Strange colors and Windows 7 problems solution

[VancheZ]

Found a solution for the 'strange colors' problem on a Russian site:

http://shura.luberetsky.ru/2009/12/29/windows-7-i-starye-igry/

(check the link if you can read Russian )

In a glance, the strange colors appear due to incompatibility between MoO2 (windows version) and recent versions of DirectDraw. To make DirectDraw run in a compatible mode for MoO, you need to make these steps:

1. Run regedit.exe
2. Open the HKLM/Software/Microsoft/DirectDraw/Compatibility folder
3. Create a folder named MoO2 (or whatever)
4. Create two binary keys, named ID and Flags, and a string key named Name
5. In the Name key, fill the name of MoO executable, usually Orion95.exe
6. In the Flags key, fill 00 08 00 00
7. In the ID key, fill the DirectDraw ID of the game. For my MoO2 v1.31, it was cb 82 39 33. If you have other version, do these steps to determine the ID:

a. Run Orion95.exe with administrator rights, look at the strange colors and close it.
b. Look the ID up in HKLM/Software/Microsoft/DirectDraw/MostRecentApplication
c. Reverse the byte order of the ID. In my case, it was 0x333982cb, drop the 0x part, then separate the 8 characters into 4 two-character groups - 33 39 82 cb. Then just reverse their order to get cb 82 39 33 or whatever you get.

8. You should have the parameters filled like this:

Flags 00 08 00 00
ID cb 82 39 33
Name Orion95.exe

9. Run the Orion95.exe executable and see the colors all right.

You don't need to shutdown explorer.exe or tweak compatibility settings for the executable.

By the way, the method also works for other old games - there are Starcraft and Diablo examples in the Compatibility folder already, I have also tweaked the Diablo: Hellfire and Starcraft: Brood war add-ons, both worked fine.

This worked on both my PCs running Windows 7.

[the oob]

Thanks, this worked for me, although I had to make the id a 32 bit DWord, and the MostRecentApplication was in a different place (search through the registry to find it). I ended up putting these new keys and flags (in a new MOO2 folder) in two places (not sure which is helping):
HKLM/Software/Microsoft/DirectDraw/Compatibility
and
HKLM/Software/Wow6432Node/Microsoft/DirectDraw/Compatibility



I find this works better than Orion2.exe through DOSBox, which was having frequent graphics problems, but the price I pay is the game completely freezing up now and then, forcing me to reboot. If I can fix this I'll post back here.

[Viper2024]

Unfortunately it doesn't work by me. I have Win 7 64-bit and did all the things you have described.







which ID version I use - binary from "VancheZ" or hex from "the oob" - plays no role.

[proxious]

let me try out the solutions

[wlh4]

I have the same problem as Viper2024 except I'm running Win7 32-bit.

My first problem, as posted separately, is that it wouldn't run due to a missing "DLOAD.DLL" file. Following the recommedation I found on-line, I copied Windows\System32\dloadx.dll to Windows\System32\dload.dll. That allowed it to run.

Now I'm to the freaky color problem. I've tried the recommended Registry entry into HEKY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MicrosoftDirectDraw\Compatibility\MoO2 - once with ID as a DWORD and once as a binary - with no change.

Is there anything else that needs changing?

[wlh4]

I have the same problem as Viper2024 except I'm running Win7 32-bit.

My first problem, as posted separately, is that it wouldn't run due to a missing "DLOAD.DLL" file. Following the recommedation I found on-line, I copied Windows\System32\dloadx.dll to Windows\System32\dload.dll. That allowed it to run.

Now I'm to the freaky color problem. I've tried the recommended Registry entry into HEKY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MicrosoftDirectDraw\Compatibility\MoO2 - once with ID as a DWORD and once as a binary - with no change.

Is there anything else that needs changing?

[Flick Montana]

I'm no computer whiz. I can't figure out how to create a folder in the editor. Anyone able to help me out with that?

[KaKistoZ]

Awesome! Thanks alot VancheZ!

Because of your easy steps, I was able to create myself a x64 color fix for "Diablo: Hellfire"! Tried several other suggestions but all of them failed. I could never've guessed that adding some values to the registry would help. Excellent help indeed! ^^


And now, for everyone to enjoy, here are the registry files to solve the problem! (I did not, however, create the ones for Diablo. I found those elsewhere on the net)

Diablo v1.09 color fix for Win7 x86:
http://zevera.com/DownFile.ashx?fid=3916303&oid=7499106&fn=d109_x86.reg&fp=

Diablo v1.09 color fix for Win7 x64:
http://zevera.com/DownFile.ashx?fid=3916302&oid=7499105&fn=d109_x64.reg&fp=

Diablo: Hellfire v1.01 color fix for Win7 x64:
http://zevera.com/DownFile.ashx?fid=3915474&oid=7498249&fn=hf101_x64.reg&fp=

Don't worry, they're totally secure. ^^

However if the register files doesn't work for you as it did for me, then you can always try making one yourself by following the instructions as provided by VancheZ in the first post of this thread.

KEEP IN MIND; that the .reg file for "Diablo: Hellfire" was ONLY made to run and work for Win7 x64! If you're running Win7 x86, you will have to do as I mentioned earlier; retrace back to the first post by VancheZ and following the steps there in order to enter the string values manually into your registry.

So to sum it all up; this is what it seems to me that this issue is about:

Appearantly it turns out that this is actually a DirectDraw-issue for many games of this age, so there is this designated compatability string within the registry for DirectDraw into which you need to create a new folder for the executable you're having a problem rendering properly.

I'm no expert so anyone can follow the easy steps made by VancheZ.

Now then, to end this reply; once again: I can't begin to thank VancheZ enough for saving my holiday experience! Now I can finally enjoy Hellfire, once more... ^^

[KaKistoZ]

[Sparrowhawk]

I found this fix years ago.

Create a batch file by copy the below into notepad and saving as moo.bat

TASKKILL /F /IM "explorer.exe"
cd D:\moo2\Orion2\
start /w D:\moo2\Orion2\orion95.exe
start C:\Windows\explorer.exe

You will need correct the path to the exe.
Graphic issue is related to windows explorer.
_________________
Sparrowhawk

[Catalyst_Kh]

DosBox is better even for singleplayer, because many additional features (like mapgen for regular moo2, vdc mod, and this nice tool), and DosBox is required for multiplayer of course.