User:Sakura No Seirei/Windows 7 - Things I've found Bloody Essential

Ok.

I'm sticking this page here because it contains all sorts of useful things that I've spent hours searching for all over the interwebs, or at least useful things for getting Windows 7 to run games and wotnot.

Feel free to use any of the advice below, but do so at your own peril.

How to take ownership and grant yourself user administrator's privileges
This is bloody necessary. Oh Gods is it bloody necessary. Thanks to this site.

i) Open Computer. Right click on each drive in turn, carrying out the following steps each time.

ii) Click on the "Security" tab.

iii) Click on “Advance”

iv) Now click on Owner tab in Advance Security Settings for User windows

v) Click on Edit Button and select user from given Change Owner to list if user or group is not in given list then click on other users or groups. Enter name of user/group and click ok.

vi) Now select User/group and click apply and ok. (Check “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects” if you have files and folder within selected folder)

vii) Click ok when Windows Security Prompt is displayed

Once you have taken the ownership of file or folder next part comes is Granting Permissions to that file/folder or object. How to Grant Permissions in Windows 7

viii) Right click and select “Properties” from Context Menu

ix) Click on Edit button in Properties windows Click ok to confirm UAC elevation request.

x) Select user/group from permission windows or click add to add other user or group.

xi) Now under Permission section check the rights which you want to grant i.e check “Full Control” under the “Allow” column to assign full access rights control permissions to Administrators group.

xii) Click Ok for changes to take effect

Disable DEP
You don't have to disable DEP. You can instead watch your computer steadfastly crash any setup.exe from Installshield or Macrovision.

Just for the search engines:

Setup.exe has stopped working macrovision installshield

Anyway.

To disable DEP (thanks to here):

i) Hit the Start button (by now you should be willing to do this with your forehead)

ii) Type cmd into the search box, but don't hit enter (or return). This will bring up cmd.exe in the search box above where you typed.  Right-click on this and 'Run as Administrator'.  You must run it as an administrator, but don't worry, for the rest of the time that Windows 7 is on your computer all you'll ever do is right-click and run as administrator.  In this case what you are doing is running an elevated prompt.

iii) At the prompt type:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff

iv) if you ever have to turn DEP back on type:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOn

v) Restart the computer.

Installing drivers
Don't bother with drivers that come with whatever it is you've brought, unless you've got no choice. Instead look online for the latest ones and, I can't stress this enough, get the right one depending on whether you are running 32-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit.

Right-click
Whenever running anything always choose to either right-click and run as administrator or click on 'Properties', then the 'Compatibility' tab, then tick the option marked 'Run this program as an administrator'. Not everything needs to be run as administrator, but many games, both to play and install, need to be run like that.

imagecfg
Many older games don't like, or refuse to run, when confronted with multicores. If the game crashes before you can set the affinity, or you want a game's affinity to be permanently bound to a single core then you need imagecfg. The man's already explained it, just follow the link.

For quick reference: imagecfg -a 0x1 c:\path\to\file.exe

or at failure:

imagecfg -u c:\path\to\file.exe &crarr;

imagecfg -a 0x1 c:\path\to\file.exe

Games and Aero
A surprising number of games don't like Aero. Well there's a surprise. Whenever playing a game, right-click the .exe and, under the compatability tab, click:

Disable desktop themes

You might also want to think about clicking on:

Disable visual themes

Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.

Don't forget that some games also need to have the program run in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 2). If those games do require that setting also remember to run the installer for the game under the same compatibility setting.

KOTOR
Getting KOTOR to run under Vista or Windows 7 can be difficult. Here's what worked for me.

i) Install the game using the Windows XP (Service Pack 2) setting.

ii) If not already at v1.03 patch to v1.03

iii) Obtain Fairlight's 1.03 fixed (no-cd) exe.  Yes, it is a no-cd crack, but it's also the only way to get the bloody game to work properly.  Replace the game's exe with the Fairlight one.  Set the compatbility settings for the .exe as:

Windows XP (Service Pack 2)

Disable visual themes

Disable desktop themes

Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.

iv) Run imagecfg as above.

v) Setup the widescreen mods if you want to use them. Follow the instructions exactly.

vi) KOTOR should now run. Perhaps.  Maybe.  It did for me but you might have to replace a .dll as well.  But don't replace the .dll until you've done the above steps.

KOTOR II
How to make widescreen, complete with movies:

This method requires an unprotected no-cd executable file. This is the only known method for widescreen at the time of this writing.

PLEASE NOTE!

No native support for widescreen resolutions. This is a three-step process. The UniWS should handle the first step for you.

Step One

In the root game directory open the unprotected executable file called "swkotor2.exe" with a HEX editor. Search for all or part of the following HEX values...

00 05 00 00 74 07 3D 40 06 00 00 75 25 8B 07 3D 58 02 00 00 74 28 3D 00 03 00 00 74 21 3D C0 03 00 00

The bolded pair represents the in-game resolution of 1280x960. Change this pair to your desired widescreen resolution. Remember to flip the order of the hexadecimal values.

For example, 1920 is 0780 in hexadecimal. I would flip the order and enter 1920 as "8007". If I wanted to use a 1920x1200 resolution it would look like this...

80 07 00 00 74 07 3D 40 06 00 00 75 25 8B 07 3D 58 02 00 00 74 28 3D 00 03 00 00 74 21 3D B0 04 00 00

Step Two


 * I will repeat myself since many might be starting at this step.*

In the root game directory open the unprotected executable file called "swkotor2.exe" with a HEX editor. Search for all or part of the following HEX values...

80 02 00 00 75 15 81 3D E8 C1 80 00 E0 01

Change the bolded resolution pairs to your desired widescreen resolution. Remember to flip the order of the hexadecimal values.

For example, 1920 is 0780 in hexadecimal. I would flip the order and enter 1920 as "8007". If I wanted to use a 1920x1200 resolution it would look like this...

80 07 00 00 75 15 81 3D E8 C1 80 00 B0 04

In the same file search for the following HEX values...

80 02 00 00 C7 44 24 10 E0 01

Repeat the process detailed in the first part of this step with the bolded pairs.

If I am using a 1920x1200 resolution it would look like this...

80 07 00 00 C7 44 24 10 B0 04

Step Three

In the root game directory open "swkotor2.ini" with a text editor. Search for the following under the section "[Display Options]"...

Width=**** Height=****

Change "****" to your desired widescreen resolution.

In the same file search for the following under the section "[Graphics Options]"...

Width=**** Height=****

Change "****" to your desired widescreen resolution.

The game should now start in your desired widescreen resolution.

If you are not in your desired resolution when you reach the main menu select the 1280x960 screen resolution from the "Options"/"Graphics"/"Screen Resolution" menu and exit the game. Repeat step three and you should be in your desired widescreen resolution.

Autorun
Windows 7 doesn't like Autorun. Always manually search the CD/DVD for the setup.exe file and run that instead as an administrator.