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I have been becoming more active within the BW community running tournaments and casting a whole bunch of playing and watching. BW never fails to entertain me. Recently I have been getting huge headaches from this game. Not from the difficult UI of playing but rather just being able to launch the game and play some matches without my computer freezing.
I currently have a custom rig that was built about 2 years ago that runs windows 7. For all who don't know the issues of windows 7 and brood war I will tell you. Brood War is a very outdated game in terms of the hardware it was intended for. This game came out in the late 90's and I don't think at that time Blizzard was expecting a international community of an estimated 2000 people (complete speculation on my part just using my experience) and so this game was never ported completely over to windows 7. Blizzard incorporate the latest patch to BW back in 09' to make compatible with Vista and this still ran headaches for many users as there still many issues. When I go to play brood war in full-screen mode it will fun fine...for two to three games and then the game and my whole computer will freeze. Programs will continue to run but everything is struck forcing a hard reset of the entire system. When I come home from school or work and now I have to restart my computer after a few games every time its inconvenient for me, my progression as a player and for my opponent because they have to wait 60 seconds to drop me.
I have read many threads of how to "stabilize" brood war in Windows 7. For instance shutting off window's explorer, running brood war in a virtual box and "double layering" brood war. The shutting down of window's explorer only fixes one issue for me which is the distorted colors but that never bugged me at all because those were the colors I always got while running on my families Windows XP computer. The virtual box method causes my computer to perform sluggish which can hinder my performance while playing. The virtual box method for me also does not "capture" my mouse in game meaning if I try to pan to the left by bringing my cursor to the left part of my screen my cursor will just go outside of brood war. The "double layering" method I found from 2Pac through a forum post. His solution was to install Widows DXGL which runs it its own environment of what I understand. What I find out is that it will run the game without my computer freezing however it cuts off like 20 pixels of the bottom part of my screen. So maps like Fighting Spirit or any map for that matter where you can spawn between the 4 through the 7 o'clock you can't see half of your base. This is problematic. When you jump into an online match with GXGL it lags the game in such a way it makes it appear I am lagging. It slows the game down by lowering the frame rate and causes the opponent to suffer as well. This is not my goal I simply just want to play. Why can't a triple core, 4GB RAM and 1GB graphics card not run BW?! BW only required 16mb of Ram and 4mb of VRAM!
![[image loading]](http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3069/broodwarincomparisontod.png)
The one solution is to play in windowed mode. However when your running a monitor at 1600x900 the window is very tiny. It makes it a struggle to concentrate and to precisely to perform the task your trying to do. I've spent countless hours tinkering with settings and when I say windowed mode for the only way to reliably running BW on my system I am not lying.
I have tested many other methods but I don't want to bore my viewers with all those issues I think I might go crazy even if I did. I've even installed XP on my computer but that also has an issue where the game will occasionally just crash, won't force a hard-reset of the entire system but still an annoyance. There is also another high level of aggrevatiion of trying to be able to cast brood war to make sure everything goes well that could be its own subject...for three blog entries.
Due to my current issue running brood war I don't see how it is feasible for half of my free-time being spent in aggravation trying to run one of my favorite games. Who knows maybe of switching to SC2 I will return to:
![[image loading]](http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/9252/632437-starcraft_64_au_front.jpg)
So it is not that I hate Brood War because of difficulty and how other games are easier but rather just my inability to even run the game. I'm looking to "retire" from Brood War upon the release date of StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm. I respect every last Brood War community member this is their game. They grew up with this game in their teenage years. I was 7 when the whole brood war scene was very prosperous. My game is looking like StarCraft 2.
I am caught at an odd age. I was not a teenager when brood war was going strong in the professional scene I was 7 at the time. I don't blame myself for not enjoying the scene because I was too young to even understand it. However I still played Brood War since I was 7 or 6 so I grew up with this game as well but I'm just a late bloomer. So I'm not quite a StarCraft 2 boy but nor can I call myself a Brood War boy. It reminds me of all the family parties I have gone over the years. I was the youngest guy for a time everyone was doing their high school work, and college applications when I'm just heading into middle school. When it comes my time for college application process and going to school they are all out of school and now talking about their jobs and how they are all getting married. Its the same feeling with my StarCraft.
If any of you are fans of my casting, event organizing or w/e of Brood War don't worry! I've given much thought to the subject of how can I continue to have brood war active. Obviously I'm not going back the program that has caused me endless headaches recently. But, there is a nice MOD that I have been following called SC2BW a direct port of Brood War into SC2. I will continue to run my small tournaments and casts through SC2BW that as I respect the current casters of SC2.
Now for you SC2. I'm excited to be part of this community of yours! I can finally fully commit myself to watching my favorite teams, Evil Geniuses and SlayerS (disbanded). That's right EG.Machine I'm gonna follow you so hard now I'm hoping you perform outstanding in your run when HoTS comes out. SC2 has easier mechanics then Brood War so I'll be interested how I will be able to perform in this game.
StarCraft 2 here I come! I ready to make the leap. Thanks for the read Everyone.
 
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To be honest I find blaming it on windowed mode to be dodgy. Maybe there's a big difference between 1920x1080 and your resolution but I've never, not once, not once in any game, said "Goddamnit I would have been able to win if only it was fullscreen!"
That sir is an excuse and an excuse that will find a new way to manifest in SC2.
Edit: I don't mean to dump all over you in your own blog. I just want to share with you a fact of life. If you meet adversity in a game or in life and you throw in the towel and use it as a reason to call it quits you'll never be a winner. Sure, maybe you'll win games but giving in when the odds are against you is accepting a final defeat.
Go kick the shit out of SC2.
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Australia7069 Posts
Why not use 2x windowed mode, or change your desktop resolution to 800x600 when you play bw?
I have a 1920x1080 monitor and i've used both of these methods before. 2x windowed mode can be a little intensive on your computer but if you can run sc2 chances are 2x mode + streaming is fine, at least it is for me and my computer is broken in ways i don't really understand. But if you were just looking for an excuse to move on to sc2 i guess this works. whatevz
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Why not just go in game - menu - video - and uncheck the box that says 'enable color cycling' or something along those lines. It stopped the freezes for me and a few other individuals.
Edit: Also would like to point out that no one I told about this ever complained about freezes again.
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I think this is the weakest excuse I've ever heard someone give for quitting BW. There are definitely people who could help you fix it. However, if you just want to go on to SC2 (which I think is the case), just do it man. I enjoyed a few of the things you've done, and I hardly enjoy anything. GL
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On November 02 2012 18:15 Game wrote:
I think this is the weakest excuse I've ever heard someone give for quitting BW. There are definitely people who could help you fix it. However, if you just want to go on to SC2 (which I think is the case), just do it man. I enjoyed a few of the things you've done, and I hardly enjoy anything. GL
Coming from you Game means a lot 
As for responding to Kainte and others about other methods. In order 2x windowed mode you need 1920.1080 resolution or higher in order for the game to display properly or else it will cut itself off. Mentioned in the blog I didn't want bog you guys down with massive details of the hundreds of restarts and trials I did. On top of that hundreds of other trials of getting streaming, and getting casting to work as well.
I'd also like to the emphasize point that HOTS will probaley be coming out this spring or even possibility later I just wanted to have a deadline for myself so I move on or else I'm gonna be in this endless cycle trying to fix my computer or newer ones.
I will continue to be part of this scene as active as I have been. I am also trying to train on the fish and iccup server for the DRAKTL. I am also in the works of running a new kind of tournament, would be huge in scale butmitmwill be fun to participate.
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Good luck in SC2, I think it's testament to what you have done for this community that everyone is wishing you well on this new endeavor. 
I remember talking to you about viability of SC2BW once. I think I disagreed you back then but obviously it'd be nice for the mod to find some sort of established niche. With you promoting it I am sure it'll be able to get more spotlight (I haven't visited SC2 forums for awhile so I don't really know if there have been concerted effort to organize SC2BW tourney before).
Also glad to hear that you'll continue to be involved; I don't think it hardly qualifies as good bye then. After all, BW scene is nice because it always had decent portion of individuals who don't/can't play the game but enjoy watching it anyway. Drop in now and then even after HoT releases. :p
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On November 02 2012 20:47 Pucca wrote:Show nested quote +On November 02 2012 18:15 Game wrote:
I think this is the weakest excuse I've ever heard someone give for quitting BW. There are definitely people who could help you fix it. However, if you just want to go on to SC2 (which I think is the case), just do it man. I enjoyed a few of the things you've done, and I hardly enjoy anything. GL Coming from you Game means a lot As for responding to Kainte and others about other methods. In order 2x windowed mode you need 1920.1080 resolution or higher in order for the game to display properly or else it will cut itself off. Mentioned in the blog I didn't want bog you guys down with massive details of the hundreds of restarts and trials I did. On top of that hundreds of other trials of getting streaming, and getting casting to work as well. I'd also like to the emphasize point that HOTS will probaley be coming out this spring or even possibility later I just wanted to have a deadline for myself so I move on or else I'm gonna be in this endless cycle trying to fix my computer or newer ones. I will continue to be part of this scene as active as I have been. I am also trying to train on the fish and iccup server for the DRAKTL. I am also in the works of running a new kind of tournament, would be huge in scale butmitmwill be fun to participate.
You did not address my suggestion. I bet if you go in game and look into the video options that box will be checked.
GL on DRAKTL.
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On November 03 2012 06:21 Cr4zyH0r5e wrote:Show nested quote +On November 02 2012 20:47 Pucca wrote:On November 02 2012 18:15 Game wrote:
I think this is the weakest excuse I've ever heard someone give for quitting BW. There are definitely people who could help you fix it. However, if you just want to go on to SC2 (which I think is the case), just do it man. I enjoyed a few of the things you've done, and I hardly enjoy anything. GL Coming from you Game means a lot As for responding to Kainte and others about other methods. In order 2x windowed mode you need 1920.1080 resolution or higher in order for the game to display properly or else it will cut itself off. Mentioned in the blog I didn't want bog you guys down with massive details of the hundreds of restarts and trials I did. On top of that hundreds of other trials of getting streaming, and getting casting to work as well. I'd also like to the emphasize point that HOTS will probaley be coming out this spring or even possibility later I just wanted to have a deadline for myself so I move on or else I'm gonna be in this endless cycle trying to fix my computer or newer ones. I will continue to be part of this scene as active as I have been. I am also trying to train on the fish and iccup server for the DRAKTL. I am also in the works of running a new kind of tournament, would be huge in scale butmitmwill be fun to participate. You did not address my suggestion. I bet if you go in game and look into the video options that box will be checked. GL on DRAKTL.
It does not work for me. the fact of the matter at this point I'm so overly frustrated with the game I think for my well being is just to quit to trying to get it to work
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Canada8031 Posts
Playing in windowed mode is not a valid excuse for doing this:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wpsme.gif)
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What else happens in Win7? I was only aware of the color issue, which isn't really an issue at all imo because it doesn't affect in game.
Only other problem I have is the rare freeze, which *may* be fixed by the color cycling option. We shall see.
MTA: spazer you just won the thread.
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On November 03 2012 12:47 Spazer wrote:Playing in windowed mode is not a valid excuse for doing this:
Oh the memories of playing slugger on that terrible map.  At that time I believe I was playing in FS mode but I don't remember.
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On November 03 2012 12:47 Spazer wrote:Playing in windowed mode is not a valid excuse for doing this:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/R0pK9.gif)
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10387 Posts
How to wtfpwn SCBW freeze in fullscreen mode
1) start up SCBW fullscreen
2) alt+tab out and bring up task manager
3) go to proesses and click on "Show processes from all users"
4) right click on Starcraft.exe
5) click on "Select Affinity..."
6) set it so that only 1 core is checked off
7) enjoy game
my computer runs on an i7 processor, 4gigs of ram and uses windows 7
I believe the reason why BW freezes was because it uses like 100% of your CPU when its running, so on higher end PCs it'll fuck shit up AKA the freeze (disclaimer: not even 60% sure about this so don't take it as a hard fact). By limiting BW to only 1 core, you greatly reduce the chance of any freeze occurring.
For me it got especially bad for a while where I'd freeze every game, and nothing I tried would fix it (color cycling, killing explorer.exe, etc). This is the method that ended up working for me. I still encountered a freeze very infrequently when I first used this method, but after a month or so, I have never encountered a freeze since (2+ years ago).
This worked for me, and for my three other friends who were encountering the same problem. If you want to play it extra safe, you can also set core affinities on CPU-intensive programs too while you play, such as Firefox or any sort of IM program. Enjoy~
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Croatia9505 Posts
Well, good luck in SC2 bro, it was a real pleasure to have someone like you in BW scene <3
ps: i have a feeling you'll be back
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1773 Posts
On November 04 2012 03:33 ArvickHero wrote:How to wtfpwn SCBW freeze in fullscreen mode 1) start up SCBW fullscreen 2) alt+tab out and bring up task manager 3) go to proesses and click on "Show processes from all users" 4) right click on Starcraft.exe 5) click on "Select Affinity..." 6) set it so that only 1 core is checked off 7) enjoy game my computer runs on an i7 processor, 4gigs of ram and uses windows 7 I believe the reason why BW freezes was because it uses like 100% of your CPU when its running, so on higher end PCs it'll fuck shit up AKA the freeze (disclaimer: not even 60% sure about this so don't take it as a hard fact). By limiting BW to only 1 core, you greatly reduce the chance of any freeze occurring. For me it got especially bad for a while where I'd freeze every game, and nothing I tried would fix it (color cycling, killing explorer.exe, etc). This is the method that ended up working for me. I still encountered a freeze very infrequently when I first used this method, but after a month or so, I have never encountered a freeze since (2+ years ago). This worked for me, and for my three other friends who were encountering the same problem. If you want to play it extra safe, you can also set core affinities on CPU-intensive programs too while you play, such as Firefox or any sort of IM program. Enjoy~
Yeah I had the same problem youre having right now with the freezes and crashes and color distortions but arvick taught me how to fix it. I run win 7 64-bit and its fine now. another solution is to use wlauncher and they have all the color fixes and affinity settings but that wouldnt work with iccup.
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On November 04 2012 03:33 ArvickHero wrote:How to wtfpwn SCBW freeze in fullscreen mode 1) start up SCBW fullscreen 2) alt+tab out and bring up task manager 3) go to proesses and click on "Show processes from all users" 4) right click on Starcraft.exe 5) click on "Select Affinity..." 6) set it so that only 1 core is checked off 7) enjoy game my computer runs on an i7 processor, 4gigs of ram and uses windows 7 I believe the reason why BW freezes was because it uses like 100% of your CPU when its running, so on higher end PCs it'll fuck shit up AKA the freeze (disclaimer: not even 60% sure about this so don't take it as a hard fact). By limiting BW to only 1 core, you greatly reduce the chance of any freeze occurring. For me it got especially bad for a while where I'd freeze every game, and nothing I tried would fix it (color cycling, killing explorer.exe, etc). This is the method that ended up working for me. I still encountered a freeze very infrequently when I first used this method, but after a month or so, I have never encountered a freeze since (2+ years ago). This worked for me, and for my three other friends who were encountering the same problem. If you want to play it extra safe, you can also set core affinities on CPU-intensive programs too while you play, such as Firefox or any sort of IM program. Enjoy~
Can't you just enable CPU throttling and it won't use 100% of your CPU anymore? in game go to menu -> options -> speed -> check enable cpu throttling.
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10387 Posts
IDK if this is true but CPU could potentially affect latency, and also (in my experience) is nowhere near as reliable as setting core affinities if you are running a multi-core PC. CPU throttling was one of the methods I tried that still led to multiple/frequent freezings before I discovered setting core affinities.
wLauncher having a feature for setting core affinities automatically is testament to how reliable this method is IMO
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On November 04 2012 03:33 ArvickHero wrote:How to wtfpwn SCBW freeze in fullscreen mode 1) start up SCBW fullscreen 2) alt+tab out and bring up task manager 3) go to proesses and click on "Show processes from all users" 4) right click on Starcraft.exe 5) click on "Select Affinity..." 6) set it so that only 1 core is checked off 7) enjoy game my computer runs on an i7 processor, 4gigs of ram and uses windows 7 I believe the reason why BW freezes was because it uses like 100% of your CPU when its running, so on higher end PCs it'll fuck shit up AKA the freeze (disclaimer: not even 60% sure about this so don't take it as a hard fact). By limiting BW to only 1 core, you greatly reduce the chance of any freeze occurring. For me it got especially bad for a while where I'd freeze every game, and nothing I tried would fix it (color cycling, killing explorer.exe, etc). This is the method that ended up working for me. I still encountered a freeze very infrequently when I first used this method, but after a month or so, I have never encountered a freeze since (2+ years ago). This worked for me, and for my three other friends who were encountering the same problem. If you want to play it extra safe, you can also set core affinities on CPU-intensive programs too while you play, such as Firefox or any sort of IM program. Enjoy~
OMG thank you!
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EPT
