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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Railroad Tycoon 3 on Windows 7

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

Railroad Tycoon 3 is known to have issues with running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista. The most common issue appears to be related to hardware transform and lighting (hardware t&l) – an option that is enabled by default in Railroad Tycoon 3. The beauty of this setting is that you normally have to start the game to disable is. Seeing as it causes game startup crashes this isn’t really possible. Luckily there’s another way:

Install either patch 1.05 or unofficial patch 1.06. If you installed the game on steam, you’ll automatically be patched to version 1.05 so you don’t have to worry about this.
Download the “Vista Fix” (aka modified engine.cfg):
Download link 1 <– Hawk and Badger (account required)
Download link 2 <– Local mirror
Overwrite the engine.cfg with the downloaded version. The original engine.cfg is located in:
Railroad Tycoon 3\Data\Configuration
If you installed the game through steam you can find this file in the following directory:
steam\steamapps\common\Railroad Tycoon 3\Data\Configuration
To install the “Vista Fix” simply replace your version of the engine.cfg with the one you downloaded and restart the game!

If you’ve followed the above steps and are still having issues running Railroad Tycoon 3 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, link 3

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Tiberian Sun on Windows 7

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

Tiberian Sun is known to have some issues running on newer operating systems especially Windows 7 or Windows Vista. This is understandable as the game was released way back in 1999… I’ve compiled a list of steps below that will cover the majority of potential issues you might encounter running Tiberian Sun on Windows 7. Make sure you see the list of possible errors at the bottom of this post if you’re still experiencing errors after following these steps!

Make sure you have the TFD freeware version installed. The freeware First Decade version of Tiberian Sun comes fully patched and includes both Tiberian Sun and Firestorm. It is also bundled with a few patch files that set you up for online play so there’s no reason you shouldn’t be using it at your main installation of the game. You can get the First Decade version from one of the links here.
Make sure the game is installed in the right directory. The First Decade version of Tiberian Sun expects to be downloaded in C:\Program Files\. Your full game path should be as follows:
C:\Program Files\EA Games\Command & Conquer The First Decade\Command & Conquer(tm) Tiberian Sun(tm)\SUNIf you don’t have the game installed in this directory the included shortcuts and registry patch will not work. You can simply move your extracted EA Games folder to C:\Program Files\ if it isn’t there already.
Set ALL game executables to run as Admin with Windows 98 compatibility mode. Right click on your game.exe and SUN.exe files in your SUN directory, then go to compatibility and select run as administrator and run with Windows 98 compatibility. Make sure you do this for both of these files.
Start the game from the Game.exe. If you’re running the game from a shortcut instead, make sure the shortcut points to this file and is being run as administrator with Windows 98 compatibility.

There are a few other issues you may run into when installing/playing the game. See these posts on the respective issues for solutions to some of the common problems you may encounter:

One or more DLL files were missing or damaged. Please reinstall.This issue is related to improper installation of Tiberian Sun. See the Tiberian Sun DLL files missing or damaged post for details on how to fix your installation.
Failed to initialize. Please reinstall. This issue is related to compatibility issues with newer operating systems. See the Tiberian Sun Failed to initialize post for details on how to resolve these compatibility issues.
Westwood online support library is missing or invalid. This error is caused by issues with your Westwood internet components installation or registeration. See the Westwood online support library is missing or invalid post for details on how to fix your internet components installation.

If you’ve followed the above steps and are still having issues running Tiberian Sun 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!

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Tiberian Sun windowed mode

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

To run Tiberian Sun windowed mode, you’ll have to follow these steps:

Change your color quality to 16 bit. To run Tiberian Sun in windowed mode you’ll first have to change your desktop color quality to 16bit otherwise you’ll get this error:
This product requires a 16bit pixel depth
To change your color quality:
- Windows XP – Right click on your desktop > Properties > Settings tab > Set your color quality to 16bit.
- Windows 7 & 8 – Right click on your desktop > Screen Resolution > Advanced Settings > Monitor tab > Set your colors to: High Color (16bit)
Add the -win option to your shortcut. Now right click on your Tiberian Sun shortcut, select properties and then in the target field after the quotations put a space and then type:
-win
e.g. “C:\Program Files\EA Games\Command & Conquer The First Decade\Command & Conquer(tm) Tiberian Sun(tm)\SUN\Game.exe” -win.
Run Tiberian Sun from this shortcut to run in windowed mode.

If you’ve followed the above steps and are still having issues with Tiberian Sun windowed mode, 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!

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