Links won't launch on new device

[Titus]

Im no expert, but if you're looking for things to try:

Did you try launching the game from both LinksLauncher and LinksMMIII ?

I know you already said you tried compatibility settings but based on your picture it makes me vaguely guess that some of those might help. Unless you're certain you tried everything there, it could potentially be worth reviewing? Remember to try completely without any compatibility settings activated too.

If it was me, I might have tried the registry edit as well. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=478

Hello,
yes I actually tried all the options, the best result was that the RTX3080 was displayed the first time, after that never again.
But if you're talking about regedit, I have differences, I think it's because links won't start on one PC.
.

Display PC1.PNG (103.66 KiB) Viewed 8901 times

Display PC2.PNG (96.25 KiB) Viewed 8901 times

[GoBucks]

You didn't mention you were running dedicated graphics cards.
Post back if you have any success.

Hi, maybe I expressed myself wrong.
I use the GTX980 and the RTX3080, both running Links2003.
I thought if I swapped out the graphics card at the weekend,
I could try it without a graphics card and use the CPU's graphics chip.

As I said, links used to run with both graphics cards.

Is it safe to assume you've installed the nvidia patch? I'm going to assume yes.

[Still Linksing]

You didn't mention you were running dedicated graphics cards.
Post back if you have any success.

Hi, maybe I expressed myself wrong.
I use the GTX980 and the RTX3080, both running Links2003.
I thought if I swapped out the graphics card at the weekend,
I could try it without a graphics card and use the CPU's graphics chip.

As I said, links used to run with both graphics cards.

I'd suggest looking at any Windows updates. I have no way of checking anything myself but Win 11 is causing some issues which may very well be passed on to Win 10 users through updates. If your hardware previously ran Links then it still should now.

[dsmithqld]

I don’t think you will find a solution but I may be wrong. I’ll be working on this in the future but it’s not high on the priority list. Don’t have an appropriate PC to test anything on either.

I can confirm that Links 2003 doesn't work properly on my Intel 12th Gen CPU. Mine is a 12700F which has 8 P-Cores and 4 E-Cores and no integrated graphics.
I've tried disabling E-Cores, hypervisor and even a clean install of Windows 10. The strange thing is that it works *sometimes* in Links "safe mode" (software mode?). On my other PC which is a Ryzen 3900X with Windows 11, it works perfectly and I even run it with dgVoodoo to improve things. The 12700F system never works if I install dgVoodoo. I have a GTX 1080 and an RTX 2060 Super. Both cards work fine with Links in the Ryzen system but neither work with the Intel system.

I've tried lots of old games from the early 2000s and Links is the only one that's giving me trouble. The one exception is Max Payne which doesn't work on modern Ryzen or Intel CPUs - apparently something to do with MMX detection on modern CPUs and there is a patch available to fix it.

I noticed this glitch in the registry -:

[dko]

The recent posts are well above my knowledge level, so I hope you don't find the following too simplistic to be helpful.

I'll recap my own experience even though it's fully captured in various posts in this forum. When my old Dell desktop purchased in 2009 and running Vista finally tanked, I bought a new cheap Dell desktop ($450) with Windows 11, since my sole intent was to play Links on it (a fool and his money...and thanks to Still Linksing for his help in finding it). As far as I know, it's got integrated Intel graphics. I loaded the download version of Links along with 1.07 and the Nvidia patch (just because it seemed to be suggested in a lot of other posts). It ran, but like crap even though I set the compatibility to Windows 7 and set it to run as Administrator.

I looked at the first post in the third sticky attached to this forum and went to the suggested link. After loading dgvoodoo2 and setting it up as shown, I still didn't get anywhere. It was only after getting the Direct3Dfix file and placing the dll's into the Links 2003 folder as instructed that the game worked as intended, at least for my purposes (the green analyzer mysteriously fades into the distance, but I never use it anyway; the cams work fine).

I've now played five rounds (against a computer opponent I set up) with no hitches (thank you Still Linksing, and touch wood). I'm using the same monitor that came with the 2009 Dell since I didn't get one with the new computer, and maybe the graphics aren't up to others' standards (for me, they actually look better than they used to), but I'm happier than a pig in dirt!

Here's hoping you find success.

[Adelade]

[...]

In case you care to try solve the issue of the Intel 12th Gen CPU one, in what way does the game not work? Does it not launch to the main menu, does it crash halfway through loading up the main menu, any error messages? And is there anything in particular that makes you suspect that the problem is caused by the CPU specifically (there could potentially be other causes)?

[dsmithqld]

The game crashes after the first window appears after the initial Links 2003 splash screen. No error message. Most of the time it will show the "Restart, Troubleshooting, Exit" dialog. If you press "Restart" a few times, sometimes the game will launch successfully. Sometimes it just freezes after the game window is created and has to be killed with Task Manager. Occasionally it will crash after the screen that shows the GPU model at the bottom of the screen. At least the game is playable if I'm patient enough to keep restarting. It then runs for hours without problems.

My only reasoning for the CPU being the culprit is that I have two other PCs that work flawlessly with Links 2003. Both of these machines have Windows 11 but they also worked fine with Windows 10. They also work fine if dgVoodoo2 is installed. The 12th Gen (Alder Lake) system always crashes as soon as the game window is created if dgVoodoo2 is installed. It seems to be something with the CPU/3D feature detection routine that's getting tripped up when the game starts.

PC 1
Intel i7 6700K (Works fine with integrated Intel GPU or nVidia RTX 2060)

PC2
Ryzen 3900X (No problems with any 3D card)

Alder Lake is a new beast since it has a lot of "security" options in the BIOS i.e. Virtualization-Based Security. I've tried lots of BIOS settings that might relate to CPU mode or detection but no luck yet. I've tried all of the usual troubleshooting like safe RAM settings, switching RAM from another PC etc.

Keen to hear other people's experiences with Links 2003 on 12th Gen CPUs.

[Adelade]

Oh and I forgot your picture of the registry indicates something about the processor too, I personally dont know what "Processor String" in particular means, someone else might? (However it is still possible that glitch value is some form of a "symptom" rather than the underlaying cause of the problem, so to speak).

You might have tried these already, I dont know, but some things to check off:
-All the patches installed, including Nvidia one?
-Compatibility settings
-Trying to launch the game from both LinksLauncher and LinksMMIII
-Try unplugging USB devices before launch
-Clean reinstall of the game


Side-question to anyone who might know: when the USB issue happens, does the game tend to launch at all? Any error messages?

[Titus]

Hi there,

here is my experience with the Adler Lake i7-12700 Windows10 (PC1)!

After upgrading to the CPU i7-12700, Links2003 stopped working.
Tried all options in the compatibility mods, no success,
Reinstalled links, tried compatibility mods, installed Voodoo, no success.

Out of desperation I built a second PC (PC2), i4-4790K Windows10 out of the old computer parts.
Both PCs have the same software, Links2003 runs on PC2 with the Voodoo patch.

Then I reinstalled the system on the new PC (PC1), Win10, nvidia drivers, etc. were now installed
PC1 and PC2 exactly the same. Reinstalled links, tried compatibility mods, installed Voodoo, no success.

I checked the registry and since I couldn't start Links2003 on PC1, many entries were missing.
I copied the registry from PC2 and imported it into PC1. The other data (stats, save, etc.)
were copied to the known places, no success.

I also have the whole game, simply copy PC2 and transfer it to PC1, doesn't work for me either.

I disabled the CPU E-Cores in the bios, that didn't help either.

My error messages when starting, mostly none at all - black screen, sometimes it goes a bit further
and then crashes when showing the GPU map or Voodoo2 display. I've never gotten into the game.

Perhaps john_iv could explain here exactly what he did, Links2003 with one
i7-12700k with Win10 and Win11 to run.

Small excerpt from John from page 2:

As a data point for Links 2K3 on new hardware;
I just built a desktop i7-12700K Alderlake with Windows 11 x64 and Links 2003 and it plays fine.
I'm not reinstalling Links 2003. I copy my existing files to the appropriate locations
and then import the Links 2003 registry key into regedit as well.

I make sure I keep my main links directory including any courses I take outside of
\program files in c:\games\links 2003 keep, saved. By not installing in \program files,
avoid a variety of user access protection measures from the newer MSFT operating systems.

There is a hidden data store as you mentioned in c:\programdata\links 2003,
which you also need to secure (after choosing to show hidden items)
and restore to that location on a new box. (this has course data, pug, news, player directories).

You also need to get the Links 2003 folder in your \user\x\Documents folder. This has your career
recorded players, saved games and saved shots.

Once these three file directories are in the appropriate areas,
you can export this key from the registry from a working computer:
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Games

Actually, I've done all that, unfortunately without success.
Here are a few more error messages, if any come up, depending on the compatibility of the mods.

Fehlermeldung Vista Directx7.0a-k.jpg (6.31 KiB) Viewed 8790 times

Fehler Meldung WinXP-k.jpg (20.61 KiB) Viewed 8790 times

Fehler Meldung Arbeitspeicher-k.jpg (8.07 KiB) Viewed 8790 times

Fehler 2k.jpg (7.87 KiB) Viewed 8790 times

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[john_iv]

You could try installing the DirectX9 runtime from MSFT. I've had that on my 12700K for other games (Visual Pinball X, MAME, etc.).

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... aspx?id=35