Railroad Tycoon 2 on Windows 7

Tested: windows 7 32 bit, windows 7 64 bit, windows vista 32 bit, windows vista 64 bit

Railroad Tycoon 2 has a few known issues with running on Windows 7 especially 64bit. The most common problem with running Railroad Tycoon 2 on Windows 7 is a compatibility error when trying to run the setup from disk. It may look something like this:

"The program or feature ...\setup.exe cannot start or run due to incompatibility with 64-bit versions of Windows"

If you happen encounter this error the only known solution is pretty low tech and tedious:

Install the game on another computer with a 32bit operating system. This can be anything from Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows ME etc. The setup.exe is not compatible with 64 bit operating systems and must be run on a 32bit or lower operating system.
Copy installed files to your Windows 7 64bit machine.
Set your game executable to run in Windows XP compatibility. In your newly copied installation directory right click on your RT2_PLAT.EXE or RT2_TSC.EXE file (depending on which on you have) and select properties. Select the compatibility tab and run the program under Windows XP compatibility.
Insert the CD and start the game via the RT2_PLAT.EXE or RT2_TSC.EXE file. One of these two files should be available in the installation directory you copied over. It is important you use this exe and not one on the CD as that will fail.

Haegemonia Windows 7

Tested: windows 7 32 bit, windows 7 64 bit, windows vista 32 bit, windows vista 64 bit

The vanilla version of Haegemonia has a few issues especially on newer operating systems (Windows Vista/7). The most common problems are the saving/loading bugs and the sound system crashes. These issues can be solved by following these steps:

Install the Haegemonia version 1.07 patch.
Download link 1 <– fileplanet
Download link 2 <– cnet
Download link 3 <– strategy informer
Among other things, this patch will fix many of the bugs from the vanilla version of the game including notably saving/loading bugs. You can see the full list of patch notes here, or here.
Install the invisible ships and planets fix (aka patch 1.10). Even with the latest patch for the game, you’ll still likely have issues with invisible ships and planets. To fix this download the compiled version of the starfield.mat file below and replace your starfield.mat file located in Hegemonia\Shaders\Materials with it.
Starfield fix <– local mirror
Starfield fix <– game front
For more information on this issue see the Haegemonia invisible ships and planets post.
Run as administrator with Windows XP compatibility and Disable visual themes. This is what I’m using as my workaround for the “sound system error” and have yet to experience the crash. Right click on your Haegemonia shortcut, select properties and then select the compatibility tab. Here, check off the following options:
- Run the program under Windows XP (Service Pack 3) compatibility
- Run this program as administrator (if you are on Windows 7 or Vista)
- Disable visual themes
I haven’t yet had a sound system crash after selecting these options. If you’re still experiencing this error or want to know more about the issue see the Haegemonia sound system error post.

If you’ve reached this point and are still having trouble running the game on Windows Vista/7 please post your issue in the comments below. The more detail the better (error messages, systems specs etc.)

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Civilization 2 Test of Time Windows 7

Tested: windows 7 32 bit, windows 7 64 bit

Civilization 2 Test of Time is another great old game (1999). Being an old game though it is known to have a few issues running on newer operating systems like Windows 7. To Run Civilization 2 Test of Time on Windows 7 follow these steps:

Install the civ2xp64 patch. MastermindX made a patch to make the game compatible with 64 bit operating systems.
Download link 1 <– civfanatics
Download link 2 <– local mirror
Run as administrator and with Windows 98 compatibility. Right click on your Civilization 2 Test of Time shortcut, select properties. Select the compatibility tab and run the program under Windows 98 compatibility and select Run this program as administrator (if you are on Windows 7 or Vista).

If you have any issues with running Civilization 2 Test of Time on Windows 7 that aren’t covered here, or if you’re still having trouble running the game after following the above steps, please post your issues below. To increase your chances of a solution being found include as much detail as possible (which version of the game you’re running, what operating system you have, what video card you have and steps to reproduce the issue). Screenshots are also very useful!

Sources: link 1, link 2, link 3

Posted in Civilization 2 ToT | 4 Comments

Homeworld on Windows 7

Tested: windows 7 32 bit, windows 7 64 bit

Homeworld is known to have a few issues with running on Windows 7 machines. There are a few simple steps you can follow to cover the majority of possible crashes/problems:

Install patch 1.05. This will get your game up to date with the latest official version of the game and remove issues like jittery scout ships and a superscouts issue. This also installs all previous patches which have several video card related fixes and game balance changes. NOTE – installing this patch will require the CD to be inserted when playing the game.
Download link 1 <- Sierra help
Download link 2 <- Gamefront
Install the latest video card drivers.
Disable intro cinematics. Right click on the Homeworld shortcut on your desktop and select properties. In the target field add a space and then the following command line option:
/disableAVI
e.g. C:\Program Files\Sierra\Homeworld\homeworld.exe /disableAVI
Run as administrator and with Windows NT compatibility. While still in the shortcut properties select the compatibility tab and run the program under Windows NT compatibility and select Run this program as administrator.
(Optional) Install the no-cd patch. Relic released the source code for Homeworld, and no-cd patches for personal use are legal, so feel free to install a no-cd patch if desired. I don’t want to link to one directly, but a quick google search will come up with many results.

If you’re still having trouble see this links for more info: link 1, link 2. If nothing here helped you solve your problem please post it in the comments below, with as much detail as possible (system specs, how to reproduce the crash).

Posted in Homeworld | 5 Comments

Homeworld 2 on Windows 7

Tested: windows 7 32 bit, windows 7 64 bit

There are a few issues that you can encounter while trying to run Homeworld 2 on Windows 7. One of the most common problems seems to be that the game refuses to start or crashes to desktop after startup. This appears to be caused by Windows 7 preventing the Homeworld 2 English no-cd exe from working (Data Execution Prevention). The most reliable fix seems to be the following:

Install the Homeworld 2 1.1 patch. If this link doesn’t work try one of the alternate links: alternate 1, alternate 2.
Install the Homeworld 2 1.1 German no-cd exe. Search for and download the 1.1 German no-cd exe (for legal reasons I’m not hosting the exe here). Replace your original exe located at:
Homeworld 2\Bin\Release\Homeworld2.exe
Though it may seem odd, the German no-cd exe works around this issue because it isn’t affected by Data Execution Prevention. It won’t change the in game language to German.
(ATI USERS ONLY) Install the atioglxx.dll fix. As pointed out by Culex in the comments below, a recent driver update for ATI (14.9) is causing the following issue for it’s users:
Homeworld2.exe caused an Access Violation in module atioglxx.dll
To fix this issue download the patched version of atioglxx.dll linked above and drop into the bin\release folder of your Homeworld 2 install. You can also download the atioglxx.dll fix from us here.

Note – according to a numbers of sources on the web no-cd exes are legal provided they are only for personal use. See the Wikipedia No-CD crack page for more details (or do you own research if you are still skeptical). You can read the legal jargon from the U.S. Copyright Office if you’re interested (and if you’re in the USA).

There a few less common issues with running Homeworld 2 that are covered in these posts:

Homeworld 2 invisible ships – with recent graphics driver updates for certain video cards some users are experiencing an odd issue where ships will be invisible and you may see oddly broken textures. See this post for more info.
Homeworld 2 camera and movement lag – with certain video cards rotating the camera and zooming into your ships will cause extreme FPS drops. See this post for a workaround.

If you’ve followed the above steps and are still having issues running Homeworld 2 on Windows 7, please post in the comments below. To increase your chances of a solution being found include as much detail as possible (which version of the game you’re running, what operating system you have, what video card you have and steps to reproduce the issue). Screenshots are also very useful!

sources: link 1, link 2

Posted in Homeworld 2 | 41 Comments