Topic: Loads Of Issues With Descent 3 Reinstall

[Matthew]

The compatibility mode is a pointer in the registry. It points to the executable file for which it has been turned on. Uninstalling the software does not remove that pointer. As soon as you re-install you get your compatibility settings back.

Why can't you just remove the compatibility settings by right-clicking the file?

[Thomas]

Why can't you just remove the compatibility settings by right-clicking the file?

That depends on how and where they were set in the first place.

[TechPro]

Why can't you just remove the compatibility settings by right-clicking the file?

That depends on how and where they were set in the first place.

In other words ... You could IF that same method was the only way the compatibility settings were set in the first place.

I should mention that there are a fair number of users who are running descent 3 on Win7 32bit and 64bit systems and are reporting no more trouble than Descent 3 would normally give.   I've been hoping one of those users would chime in on this conversation and lend some advice.

[Matthew]

Why can't you just remove the compatibility settings by right-clicking the file?

That depends on how and where they were set in the first place.

In other words ... You could IF that same method was the only way the compatibility settings were set in the first place.

I should mention that there are a fair number of users who are running descent 3 on Win7 32bit and 64bit systems and are reporting no more trouble than Descent 3 would normally give.   I've been hoping one of those users would chime in on this conversation and lend some advice.

I tried. I failed. I need to start making notes of my installation procedures, if for no other reason so that when something goes haywire I know how to reinstall all my old games.

I wasn't aware there was another way to set compatibility settings. 

[Foil]

I should mention that there are a fair number of users who are running descent 3 on Win7 32bit and 64bit systems and are reporting no more trouble than Descent 3 would normally give.   I've been hoping one of those users would chime in on this conversation and lend some advice.

Honestly, this whole thread baffles me.

I've installed Descent3 on:
Vista x86
Vista x64
Win7 x86
Win7 x64

... and I've *never* had a single issue.  Perhaps this is because I avoid the compatibility settings altogether.  Compat-settings are not needed in D3 for any reason whatsoever; and in my experience, it causes problems if you use them.

[Thomas]

Foil, I think this is because you have UAC turned off, you are the only user on your system (the only one who uses D3), you are administrator, you always either installed to C:\Games (outside of pf) or on a FAT32 partition, you don't play SP or co-op, you always had well-supported graphics cards and sound drivers, you know every single quirk of D3, and you never attempted to uninstall the game. And of course you never used the compatibility mode.

As soon as one of these conditions pops in you can easily get a very hard time with D3. 

[Thomas]

I forgot the patches. You already have the correct patches and extensions you need next to you. That makes it all a lot easier too. 

Average Joe goes to PC World or Comet, grabs a PC, buys the anti virus at the till after being talked into.

Those things definitely won't give you a peaceful time with D3. 

[Foil]

Okay, I have been an administrator-level user for each of those installations.

However:
*I never turn off UAC.
*All those installations are on NTFS
*I do in fact play both singleplayer and co-op
*I've used old drivers (although I typically update them when possible)
*I even host dedicated D3 servers on those machines

Sorry, Thomas.  D3 installation is not problematic on Vista/7.  From my experience, if you avoid mucking around with compatibility settings, it's a very smooth, very easy, process.

Heck, you can take an existing Descent3/Merc install, copy the /Descent3 folder over the network to a Vista/7 machine, and it works perfectly after re-detecting video/audio in the launcher. (The only issue with that method is that you don't get the Merc registry entries, which are needed to select the BP in a game.)

Again, it's simple, and it works FINE on Vista and Win7.  If you're mucking around with compatibility settings and the registry, you're probably causing more problems than you're fixing.

[Thomas]

ROTFL, Foil.

And that's what you call easy? 

[Foil]

Yes, Thomas.   I call this "easy":

1. Copy the entire /Descent3 folder to any Vista/7 machine.
2. Run the game, set up video/audio in the launcher as normal.
3. Enjoy.

You don't think that's easy?

[Thomas]

Didn't you just forget the rest of your explanation?

[Foil]

Oh, you mean this?

4. (Optional) Re-enter the Merc registry entries if desired.

I don't (because I never ever fly the Black Pyro), but that step is easy, too: Double-click a .reg file, done.

Easy.

[Thomas]

Yes, that step is easy. 

I reckon you got the BP disabled when you host servers, because without these registry settings servers tend to crash when BPs are playing (actually: dying or leaving).

You also forgot the step of creating the required shortcuts, unless you always open your game folder to run D3.

But then, where do you get this copy from when you just bought the CDs on the internet and your machine from Comet? 

[Foil]

I reckon you got the BP disabled when you host servers, because without these registry settings servers tend to crash when BPs are playing (actually: dying or leaving).

Not at all.  (See below. If I'm hosting servers from a machine, I just do a quick clean install.)

You also forgot the step of creating the required shortcuts, unless you always open your game folder to run D3.

Creating a shortcut is not difficult.

But then, where do you get this copy from when you just bought the CDs on the internet and your machine from Comet?  

Clean install on a Vista/7 machine from scratch is simple, too:

1.  Install Descent3 (installer runs from the CD just fine if you leave compatibility settings alone).
2.  Install Merc (this installer also runs from the CD just fine)
3.  Install the appropriate v1.4 patch. (I keep the patch file handy, but it's easy enough to find online.)
4.  Enjoy.

Thomas, I really appreciate your work on Hunter's D3Server tool, but why you insist that a simple D3 installation is some complex issue, I don't know.

It's easy, and as long as you avoid using compatibility settings, it works perfectly on Vista/7.

[Thomas]

Thomas, I really appreciate your work on Hunter's D3Server tool, but why you insist that a simple D3 installation is some complex issue, I don't know.

I don't understand what D3Server3 has got to do with the the installation of Descent 3 apart from that both are related to my intention to keep Descent 3 alive, because I simply love the game. 

I do insist in that it's difficult to install Descent 3, because this is where I failed miserably myself when I first installed it. For you it's very easy (and trust me, for me too now). 
But we both know the game and what it requires inside out.

I got no clue why people keep telling me (or others) that the installation of D3 is simple, while we received a couple of hundred private messages or emails already that tell us exactly the opposite. I certainly do believe you, Foil. The installation is simple for you. But it was not for me, not for Kaiz, not for my neighbour, not for my 20 year old student (computer science!), and not for hundreds of other people.

Take your "copy idea", for example. Do you really believe that it's an easy task for a standard computer user to find out why they can't use the BP or play a Mercenary game? I somehow don't. It took me one complete day to analyze and go through every single change I've made just to find out that the Mercenary uninstall registry key plays the only role in this.  :'(

Maybe I should blame Google, because it wouldn't want to return a single result for the error message I kept getting. 

It's easy, and as long as you avoid using compatibility settings, it works perfectly on Vista/7.

Again, it did for you, because you obviously never ran into any trouble you couldn't solve with the knowledge you have on the subject, and from your other posts I suspect that you're happy with what you couldn't get working or don't bother to get working.

Almost every third computer I've installed D3 on needed the -nomultitexture command line switch because the video output was entirely corrputed without it. How is someone supposed to know that? I found out because that was the switch that made most sense for me, but it took quite some time to find it. Trial and error.