New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

[RobbyD]

New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

So I got this hot new computer (Windows7), and on the original install LoD actually booted up. But then I started trying to do the various patches and have not gotten a successful launch since. For some reason W7 doesn't want to allow me to save files to the D2 directories. I've done the "run as admin" thing as well as compatibility with XP SP3, but no dice.

Would getting the 7pro for the XP emulation fix the problem?

 

[Kestegs]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

Well, I run on win 7 and play other patches as well.

I don't know where you have it installed, but I think sometimes it has problems if installed in the program files directory. I also run tren shadow and not multiple installs. Win 7 will do stupid things with save files, like putting them in virtual directories, I still don't completely understand what it is doing sometimes and why it does that. It is also generally recommended to run D2 as "win Xp service pack 2" under compatibility.

Not sure if any of that helps, I had a lot of trouble with my new win 7 computer, but I finally got all of the kinks worked out, so I'm sure you'll get there.

 

[hubb]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

Is it installed in one of those AppData directories? If so you should reinstall into another, preferably something like C:\Games\Diablo II. Alternative you can just move it and change two registry entries*. People seem to be resistant against this even though it's 20 times as fast...

*HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Blizzard Entertainment\Diablo II\InstallPath
*HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Blizzard Entertainment\Diablo II\Save Path

If you get graphical problems, Sven's Glide wrapper and/or windowed mode is worth a try.

 

[Ojimijam]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

I run fine on a win7 laptop. D2 automatically installed in C: \ Program files(x86)\Diablo II and it runs 1.13c fine, with FAM.

 

[WoRG1]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

Robby, I run multiple installs for different versions on a win7 box with no problems...I will echo what others are saying: never install to the program files folders, always install to a path that YOU specify during setup...

FWIW, I had absolutely no issues getting it to install, run, or patch multiple installs, but I put my installs on a separate drive [D:] from the system [C:] drive, not everyone has that option...(windoze does issue a compatibilty warning on startup, but I've never had an issue...)

WoRG

 

[OsyncO]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

I will echo what others are saying: never install to the program files folders, always install to a path that YOU specify during setup...

Why is that?

I have D2 running fine on Win 7 in the programs folder.

 

[Rabisu]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

Why is that?

I have D2 running fine on Win 7 in the programs folder.

The reason is, unless you disable half of the security 'features', Windows will not let the program alter some (or all) of the data in the 'Program Files' directory. This is an issue for games that put save files in their install directory (like Diablo II ;]).

My install works perfectly from the 'Program Files' directory as well, but I made sure to disable a lot of the 'features' Windows 7 has to 'secure' your computer.

As for help, I'm not sure where you'd find them, but the security options are bound to be somewhere in the Control Panel. Alternatively (if you don't like messing with things like that), installing it into another directory (C:/Games/DiabloII) should fix the problem.

 

[nualum]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

When I got my new win7 box several months back I did have some problems getting things to run. Everything was custom install directories, run as administrator. I tried various compatability modes, but ultimately I had to install the glide wrapper before things would run properly.

 

[hubb]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

Ye, I turned and all of that UAC crap off as soon as I first booted into Win7 and I'm doing fine with it in Program Files. Editing game files on other people PCs is a huge PITA if they have Win 7 D:

*I second the above. I think the Glide wrapper does wonders for most people with modern PCs.

 

[RobbyD]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

Thank for the responses.

I actually did copy my original installs from my XP box onto an external HDD, and I tried to run D2 by referencing those files, with no luck.

I'll try a fresh install to a location outside of "Program Files". Will 7 allow me to copy patch files into those directories then?

What is the (x86) thing anyway?

 

[hubb]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

That's just (afaik) a dir for 32-bit programs, which run differently from 64-bit apps.

It wouldn't work if you just copied it over since the game will still go look for the game files and saves in the original directory because the registry hasn't been changed (the two entries posted above).

 

[RobbyD]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

How does one disable all the wonderful security features 7 grants you?

 

[Jcakes1]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

I believe it is somewhere in control panel and is called User Account Control, it may be under security features (I am not currently on my home computer so I can't check). The first thing I did when installing windows 7 was to disable all those security "features" as most of them just caused me more problems then they solved.

Edit: See if this works http://www.mydigitallife.info/how-to-disable-and-turn-off-uac-in-windows-7/. Alternatively click here

 

[RobbyD]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

OK, I uninstalled D2 and then reinstalled directly to C:, and I also turned UAC to it's lowest setting. Tried to run, and... no dice. I get the compatibility warning, I click OK, and then the cursur swirls a bit, then nothing else happens. I don't get an error message or anything, but the game doesn't launch even though diablo2.exe and game.exe processes continue to be active.

I run in compatibility with XP SP2, run as administrator, uncheck the Read-Only attribute to the install folder, run the video test, and still cannot get a launch. Anybody run into this level of difficulty?

On a bright note, this has given me the opportunity to catch up on "Ashes to Ashes", which is really good, especially Season 3.

 

[niwyral]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

Open the compatibility tab in the properties view of your diablo.exe, then check the box next to "disable desktop compositing" or something similar (not booted to win7 right now).

This along with setting xpsp3 and the 3dfx wrapper was what I needed to get d2 working in win7.

 

[ToolPerson]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

OK, I uninstalled D2 and then reinstalled directly to C:, and I also turned UAC to it's lowest setting. Tried to run, and... no dice. I get the compatibility warning, I click OK, and then the cursur swirls a bit, then nothing else happens. I don't get an error message or anything, but the game doesn't launch even though diablo2.exe and game.exe processes continue to be active.

I run in compatibility with XP SP2, run as administrator, uncheck the Read-Only attribute to the install folder, run the video test, and still cannot get a launch. Anybody run into this level of difficulty?

On a bright note, this has given me the opportunity to catch up on "Ashes to Ashes", which is really good, especially Season 3.

Did you try patching to 1.13 first? You'll need to download the patch directly from Blizzard's servers rather than connecting to battle.net through the game. This worked for me on Win7, installed in the \Program Files (x86) directory, not run in compatibility mode.

 

[RobbyD]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

@ToolPerson - I'm hoping to continue playing multiple patches - I want to finish my parallel 1.09/1.13 Hybrid Zons and I want to try an idea for a 1.07 Necro build (I've already traded for some key gear).

@niwyral - thanks - I'll give that a try.

 

[jjscud]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

When it appears to be doing nothing on launch, are you certain that its not slowly cycling through characters (alphabet, not d2) in the upper left corner. This was my problem for a while, it took 4 minutes to go through that before it launched. (8 minutes with glide wrapper).

Also, have you upgraded to SP 1 of win 7. All of the goofy game issues I had went away after I got sp 1 (though I had already given up on playing D2 and moved on).

 

[Trim]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

When it appears to be doing nothing on launch, are you certain that its not slowly cycling through characters (alphabet, not d2) in the upper left corner. This was my problem for a while, it took 4 minutes to go through that before it launched. (8 minutes with glide wrapper).

The same happened with me upon the initial launch. The character cycling hasn't happened since then, but if I don't play for a good couple/few months the game may still take that long to boot up. Whenever you try some new configuration, I'd suggest giving your computer a few minutes just to make sure your newest solution isn't actually working.

 

[Jason Maher]

Re: New Computer.... woot! D2 won't run.... drat!

Vista (which I'm still running) has the same issues. I can't recall exactly what I had to do to get it running in the end (other than the fact I was never able to get the glide wrapper to work), but I did create a C:\Games\ directory and installed it to there.