Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap settings

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Grey Ghost
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Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap settings

Post by Grey Ghost »

Every single map I now have to reset the crosshair color and static/not static minimap settings. When the map starts I escape out and go to:
Options
Customize
This gets me to the screen that allows customizing crosshair color, selecting static or not static minimap, etc...
After setting the crosshair color the way I want it (pink...I just love pink because...OK, that's not the reason. Nothing I aim at is pink so I can see my crosshair easily), and selecting static minimap, I save and hit escape again to re-enter game.
All is good at that point.
But when a new map starts, I have to do it again. This began a few weeks ago and I have racked my brain trying to figure this out. I'm sure it's prob something simple and obvious but obviously not simple and obvious enough for me. :x
I have searched the net and not found anything useful. I seem to remember having this problem a few years ago and it turned out to be something stupidly easy to fix, but at my age my brain reformats whenever it wants and I lose stuff. :roll:
I haven't changed my operating system in many years (Win XP) and haven't added any new programs. I tried a "restore" and it didn't seem to help but I may try that again.

I'm hopeful that someone will recognize this problem and know a fix.
If not, I will just do the "reset every map" thing.
Thanks in advance and THANKS for a server where I can still play a game I like.
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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by Trench »

For Windows XP the only thing immediately coming to mind is that your GeneralOptions.con is now marked read-only. Making the crosshair color change saves as a "setCrossHairColor 255.000000 255.000000 0.000000" directive in my .\Battlefield 1942\Mods\bf1942\Settings\Profiles\Custom\ directory. If that file is read-only, then maybe the in-game change works fine but the setting isn't able to persist for the next time its read.

Technically another possibility besides "marked read-only" is that your Windows user doesn't have full read/write permissions to the directory any more, but that seems much less likely. On Windows XP there isn't a "Run as Administrator" option you need to be concerned with like on Windows 6.x, but at least with the CD-based Battlefield 1942 the user you're running with does need to be an Administrator so that they have full rights to the directories under C:\Program Files\ where Battlefield 1942 keeps the configuration files you need to be able to write to. (The Origin version of Battlefield 1942 already handles this, by setting the security on the entire "Origin Games" directory to be accessible even by non-Administrators.)

In Windows Explorer, go find the GeneralOptions.con in your .\Battlefield 1942\Mods\bf1942\Settings\Profiles\Custom\ directory (you didn't say Origin or CD-based, so I'm being intentionally ambiguous there) and right-click the file and bring up the properties. On the "General" tab in the "Attributes" section make sure "Read-only" is not checked. If it is marked read-only, un-check that attribute and press OK to save.

If it's not marked read-only, switch to the "Security" tab and make sure Administrators is listed with Full Control. If it's not listed as Full Control, don't make any changes here, because this is not the place we would actually correct it. But we can observe and report what's shown on the "Security" tab here.

-Trench
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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by Grey Ghost »

Thanks Trench. Guess I'll have to be more respectful in game. :D

I am using CD to play (same CD I have used since the game first came out). A problem with the CD?? That doesn't seem possible.
Have checked all the GeneralOptions.con files I can find (especially the one you suggested) and none are marked read only. The folders they are in are marked Read Only.
When looking at Properties (of files) I don't see a Security tab, just General and Summary (Win XP service pack 3) so I don't know how to see if I have "Full Control".
I checked and I am logged into Windows as Admin.
When I click properties on a FOLDER the tabs are General, Sharing, Customize.
On Sharing I notice I am unable to check the box marked "To make this folder and it's sub folders private...etc."
If I am logged in as Admin I would think I could check that although that may not be at all related to the problem at hand. My Win XP is quite old and has had "hiccups" before.

I'm still digging around. Gonna try my other BF42 disk just for grins. I'll certainly report anything I might find.
Sure appreciate your time and effort Trench but don't go to too much trouble. It's irritating , yes, but it's really a minor thing. I can still play.
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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by Trench »

Grey Ghost wrote:Guess I'll have to be more respectful in game.
I don't plan to be any more respectful, so you shouldn't go out of your way either. ;)

Lack of the "Security" tab just means your hard drive is formatted with FAT32 instead of NTFS. Which is fine, and eliminates the file system security question entirely because no security is possible with FAT32.

Presence of the read-only attribute on the folder(s) is actually common for windows (e.g. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256614), and shows up in many normal circumstances even though "read-only" at the folder level does not mean the files within are thereby read-only. I'm not suspecting this is related to the issue.

Since the GeneralOptions.con file isn't read-only, the next angle of attack if you're game would be to just right-click your .\Battlefield 1942\Mods\bf1942\Settings\ directory and use "Send To" -> "Compressed Folder" to .ZIP (compress) a copy of all your setting files, and then PM that .ZIP file (the single compressed folder file that was created) and I can look through the settings and compare them against mine at this end, to see if "anything looks out of place".

I'm thinking maybe there is a stray "game.setCrossHairColor" directive in one of the other .CON files, such that even though the game /does/ save your preferred color into GeneralOptions.con, there is a second directive which executes afterwards and you keep getting reset to whatever that second directive is "even though your preferred color was saved."

-Trench
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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by Trench »

Well, no luck. The files you sent were all the correct ones. Comparing them against my own Battlefield 1942 profile files didn't reveal any directives that were duplicated or out of place. The only thing "unique" at least to me was the fact you had a profile named "Grey Ghost [TX]", in addition to the player name being "Grey Ghost [TX]". (As opposed to using the "Custom" profile that Battlefield defaults to, and having the player name in the "Custom" profile set to "Grey Ghost [TX]".) But that should be just fine, and in my testing I don't see any unexpected issue or failure with that at all.

In fact, I nuked my own configuration files and put yours into my CD-based Battlefield 1942 installation, and Battlefield 1942 actually started up with a pink crosshair as desired. And while I was in-game, I changed it to a blue crosshair and saved it, and the blue crosshair persisted into the next map and also persisted when I shut down and restarted the entire Battlefield 1942 game.

So I don't think the issue is in the configuration files themselves, else I should have seen the issue. And your pink crosshair is getting saved, because that's what I saw by default when using your "Grey Ghost [TX]" profile. That doesn't make sense to me if it's not coming up pink by default for you too; it must be something more specific to your Windows machine or game installation.

Just for kicks, what's the full command line in your DesertCombat startup shortcut? i.e. The command line to which you might have added "+restart 1" at the end to skip the intro, etc. Just in case there is some different way for me to startup BF1942.EXE which might help demonstrate the issue.

Otherwise, I got nuttin'. That's a weird issue.

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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by Trench »

The startup command line didn't show anything unique. It was the shortcut for standard Battlefield 1942, as opposed to having the "+game DesertCombat" to start in Desert Combat mode. Which changes nothing regarding being able to successfully play, since the game switches to whatever mode the server you're joining needs.

But it does open a small possibility that there is something in the ".\Battlefield 1942\Mods\bf1942\init.con" that isn't in the other game modes' initialization. So maybe at least try using the DesertCombat game startup shortcut (or just add "+game DesertCombat" or "+game DC_Final" to your current one, just for testing) and make sure the crosshair issue isn't affected by starting the game initially in a different mode.

If the machine were in front of me, my next step would be to use Microsoft's Process Monitor to capture what .CON files get read from where during map switching. I'm no longer concerned about what happens during the actual "Save", since it appears the save is actually happening successfully. So to not end up with your preferred crosshair color when the game first starts & during map switch, it's more a matter of which .CON files get /read/ and what directives those specific files contain.

The logs Process Monitor generates are a bit huge, and there are a bunch of steps I would suggest for how to utilize Process Monitor in this case. So let me know if you want to keep pursuing and I'll write them up.

-Trench
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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by Grey Ghost »

I tried a different disk and no difference.
I tried adding +game DesertCombat and no difference.
I tried starting from the .exe file in the folder and no difference.
I tried going with a new name and profile...no diff.

When a map starts, I get a 100% transparent map, black crosshair, and the map rotates - not the arrow.
I go to the customize screen and the settings are, 20% transparency, black crosshair, and the static minimap box is "checked".
So the map is 100% transparent even though the customize screen shows it's set for 20% and the map rotates (not arrow) though the setting shows the static minimap box "checked".
When I adjust the crosshair color to pink (I don't change ANYTHING else), then save and hit escape to re-enter the map, the CH is pink, the map is at approx. 20% transparency, and the arrow rotates- not the map (static minimap).
So it switches to 20% trans. and static minimap on it's own. :?

"The logs Process Monitor generates are a bit huge, and there are a bunch of steps I would suggest for how to utilize Process Monitor in this case. So let me know if you want to keep pursuing and I'll write them up."
You seem to have more programming/coding/? knowledge than I do soooo, I'm game (pun intended) if you are, but if it would be troublesome for you... I'm not interested in being inconvenient. I assume you would not have mentioned it if it was not something you were comfortable with, however..... I'm fine if you don't have time for this.

GG
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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by Trench »

Grey Ghost wrote:So it switches to 20% trans. and static minimap on it's own.
Come on, that's just weird. Still potentially fits with "BF1942 has trouble reading, but not writing, the configuration file", since the results you see on-screen don't match what's in the configuration file. But it is a bit odd that what you see on screen doesn't match what the /configuration dialog/ is showing, either. So maybe we're just fighting something else entirely, and still very far off of the true root cause.

But a Process Monitor log still seems worth the time, at least to me. If we do the Process Monitor log and analysis still doesn't show what the cause of the issue is, I think the next step should be an uninstall and re-install of Battlefield, the 1.6 and 1.61b patches, DesertCombat and DC_Final, etc. On the off chance we're fighting an issue which is actually a corrupted file / code module failing to load in relation to processing the configuration, which is why it doesn't honor the saved configuration.

You might be apprehensive about re-installing, which is fine and we can do the Process Monitor log first to try and diagnose what's happening "without changing anything." Or if you would prefer to just re-install as something you already know exactly how to accomplish it, doing the re-install first is fine too, and we could proceed with Process Monitor if the issue still persisted.

The steps for using Process Monitor in this case are:

1. Download Microsoft's Process Monitor from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysi ... 96645.aspx, using one of the "Download Process Monitor" links. This will download a "ProcessMonitor.zip" file which you can temporarily save on your desktop.

2. Right-click the ProcessMonitor.zip and select "Extract All...", which will default to extracting (de-compressing) the contained files to a "ProcessMonitor" folder on your desktop (or where ever you actually saved the file).

3. Open the "ProcessMonitor" folder and double-click the "Procmon.exe" program in that folder. Accept the license agreement that will show up the first time you run the program.

4. Process Monitor will immediately begin capturing events, which is distracting because we haven't actually configured anything yes. Click the "magnifying glass" icon in the Process Monitor toolbar to stop capturing. (Or select "Capture Events" from the "File" menu to toggle the state and cease capturing events.) Either way, note it can take even up to 60 seconds for Process Monitor to actually cease is capturing, so give it a minute and wait for the "magnifying glass" icon to show a red 'X' through it to confirm it has stopped.

5. Process Monitor will capture a shit-ton of data about every process on the system, and we're only interested in BF1942.EXE. From the "Filter" menu, select "Filter...". In the filter dialog, use the drop-down list to change the condition from it's default of "Architecture" to "Process Name". Leave the condition as "is", and in the empty data field right beside it type in "bf1942.exe". Then press the "Add" button to add this condition to the filter list, and then press OK to save the filter list.

6. Again from the "Filter" menu, select the "Drop filter events" item to toggle its state to being checked/enabled. This makes it so the non-BF1942 events will literally not be captured, as opposed to just not being shown.

7. From the "Edit" menu, select "Clear Display" to dispose of the unwanted events Process Monitor started capturing by default.

8. Now click the "magnifying glass" icon in the Process Monitor toolbar to begin capturing events again. (Or toggle the state of the "Capture Events" item in the "File" menu.) Nothing will start showing up immediately, because BF1942.EXE is not running yet.

9. Now minimize the running Process Monitor window, and launch Battlefield 1942 as you normally would.

10. Before joining a game, first visit the options menu and set the crosshair to the "pink" color you prefer (and any other mini-map options you need to change) and use the "Save" button to save these options.

11. Now join a game, and confirm that once you're in-game, the saved "pink" crosshair is not set. Once you have confirm this, simply quit the game all the way back to the Windows desktop.

12. In the Process Monitor window, click on the "magnifying glass" icon to stop the capture. In the "File" menu, select "Save...". In the Save To File dialog that appears, ensure "All events" is selected, and "Native Process Monitor Format (PML)" is selected. Then use the "..." button beside the file path to browse to your desktop and then save the LogFile.pml to your desktop (or where ever you need to save it).

13. The .PML file will likely be rather huge. To make the size slightly more manageable, right-click the saved .PML file and use the "Send To" -> "Compressed Folder" to compress the file down to a LogFile.zip file.

I'm assuming the LogFile.zip should end up being under 100MB, and if so I'll just have you email it to me. (Don't try and attach it as a PM here on the EA117 board.) If it's larger than I'm expecting, then we'll work out a place to upload it, unless you happen to already have a way to make it available for me to download (Google Drive, etc.). PM me once you have the log and know the .ZIP file size, and we'll decide where to go from there.

You can just close the Process Monitor program completely at this point, and there is nothing to "uninstall" or "undo" other than deleting the "Process Monitor" folder and ProcessMonitor.zip file off your desktop.

-Trench
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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by Grey Ghost »

Holy shit!!
Well...as much fun as the Process Monitor sounds...I think a reinstall might be less "fun" though I am always reluctant to reinstall something this old. I am not so reluctant now since I feel I that if I have trouble I know where to get some good coaching.
So I'll go with the reinstall even though I'm very curious as to what is actually causing this.
Very kind of you to go to so much trouble posting such in depth instructions about the steps needed for the Process Monitor.
GG
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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by Nightstalker »

Holy shit is right. You might as well talk about the viscosity of liquid crystal in different LCD monitors Trench. :? :P ;)
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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by Grey Ghost »

Just letting you know the latest.
Used the standard uninstall to remove BF 1942.
Then reinstalled along with the correct patches and the abnormality persisted. :cry:
I noticed my custom keying for the game controls was still there so the uninstall didn't remove that. Plan on doing another standard uninstall (not necessarily immediately) and then manually removing everything that looks to be associated with the program.
Will report.
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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by Nightstalker »

It sounds as you would be on the right track to remove EVERYTHING related to BF. Sounds as though something is holding your settings, to which they are carried over after a fresh install. Trench will know WAY more about that stuff than I will. Hope you get it fixed.
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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by Trench »

Grey Ghost wrote:I noticed my custom keying for the game controls was still there so the uninstall didn't remove that. Plan on doing another standard uninstall (not necessarily immediately) and then manually removing everything that looks to be associated with the program.
Invoking the standard uninstall is all I had in my mind too, and didn't recall or think that the Battlefield 1942 installation would leave the game-specific setting controls behind.

(Not so much because it would be unusual for a game or other application to leave its settings behind; many do. More specifically because we know the Battlefield 1942 settings are being kept under the "\Program Files\" directory, which is a more unusual place for uninstallation to leave files behind.)

But yes, doing the regular uninstall again and then manually moving or deleting the ".\Program Files\EA GAMES\Battlefield 1942\" directory which must have been left behind (since we know at minimum ".\Battlefield 1942\Mods\bf1942\Settings\" must still exist) before proceeding with the reinstall is how I would approach it too.

If this were Windows 8 / 7 / Vista there would be a couple other things to mention for why the settings might have still been retained, but on a Windows XP machine it really should be as straight-forward as what we just discussed.

-Trench
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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by S.O.S »

You may also try to run CCleaner (free download) after uninstall and reboot to clean up the leftover registries.
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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by Sarge 1/68th Armor »

Put some tape on your screen. Pick a Sharpie of your color choice.

Solved.... Next.
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Re: Every map I have to reset crosshair color & minimap sett

Post by opus »

S.O.S wrote:You may also try to run CCleaner (free download) after uninstall and reboot to clean up the leftover registries.
I was just going to suggest this, clean up your registries / keys.
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