Ask the Experts / RCT2 on Windows XP Mode Virtual PC

I've recently gotten Windows 7 and have tried to run RCT2 on a virtual PC for the convenience of a "windowed mode." I installed RCT2 on the virtual PC, but when I run the program, nothing happens. The task manager says RCT2 is running, but there is no window open. Does anyone have ideas to fix the problem?

More info / print screens would help. 

Sorry, I can't put screens up now. Photobucket is not responding.

I installed RCT2 on the virtual PC. Then, I filled the scenario/saved game/objdata folders with the files from another hard drive. Now, when I try to run RCT2, nothing happens. The cursor shows an hour glass for a few seconds then...nothing. I checked under processes and an rct process is running and using 99 cpu. I hope that's sufficient description.

did you fill the data folder also ?
I sugest uninstalling it. and clean the whole folder. then instal it again and first see if it runs. after that fill the folders again

I've tried that, and sadly it still isn't opening.

Another person harmed by windows 7. I don't know what's going on. Sorry, qwertykid.

its not even opening when its just a clean install?
which program are you using voor the virtual pc ?

Another person harmed by windows 7. I don't know what's going on. Sorry, qwertykid.

Go be a troll somewhere else, it is really annoying for people if you see this all the time.


Qwertykid, just something that pops to my mind, I assume you run RCT2 with a CD right? When you load the CD in the CD / DVD player, can you access it on Win7? And can you access it on XP? I assume you can since you installed it on XP, but I think the files needed from the CD to start RCT are somehow not getting read by the virtual XP ... Maybe you can try it with a no-cd patch or something, then you eliminate the CD issue... Maybe Levis can say more about this, he is a bit more experienced with hardware stuff. 

@ Levis, hoofdletters vergeten oke, maar 'voor' in plaats van 'for' is wel erg slecht. 

I also have Windows 7 with XP Mode in virtual PC. Did you update Windows XP while in the virtual PC?

I wish I could help you Qwertykid9111, but I know nothing about Win 7 and RCT.

Cena, no offense, but you should be one of the last people to correct someone's English.

You can't help in this thread Dark Horse, but you did want to reply on me saying that I can't fix someone his English? Did you even know what I said? I said it in Dutch! But if you know the Dutch language so well, I will do the rest in Dutch as well.   

Ik vind dus echt dat je hiermee een klootzak bent, aangezien jij niet weet wat ik heb gezegd, maar wel reageert om een steek in de rug te geven. Wees de volgende keer verstandig en reageer niet, met dit soort reacties schieten we niks op en er was niks verkeert met wat ik tegen Leo zei. Stop de volgende keer hiermee wat je schiet er helemaal niks maar dan ook niks mee op. En ik wou dit via de persoonlijke berichten sturen, maar die heb jij uitgezet, dus dat gaat niet werken. 

You can't help in this thread Dark Horse, but you did want to reply on me saying that I can't fix someone his English?

Dark Horse has a point.

Ik vind dus echt dat je hiermee een klootzak bent, aangezien jij niet weet wat ik heb gezegd, maar wel reageert om een steek in de rug te geven. Wees de volgende keer verstandig en reageer niet, met dit soort reacties schieten we niks op en er was niks verkeert met wat ik tegen Leo zei. Stop de volgende keer hiermee wat je schiet er helemaal niks maar dan ook niks mee op. En ik wou dit via de persoonlijke berichten sturen, maar die heb jij uitgezet, dus dat gaat niet werken.

Translation cena-style, in case anyone is interested:

"I think this makes you an real asshole, because you didn't knew what I said, but you did react to give a stab in the back. Be the next time wise and don't react, because this type of reactions are pointless, and there was nothing wrong with what I said against Levis. Stop the next time with this because it won't get us much progress, and I seriously mean, really no progress. And I wanted to send this to you via the personal messages, but you turned it of, so that is not gonna to work."



GigaG and DH didn't deserve this. Please try to be nice and tolerant for once, Cena...

you couldn't just let it lie, could you? you're the one complaining about bitchfests backstage, yet you're fueling it now. it seems these days you purposefully wage war against cena because he is cena. i don't even get why you're doing it most of the time. practice what you preach and learn to tolerate people. i know you're one of the good guys, liam, so don't take it the wrong way.

@ Sammy, Liam only replies here because my name was above that message and there is no other reason he replied. Liam and me discussed this on msn, and we agreed to leave each other alone on the boards to stay away from the 'dutch bitch fights', somehow he forgot that I think. 

@ Liam, no need to reply here? GigaG went offtopic to bash Win7, and Dark Horse went offtopic to bash me about correcting Levis in dutch, a language DH doesn't can read, and now you go offtopic to bash me again. Serious, in stead of going ontopic, like I did in my other reply. You three all are going offtopic, while someone with a problem related to RCT doesn't have an answer to his question now. How would you feel if your thread have been hijacked? 

Cena, I wasn't talking about your Dutch. I was talking about what Levis said here:

which program are you using voor the virtual pc ?

Which you immediately jumped on him for missing a word in translation. And yes, I understood what you said. You took Levis that missing capital letters was okay, but using 'voor' instead of 'for' was really bad. I can understand Levis' post fine, but I have trouble with yours many times. Maybe you can trying learning basic English online somewhere instead of relying on literal Google Translate. Sorry for going so off-topic, but as Liampie said, I had a point.

On-topic: Qwertykid9111, have you tried running RCT on Windows 7 using a compatibility mode, and disabling visual themes?

Qwertykid9111, have you tried running RCT on Windows 7 using a compatibility mode, and disabling visual themes?

I have tried that.

Qwertykid, just something that pops to my mind, I assume you run RCT2 with a CD right?...he is a bit more experienced with hardware stuff. 

I'm guessing this is the problem. When I read your original thread on this, one poster had the same problem I did. It seemed that he fixed it by downloading a non-CD thingy. I was attempting to see if it could work without that, but I guess it can't. Do you/anyone know where I can find something like that?

I've found a no-CD patch. Now when I run it, it actually starts to load! However, when it loads all the way, it fails to start and gives me a message saying it, "failed to initialize graphics." Any help?

sounds like it can't initialize your graphics card.
again

which program are you using voor the virtual pc ?

At current Windows XP modes in Windows 7 creates a 'virtual' 4MB graphics card, only gets a portion of your processor and 512MB of RAM... Getting it to recognize your actual graphics card, processor and RAM I believe to be (currently) an impossibility. Which is horribly unfortunate. It seems Microsoft created the mode not for true backwards compatibility for intensive applications such as games, video/photo/audio editing, or CAD, but only for basic office applications so that major corporations and people that do jack squat with that 3Ghz duel core, can keep their favorite documentation system (office application kinda stuffs) that doesn't yet (and may never) work in Windows 7.

I'm glad they released it, I just find it a terrible shame that they haven't made it possible to at least re-allocate it's virtual resources... I have 4 gigs of RAM and if I want to do stuff in Windows XP mode I'd be more than happy to let it have 3 gigs and get 2 of RAM and at least 256 of graphics card (effectively, since it would be using my processor and RAM to simulate a graphics card rather than the GeForce 9800M I have) when I'm actually using it... And you know... A whole core of my processor (2.53 Ghz). I know from my old desktop that those stats are well beyond what's necessary to run XP and anything I would want with it. But currently this is not the case. I don't know whether or not any solutions are on the way.

However, I've been playing RCT2 in Windows 7 just fine... Takes some adjustments to "compatibility mode" but it, and 8 Cars, do run and for the most part work and behave as expected. Right click on the RCT2 game file, and make sure compatibility is set to "Windows XP (service pack 2)" and "Run as an Administrator" is checked. 8 Cars is also set Windows XP (service pack 2), and I have the boxes for "disable desktop composition" (which puts the desktop graphics to Windows 7 basic, but makes a lot of older programs more stable), and "run as an administrator" checked. I'm not entirely sure what "running as an administrator" actually does... I assume it allows the program more freedom to make modifications to your computer without windows 'security' getting in the way and crashing things. At the very least the older games and programs I run in that mode tend just a bit smoother and with noticeably more stability. You'll still want to save often and crashes are a bit more common than they were on XP, and Ride Modification in 8 Cars does work at all (as far as I can tell), but everything else is there and perfectly functional.

Ride6

which program are you using voor the virtual pc ?

I'm using the Windows XP mode you download from Window's site.

So, if what I'm trying to do is impossible, how did other people do it?