Master of Orion II - Anyone got it to work correctly?

I'm hoping someone has tried installing it and had full success with it.

I've installed it and patched it up to version 1.31. Compability is set at win95 and 640x480 for resolution. Works great except it look like the color pallete is all messed up. I decreased color depth to 16bit and still nothing.

I could work this on Vista but I remember having a similar issue at the beginning. It was a few years ago so I don't remember what I did to get it to work.

Anyone?

I was never able to get it to work correctly in Vista, but maybe I didn't try very hard.

This is how I ran it in DOSBox, just change the paths to make it match up with your PC. From the Z:\ prompt...

mount c c:\dos
mount d h:\ -t cdrom

Those steps are done every time. If your installing everything to a flash drive and using the portable version of dosbox, copy the CD into a directory, then point to that directory when specifying the cdrom location.

To install:
d:
install

To play:
c:
cd orion2
orion2

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunatly, I do not have the DOS version but the Win95 version. It's silly because everything else works great except for the colors which points to a graphic issue.

Sad...I woke up this morning with a few other possible solutions

Well I think I found a solution although there are still some tweaks to do.

Referring to another thread regarding a graphic issue on AoE:II, a user posted this information:

1) Open the task manager up (right-click on taskbar, and start task manager)
2) Disable "explorer.exe" (yes this will make everything disappear but you can get it back from starting "explorer.exe" again)
3) Start the game by using the task manager (File, New Task (Run))

This combined with setting the compatibility tab to Win95 and set 640x480 as well as lowering the color depth to 16bits seems to make it work.

There are still some issues though but I think I'm on something:

Issue #1
You can tell the graphics are a tiny bit off.....not by much but its still a little bit noticable. If it would be just that, I could deal with it. Its not enough to take off your enjoyment of the game.

Issue #2
The game sometimes will crash when you are changing your labor distribution from Farms to Industrial or Research....why that is I don't know.

I think though that both issues are related so perhaps some extra compatibility parameters might help. Anyways, as I need to head off soon, I'll try them either tonight or early tomorrow morning.

If anyone cares to put more imput into this please do

I fixed my instructions after finding my cd >< I didn't have it pointing to the right install file.

Check your disk though, afaik both versions were always released togeather:

Windows uses orion95.exe to launch the game, and setup.exe to install.
Dos uses orion2.exe to launch the game, and install.exe to install.

Thanks Kain. I'll definitly keep this as an alternative. The latest tweak seem to have fixed issue #2. Although I can't say for sure.
Compatibility set on WinXp(SP2), 256 colors, 640x480. You do the task manager procedure as explained.

I played MoO2 for a little over an hour with no crashing (maybe I got lucky). I'll see tonight when I continue my game. The small graphic issue is still there. It's so minor though that it really doesn't affect your gameplay at all and you simply don't notice it after a while.

I hope as more people have Win7 and play around with settings for this game that a solution with doing a simple "slide in cd and play" will be found. For the meantime, I think this will do just fine.

Well it's been 3 days and no crashing. Hence the procedure given + the settings on the compatibility mode are working. Almost done wiping out the Klackons

Moo 2 batch launch file for Windows 7

Hello,
Excellent guide for getting this working in Windows 7! Thanks! I have automated your process in a .bat file. Just create a text file using notepad and save that file with the following information below (this is using the default install path for Moo2). Be sure to save your file as "moo2.bat"

TASKKILL /F /IM "explorer.exe"
cd C:\"Program Files"\Microprose\Orion2
start /w C:\"Program Files"\Microprose\Orion2\Orion95.exe
start C:\Windows\explorer.exe

Just double click the bat file and it will kill the explorer.exe, start moo2 and then restart explorer when you quit moo2. I hope someone finds this useful!

thank you so much everyone...all advice was helpful...I just got a 64-bit Windows 7, and when I installed MOO2 it automatically went into "Program Files (x86)" \Microprose etc.... so I had to make a small adjustment to your bat file for my computer....thanks to you and kuliddar!
I dont even know why my computer has "Program Files" AND "Program Files (x86)"
I suppose I should look that up....
happy gaming everyone

Regarding this, hopefully it sends to someone for help, but i cannot even get it to Install.

does anyone have any ideas?

I need the trill of killing the Silicoids!!!!

Go psilons!

I have gotten MOO2 to run with win 7 64 bit.

First I had it installed on a computer using windows xp and I copied the micropose directory to the program files (x86) directory.

I then copied the dplayx.dll file from the windows\sysWOW64 directory and renamed it dplay.dll and put it back in the sysWOW64 directory (be sure the dplayx.dll file is still there)

I then created a batch file in notepad

TASKKILL /F /IM "explorer.exe"
cd C:\"Program Files (x86)"\Microprose\Orion2
start /w C:\"Program Files (x86)"\Microprose\Orion2\Orion95.exe
start C:\Windows\explorer.exe

I named it MOO2.bat

MOO2 now runs great

I wish I could take credit but Lord_Xorn @ MOO2 DPLAY.dll error - Atari Forums posted this. He also has a bat file for 32 bit versions of win 7 in that thread.

Hi, Still trying to get MOO2 to run on Windows 7 Prof 64. Tried the solution by kiliddar and bat suggested by dumbfire still no joy.

I am not even sure it installed. When I tried to run it the screen flashes and then goes blank. I have to use Task Manager to kill the process to regain control.

Any other suggestions welcome....

It probably did not install, you can check the program files (x86) directory and see if it is there. I got it to work by installing it first on a computer and that I knew MOO2 would run, then copied the entire micropose folder and placed the entire folder in the program files (x86) directory. As mentioned you will need a dplay.dll file (it doesn't seem to matter if this file is place in the windows system, windows system32 or the windows SysWOW64 directory, so I placed in all three as several other old games need it. You can find that file by googling it or copy the dplayx.dll file found in the windows SysWOW64 directory and rename it dplay.dll and place it in the mention directories as you chose, be sure that you still have the dplayx.dll file in the SysWOW64 directory as it is needed. Then the bat file should work, just be sure you use the 64 bit bat file and not the 32 bit file.

After you play you must click ok in the thanks for playing Masters of Orion II, that will relaunch windows explorer. If you close the bat file first you will probably be forced to use a hard shut down to relaunch windows.

I have been having the same color problems. I tried the method given by kiliddar, but after several screen flashes, I am taken back to the desktop and an error "fonts.dll [entry 0] was not found" appeared. I only get this error when running after disabling explorer.exe, and it seems run perfect after re-enabling explorer.exe (save from the original color problem). Any idea what this could mean?

The batch file that you posted does the same thing as kiliddar's method. It is just an automation of that method that allows you to do it with a single button press. I am still running the release candidate, so that might be the problem. But I also don't have the "16 bit color" option, only the 256 bit color.

I suspect it is your version, as I am running only the windows xp sp2 compatibility option (the last one I tried before finding the bat file fix), though it susposedly does not need any at all.

I haven't been in these forums in a bit but I can confirm that on a Win7 (x32) Home Ed. the solution I found (through the Ages of Empire 2 thread) works. I played over 40 hours of it with only one crash (which was occasionally happening already with Xp and Vista).

Finally got it working on 64bit Ultimate Edition

As others had posted earlier, but fell short for me...

I had the game installed on a computer using windows xp
Then copied the Microprose folder found in Program Files to a flash drive and moved it to my laptop running Windows 7.
I placed the Microprose folder into the "Program Files (x86)" folder on my laptop.

I then made a copy of the DPLAYX.DLL file from the windows\sysWOW64 directory, renamed the copy as DPLAY.DLL and put it in the sysWOW64 directory (be sure the original DPLAYX.DLL file is still there)

I created a batch file in notepad that reads

TASKKILL /F /IM "explorer.exe"
cd C:\"Program Files (x86)"\Microprose\Orion2
start /w C:\"Program Files (x86)"\Microprose\Orion2\Orion95.exe
start C:\Windows\explorer.exe

then saved it as MOO2.BAT

This had all been explained before but the game still failed to run on my W7 Ultimate 64bit OS. I kept getting a black screen, nothing else.

Figured it was a compatibility issue so this is what I did to finally make it work.

First go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microprose\Orion2 > edit the ORIONCD.INI file to contain the proper path to your CDROM or MOO2 CD game files. For example my INI file reads

E:\

because that's the drive letter designated for my CD/DVD-ROM drive. Yours may vary. I had to check this because the XP computer I had originally installed the game on, had D:\ as the location of the MOO2 CD.

Second, you need to make one more modification to the MOO2.BAT file you created earlier. Right click it > select Properties > select the Compatibility tab > check and select mode Win XP SP2 > also check 256 color, 640x480 res. !!!Note that Run as Administrator is disabled and you can't check it. No problem. To run MOO2.BAT, ALWAYS remember to right click it (Not double-left click) and select "Run as Administrator" near the top of the drop-down menu.

That's it. Just run the MOO2.bat as Admin when you want to play the game.

Works like a charm now finally

I got it working on mine. What I had to do is use dplay.dll from my old laptop with XP. Just copy dplay.dll from an XP system, from the system32 directory, into the folder where MOO2 is and it will play fine. You must also have compatibility set to 256 colors and 640x480, anything else didn't seem to matter.