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C2 on Windows 7?

Satsuma

Satsuma

4/17/2017

1

Aside from having to buy the game again on GOG, is there any way to make C2 run on Windows 7? I do use an old PC with Windows XP on it but it is really starting to show it's age with all sorts of issues, plus I'm tired of having to transfer stuff between. I'm using the original CD version of the game, of course.

Intyalle

Intyalle

4/17/2017

2

In fairness, it's pretty cheap on GOG.com, especially if you wait for a sale. I wish I could help more, but I actually never owned any of the games except the first until I got them from GOG

Also known as bab_5_freak from the old Gameware forums.

GimmeCat

GimmeCat

4/18/2017

2

Quoted from this thread:

Ghosthande wrote:

There was a discussion on this a while ago on Creaturetopia, in which some of our more tech savvy players pitched in to explain what the deal is and why C2 has problems running on newer computers.

It was determined that C2 requires specific settings which newer versions of Windows, like Vista, generally don't support. Specific issues were that a) DirectX needs to provide a 16-bit hardware surface, and b) the graphics card needs to support Direct Draw. Nvidia, in particular, does not support Direct Draw, and at least according to TreeSprite, even running C2 on an emulator won't work if this particular requirement is not met.

TreeSprite wrote:
C2 REQUIRES the use of DirectDraw, but the Windows Vista Shell won't allow for any software that runs inside the shell to do a direct pull from any hardware. The reason C2 could run so fast was that it allowed for the game to make a direct call to video hardware for space in which to run the graphics.

The GOG version was specifically updated to work on prissy newer computers. If you're lucky and your computer has the right specs, you might be able to get an older version to work, if only via emulator. But IMHO, shoveling out $3 for a version that is guaranteed to work, and that you can re-download any time you need, is still the simplest solution.

C-Rex

Lollipop Lord

C-Rex

4/19/2017

2

Just to butt in here - the Creatures 2 from GOG.com, for all intents and purposes, is pretty much the go-to for any operating system newer than XP but older than 8. Sadly, any OS beyond 7 doesn't support Direct Draw at all, and even if you do get the game working, it will run at a nauseatingly slow frame rate.

Satsuma

Satsuma

4/22/2017

1

Bummer, guess I'm gonna have to wait for a sale on GOG sometime. Real reason (aside from being cheap) that I initially turned down the idea of buying it again is that there isn't a way to get C2 on it's own, or am I wrong?

Intyalle

Intyalle

4/22/2017

2

You can't - It's part of Albian Years - but each of the games (C1 & C2) install separately. So, you can't buy just one, but you can buy both and only install one.

Also known as bab_5_freak from the old Gameware forums.

Satsuma

Satsuma

4/26/2017

1

Well that sucks, but whatever. I guess it's better to have something that works with a little extra than something that can just barely be used at all.

NewNovaScotia

NewNovaScotia

6/21/2017

Intyalle wrote:
In fairness, it's pretty cheap on GOG.com, especially if you wait for a sale. I wish I could help more, but I actually never owned any of the games except the first until I got them from GOG

I got all three of the Creatures games pretty cheap from GOG. C2 does work on Windows 7 and 10 if you get the GOG version, though it runs pretty slowly and has some graphical problems, like the menus disappearing in mid-air.

Married to Canada since 2010. ðŸ‡¨ðŸ‡¦

Satsuma

Satsuma

12/30/2017

so i finally got around to getting the Albian Years pack, tried out C2 and..................

nope. it dont work.

it makes the screen all black for some time then *COMPLETELY* frecks up the colors and makes the entire system lag to near unusability. it was a huge struggle just to open task manager and shut the thing down

tried it in both 16 and 32 bit color modes. both of them have the same result
was able to get it to try and load a world, but that gave a me an error "An error was detected during startup. Creatures 2 may not function correctly. Please restart your machine and try again." it never opens the game

cant find anything on google so far that is tailored to my specific problem (mostly stuff for windows 10). everyone else using win7 seems to have little to no issues. typical

so basically i spent $6 for nothing aka the same thing i had before with the CDs. my stupid fault for switching to faildows 7 in the first place

EDIT: oh yeah, its a 64 bit faildows 7

Malkin

Malkin

Manager

12/30/2017

Did you install it in exactly the way GOG wanted you to? (ie. not into My Documents) A lot of people seem to have installed TAY into My Documents and report that that helps them.

My TCR Norns

Satsuma

Satsuma

12/30/2017

Malkin wrote:
Did you install it in exactly the way GOG wanted you to? (ie. not into My Documents) A lot of people seem to have installed TAY into My Documents and report that that helps them.

are you saying NOT to put it in My Documents (its not in there), or to reinstall it in My Documents? because i've had some old game off a CD that would only work in My Documents

Malkin

Malkin

Manager

12/30/2017

I have not done this myself, so I cannot speak to its efficacy from personal experience, but I suggest you try reinstalling into My Documents.

My TCR Norns

Satsuma

Satsuma

12/30/2017

just my luck

somehow i messed up the filepath to reinstall C1 in there (it dumped all of the files straight into it without putting them into a folder like i wanted), uninstalled it, and now it appears that the uninstaller deleted my entire My Documents folder with everything in it

this is ridiculous.. the other game did something similar but it did not nuke the whole folder when i removed it! now i have no idea how to get it back or if it will cause more problems down the line

Malkin

Malkin

Manager

12/30/2017

I'm sorry!

My TCR Norns

Satsuma

Satsuma

12/30/2017

is there a way to revert the uninstallation??

Malkin

Malkin

Manager

12/30/2017

I'm not sure - maybe there's a general HELP forum on GOG.com?

My TCR Norns

Satsuma

Satsuma

12/30/2017

there is and i found a post where somebody wrote that uninstalling a GOG game deleted their whole game folder with all their games (even non GOG games). crap man, i hope i dont need any of the stuff in my documents

gonna be reading it to see if there is a solution, but at least im not alone with this dilemma!

edit: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/gog_galaxy_has_just_deleted_my_entire_games_folder/page1

Wingheart

Wingheart

12/30/2017

do you have a system restore point from before you installed the creatures game?

Satsuma

Satsuma

12/30/2017

nope, so unless theres another way im not getting that stuff back

ylukyun

Patient Pirate

ylukyun

Manager

12/30/2017

File recovery software might help you get some of it back...

Satsuma

Satsuma

12/30/2017

both games are now working in that empty My Documents folder (they better!)

recuva didn't find anything with the simpler scan type, gonna check again tomorrow with deeper ones because those take half a day or more. im open to suggestions on what other recovery programs i could try

C-Rex

Lollipop Lord

C-Rex

12/31/2017

If your Creatures 2 is lagging it means you need to lower the resolution. DirectDraw in Windows 10 is very badly optimised meaning it will suffer from severe performance issues when C2 runs at any resolutions above 1366 x 768.

GimmeCat

GimmeCat

12/31/2017

Oh my, I will be sure never to recommend installing Creatures into My Docu in future! If that happened to me, I would lose basically everything I care about. All my art, music, video projects, writing, downloads, personal files, chatlogs, sentimental things, I keep EVERYTHING in there.

So glad to have read this before I ever did something similar myself!

Laura

Tea Queen

Laura

Administrator

12/31/2017

[nscared]

Sorry about your Documents folder, Satsuma! Hopefully you didn't lose anything important...

This may be a stupid idea, but to avoid this issue would it be feasible to create a second Documents folder for the sole purpose of installing C2 on Windows 7? In theory, you could just move the real Documents folder to somewhere else? Again, if this is a stupid idea just put it down to baby brain. [nlaugh]

[nlaugh]

GimmeCat

GimmeCat

12/31/2017

1

The idea behind installing it in My Documents is because it's a system path where the game chooses to store savegame files, and I guess it became a common piece of advice when newer versions of Windows started preventing applications from running with proper read/write priviledges in the Program Files folder. It's kind of a mashup of two different things.

People are better off just installing to literally any other folder but Program Files, and it'll work just fine. And yes, that could indeed just be a new 'My Documents' folder inside the original My Documents, as you suggest. But it's probably just easier to stick it in C:\Creatures, or something like that.

C-Rex

Lollipop Lord

C-Rex

1/1/2018

Wow, I've just read about the game deleting your entire My Documents folder. The uninstaller must be pretty poorly coded if it deletes every single file rather than the ones used by the game. [nangry]

[nangry]

Oh, are you using GOG Galaxy yourself, and that's what deleted the folder?

Laura

Tea Queen

Laura

Administrator

1/1/2018

GimmeCat wrote:
The idea behind installing it in My Documents is because it's a system path where the game chooses to store savegame files, and I guess it became a common piece of advice when newer versions of Windows started preventing applications from running with proper read/write priviledges in the Program Files folder. It's kind of a mashup of two different things.

People are better off just installing to literally any other folder but Program Files, and it'll work just fine. And yes, that could indeed just be a new 'My Documents' folder inside the original My Documents, as you suggest. But it's probably just easier to stick it in C:\Creatures, or something like that.

Ah thanks, I was just wondering about it because my new laptop happens to be a 64-bit Windows 7 one, and only the other day I was thinking about reinstalling Creatures 2...

Pilla

Fuzzy Dragonhat

Pilla

1/1/2018

@Gimmecat: I think it'd be safer to install it in a map anyone gets read/write access to. C $:\$ Creatures is a bit dangerous, since normal users usually don't have permissions to write to that map, right?

Instead, a subfolder in your documents, desktop, or just in your user folder would be safer.

Scary, that the uninstaller removed everything....

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GimmeCat

GimmeCat

1/1/2018

I've always assumed C:\ is accessible, but maybe not. I've used admin accounts for so many years I forget what it's even like to be on a limited account!

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