How to run WBC series stably on modern setups

There are 2 points of it.(Installation video have it at the end after game is shutdown due to editing bug this time, will fix that when I make another video). Invisible troop bug is fixed since 0.8.9 and game can now use up to 4GB of RAM.

1. Windows from vista to 10 require the game launching file to be run under certain compatibility, to do this right click on the game file and select "Properties" like so
   , new window will popup like so
   and then select the "Compatibility" tab in this new window. In Compatibility mode select "windows xp service 2 or 3, or windows vista or it's service pack1" any one of them should work. Check the disable desktop composition and check the disable the visual themes ( windows 10 don't have these options so don't worry over them ). Also select "run this program as Administrator".
   
   
2. Make exclusion in your ANTI-VIRUS program for this game's folder because I experienced few times where the game will just not load and after black screen will be returned to desktop as if nothing happened.
   

There are 3 points for such softwares.

1. Windows 8 and 10 require people to have direct play feature installed on their windows installation, windows 7 have it by default. To do this they need to go to start menu and search "windows features" where the search would popup with "Turn windows features on or off" like so
   
   click to launch it's windows. Wait a little for it to load all things then find "legacy components" expand the "+" and check the direct play feature like so
   and press "ok" to have it installed by windows.
   
   
2. For windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10 Make sure you have x86 and x64 both Microsoft visual C++ Redistributions Versions of the years 2005, 2008 2010 installed. Without these game might run but it have been reported of game running slow. Links to get download them
   https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29
   https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3387
   https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=13523
   https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8328
   https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15336
   https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=21254
   
   After installation they will look similar to this
   
   
   
   
3. Also install directx 9.0c because these windows might not come with it or you might have corruption happened to it also. Link to get directx 9c https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=8109
   

For FPS and graphical glitches, could be a corruption of the drivers. This happens a lot when installing new drivers on top of previous drivers for GPU's for AMD, Intel and Nvidia. Clean installation of AMD/Intel/Nvidia drivers by removing every driver through windows "uninstall or change a program".

Then open device manager and scan for hardware changes let it install any softwares it have for GPU


then right click on newly installed drivers for your AMD/Intel/Nvidia GPU and select uninstall and new window will popup check the "delete the driver software for this device" option.

Repeat this process until it is showing basic drivers not AMD/Intel/Nvidia Geforce drivers.


Also if you are limiting the frame rate for your gpus that will cause the game to be run slowly and only when in-game this is shown and to bypass this without removing the limit, is to press the "r" key which is used to show command radius this will make the game run smoothly with normal speed, it will not always work. I used nvidia inspector to limit my frame rate to 72fps which was my cause of the game to be run slowly until r was pressed. But it is still better to let the game run without having fps limit set using any software for this game to be run properly, because fps limiting and rendering of graphics I believe are done in different manners than other typical current gen games.

Using FreeSync/G-Sync would results in game to slowdown to a crawl as well since they use similar method of controlling FPS as well. This have been confirmed for FreeSync but would be be to G-Sync as well due to how game frames and game logic is rendered together resulting is no frame to be discarded for now. We hope to fix this in future but for now it is the same for WBC series and TPC included.

The resolution is although limiting factors but the game can be still seen more clearly if your gpus have such support for them to be scaled better than routine scale ups on gpus normally does. Let me be clear by giving you all an example how to do this. I have nvidia graphics card where normal control panel only show what type of scaling we require like preserve aspect ration, stretch to fullscreen and centre screen no scaling at all. I select the stretch to fullscreen. But this control panel doesn't show which method of scaling the gpu have to use, this is where 3rd party software come in, i use nvidia inspector there is an option for quality upscaling enable this option, globally or for this particular game and the on screen stretching done by gpus will be much cleaner looking than before this. The reason behind better scaling is due to scaling method being used normalling it is bilinear or bicubic(not sure which one yet) method but with this option enabled it will use lacroze method to upscale things for any kind of upscaling and this is what made my day the first time i tried it on globally for every game and even small portions being scaled on any game looks much better than before even on modern games. I don't know about amd or intel gpu if they can have such features turned on.

Some users have monitors which have monitors for 60+hz they are sometimes unable to run game. They should create custom resolution of 60hz from their respective GPU software or use https://www.monitortests.com/forum/Thread-Custom-Resolution-Utility-CRU for it. Later one always works if this is the problem. Since version 0.8.8 it is fixed.

Don't use windowed mode it is bugged to crash game for most people. And there is bug in the game to force select to windows mode (only for TPC mod)

Currently some user can't open the game, so there is a registry fix which might help as well. Since windows 10 installs updates automatically and changes graphics drivers, the game's resolution needs to reset due to it.
Using regedit, HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software->The Protectors->Options Change the ResolutionSelected value to 01 00 00 00 and windowed value to 00

If playing game on 0.8.7 version of mod then more resolutions are supported in this patch and this point becomes partially obsolete.

If your monitor can support the actual resolution which game is hard coded it will run otherwise it will crash e.g If you have monitor of 1920x1080 than you try to run 1600x1200 resolution on it the game either won't show the resolution or it will crash but you can still use other resolution which can fit horizontally and vertically on the monitor you have but if that resolution is beyond the monitor the game crashes if in menus it is not crashing it will crash in game.For 2560x1440@60 or1920x1200@60 or 1600x1200@60 monitor resolution available in-game resolutions are 800x600, 1024x768, 12xxX10xx and 1600x1200 but 1600x1200 is not stable for everyone and crashes alot so choose lower ones. For 1920x1080@60 monitors the resolutions in-game resolution are available 800x600, 1024x768 and 12xxX10xx. For monitors and laptops 1366x768@60 or 1600x900@60 resolution in-game available options are only 800x600 and 1024x768 can be selected. ONLY MOD "THE PROTECTORS" allow resolutions of 1600x900 and 1920x1080 in-game.

If playing on LAPTOPS use the standard resolution of your laptop of 1366x768 in-game or closer to it. Unless you have high resolution laptop don't bother going to lower resolution than this, reason for it is the optimization of GPU software that is being used for laptops.
ALWAYS select resolution close to your monitors/laptop's screen, or near to it downwards in terms of resolution. For example if you have monitor of resolution 1366x768 but game is not showing that resolution select 1 step down to your monitors resolution and that would be 1280x720, never select 1280x1024 or something like that it will make game crash at weirdest places.

Selecting resolution as mention above keeping everything in mind, use the resolution where you can click units and see them if having problems on using mods with higher resolutions and seeing things too small just use smaller resolutions and use the stretch screen every GPU allows it, also if yours allows use high quality upscaling mentioned above. This lets you see things clearly still playing with some quality to graphics. E.g i had 1920x1080 21.5 inch monitor but using 1024x768 works best for my brother i used 1 up resolution to that. But at 23.6 inch monitor with same 1920x1080 resolution i am comfortable at 1680x1050(this is for protectors mod and also a bug in there because it is actually 1600x900) and things are too small at 1920x1080 monitor resolution so people at 27 inches and 1920x1080 monitor resolution will be much more comfortable at 1920x1080 or lower in-game resolution. And people using 27 inch 2560x1440 resolution monitors might benefit from 1920x1080 or 1680x1050 resolution or lower, this is all taste wise resolution choices for people who thinks units buildings are too small in game.

For those who have Realtek audio cards they can use the Realtek 3D SoundBack Beta 0.1 driver which only runs under compatibility mode "window vista or service pack 1 or 2" and the game compatibility should be changed to "windows vista or vista service pack 1" for it to take effect otherwise game options remain greyed out as this software was made specifically for window vista. What these drivers do is allow your game's eax to be turn on in game for older game which support this feature like warlords for full 3d surround sound effects. In warlords battlecry 1 you have to select the eax based options to be allowed to even turn the option on or off, other games will allow directly. Once the software is installed change the compatibility to above mentioned and may require admin permission. Open the installed application 3d soundback from the installed directory default is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Realtek\3D Sound Back Beta0.1" either the game directory will be added automatically or (like me) manually needed to be added. Add the game directory where your game's gamename.exe file is located e.g "K:\Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\Warlords Battlecry" andnow enable the option for it, thats it you just need to open the game and enable the options in-game for eax to take effect. Might require complete computer restart to take full effect. Alternate software is name alchemy which is for creative labs sound cards

I have used OBS Studio to be able to record the game. You have to use the display capture source because game capture don't work. Also the in-game resolution have to be use as max resolution of your display otherwise you will have gaps which allow desktop to be seen behind it. For example if your monitor is 1920x1080 resolution and you use in-game resolution of 1280x720 then remaining part of your monitor will be recorded even though the game is full screen. If you use in-game resolution of 1920x1080 then there is no gap and only game is captured.

My settings in pictures below but they are for 1920X1080 resolution so last 2 pictures are your choice, mine are for reference only.