This 2020 blog post is about playing the RTS game Codename: Panzers Phase One on Windows 10.
I am playing the 3 CD version of the game full screen, with sound and multiplayer on Windows 10 64-bit.
Warning: I am not responsible for any files you install and use! You download and use any ‘patches’ at your own risk.
Codename: Panzers Phase One running on Windows 10 Pro in June 2020.
Introduction
I purchased the original 3 CD version of the game and not via GOG or Steam. Even though I like RTS games, I had somehow never heard of this game until 2020!
My fiancée and I like Company of Heroes so we thought we would try the WW2 real time strategy game. I think the game looks great and some aspects remind me of S.W.I.N.E., which was developed by the same people.
My fiancée and I have been playing two player against a couple of computer opponents and the game runs well on our old quad core computers.
The computer spec I used to play Codename: Panzers Phase One:
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 CPU @ 2.66GHz
- 8GB DDR2 RAM
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 2GB DDR3 graphics card
- Installed on a SSD
- Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit
How to install and configure Codename: Panzers Phase One on Windows 10
- Install the game to your PC. *
- Try to run the game and then reboot the PC.
- Install the v1.10 patch.
- Extract the v1.21 patch from the zip file and capitalize Panzers.exe to PANZERS.exe.
- Replace the application PANZERS.EXE in \Program Files (x86)\PANZERS – Phase1\Run\ with the patched version. **
- Right-click on PANZERS.exe and select the ‘Compatibility’ tab.
- Choose ‘Windows XP (Service Pack 3)’, ‘Disable fullscreen optimizations’ and ‘Run this program as an administrator’.
- Select ‘Apply’ and OK’.
* After the game had finished installing the bonus material, it froze and I had to cancel the application using task manager. (ctrl-alt-del).
** You might’ve chosen to install to another directory. I installed the game to a SSD.
Playing the game
When running the game, I never see the intro video, but instead I see a white screen accompanied with sound. I press the escape button and then I’m able to see the menu option.
My fiancée and I like to play multiplayer games on our LAN. When we tried the ‘LAN’ option it crashed, but we never experienced a crash using the ‘Direct-IP’ method. When using direct IP, one person hosts the game and the other person connects using the IP address of the host PC.
When trying to get the game to run I saw messages:
‘Game files are corrupted! Please reinstall the game!’
‘An Error Encountered – To install the application you must have Administrator privileges on your computer.’
‘Confirmation – Application installed successfully. Reboot the computer to complete the installation. Continue?’
I saw all the above messages, but was able to run the game after following the installation steps I’ve mentioned further above.
Game crashes
If you’re experiencing non-multiplayer game crashes, you might want to try turning down some of the detail in the game. Also you could try changing the game to run as ‘windowed’, rather than full screen by editing the ‘options.ini’ file in ‘\Program Files (x86)\PANZERS – Phase1\Run\’.
When changing options.ini, I ran a text editor as administrator and then I was able to edit and save changes to the file. All you have to do is change 1 to 0 for ‘FullScreen’ under the ‘Graphics setting’ area to switch to window mode.
Conclusion
This is an old game, but it’s excellent for some quick RTS game play. It’s playing fine on my Windows 10 PCs in 2020. I’m looking forward to playing more of this game.