Temporary fix for the missing text problem in Empire Earth II.

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Dr.MonaLisa
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Temporary fix for the missing text problem in Empire Earth II.

Post by Dr.MonaLisa »

Temporary fix for the missing text problem in Empire Earth II.
(And for Crashes on Nvidia Optimus computers with Intel 12th / 13th Gen CPUs)


Players who bought new computers with the Intel Iris Xe / Intel Arc graphics card will experience a problem where the text is not displaying in Empire Earth II.
Additionally, if the computer uses Nvidia Optimus (has the second graphics card from NVIDIA), the game process might crash with Unhandled Exception on start.

EE2_ScreenShot_2022-12-20_01.31.33.811.jpg
EE2_ScreenShot_2022-12-20_01.31.33.811.jpg (252.64 KiB) Viewed 2881 times

Why this problem occurs?

The new Intel graphics cards do not support the DirectX 9 (and older) versions of DirectX natively. The company is cutting costs and punishes the customers who actually paid money for their products. In order to run old games, Intel's drivers use the Microsoft's D3D9On12 mapping layer.

After my efforts in researching the problem and creating a GitHub issue: Text is not displaying in Empire Earth II #57 - a very nice and helpful Microsoft developer focused on this problem and didn't leave our community in need. The problem was fully fixed.

Unfortunately, the fix will most likely arrive to all users in one of the next "big" yearly Windows 11 / 10 updates. Therefore players who want to play their favorite game still have to wait. Fortunately, Unofficial Patch 1.5 doesn't leave players in need, and I prepared a temporary fix for this problem.


How does the Unofficial Patch 1.5 Temporary Fix work?

Unofficial Patch 1.5 includes the Open Soruce version of D3D9On12, compiled by Dr.MonaLisa. When the fix is active, it loads the fix DLLs from "Unofficial Patch Files" folder, instead of the ones that come with Windows. Unfortunately, as explained by vdwtanner the open-source version of D3D9On12 is different. It provides a lower performance (FPS) than the version that comes with Windows. This is why you might notice a reduced performance.

Attempt 1: Enable fullscreen optimizations
Click to read: Enable fullscreen optimizations
In some cases the game crashing problem can be fixed by enabling fullscreen optimizations.
1. Start the game normally, and keep it running.
2. In the "Maximization Helper & Game Tweaker" window uncheck option: "Disable fullscreen optimizations".
Disable-fullscreen-optimizations.png
Disable-fullscreen-optimizations.png (194.06 KiB) Viewed 2472 times
3. Click "YES" when the Launcher asks you to restart itself.

If it doesn't work, follow next steps.
Attempt 2: Activate the Temporary Fix
Click to read: How to activate the Temporary Fix?
1. Make sure you have got the newest version of Unofficial Patch 1.5 installed. Dr.MonaLisa's fix was added in version 1.5.9.005 (December 2022).
2. Copy and paste the following text to your Internet browser address bar and hit enter:
empireearth2://[CONF]FixMissingTextOnIntelIrisOrArcUseCustomD3D9On12WorsePerformanceVersion[/CONF][VALUE]1[/VALUE]
it should ask you to open the EE2 ver. 1.5 Launcher and automatically set the custom configuration command. If it doesn't work, please follow the steps below:

2b. In the UP1.5 Launcher, please click on the "Change UP1.5 Settings" button in order to open the Configuration Utility.
3. In the "Insert a custom configuration command" field, paste the following text:
FixMissingTextOnIntelIrisOrArcUseCustomD3D9On12WorsePerformanceVersion=1
4. Click "Submit" / "OK - Save Changes" and restart your game.
5. Enjoy game with the fixed text or fixed crash.
Attempt 3: If it still doesn't work, use the "UseWorkingDirectoryWorkaround":
Click to read: I activated the fix, but it still doesn't work?
In rare cases, the "UseWorkingDirectoryWorkaround" fix is also needed.
1. Copy and paste the following text to your Internet browser address bar and hit enter:
empireearth2://[CONF]UseWorkingDirectoryWorkaround[/CONF][VALUE]1[/VALUE]
it should ask you to open the EE2 ver. 1.5 Launcher and automatically set the custom configuration command. If it doesn't work, please follow the steps below:
2b. In the UP1.5 Launcher, please click on the "Change UP1.5 Settings" button in order to open the Configuration Utility.
3. In the "Insert a custom configuration command" field, paste the following text:
UseWorkingDirectoryWorkaround=1
4. Click "Submit" / "OK - Save Changes" and restart your game.
Solution for the low FPS problem after activating this fix:
Click to read: Solution for the low FPS problem after activating this fix
* These steps are not required after Unofficial Patch 1.5 Update 1.5.9.006 (January 2023), because V-Sync gets automatically disabled.
1. In the UP1.5 Launcher, please click on the "Change UP1.5 Settings" button in order to open the Configuration Utility.
2. Check option "Disable V-Sync in DirectX 9".
3*. Optionally, check option "Remove 100 (or 64) FPS limit".
4. Click "OK - Save Changes" and restart your game.

You can still (and should) force the V-Sync using your Graphics Card configuration panel (for example NVIDIA Control Panel).

WARNING!

This fix doesn't work with the full-screen mode. The Launcher starts the game in the Borderless Windowed Mode whenever this fix was activated.

Do not click the ALT+ENTER hotkey during the game, or the game will crash.
After Unofficial Patch 1.5 Update 1.5.9.006 (January 2023) the ALT+ENTER hotkey has been blocked when this fix is active.

EE2_ScreenShot_2022-12-20_01.53.47.539.jpg
EE2_ScreenShot_2022-12-20_01.53.47.539.jpg (261.17 KiB) Viewed 2881 times

If you have additional questions about this fix, please feel free to post in this topic.
Best regards,
Dr.MonaLisa
Ministry of Game Affairs
Department of Control and Complains

JPKEA7
Posts: 3
Joined: 14 Nov 2022, 19:55

Re: Temporary fix for the missing text problem in Empire Earth II.

Post by JPKEA7 »

I have tried this and still no text
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Re: Temporary fix for the missing text problem in Empire Earth II.

Post by Dr.MonaLisa »

I'm sorry JPKEA7, I wrote this tutorial in order to have a link for the changes log, but I didn't release the update 1.5.9.005 yet. I will try to release it today (maybe in a few hours). Then it will start working.
Best regards,
Dr.MonaLisa
Ministry of Game Affairs
Department of Control and Complains
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Dr.MonaLisa
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Re: Temporary fix for the missing text problem in Empire Earth II.

Post by Dr.MonaLisa »

JPKEA7, can you try it now?
Best regards,
Dr.MonaLisa
Ministry of Game Affairs
Department of Control and Complains
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