[WIP] Windows Vista Extended Kernel

[Dixel]

On 7/25/2023 at 2:28 AM, Dixel said:

UPDATE: I found the problem, it's in the shell32.dll, not comdlg32.

@win32, as promised, the solution for both methods (local and normal), was to redirect Opera browser to the original non-modified shell32 from SP2 (modified in 2009). I forced the path through my starter app., (the one with the Opera icon, if you remember). Now dialogues open up just fine.

[Dixel]

This time I decided to make a totally clean install again, just to launch Spellforce 3 Reforced, released in 2022. No missing dependencies, all looks good, but I'm awarded with this error. It's not a driver problem, the game starts just fine with the same driver on later OS. This happens with all versions of the Kernel. Ideas?

[Dixel]

@win32, hi! So I got the game working, mostly because I took an earlier version, that was easier to fight with, I overcame both errors, I now have no fonts in the game. I have a question, is it possible to take everything related to win7 platform update and use locally? So far, I was able to successfully port DWrite from the platform update for win7, it loads just fine, but no fonts shown in the game.

Why platform update? It doesn't work with simple windows 7 files.

[win32]

49 minutes ago, Dixel said:

I have a question, is it possible to take everything related to win7 platform update and use locally?

Yes, the DirectWrite in there is good enough to make some fonts load in Supermium, but I don't believe the media foundation or Direct2D parts are compatible.

[Dixel]

On 7/29/2023 at 4:10 PM, win32 said:

Yes, the DirectWrite in there is good enough to make some fonts load in Supermium, but I don't believe the media foundation or Direct2D parts are compatible.

Vista's media foundation and Direct2D are fully compatible with that purely DX11.0 game.

Though, it's not the case with the latest patch, so I lowered down the version, patched a bit, DX11 loaded fine, so no troubles, except for the bloody text. 

I patched DWrite from the Platform Update and placed into the game directory, the error is gone, still no text, I even replaced the game fonts with a working ones from an older game, no result.

WinSqmAddToStreamEx replaced with WinSqmAddToStream.

These are undocumented:

GetFontRealizationInfo

GetFontFileData

GetFontFileInfo

https://github.com/MyTDT-Mysoft/DllCompat/issues/9

So I replaced with GetFontData.

I even hooked it up with the new gdi32, then it just won't start at all, throwing out the generic 142 error.

Before patching the log file was:

[INFO]main()

[INFO]Styles enabled

[INFO]CApplication::CApplication()

[INFO]Create options

[INFO]Starting physics engine

[INFO]Starting 3d engine

[INFO]Selected adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan

dx11\DspMainDX11.cpp [190] : error: Assertment failed! Message: Failed to initialize DirectWrite.

 

Now it's without the last line. But no ingame text, strange, as I see the Dwrite module is loaded into the memory just fine.

Yes, I still use that 11 years old videocard.

[jumper]

Ex functions almost always add another parameter, so dropping the Ex very rarely works. When selecting a replacement, the number of parameters must match (look for the first return instruction after the function entry address). The return value should also indicate an error.

 

[Novek]

why does firefox 110 crash when i try to go to msfn

[Brickedandroid]

3 hours ago, Novek said:

why does firefox 110 crash when i try to go to msfn

Please show me the exception code

Does it also crash on other websites?

[Novek]

9 hours ago, Brickedandroid said:

Please show me the exception code

예외 코드:    c000001d

 

9 hours ago, Brickedandroid said:

Does it also crash on other websites?

no

[Dixel]

On 8/1/2023 at 2:00 PM, jumper said:

Ex functions almost always add another parameter, so dropping the Ex very rarely works. When selecting a replacement, the number of parameters must match (look for the first return instruction after the function entry address). The return value should also indicate an error.

 

Thanks! Could you link to some docs I could read and compare, most of these I replaced are undocumented. 

Replacing Exes worked for me in the past.

[Brickedandroid]

23 hours ago, Novek said:

예외 코드:    c000001d

 

no

Try using Chrome, Opera, or Edge

[WinSuper2005]

Those of you are moving to March 9 build of Windows Vista Extended Kernel, the caution is:- Do NOT restore your system files, otherwise your 32 bit shells will be destroyed.

[WinSuper2005]

Just now, WinSuper2005 said:

Those of you are moving to March 9 build of Windows Vista Extended Kernel, the caution is:- Do NOT restore your system files, otherwise your 32 bit shells will be destroyed.

Credit to @win32

[Dixel]

On 7/29/2023 at 4:10 PM, win32 said:

Yes, the DirectWrite in there is good enough to make some fonts load in Supermium, but I don't believe the media foundation or Direct2D parts are compatible.

So I went further and patched all files supplied in the win7 Plat. update, including d2d1, no errors shown in the game, but still no texts. The game hooks them up just fine and they are loaded fine. Ideas?

[GTAGAME]

On 7/2/2023 at 8:55 AM, LiptonAcer said:

After hard work testing all updates on Windows Vista; I finally managed to make the Extended Kernel of March 2023 revision 1 work with the Windows Vista esu! Several updates are problematic: KB5003210, KB4580385 are most responsible as well as superseded 2022 updates. Cumulative updates are also to be banned. The solution is: to remove all the 2022 updates that have been installed on the system and to install only the non-superseded updates which are security only, and to remove the two updates KB5003210, KB4580385 Then, we can install the extended kernel without having any problem!

Updates 2022 need to remove : kb5009601-kb5010403-kb5011486-kb5011525-kb5011942-kb5012137-kb5012150-kb5012632-kb5012658-kb5013619-kb5013636-kb5014006-kb5014010-kb5014743-kb5014752-kb5015866-kb5015870-kb5016129-kb5016669-kb5016686-kb5017358-kb5017371-kb5018413-kb5018446-kb5018450-kb5020005-kb5020019-KB5021289-KB5021293-KB5021657

Updates 2022 need to install : kb5009601-kb5010403-kb5011525-kb5012150-kb5012632-kb5013619-kb5014006-kb5014743-kb5015870-kb5016129-kb5016686-kb5017371-kb5018446-kb5020005-kb5020895-kb5021293

I had the same problem as you and when I deleted the maj to replace them with the others it solved the problem. I made a video of my problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmPZTJX18sE

 

It's still broken for me unfortunately. I haven't installed any 2022 updates and only had KB4580385 in the list to remove.

After removing the update, Extended Kernel still breaks the entire system.

Edited August 11, 2023 by GTAGAME