Need help running Starcraft on Windows XP

[lozina]

I am having major problems getting Starcraft to be stabile on Windows XP. It will randomly lock up on a black screen either when a game has just started and the game is switching from battle.net to the actual game, or when a game has just ended and it is switching from the game back to battle.net. It never happens any other time.

The result is my screen goes black and I cannot do anything except press Windows Key + E (which is hot key for opening Explorer) and then I see the windows task bar, from here I can right click on the Starcraft icon and click Close to shut it down. However, the Starcraft.exe process never actually goes away from task manager. And I cannto run any other program at this point and my machine will do periodic pauses. It is very bizarre and it ONLY ever happens after starcraft locks up.

I have tried running Starcraft in every compatability mode available and for everything except Windows 2000 it fails to even start Starcraft.exe because the game fails to find the CD! I wonder if that's because my CD player is SATA? Anyway, the only compatability mode that even runs the game is Win2k and it produces the same results as WinXP.

Has anyone else experienced this?

It seems to happen alot less oftne playing jsut original Starcraft opposed to Brood War, but either way it's just so frustrating. If I'm lucky I'll get like 2 or 3 games before it locks up, and then I have to manually shut down my PC because it screws everything up!

 

[KLin]

You can try right clicking the executables and running it in compatibility mode (windows 95,98/ME, NT4, W2k)

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: KLin
You can try right clicking the executables and running it in compatibility mode (windows 95,98/ME, NT4, W2k)

Yeah my post was pretty long but I mentioned that I tried doing that. When I run in windows 95 / windows 98 or even NT mode the game wont even run because it can no longer detect the CD in the drive. I'm guessing that has something to do with my CDROM model...

 

[MercenaryForHire]

I think you're the only person having trouble with Starcraft on XP ... it runs perfectly for everyone else.

If you think it's due to the CD, try using a virtual drive and see if that eliminates the problem.

- M4H

 

[lozina]

Ok, I'll try a virtual drive

what software would you suggest I use for this?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: lozina
Ok, I'll try a virtual drive

what software would you suggest I use for this?

Daemon Tools or Alcohol 120%

You should even be able to make a perfect rip of your original Starcraft/Broodwar CD so that the game itself doesn't know it's running from an image.

- M4H

 

[Kelemvor]

DO you have anything running like a firewall that could be trying to pop up a window or something for you? I've had issues where I was playing SC and then a window woudl pop in which would kick everything out and back to windows (different resolution), then I could click the pop up away and try to go back into SC again and sometimes it'd get stuck.

But it's not an XP thing since everyone runs SC on XP without any problems. heh. Could try new video drivers maybe.

 

[lozina]

Yeah I have a software firewall and every time I reinstall starcraft or patch it it will come up with the permission popup and I just check off to always allow. Also have tried multiple times just outright shutting the firewall down completely and I could still get this error in Starcraft

Does you guys playing Starcraft on Windows XP use a compatability mode?

And you don't get the game complaining about finding the CD?

I actually got so frustrated I ordered a new starcraft borod war combo but I am still waiting for it in the mail. So it would be funny if the virtual drive thing works

 

[bunnyfubbles]

If I had instability problems casually running Starcraft I'd be more concerned about the system's general stability more so than getting the game running.

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles
If I had instability problems casually running Starcraft I'd be more concerned about the system's general stability more so than getting the game running.

Yeah I agree but not when the only time this stability issue ever manifests itself is right after I have to end task Starcraft after it locks up. Been using this system for over 2 years now and I play all sorts of games and run all sorts of programs. Never has this issue if I don't try playing Starcraft