Topic: D3 won't start on school computers, error message

[NUMBERZero]

I get an error message that simpily says:
Fail to create registry key for Descent 3.

What does that mean?

[-<WillyP>-]

It means you don't have admin access on that machine. Maybe someone has a workaround.

[S13driftAZ]

LOL

restart computer in safe mode, log in to administrator account, add password 'admin' to administrator account, restart in regular windows, right click descent in my computer and click 'run as', in the window that pops up click run as user 'administrator' and type in your password 'admin'.

Congrats, you hacked the school... don't get caught bro.

EDIT: I have tried this only on XP so it may not work on win98 or whatever garbage OS your school may provide. KTHXBYE

[NUMBERZero]

Strange how D1/D2 will run but D3 won't. I'm playing them directly from the flash drive. I don't really want to haxx the computers, but whatever.

[SaladBadger]

LOL

restart computer in safe mode, log in to administrator account, add password 'admin' to administrator account, restart in regular windows, right click descent in my computer and click 'run as', in the window that pops up click run as user 'administrator' and type in your password 'admin'.

Congrats, you hacked the school... don't get caught bro.

EDIT: I have tried this only on XP so it may not work on win98 or whatever garbage OS your school may provide. KTHXBYE

I hate to point this out, but many schools have actual security pratsices that will prevent that. I just checked it on a virtual machine and you can't log in to administrator without a password, and if the password is something other than admin it won't work.

And I hate to say this, but that isn't *hacking*, it's abusing a security hole because some networks aren't configured well

[S13driftAZ]

And I hate to say this, but that isn't *hacking*, it's abusing a security hole because some networks aren't configured well

Man ya killed it

[TechPro]

LOL

restart computer in safe mode, log in to administrator account, add password 'admin' to administrator account, restart in regular windows, right click descent in my computer and click 'run as', in the window that pops up click run as user 'administrator' and type in your password 'admin'.

Congrats, you hacked the school... don't get caught bro.

EDIT: I have tried this only on XP so it may not work on win98 or whatever garbage OS your school may provide. KTHXBYE

The ability to use that method to get in with Administrator rights is pretty strong evidence that the tech support for that particular school is ... pathetic if not totally non-existent.... and I'm being nice.

[S13driftAZ]

The ability to use that method to get in with Administrator rights is pretty strong evidence that the tech support for that particular school is ... pathetic if not totally non-existent.... and I'm being nice.

Yeah, my junior high school blowed.

[NUMBERZero]

Here is an update, I go to start it through the regular launcher and when Iclike launch, it says that I need to go into settings and detect the "system properties" under the speed tab. I go ahead and detect the properties and click ok to run the settings that it suggests, I go to play again, and it says the same thing.

[SaladBadger]

It simpily can't write its settings as a limited user due to bad programming (there's a system space, and a per-user space in the registry)

[TechPro]

InsanityBringer is right that it's because it isn't being able to save it's configuration settings ... because you don't have sufficient rights to the computer for it to save the selected settings (not because of "bad programming").

It's too bad Descent 3 wasn't programmed to place settings according to "per user" because that *might* have gotten around what you're seeing ... but if they had done that, then when you install Descent 3 on a computer that has more than one user name used on it, Descent 3 would have needed to be configured for each user ... usually undesirable and a bit of a pain.  When Descent 3 was designed, such setups were very rare expect in business environments (and I don't think Descent 3 qualifies as a "business" app).  Totally understandable that they designed Descent 3 the way they did.  As is, Descent 3 would only need configured once (ideally).  Since your school has the computers "locked down" to prevent you making system wide changes (a smart move by the school, btw) ... Descent 3 is not able to save the configuration.

[SaladBadger]

The "Bad Programming" thing came from the fact that there are programming pratcises (not hacky ones) that allow config settings to be stored on a per-user basis. May be something to look at if the source is released

[TechPro]

Yeah, if the source code does become available, I'd vote for an option to have the settings set "system wide" or "per user" so that if different configurations were desired, it could be done ... or not.

[-<WillyP>-]

I think you should change your name:

[NUMBERZero]

Hah! One of my friends told me the password to what I think would have been an admin user. It had a bunch of files for this year's yearbook. SABOTAGE! Nawww. I just tried out D3 again, but it failed....But what I should have done was look up the picture of one Freshman, print it out, take it down to the shooting range, invite my Spanish 2 class (except the Freshman), and we can all have at it. Heck! I'd invite the teacher! We all hate him! XD