrator.

3. Click the button near the top-right that says ".\". That will tell dgVoodoo to make a local configuration file just for this game.

4. In the general tab, set the scaling mode to "Stretched, keep Aspect Ratio". By default it seems to stretch the image to fill the entire screen, so it would be distorted on wide-screen monitors.

5. In the DirectX tab, disable the dgVoodoo watermark.

6. Click apply, close the control panel, and find out if the game works.

Natnee
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 12-26-2008
IP: Logged

Thanks so much! That file works in windowed mode. Nothing seems to work in fullscreen for a 4k screen. But this is good enough for now