Help! Arcanum w/ Vista

So I found my discs for this amazing game and I went to install it on my laptop for school. It installed fine but now it doesn't want to play. It will go past the Arcanum.exe allowance screen and then it does nothing. I've set it to "Run As Administrator", Checked all the extra settings, and even tried XP, and Server 2003 compatibility modes.. and nothing new happens.


Can somebody please help, or am I doomed? Or maybe I'm just doing something wrong.

Either way!


HELP!

Thanks


-Dan

 

Here's what I have come up with so far when helping a few people run Arcanum on Vista. This may or may not be useful as I'm basing it on discrepencies between my own computer and the systems of those I'm helping. After all, the most I did to get the game running in Vista was load the game disc, run the auto-install, and within minutes Virgil was digging me out of the charred ruins of an obliterated IFS Zephyr.

• 
  Above all, make sure you have the latest official patch (1074) installed. It can be found in the Downloads Section.
  
  If running in compatibility mode does not work, turn off Vista's UAC (User Account Control) and reboot your computer. I always keep mine OFF.
  
  Try just using the desktop shortcut or the main exe file itself found in the Arcanum directory, not the Play button on the auto-menu that comes up when you load the CD. This probably makes no difference whatsoever, but it's what I do and my game works...yours doesn't....so just humor me.
  
  The problems I've seen so far involve the screen going blank for a few seconds and then returning to the desktop. In this case, I'm guessing that the computer may be having trouble switching to the correct resolution and Color settings required to run Arcanum, which I think can be no higher than 800x600 and Medium (16 bit) or 256 color palettes. Make these changes manually in the Control Panel before launching the game. Someone who's a little more tech savvy may want to call me on this though.
  
  If all else fails, try updating your sound and graphics cards. It's a shot in the dark, but you wanna be able to play Arcanum again don't you? Don't you???

I'll list more suggestions as they come to mind. This isn't much to run on, but then again, neither is Vista.

 

I seem to have tried everything you suggested and nothing worked =(

 

I'm out of ideas, unless you're feeling really adventurous.

If so, you could reformat and duel boot XP and Vista along side each other. But be warned, this is an increasingly messy thing to do. If your computer came with XP initially, you're not as screwed since all your hardware will already have XP drivers. However, if you computer came pre-installed with Vista and (worse yet) you didn't get a Vista dvd with your purchase, you must find and download the drivers for your:

• Network adapters
  Sound card
  Graphics card
  Hard drive (maybe)
  Motherboard

THEN, you have to download another program to integrate these into a bootable XP cd. THEN, you have to repartition and reformat your computer. THEN you have to actually install XP and update it. THEN, you have to install Vista and all its drivers and update them. THEN, you have to tell Vista's bootloader to boot XP as well as Vista when starting the computer. THEN, you have to go cry to your mother because it still doesn't work half the time.

In short, ignore Vista for as long as possible. XP to this day is still the most stable OS ever made and Microsoft's assanine insistence on phasing it out will continue to baffle me until the next OS fad rears its ugly, bug/compatability ridden head.

 

I agree, either dual boot or run win xp. IMO win 2000 was the best. There are tons of torrents for these things if you should feel like saving some money and googling around.