Hi everybody,

Here is a little article you all fans of that old game will love : here is how to run Ubisoft's Sub Culture with Direct3D on Windows XP and Vista ! As everybody, my D3D version couldn't run due to strange errors... Just forget about this and Software Rendering mode, because you can now run Direct3D !

Name : Sub Culture
Developper : Criterion Studios (doesn't exist anymore)
Editor : Ubi Soft
Run time : 1997
Available graphics modes : Software, Direct3D, 3DFX, PowerVR, Verite, Cyrix.


That game is one of the first to be available in Direct3D, but it suffers of new generation technologies and can't run anymore using our current system settings. I've read in a forum that the final way to play it is to buy some old graphics card and run it with Voodoo, 3DFX... It might work, but that's a useless solution for now :)

Common errors

Here is a very simple list of common errors occuring when you're trying to run "Sub Culture for Windows 95 (D3D)" :
a. You're trying to run the game (D3D), you get a black blinking screen, then a grey screen with sound alerting you that a error occured. Hit the "Windows" key on your keyboard, you'll get that message :


MAIN REASONS :

• You're using Windows with depth color of 32bits ;
• You're using Windows Compatibility option, switched to "Windows 95", "Windows 98", or "Windows NT4".

b. The game returns two different errors :

MAIN REASONS :

• You're using Windows Compatibility option, switched to "Windows 95", "Windows 98" or "Windows NT"
• Is the original game disk in your driver ? (large blue picture only)

MAKE SUB CULTURE TO RUN USING 3DFX

Thanks to BR33CH pour the hint

To run the game using 3DFX engine, you'll have to run a Glide Wrapper which will "emulate" a 3DFX chipset, something quite common to run some 3D video games consoles emulators (like Nintendo 64). To run the game, simply install and run GlideWrapper084c. You'll have to check compatibilty of your current graphics card and proceed by running the wrapper in the same directory as Sub Culture.

MAKE SUB CULTURE TO RUN USING DIRECT3D !

CONFIGURATION OF THE COMPUTER I USED : Notebook Asus : Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz - 2048Mb RAM - nVidia GeForce 8400M G 128Mb using Asus modified (low quality) drivers - Windows Vista Home Premium (valid) with depth colors = 32bits and Aero interface turned on - Sub Culture original disc.



So, what do you have to make Sub Culture run then ?? Well...

1. Windows XP/Vista/7 (NOT Pro/Ultimate) Users (DX9.x and 10.x)

a. USE COMPATIBILITY MODE
The game runs only in 640*480 and HATES when you use higher resolutions. No matter to change your resolution each time you wanna run the game. Head to :

[HDD]:\Program Files\Criterion Studios\Sub Culture\

then, right click on scd3d.exe, then click on Properties. Eventually, point to the "Compatibility" tab, and it will look like this on Vista :

Exécuter ce programme en mode de compatibilité pour : don't check, even if "Windows XP SP2" makes the game works fine too. NEVER try to use Windows 95 or 98, the game will return error by telling you that it can't find the disc.

Exécuter en 256 couleurs : no effect.

Exécuter avec une résolution d'écran de 640 x 480 : CHECK !!!! If you don't, the game will NOT run.

Désactiver les thèmes visuels : no effect.

Désactiver la composition du Bureau : no effect.

Désactiver la mise à l'échelle de l'afichage pour les résolutions élevées : no effect.

Exécuter ce programme en tant qu'administrateur : no effect.


b. SWITCH COLOR DEPTH TO 16 BITS

Right-click somewhere on the Desktop, and click "Personnalize", then, click on "Display properties" on bottom of the windows :

Finally choose your depthcolor, here 16bit to run Sub Culture in D3D (don't try to run it in 32bit, it will NOT work !)


ET VOILA ! Now you can run the game, using D3D, without any trouble :) If it worked for me on Windows Vista, it MUST work for you too ;)

But you'll get two little troubles when using D3D mode :

1 - If you use 32bit depth for Windows (it's necessary to run Aero interface), you'll have to switch everytime you want to play Sub Culture to 16bit, then go back to 32bit...

2 - (Vista only) Windows Desktop can appear with about 50% transparency, for example I get a left-bottom dark rectangle that's the Windows Start button ; if you also use Windows button or CTRL+ALT+DEL to go to Windows desktop, opened windows can appear while you go back to the game. I haven't found yet how to fix that, but I'm checking.

2. Windows 7 Professionnal / Ultimate : Windows Virtual PC

For you lucky guys owning Windows 7 Professionnal or Ultimate, you own a great component (you might need to download it, for free) called Windows Virtual PC and its Windows XP Mode.

Windows Virtual PC is a native PC emulator designed to run lots of other OS, including ALL Windows versions (from 1.0 to Vista, and MS DOS of course). Microsoft created a ready-to-use Windows XP install called "Windows XP Mode".

The idea is sooo easy : run Sub Culture from Windows XP or from even older Windows like 98.

a. Windows XP Mode

As far as I tested, please use the upper method (or Glide Wrapper, prefered) although the virtual Direct3D isn't mapped correctly to make Sub Culture to run. Too bad, since Windows XP Mode can only run in 16bit depth, so you wouldn't need to change this setting everytime you want to play.

b. Older OS ? Damn, where is my Windows 98 disk ??

With Virtual PC, you can easily set up Windows 95, 98 or 98SE. Just try to find back where you put these old -original- disks. You can find several disks and how-to over the web, but the set up is very easy : create a new virtual computer, run it, make your CD/DVD drive (or ISO image) as first boot device, put your Windows disk in the tray/iso, and reboot the virtual pc. Oh, set up ! Just install your Windows as you would do on any "real" pc.

Unfortunately, only Software rendering version of Sub Culture appears to run - and not in good quality : glitches appear, and several bugs are present (like IA going a bit too fast). Direct3D version is as buggy as on Windows XP -- I'll try to see if I can make it to work later.

For other details, please check the CCwiki !