ME scaling trick for 4k Monitors - a fix for the crashes?

March 28, 2021

FOR 4k monitor users: I had no ME crashes with this trick&treat so far, maybe the fix?

The Scaling Trick and how it works:

When the ME loads, Windows asks if this programm is High DPI aware and these apps answer “yes”. Which is why you end up with an interface for ant eyes only.

FIX: Have the ME's STEditor.exe tell Windows that it is not DPI aware and let it scale everything properly.

Maybe not the ideal solution, but it does make the ME usable again: Be aware: YOU WON'T HAVE such a large overview in the viewport anymore !

How it is done: Tell Windows to look for an external manifest file by creating an external manifest file in the ME's folder.

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Step 1: Tell windows to prefer an external manifest file ... registry-edit

As always, make sure you backup your registry, careful what you do ! Just add one line.

    Press Windows Button + R, type “regedit”, and then click OK.
    Navigate to the following registry subkey:
        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > SideBySide
    Right-click, select NEW > DWORD (32 bit) Value
    Type PreferExternalManifest, and then press ENTER.
    Right-click PreferExternalManifest, and then click Modify.
    Enter Value Data 1 and select Decimal.
    Click OK. Exit Registry Editor.

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Step 2: place the external manifest from the STEditor.exe.manifest.zip in the folder:

........ 1C Game Studios\IL-2 Sturmovik Great Battles\bin\editor
(you might also have to reboot the computer maybe as there is a registry edit involved ?)

THIS TRICK ALSO works great with Photoshop, probably Gimp too.

You'll only have to rename the STEditor.manifest file alike the appropriate program's xxx.exe file, use it's name with the .manifest extesion.

Place it in the program's folder where the programs exe resides.

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JUST IN-CASE:

STEditor.manifest file code content; Edits you can do with notepad if needed:

============================== CODE ===============
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>

<asmv3:application>
<asmv3:windowsSettings xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">
<ms_windowsSettings:dpiAware xmlns:ms_windowsSettings="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">false</ms_windowsSettings:dpiAware>
</asmv3:windowsSettings>
</asmv3:application>

</assembly>
=============================================================================CODE END=============

STEditor.exe.manifest.zip