Black and White Game on Windows XP?

DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
edited October 2010 in Gaming
So, I built the new box...Atlhon XP 2500+ (Barton), 256 Mb RAM, DFI AD77 mobo...a nice step up from the old home unit. On to that, I installed a brand new and legal OEM copy of Windows XP.

My 12 yr old son has been waiting impatiently for days for me to get this done. He had recently bought the EA game Black and White, which would not play on the old computer (video card not up to snuff.)

So I installed it for him, we launched it, the start-up screen appears...and then "poof", it disappears. :mad:

So I do some research, and find some pointers on EA Games site:..end all user processes except explorer and taskmger, clear the temp directory, uninstall and re-install, etc. No change. :scratch:

So, is anyone using Black and White (orginal version not "recommended" for XP) on XP? If so, is there a patch for XP (we ran the game patch that is on the install disk to fix some game issues, not a specific OS patch.

Any good advice would make my son's weekend much brighter :)

Cheers,

Dexter...
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Comments

  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited October 2003
    All I can say is that it works fine on my XP machines...

    Have you d/led all the patches from EA? Try that, and try updating your video drivers to the latest ones (or the 3.7s if it's an ATi card)
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    You could try running it in compatability mode...
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited October 2003
    Actually, we found the answer on Gamefaqs.com, and you guys were on the right track. Needed the v1.2 patch, and it has to be set to Win98 compatibility. My video drivers are okay, new card (though I will search for an update soon (when my boy gets tired of being a white god... )

    Thanks guys,

    :D:D
  • LammypieLammypie
    edited October 2003
    Yeah I used to love Black and White. I had it running on windows 2000.
    A few issues, most resolved after first patch.
    I sent in detailed error reports as requested.

    The Black and White support page said "win2000 issues being worked on check back soon"

    It stayed like that for almost 2 years.

    WinXP had same problems. Lionhead studios claimed to be working on a fix I continued to send in detailed accounts of errors.

    Certain points in the game were unplayable.

    Then suddenly the second long awaited patch long promised by lionhead studios (even before the release of the first patch) was scrapped. EA stop trying to fix the problems, and expect everyone to upgrade to black and white 2.

    Well sod them. I haven't played the game since, even thought it was my favorite game of all time.
    This was not my first run in with poor customer support from EA, and it won't be my last, but I am very weary about buying EA games now, and I certainly don't unless I can avoid it.

    I am certainly not buying Black and White 2.

    Shame. EA is naff - unfortunalty they own most of the good games now.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited October 2003
    I'll be buying Black & White 2, when it comes out. Say what you will about EA (I didn't appreciate the incompatibility with ATi cards in NFSHP2...) but their games are the best around. Black & White STILL has the best AI of any game I've ever used, bar none.
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited October 2003
    Well, I can understand the point of no longer putting comany resources into patching old software, and just telling user that they have to buy new software. When you buy a game that is designed for ceratin OS platforms, if you make a conscious decision to move away from that platform, that does not make EA or any other software producer automatically responsible to provide you with a patch to enable that. There is no express guarantee in the software that it will last you a lifetime through any OS you upgarde to. Obviously, if enough demand exists to create patches, companies are going to do it. But if they are working on a newer version which will work on the newer OS, it does not make sound business sense to invest a lot of man-hours into upgrading the old version. Owners of the old software either have to stick with the OS that works, or suck it up and buy the new version.

    As for our install, it is working great, with only one hitch. I had set up XP home so that my son had "limited" rights, just for an added measure of protection. But B&W (and I suspect many other games that require the CD in the tray to play) would not work for him on limited rights. So I upped him to admin rights, with a stern warning to always virus scan any downloads and not install any software without talking to his mom or I first. Consequences will be losing admin rights, which translates to losing rights to play these types of games. He's a smart kid, he'll be careful :)

    Cheers all,

    Dexter...
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited November 2003
    I have the same thing with my accounts and kids. If I install a game I go to - http://www.megagames.com/cracks/gm6.htm
    and download a noCD fix. This lets me play the games without putting the CD in.
    This is not a warez site, it just has noCD fixs and patches.

    bothered.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    www.megagames.com
    www.gamecopyworld.com

    Are the 2 main "No-CD Crack" sites about. GCW also normally has all the patches and updates for the game in the games section too, which is useful.

    NS
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited November 2003
    me and a firend were just playing around in a net game, he had the super smart ape that would cast heals and rain and wood spells automaticly and i had effrum the retarded tiger ( fmaily guy quoe if you dont know ) mine would eat villigers and take craps in the food supply. but when we fought mine pwjid his >=)
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    did u get it workinjg yet?
  • MikeybobMikeybob Middle o' Farmer Land
    edited January 2004
    Well I've got a slightly different problem ... I found all your advise helpful but my problem is still there. When I load up the game it does so happily until the animated Lionhead logo appears. Then the animation goes dodgy and lots of random lines appear. In the gane itself rocks and other things will disapear and reapear and parts of the screen flood with a single colour which then flashes so in a nutshell the GFX are fooked. Here's a screenshot I took of the first five mins of the game when you follow the three people back to the village and all the peeps are dancing and whatnot http://www.villagephotos.com/viewpubimage.asp?id_=7668742.

    I looked on tonnes of forums, help sites, trouble shooters and even sent an E-mail to EA and they all say the same thing, log on as admin, shut down all none crucial processes, make sure your drivers are up to date etc etc. Nothing works :( ... not even the 1.1 or 1.2 patch.

    If it's any help to you my specs are:

    2600+ Athlon XP
    GF FX 5600 Ultra (Gainward)
    SoundBlaster PCI 128
    Asus A7N8X Deluxe
    512 Mb Corsair DDR
    DirectX 9

    Thanks :)
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited January 2004
    Well, this is probably not going to solve your problem, but you can take the SB 128 out, as it sucks. The onboard audio is far, far better.

    I don't know what to tell you about the game, though. You could try replacing the GeForce FX with something decent, and that may fix it, but there may be other, more cost-effective ways of fixing it that I'm not aware of.
  • MikeybobMikeybob Middle o' Farmer Land
    edited January 2004
    Lol, tbh the soundcard is getting on a bit now, and I aint rich so the FX is a nice card for what I can afford :P lol.

    Just wondered, could the prob be summin with DirectDraw?
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Are you overclocking the card at all? I had that problem when the core clock was too high on my Radeon...
  • MikeybobMikeybob Middle o' Farmer Land
    edited January 2004
    I don't think so, my case isn't very cool so I try not to overlock anything :/.
  • da6thSenseda6thSense
    edited February 2004
    HELP!!
    I got B&W to run on Xp with the patch 1.2 but once it's started, I had to face a new problem! You have to enter your name and symbol, but whenever I hit a mouse button, the game shuts down and returns to the desktop!! The mouse movement seems to be fine, I just can't puch any buttons....
    Does anybody have an idea?!?!
    Thanks
  • MoogleMoogle
    edited February 2004
    da6thSense wrote:
    HELP!!
    I got B&W to run on Xp with the patch 1.2 but once it's started, I had to face a new problem! You have to enter your name and symbol, but whenever I hit a mouse button, the game shuts down and returns to the desktop!! The mouse movement seems to be fine, I just can't puch any buttons....
    Does anybody have an idea?!?!
    Thanks

    I'm not sure. You can go to a site called gamefaqs.com, see if anyone has already asked that question. If not, you can ask it yourself.
  • Irwin_finkleIrwin_finkle
    edited February 2004
    if i do what u said will v1.3 still work?
  • Irwin_finkleIrwin_finkle
    edited February 2004
    i did that with v 1.3 first off where i find the exe file, second when i try to play it says it cant find P5DLL.dll and tell me to try reinstalling which i already did.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Moogle wrote:
    I'm not sure. You can go to a site called gamefaqs.com, see if anyone has already asked that question. If not, you can ask it yourself.

    To feed mouse to an old game, you need a slowed down mouse or a old mouse. XP is so dang good at feeding mouse-clicks that old games get overwhelmed. Take the mouse accelleration and zero it, plug in an older PS\2 mouse and use it for the game. Then the mouse will be slow enough that it will not be so far ahead of the game that the game gives up while trying to parse mouse click events and track a hyperfast moving mouse. That dll is a pointer and mouse click handler. Try running the game with Windows 95 compliance, for starters. A real old game may need an old mouse driver installed for it to work, and a floppy boot.

    John D.
  • bewilderedbewildered Earth
    edited March 2004
    I recently downloaded the B&W patch for black and white so it could run on my computer, but black an white still would not run! This game is driving me crazy!!! :banghead: Someone please help me! :sad2:
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited March 2004
    bewildered wrote:
    I recently downloaded the B&W patch for black and white so it could run on my computer, but black an white still would not run! This game is driving me crazy!!! :banghead: Someone please help me! :sad2:


    What OS are you running? What video card (type, make and model number) and what driver?

    If it is XP, did you try the compatibility modes is mentioned earlier in this thread? Win98 compatibility worked for us.

    Dexter...
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited March 2004
    This still puzzles the hell out of me. I've run it on like 5 different XP machines. Drop it in, install, and it works. Never had any issues at all. Has anyone had this issue with ATi cards? That's the only thing I can think of... every computer I've ever run it on has had ATi video, and it has always run fine. It even ran on my P3-600 SpeedStep/256MB/8MB Rage Mobility laptop, albiet at like 1fps @ minimum detail, since the Rage Mobility has no OpenGL or D3D support under XP...
  • ThiruinThiruin
    edited April 2004
    Hey, Can you give me the URL's for these Patches please, as it doesn't work on my XP Machine either.

    Thanks.
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited April 2004
    The v1.2 patch is available here:

    http://www.gamezone.com/gamesell/patches/t11761.htm

    ///EDIT 14 June 2004:

    that link may no longer work. If that doesn't work, try this link

    http://www.megagames.com/news/redir.cgi?http://216.127.90.3/patches/black_white_patch_v1_20.exe

    There is a video ad on the browser window, but the patch is there and the server seems to work fine, nice and fast.



    Dexter...
  • ThiruinThiruin
    edited April 2004
    Thanks. If you play the game, is this a bug?

    on the 3rd Island, I was good (allignment) but i got annoyed one day, destroyed everything, and become evil, i didn't want to be evil any more, so i decided to load a previous island in the save game section where i was good, but when i loaded, i looked and my temple and hand became evil.
  • BigDaveGrrrBigDaveGrrr
    edited April 2004
    Ive been trying to play BW and Ive had every problem Imagineable! I have finaly sorted them all out exept 2 interlinked ones:

    1. BW doesnt like GeForce cards especialy FX5200 (guess which card I have!) I have finaly found out how to sort out the dodgy streaky graphics caused by this by putting compatability mode into 256 colours and it works perfectly...........Until:

    2. (The same problem as da6thSense by the sound of it) when the game loads up it leaves the windows mouse pointer in BW!? so when I click it sends me straight back to windows. So then I click on B&W in the tool bar, it re-launches without the windows pointer and NOT in 256 colours!

    All I can say is HHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPP!!!!!!! before I go mad! :rant:
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited April 2004
    Thiruin wrote:
    Thanks. If you play the game, is this a bug?

    on the 3rd Island, I was good (allignment) but i got annoyed one day, destroyed everything, and become evil, i didn't want to be evil any more, so i decided to load a previous island in the save game section where i was good, but when i loaded, i looked and my temple and hand became evil.


    I do not play the game, only installed it and trouble-shot it for my son. Best place for tips on actual Gameplay is the GameFaqs link I posted above.

    Dexter...
  • IrrelevantIrrelevant
    edited May 2004
    Ok, i've had a long list of problems with this game. I bought the double pack at Wal-Mart with B&W and Creature Isle. I went to install, and it did so, then i tried to run it. I got the crash to desktop thing. so i patched it with 1.3. Did not work. Re-installed. Patched with 1.2. Worked with my mouse still connected to the desktop. So , i downloaded new video card drivers. Still no help. I opened the game, then clicked my mouse, then restored the window and it worked. Then i noticed terrible graphics glitches. The graphics were fine until i did the trick to get rid of the mouse pointer. Everytime it came back i had problems. I messed with every compatability option possible and no help. Finally, i found that you were supposed to uninstall Hotfix-KB824141. I did this, and the game worked sort of. It runs, but it still has graphics glitches and now it lags like crazy. I'm beginning to get very angry with this game :rant: , as i've done every possible thing i can think of to fix it, and it just slaps me in the face with a new problem every time. Can anyone help me??? has anyone else had this much trouble? Any suggestions? Here are the specs on my computer:

    Processor: 1.0Ghz Intel Celeron
    Gfx Card: GeForce MX 420 64MB
    Memory: 512 SD
    OS: Windows XP Professional version 2002 Service Pack 1
    CD-ROM Drive: HP cd-writer

    I do not see any reason for the poor performance unless it is just my video compatability with the game. I would not be surprised to find out that i have the one card the game will absolutely not work on....Please help me.
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited May 2004
    Is that Geforce card AGP or PCI?

    What driver are you running for it?

    And have you checked your BIOS video settings to ensure your BIOS specs match your video cards requirements? IE, 64MB hole for a 64 MB card, proper AGP x settings if it is an AGP card, etc?

    Dexter...
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