So....I just bought M&M Platinum Edition...

[Liquid-Silence]

And guess what? Not but ONE of these games can I get to work(umm...IX...just at first glance seemed kinda crappy to me...). I couldn't find any previous posts on this, can anyone help me out here? I still have Windows XP media edition...and I haven't had this problem with any of my other old school games(Icewind Dale boxset, Baldur's Gate Collection, etc.), so why in the H*LL won't these games run?

[PhoenixReborn]

Take a look here:

MM on XP

[HodgePodge]

Take a look here:

MM on XP

And here for MM6, MM7 & MM8:

Mok's MM6 Patch

Mok's MM7 Patch

Mok's MM8 Patch

[MaxKnight]

I can't say I understand why it is people are having such problems with these games on XP. I installed and can play every one of them on my Vista box without any special patches. And Vista complains about everything more than XP does!

Now I'm playing the Millennium Edition of 4-7, and a standalone of 8, but I don't think that would have much effect...

[Liquid-Silence]

Thanks for the help you guys, I got it going finally(all of them). A couple problems with my screen size though(not all of it's visible...seems too far to the left), and some major audio(sound effect) probs for VII though. Any suggestions?

[CoffeeGnome]

Take a look here:

MM on XP

And here for MM6, MM7 & MM8:

Mok's MM6 Patch

Mok's MM7 Patch

Mok's MM8 Patch

Is there a list somewhere of what problems these patches fix? My games seem to work fine with very few problems but if these patches remove problems that I have not thaught of that would be nice.

[CoffeeGnome]

"I installed and can play every one of them on my Vista"

You did not have to do anything with MM8? I cannot get the video to work at all no matter what I do. As soon as the game has to go to one of the games mini-movies (like bringing the troll to alvar) the game crashes. This has been going on since I switched to vista.

[MaxKnight]

Absolutely no problems with Vista. I'm even using a Wide Screen and playing these games fullscreen, which causes them to stretch a little, even for the movies!

I can't explain why it would work for me and not for you. I'm using an HP Pavilion dv9410. Specs are the following:

AMD Turion 64 X2 1.8GHz
2048MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150
Conexant High Definition Audio
Windows Vista Home Premium

Understandably, this probably doesn't help much, but I figured ever little bit of info could help.

[CoffeeGnome]

Did you have to adjust any of the compatability modes within the game itself?

[MaxKnight]

Nope. I never touched the compatability modes for any of 'em. Just got them installed, put the play disc in, and played 'em. I don't know what else to say about it.

[CoffeeGnome]

Thanks for the info. Perhaps it is something to do with my Radeon 1300ex because other than this, we are pactically using the same system.

[Liquid-Silence]

You guys know of anything I could do to remedy my screen size probs with VIII? Maybe something I could do through ACT?

[MaxKnight]

Before anybody can help you, you need to:

1) Tell us what the screen size problem is.

and

2) Tell us exactly what ACT is (I've never heard of this acronym before).

[Liquid-Silence]

Before anybody can help you, you need to:

1) Tell us what the screen size problem is.

and

2) Tell us exactly what ACT is (I've never heard of this acronym before).

1. The game is too big for my screen is the only way I know how to put it. I can't see the whole screen(mainly the left side of it, it cuts off a good portion) and there's a couple audio problems as well, some of the effects hang(exp. Arcomage the little twinkle sound when the game begins and the card "sliding" noise play 2-3 times and seem to try to overlap each other...if that makes sense).

2. ACT - Application Compatibility Toolkit.

[MaxKnight]

How large is your monitor in inches, and what resolution are you running at normally? Also, what video card and driver version are you using?

[Liquid-Silence]

Res: 1024 x 768(not sure what the game runs at?
Driver: Radeon x300
Screen Size: 19 inches

Not sure about the graphics card. I'm not very steeped in computer lore.

[MaxKnight]

With stats like thise, you should have no problems. Are you running Windows 98, 2000, or XP? (I'm guessing XP, as you mentioned a compatability tool). I think the game naturally runs at either 800x600 or 1024x768, either of which should be perfectly fine...

I assume you have used all of the patches that are available to remedy problems with the game, which leaves me with only one other option... In the start menu, find the folder for M&M VIII, and find the configuration utility. Are you using Hardware or Software Accelleration? If using Hardware, change to Software and try running in Windowed mode rather than fullscreen. You may have to change your color mode to 16-bit color before it'll play in windowed mode. If that doesn't work, I know of a utility called the D3DWindower that worked for me on my parents XP box. I can't remember where I got the utility from, but I'll be able to zip it up and upload it somewhere if everthing else fails.

Good luck. Please report back if things work/don't work.

EDIT: I should've said this earlier, but in order to change your color mode, Right-Click the windows desktop, choose properties, and click on the tab furthest to the right. There should be a drop down menu for color mode. If it's set to 256 colors or 32-bit color, change it to 16-bit color. If you don't have that option, well, I don't know what to say to you...

[Liquid-Silence]

Will it still look alright using 16 bit? And I can't remember for the life of me how to get the game running in a window...I thought it was ctrl+alt+del?

[MaxKnight]

It should look perfectly fine in 16-bit color. And I think I just told you how to get it to run in a window? If this isn't what you mean, then please elaborate, and we'll see what we can do about this.

[maynard_almare]

I've checked around on several forums and I haven't been able to find an answer to my apparently unique problem. I can get the games to work, but none of my peripherals work.... It's like ... they're taunting me. Does anyone know what is going on? I've tried mok's patch and it doesn't help. I'm using vista right now but i tried all the same stuff when i used XP and it didn't work then, either.

-Maynard