To all SSC Station occupants
Thank you for the donations over the past year (2024), it is much appreciated. I am still trying to figure out how to migrate the forums to another community software (probably phpbb) but in the meantime I have updated the forum software to the latest version. SSC has been around a while so their is some very long time members here still using the site, thanks for making SSC home and sorry I haven't been as vocal as I should be in the forums I will try to improve my posting frequency.
Thank you again to all of the members that do take the time to donate a little, it helps keep this station functioning on the outer reaches of space.
-D1-
Okay, I found a thread on this site while searching for help getting DarkStar One running.
general-space-sim-chat-f10/darkstar-one-patches-and-fixes-t18.html
Short Story:
I'm trying to install it on Win7, but a driver or two (two pop-ups about the driver) aren't digitally signed, so Win7 won't let them be installed, thus DS1 doesn't work. Anyone encountered this issue before and know how to fix it?
Long Story:
I used to play Wing Commander Prophecy, but when my family upgraded to WinXP, I couldn't get WCP to install on it.
So, about a year ago, I got the craving to play WCP again, but still couldn't get it to install and aside from directions to manually install it at risk of killing the computer, found no help online.
Suffering from cravings like an addict, I scoured the stores for a space game that sounded compelling enough, and found DS1 hidden behind some junk games in the 'unwanted' section.
It looked good and was cheap, so I purchased it. I didn't expect a gem, but I figured it looked like it could be gold.
Well, I get home and install it in XP and it proceeds to tell me that my graphics card isn't quite good enough, so I am not allowed to play it. Upset, I put it in my pile of 'games I want to get working someday' and downloaded a demo for a junk space game to get me through... waiting for the day I could build a computer to handle it.
Here I am now, running Win7 and I still can't get DS1 to install. This time it's something about drivers that aren't digitally signed.
Ironically... WCP works perfectly in Win7. The video may be grainy since it was designed to look a little static (a space thing, lol) on a 15 inch screen, and I'm running it on a 32 inch, wide format tv... but at least I can play it.
Summary... I've yet to actually play DS1.
Okay, I've vented... I really wanted to go after Asceron with all that, but they're gone...
Anyone able to help me?
Hello Esperologist
Not using windows 7 myself but have you tried the compatibility mode ❓
Also theres this post on this blog,which may or may not be any help.
I don't use Windows 7 myself, but I had a lot of bother trying to get Windows Vista to do stuff. Finding out how to switch off user account control and other such rubbish, helped alot. So to your problem, perhaps if you try and go into the settings or report options could help. Switching off a load of guff you don't want or need seems a necessary thing these days. GOD! I hate wIndose! 👿 Oh, and welcome to the SSC 🙂
I think it is related to the copy - protection drivers (even though you can't play the game with the x64 version of Win7). First you will have to install the 1.3 patch of the game (you will find it here http://www.patches-scrolls.de/ ). If it still will not run, you may want to find a cracked version of the executable (aka game fix), to get rid of the drm.
Some links for a better WCP gaming experience:
Okay, I'll start with trying the patch, since I should probably have that anyway.
Then I'll try compatibility mode.
Third will be the fix Pinback linked to.
And finally, if it still doesn't work, I'll try finding 'enhancements' to disable.
Thanks for the help, I'll let you know what gets it working.
Oh, and thanks for the WCP links, CaptainKal.
Update: I had uninstalled DS1, so I just reinstalled it. I tried it, and instead of complaining about drivers, it just didn't run.
I tried the patch and it still did nothing. Carrying on...
it might be worth putting a post on the Kalypso forum as well.
Good point CaptainKal, I had bother from a game once (can't remember the title) and had to download updated Starforce protection drivers to get it to run. Perhaps this is something similar?
Okay, none of those worked.
I posted on Kalypso.
If you think of anything else I can try, post it.
Have you tried running the install as administrator using the right click menu? This worked in Vista for a few things.
I'll give that a try. I forgot about doing that with the installer.
I find it ironic though, that I have to try to run it as though I have administrative access, when my account is the administrative account... *hearty laugh*
Don't know if you got the game to work yet but it been suggested in this thread from the steam forum that window 7 user should remove the "iphlpapi.dll from the DS1 install folder" as it is out of date and let window use the default one.I have also seen this suggested as a cure for running the game on Vista.
I found a different thread about that. Apparently, the Steam version has two copies of that file. One copy is bad, the other is good... so, deleting the bad fixes it.
Non-Steam versions only have one copy (that I can find) and deleting it didn't help. I did try.
I re-installed again, running the installer as admin.
I got this error during install, and the game still doesn't run:
"TAGES driver
Error 577"
I looked up TAGES, and it looks like copy protection drivers.
So, does that mean that when I try to install, the TAGES security on the disc thinks I'm trying to duplicate the disc?
I'm going to try installing the TAGES thing from their site and see if it helps.
I'm going to try installing the TAGES thing from their site and see if it helps.
Or you can the utility that comletely unistalls the TAGES drives, and then surrender yourself to the dark side 😀 (i.e. find a gamefix).
Nice one Aftermass hopefully that should help a few people out. 😎
My post entry here is long after all the above, but useful for any Darkstar One Players:
I'm using a laptop, Win 7 Home 64-Bits and the game from GOG.com (Good Old Games). No need to patch anything, as it's already the 1.3 version, all you should do is change the default grafics settings to High and the resolution to maximum of your monitor. I haven't experienced any problems whatsoever.
A MOD for this game also exists, called MesaMod, but I don't know if it's compatible with the latest English / French game version from GOG.com (v. 1.3) . It can be found here:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/mesamod
Background:
I recently decided to take a look at Darkstar One, produced in Germany, because I read the description of an outstanding AI system in some reviews. And: I can fully confirm this and find it a lot of fun to play. Every race has a different way to fight you in space which makes it interesting and challenging.
Another game from German producers that I tried, called Galaxy on Fire 2, is more on the "arcade" side, as far as ship AI is concerned, but that has to do with the fact that the game was designed for mobile devices and was then ported to PC in HD format.
Greets,
XenonS
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