Pax Imperia Emiment Domain

[kirk23_MatrixForum]

Hi folks,can anyone please help me with a windows 7 compatibility issue,I'm trying to play one of my old favourite games Pax Imperia Eminment Domain,the game runs with Vista,but I now get a major graphics problem as per the picture below,running it via windows 7.The sound and videos for the game play perfect,but the actual in game graphics as you can see are all distorted pixels.I have also updated all my computer drivers.[;)]

I have tried running it under different windows compatibility settings to no avail.[&:]

[Terl]

Try a couple things. Set the desktop to windows 7 basic, That may help (it tuens off the Aero stuff). If that doesn't work try setting the desktop color depth to something lower before you start the game.

[kirk23_MatrixForum]

Hi I tried both the above suggestions still no improvement unfortunately,thanks for the suggestions,I will keep trying to fix the graphics problem,I can still play the game but its not nearly as good without the game graphics working right.[:)]

[kirk23_MatrixForum]

I have been searching the web for a solution to this graphics problem,and just like a problem with Star Wars Supremacy/Rebellion it appears that windows 7,is missing some system DLL files that some older games require.

For anyone having problems running Star wars Supremacy / Rebellion windows Vista and 7 require d3drm.dll file and then it works great.

As for Pax Imperia Emiment Domain, it appears that Windows 7 is missing Msvbvm50.dll file.unfortunately this still has not solved my little game graphics problem,but maybe I'm a step closer to that goal.
I'm now searching for other possible missing program files that Windows 7 does not use,that older games require.I wish Windows when they come out with a new operating system would make sure that the new system is backwards compatible with many great older games.[;)]

[kirk23_MatrixForum]

Update I have partioned my hard drive,so that I now have Windows Vista & Windows 7 installed,I have reinstalled Pax Imperia back on the Vista operating system,and it's fully functioning again![8D]

[taltamir]

downgrading the OS isn't a solution, it is a way for you to play, but it doesn't actually solve the problem of the game not running right on windows 7.
I have the same issue.
I tried the "unofficial" (from the company that made the game, but with no support from the publisher) 1.072 patch and it didn't solve the problem. It did solve other problems though.

[kirk23_MatrixForum]

I have tried many options to get it to run under windows 7,all have failed,I even tried to disable my anti-virus software & internet security software,nope still had graphics problem,all my drivers are also up to date,I just wanted to play the game again and I new it works with Vista,so I partioned the drive and installed Vista,and the game works great,so time will tell if I can find out what is the problem with windows 7,but untill then I can play the game and in the end that is all that matters really.[:)]

[taltamir]

Sure, I am glad you are enjoying the game.
I did not mean for it to sound as if I am faulting you. I just meant to say that the issue isn't solved and should remain open until someone can solve it.

until then, downgrading your OS (or installing an older os in parallel at least) is a practical workaround to let you at least play.

[AdmiralRob]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who loves Pax Imperia:ED There were so many aspects of it that were unlike any other 4x strategy game. They did such a good job.

Thanks for the tip on the DLLs, I'll have to look into that!

Just to add to the discussion, I've attempted to run several VirtualBox clients with XP and Vista, but both of them run into the same problem. The graphics end up being severely skewed downward, so you only see the top half of the screen, and a lot of left over black lines. It's odd. Tried updating the directX on those virtual machines, but to no avail. Any other info that anyone gets would be great.

[shrike3000]

I am having this problem, has anyone made in progress?

[taltamir]

ORIGINAL: AdmiralRob
Just to add to the discussion, I've attempted to run several VirtualBox clients with XP and Vista, but both of them run into the same problem. The graphics end up being severely skewed downward, so you only see the top half of the screen, and a lot of left over black lines. It's odd. Tried updating the directX on those virtual machines, but to no avail. Any other info that anyone gets would be great.

Windows 7 built in virtual machine, as well as VMware virtual machine both only emulate a weak GPU via the CPU, meant for 2D desktop graphics. I can only assume virtual box is the same.
Those solutions are NOT for gaming... if you want to game you need to do a dual boot install, virtual machines will not let you use your video card for 3D graphics.

[Hellfirejet]

My late uncle posted this query originally and I have found on the Windows 7 forum, this solution that does work,but it is a bit of hassle,but I myself love playing this game,so until a better work around solution is found then I will use this method to keep playing this fantastic game.

(EXPLORER.EXE)

The easier way to solve this problem (if anyone else was wondering) is to kill the process 'explorer.exe'

Start the program, then hit CTRL + ALT + DEL to start the task manager, process tab, right click 'explorer.exe' and click "stop process" (or whatever it says... kill, etc).

When you're done playing the game, you need to go back to the task manager, say new task, and type in explorer.exe to get the explorer running again.

[IainMcNeil]

This looks like a colour depth issue. You could try changing your colour depth to 16 bit or 24 bit. Just try the options and one might work.

[Hellfirejet]

Ok ! update,after numerous installs and uninstalls I have finally managed to get this game to run without any problems on my system,so what you should try is this,if you have the game installed uninstall it,now very important re-install into the STARTUP directory,and when installed run game in Windows 95 compatibility mode with all other option selected,ie 256 colours etc,and thats it the game runs great please let me know if it works for anyone else thanks.Also important run the game from the startup option only and not from a desktop short cut !!![:)]

I installed a new partion with Windows 7 on both partion's because I have discovered the reason the game won't run right graphics wise, is because there is something that windows 7 updates ***** up the game,so the only option if you want to play this game trouble free is to stop windows 7 updating or do a double windows install where by one updates and the other one don't,this is very important if you are serious about playing this game,because windows 7 will bugger it up if you allow it to upgrade!!!!!!!

[Hellfirejet]

I have been searching for other solutions for PAX IMPERIA EMIMENT DOMAIN graphics problems caused by windows 7 explorer.exe I was instructed to create a .bat file with the following instruction inside the file.

TASKKILL /F /IM explorer.exe
"C:\Program Files\Pax Imperia\Pax Imperia\Pax Imperia.exe"
pause
START C:\Windows\explorer.exe

Other people say this works,I may have made a mistake somewhere within the instructions,which is more than likely,so if there are any computer literate members in the forum,who could see if I have made a mistake somewhere within the instruction?

[Hellfirejet]

NEWS FLASH!!!!!!!

This is brilliant if you have any older games that use direct draw,as PAX IMPERIA EMIMENT DOMAIN. then this little program fixes it once and for all without the need for you to do anything but tell it to patch the game you want to play under VISTA OR WINDOWS 7.I have been trying to solve this graphics problem for months and the solution is here in this tiny little program[8D]

If link is unavailable just do a web search for w7ddpatcher and you will find other working links enjoy!

http://www.gamefront.com/files/21307964 ... source.zip


Program fixes broken colors under vista/win7 with games using DirectDraw.

1. Press "Patch"
2. Choose "starcraft.exe" from your game folder
3. Close w7ddpatcher.
4. That is all, no silly scripts killing explorer.exe

How does it work? Author speaking:

<mudlord> it adds some entries to the registry for compatibility
<mudlord> It does not patch the EXE
<mudlord> it intercepts the directdraw ID, etc
<mudlord> source is in there

Works with other games exhibiting this issue (Fallout, Fallout 2, Diablo, etc),

[amiskatonic]

zy

[Empire101]

ORIGINAL: hellfirejet

I have been searching the web for a solution to this graphics problem,and just like a problem with Star Wars Supremacy/Rebellion it appears that windows 7,is missing some system DLL files that some older games require.

For anyone having problems running Star wars Supremacy / Rebellion windows Vista and 7 require d3drm.dll file and then it works great.

Great!!
I'll give that a whirl for Rebellion.

Thanks Hellfirejet

( love the avatar by the way )