How I fixed corrupt color palette on some old games on Windows 7

[Blue Steel]

strange the settings i posted work for me

 

[Blue Steel]

edited first message to make it easier to follow and add in some more old games.

 

[acruzn]

I'll need to recompile it.

I'll upload it when thats done.

edit: mudlord.info/binaries/w7ddpatcher.zip

Have uploaded it somewhere? i would love to get it and apply it to AOE gold; still like that old game.

 

[nil4t]

Neither method works for me with Diablo.
I tried both locations, x86 and x64, with the manual method and I still have messed up colors.
Any ideas?

EDIT: Running Diablo with the the compatibility settings "Run in 256 colors", "Run in 640 x 480 screen resolution", and "Disable desktop composition" seems to fix the color issue for me.

Still curious why blue steel's method did not work with this game though.

 

[Blue Steel]

ok just upgraded my system to win 7 64 bit and got new copies of the AOE games and their expansions.

using the method outlined in the first post of this thread (NOT the REG entries themselves, as it looks like each run / distro of the AOE are different DWords.)

I ran through the process as stated and got the new names (paths and exe names) and the new DWords and applied them in the registry settings and they all worked fine

this Distro I've used this time was the "THATS HOT!" "Age of Empires Collectors edition" by ubisoft , its all on one dvd not separate dvd's like my last installs were

I haven't tried the starcraft one again yet

here are the newest entries that I've got and they work for me , your mileage may vary , but if you follow the steps outlined on the first post all should still work

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\EMPIRES.EXE]
"Name"="EMPIRES.EXE"
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"ID"=dword:3844a757

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\EMPIRESX.EXE]
"Name"="EMPIRESX.EXE"
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"ID"=dword:3844ad66

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\EMPIRES2.EXE]
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"ID"=dword:3981d1df
"Name"="EMPIRES2.EXE"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\age2_x1.Exe]
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"ID"=dword:3b7433ec
"Name"="age2_x1.exe"

notice that these don't use the ICD's there are all .exe's and all using DWords unlike the old codes that worked before (yes i tried them first and they didn't work , which is why i had to step through the whole process again

NOTE: that procmon gives you the values in decimal so when you edit the registry you need to make sure that you selected decimal not hex , the hex values here are the converted entries from the registry as it changes them to hex automatically

 

[DStealth]

This is what I found worked for me. I credit this to Blue Steel, used your ID's and played around with them until mine worked. These are for Age of Empires 2 and Age of Empires 2 Expansion. I also commented on which versions the ID's were for as well.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; ==== 32bit- AOE2 2.0b ====
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\Age of Empires II]
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"ID"=hex:df,d1,81,39
"Name"="empires2.exe"

; ==== 32bit- AOE2x 1.0e ====
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\Age of Empires II Expansion]
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"ID"=hex:3b,74,33,ec
"Name"="age2_x1.icd"

; ==== 32bit- AOE2x 1.0e noSnow ====
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\Age2_x_nosnow]
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"ID"=hex:ec,33,74,3b
"Name"="age2_x1.exe"


; ==== 64bit- AOE2 2.0b ====
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\Age of Empires II]
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"ID"=hex:df,d1,81,39
"Name"="empires2.exe"

; ==== 64bit- AOE2x 1.0e ====
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\Age of Empires II Expansion]
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"ID"=hex:3b,74,33,ec
"Name"="age2_x1.icd"

; ==== 64bit- AOE2x 1.0e noSnow ====
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\Age2_x_nosnow]
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"ID"=hex:ec,33,74,3b
"Name"="age2_x1.exe"

 

[ED Bee]

here are the entries i use for AOE2 and Conquerers

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\EMPIRED2.ICD]
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"ID"=hex:df,d1,81,39
"Name"="EMPIRES2.ICD"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\aoe2_x1]
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"ID"=hex:ec,33,74,3b
"Name"="age2_x1.exe"

Thanks BLUE STEEL. I used the files you uploaded and it worked firs time. So simple yet so effective.

 

[Solodun1]

It could also try it manually as I set out in the first message of this thread