I am trying to install master of orion II on a windows 7 64 bit operating system and it won't open, because DPLAY.dll cannot be found. I have downloaded the driver, put it in the sys32 folder, the sysWOW64 folder, copied and renamed the dplayx.dll files in both folders to both DPLAY.dll and dplay.dll and put it in the game's folder itself. I have tried running it in several compatability modes, but still no sucess. What can I do to make this game work?

Hello,

First install MOO2 on a computer were it runs and copy the entire micropose directory to the program files (x86) directory.

Then copy the dplayx.dll file from the windows\sysWOW64 directory and renamed it dplay.dll and put it back in the sysWOW64 directory (be sure the dplayx.dll file is still there) or if you have the 32 bit version it should be found in the system32 directory (I am guessing, but you will need a dplay.dll)

Found this great post about getting MOO2 to run in Windows 7, and even with the compatibility enabled it still has a graphics palette problem. The reason is because of Windows explorer, and to fix the problem you need to disable explorer.

I know this can be a little too much for some, there is an easier way.

Simply create a notepad file on your desktop, and paste the following.

(If you have 32-bit version of Windows 7.)

TASKKILL /F /IM "explorer.exe"
cd C:\"Program Files"\Microprose\Orion2
start /w C:\"Program Files"\Microprose\Orion2\Orion95.exe
start C:\Windows\explorer.exe

(Copy and paste below if you have 64-bit)

TASKKILL /F /IM "explorer.exe"
cd C:\"Program Files (x86)"\Microprose\Orion2
start /w C:\"Program Files (x86)"\Microprose\Orion2\Orion95.exe
start C:\Windows\explorer.exe

Make sure you rename the text file to Moo2.bat, then it will launch Moo2 and disable explorer. Moo2 plays perfectly fine this way, even without any of the compatibility enabled.

The Batch file will also restore your explorer when you exit the game.


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Alternatively, you could use DosBox to play the game.
Click Here for instructions


Hope this helps,
G33k