Hi Irylop.

Unofficial Patch 1.5 doesn't always kill explorer.exe. It is one of the Maximization Helper solutions:

https://i.imgur.com/yjrQQ7U.png

If for some reasons the Windows 8 fix starts automatically, it can still be disabled by UP1.5 Settings:

https://i.imgur.com/l5o7Njg.png

The "g_fullscreenWindowCheck" command is already in Unofficial Patch 1.5, but we use files "myconfig_sim.cfg" and "myconfig_sim_EE2X.cfg" for that.
Additionally, since ver. 1.5.7 there were some programical fixes applied to the game process.

Unfortunately, the maximization problems are more than just those solutions mentioned (killing explorer, command).
There are many third-party programs that prevent EE2 window from keeping on top. This is where "Solution 1" in Maximization Helper is useful. Basically, in EE2 what works for few people might not work for others. This is why it's better to use Unofficial Patch 1.5, so the Launcher knows better what's needed.

In Unofficial Patch 1.5, compatibility with new Windows versions have been fixed by the following:
- Support for all screen resolutions (it was the main reason of minimization on Windows 8).
- DirectX 9 support (so NVIDIA graphics card are correctly detected on Optimus laptops on Windows 10). Additionally with Anti-aliasing that makes game look much better. Improves performance as well.
- Option to "remove 100 FPS limit" (new feature, available since April 2020, which fixes the following bug: https://www.ee2.eu/help/#64fpsbug ).
- Fix for no fire/explosion effects for Intel HD graphics cards.
- Auto-fonts size feature (for new screen resolutions).
- Exclusive Borderless Windowed mode for those who (unlikely) are still unable to maximize game in full screem.
... and probably many more things that I don't remember at the moment.

Greetings.

Hi I know this is not a big deal but why does the unofficial patch 1.5.8 always ask for my manager password?

Hi. Sorry for late reply, I only check the official forum regularly.

What exactly do you mean by "asking for your manager password"?

I assume that it's the User Account Control prompt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_Account_Control

In rare cases, the UP1.5 Launcher needs permissions to modify or write files in the game folder, or to apply the system registry tweaks (for example inserting the CD-KEY automatically, since Gog version is provided without the CD-KEY that is required in order to be able to login to Multiplayer). Those actions are restricted by Windows and require the administrative permissions.
As explained here: https://superuser.com/a/384116/712220
"Due to security features introduced with Windows Vista (UAC) any non-Administrator program that tries to write to protected locations such as "Program Files" will get their writes caught and redirected to an alternative "user friendly" location."
Many Unofficial Patch 1.5 users have their game installed in the "Program files (x86)" folder with those restrictions. That's why, the Launcher uses the separate, "elevated" process instances to perform those actions. It's possible that the Launcher asks for those permissions multiple times during one session. It might look suspicious, but it is actually to improve the security. The Launcher always wants to start the game process without administrative permissions (the game was compiled many years ago, so if there was some security vulnerability, the game process wouldn't be able to cause any harm). If the Launcher was re-launched "as administrator" it wouldn't ask for the administrator permissions multiple times, but also the child game process would run with full permissions.
Besides that, in most of cases, when you click "No" when the Launcher ask you to run as administrator, the Launcher will try to perform the required (or often optional) action anyway. So for example, if your game is installed in "D:/Games" instead of "C:/Program files (x86)" the Launcher will first ask you for elevated permissions, but if you refuse, it will try to generate files anyway. So theoretically if you click "No" and your game starts correctly - you have nothing to worry about. Minor Updates however might require the administrator permissions again, but that's for another hundreds of reasons. Please let me know if you have additional questions or need a better clarification.

EDIT:
Just to make it clear. If you allow the Launcher to run as administrator, but you get the same notifications after you start game for the second time, then it's not the expected behaviour. Usually users get the UAC prompt only after update installation.

It is the UAC but how do I make it so it runs as administator? I disabled the UAC but I later found out it is not safe because of security reasons. Oh and thank you for replying.

The UAC prompt should look like this: https://www.tenforums.com/attachments/tutorials/192955d1529510279-enable-disable-uac-prompt-built-administrator-windows-uac_consent_prompt.png

Do you see something else? It's possible that you're logged in Windows account that is the Standard User, not Administrator, so you have to type the login / password to the administrator's account each time the UAC prompt pops up.

How to make it run as administrator? Simply by clicking "YES" when it asks.

It should, yes. Until there is a next update released, so you would need administrator permissions again in order to continue the process.

Ok thank you

unofficial patch is good at what it does but it sucks ass because everytime you open it up it opens their website and everytime you exit the game it takes you to a donation site, made me uninstall it. The game works well for me on windows 10 without the fixes anyway just opened up the extra resolutions, but those res are easily modded into it anyway if you ever decide to add them.

I think your post "sucks ass" more with the false arguments you provided.

When you open the UP1.5 Launcher, you have the news window with information & tweets.

You're probably talking about: https://twitter.com/EE2News/status/1350194796359528449

"We have enabled the EE2.eu Discord Auto Invites. The Launcher detects if Discord is running on your computer (Game SDK for Rich Presence), and opens the pre-authorized link where you can instantly join: https://ee2.eu/discord (this feature is still being tested)"

It opens the Discord invite website where you can EASILY DISABLE THIS NOTIFICATION, as shown in the screenshot below:

https://i.imgur.com/qo8IyAg.jpg

Is that so hard to find? Let the other people judge. Your post about it opening up without a possibility to disable is very unfair.

Another false sentence:
"everytime you exit the game it takes you to a donation site"

The donation message appears ONCE PER 24 HOURS, and ONLY IF YOU'VE PLAYED FOR 5 MINUTES OR LONGER. As visible in the screenshot below:

https://i.imgur.com/rU8YtmQ.png

It doesn't open any website. You can close the message by pressing the "X" button.

The screenshot showing the configuration of this message on server-side:

https://i.imgur.com/JtOhXzp.png

As long as disabling the Discord invite message might be problematic for certain people who avoid reading, making up stories about the donation message appearing "every time" is not considered as a reliable opinion.

We have 4 separate servers running in 4 different locations for Multiplayer routing. Every status information and even hardware details are publicly visible at: https://www.ee2.eu/status/ How all the costs should be covered? With some magic wand? For your information, this type of message after game was disabled for some months, and the number of donations decreased to ~1, which in longer run would require termination of some existing online features. Since the message was re-enabled in the improved form, the amount of donations persists at the stable level.

Is the donation message for a well-managed service such a big problem for you, that you've decided to post misleading information as your first post on this forum since registration in 2014?

The Unofficial Patch 1.5 is not about screen resolutions. It's updated every month, and has thousands of fixes, perfectly working Multiplayer and new features. The confirmation of it is publicly available in the Change Log: https://www.ee2.eu/patch/changes/

It's very sad to read that someone discredits years of my work, because has to skip 1 message after closing the game...

Besides that, the UP1.5 Launcher has a built-in Support Chat where you could quickly contact me and explain the problem. Screenshot:

https://i.imgur.com/RROsyM1.png

It would be more valuable, especially when the news "tweet" clearly informs about the feature being tested.

Oh, then please also mod yourself the correct font sizes for your screen resolutions: https://www.ee2.eu/blog/013-automatic-font-size-for-screen-resolutions.php
Do not forget to compile a working, EE2 compatible DirectX 8 to DirectX 9 wrapper, manually add Antialiasing support to it, assembly the game process to unlock more than 100 FPS (in case you ever got the 144Hz monitor).

Adding a simple assembled change to game process takes over 20 hours. You can see the first part of it for example in this video: https://youtu.be/XpgnKHlsVOc?t=20198

So yeah, right. It's better to mod game yourself. Will take much less time than skipping a donation message once per day.

How do i delete saved game settings?

The simplest method would be running UP1.5 installer again, and in the installer window selecting "Update and reset EE2 / EE2: AOS settings files (settings.cfg)" checkbox:

https://i.imgur.com/3WefLcQ.png

Do I run the installer again by pressing reinstall in the up1.5 settings? Just want to make sure so I don’t mess something up.

Yes, you can use the "Reinstall" button in UP1.5 Settings, or you can download the full installer from https://ee2.eu/patch

It's really hard to mess something up in UP1.5 :) It will show messages whenever something is wrong.

OK thank you and good job on making this awesome patch!