KaM on Windows 7 - tried everything, no luck

[Danjb]

Hey all,

I've recently upgraded to Windows 7 and I've been trying to get KaM working, specifically the english version of TSK. I've done a lot of reading and downloaded a whole load of files to play around with.

Here are all the things I've tried, along with the results:

CLEAN INSTALL
- Slow, colour glitches

CLEAN INSTALL + WINDOWS 7 FIX
- Instant crash

CLEAN INSTALL + PATCH 1.32
- Slow, colour glitches

CLEAN INSTALL + PATCH 1.32 + WINDOWS 7 FIX
- Instant crash

These are just the results I recorded... I also tried running it in "Windows XP Mode" with and without the patch, and using a virtual CD as well as a real CD, but nothing worked.

I'm all out of ideas, but does anyone have any suggestions? Some people claim to have it working, so what am I doing wrong? Also, please don't suggest that I use TPR instead, it's just not the same.

Thanks guys, you're my last hope!

- Danjb

[Lewin]

I'm kind of guessing here, but maybe it's a DirectX issue? If you just have DirectX 11/10, then maybe they aren't backwards compatible with the old versions KaM uses. I installed DirectX 9c when I first got my laptop to try and make some old games work and from memory it seemed to make some of them work better. Here's a link:
http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/directx.html
I believe DirectX 9/10/11 put their files in different places so you can have them all installed at once. Modern DirectX 11 games still run the same on my computer after installing 9c so I don't think it's a problem.
Please note that I'm no expert at DirectX so I might have this completely wrong, maybe DirectX 11 is compatible with old games.

I THOUGHT I had KaM TSK working on my Windows 7 Professional 64 bit laptop (I seem to remember it working) but when I just tried it I got the same issues you did... Maybe it was broken by a Windows update? So I'm not sure anymore... I really hope someone here can help you!

Good luck.
Lewin.

[Danjb]

Hey Lewin, thanks for your support!

I installed DirectX 9c as you suggested, and while (thankfully) it still recognises that I have DirectX 11 installed, it did seem to make some difference, but it's still not really playable.

With the patch and the Windows 7 fix installed, I get a crash pretty much straight away, but this time there was a short delay with a black screen and the title music, whereas before there had been nothing at all.

Without the Windows 7 fix installed, the game loaded, but I experienced the common problems of sluggishness and messed up palettes - this was actually an improvement, though, as when I mentioned having messed up palettes before, it was much more severe, to the point where the game would basically turn into a black screen with a few yellow splotches within a few seconds of the menu appearing.

Hmm... I just tried again and it seems we're back to where we started... disregard all of the above

[Danjb]

Just tried again using Windows XP Mode and thought I'd record my results:

CLEAN INSTALL
- Instant crash

CLEAN INSTALL + PATCH 1.32
- Instant crash

CLEAN INSTALL + PATCH 1.32 + WINDOWS 7 FIX
- Instant crash

[Ben]

I am sorry for your misfortune, and even more so since I can't really help.
However, I have an idea that might fix one of your problems (color pallet messed up).

Turn off explorer while KaM is running. If you don't know how to do it, follow these steps:

1) Start up your clean KaM install

2) Press alt-tab

3) with the game in a window, open task manager (control+shift+esc, or control+alt+del)

4) Click the processes tab and you will see the names of several programs running. Now, shut off the program 'explorer.' If your desktop icons vanished, than you did it right. If not, something went wrong.

5) HOLD on to the alt key than press tab (while holding alt!) you should see a box in the middle of your screen with icons of the executable programs running. One will be KaM, press tab (again, while holding alt) until KaM is highlighted and then release the alt button.

The result should a perfected color pallet, but the game will still run slow. It is not a perfect fix, but it makes the game playable. To turn explorer back on, reopen task manager then select the file tab. Select 'new task (run)' and type in 'explorer.exe' without the quotation marks. If it doesn't work then just reboot your computer. Everything will be back to normal when it starts up.

Hope I helped, and good luck!

[H.A.H.]

Try this one:
http://digiex.net/downloads/download-ce ... games.html

[baja]

i have solved this in very simple way,have pluged in my monitor to integrated graphic card on my i5 processor

[Mzoomers]

I am also trying to install KaM TSK on a windows 7 pc. I have created a Windows ME virtual boot (with Virtual PC) and the game installed succesfully from an iso. However, when I attempt to start it by opening the drive KAM (D:) where my iso is mounted it opens the start up screen, where it gives the screen "Place the Knights and Merchants CD in the drive and close all active CD programs". Do you guys know what I can do to fix this? P.S.- the original TSK CD is in a previous house, so I just torrented it: Knights and Merchants the Shattered Kingdom.iso.

[Lewin]

Have you tried the KaM Remake?:
http://www.kamremake.com/
It works fine in Windows 7.

I have never been able to get TSK to work properly in Windows 7. If you really want to play the original game (not the KaM Remake) then I'd recommend TPR because it seems to work a lot better on Windows 7.

[Turbine]

Mate, don't even bother trying to get the original working on 7.

Even if you fix some of the problems, there'll just be more. Use KAM remake, it works much better with resolution, windowing, ctrl + alt + del, no colour bugs, faster performance.