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[Khalan]

Sounds like you and CoconutKid have some things in common then, regarding Win7.  Personally I've been using Windows since 3.1, and this has been the best and easiest, and most hassle-free Windows release I've experienced.
Hope you get your issues sorted; it's often a case of the latest Windows Updates (some of which add compatibility with earlier apps) and the latest drivers, and setting the compatibility modes correctly - ie. Win 98 mode etc, disable desktop composition, disable visual themes, disable UAC or DEP etc.

By the way, I used to download games overnight on a dial-up connection, so you can get digital copies if you wanted to.  Especially as Impulse and Steam both resume downloads, so you can grab a bit here and there and leave it overnight.  Make sure it doesn't blow your download quota though, if you have one.

[City Builder]

I too have found that Win 7 is a good operating system, no blue screens at all for me, unlike Vista which threw a BSOD every once in a blue moon, which so did Win XP for me.  So far though 7 hasn't done that.

I had heard that some people still have download quotas, I feel fortunate that I haven't had one since I was on Hughes Satellite ISP up in the mountains, I used to get on the net in the A.M and by lunch I'd be down to dialup speeds because I'd already exceeded my quota for the day.  What a drag that was.  Im so thankful that Time Warner cable doesn't have that.  The only issues with 7 that I've got now is my Nvidia 275GTX video card gets too hot while playing games and the display driver stops responding when it does, I guess I'll have to get out the air compressor and blow it out and see if it's just a case of dirty dust bunnies in there or if theres really an issue with this card and 7.   Oops there I go again, totally off topic.

Back on topic, I've got to say that for the past month or so, my fav is back to Simcity 4, I've been playing it about 5 to 8 hours a day, 3 to 5 days a week.  With the huge selection of user created content, it really doesn't get stale for me.

[Catfriend]

Well, I've been playing Pharaoh for the last few days, and remember why it was always my favourite cb game.  OK the graphics are pretty tame compared to today's offerings, but when you get used to them they haven't actually travelled that badly, and the game itself has that 'just one more go to get this right before bed' factor.  Unfortunately, if I can put it like that, Tropico Reloaded arrived today, much earlier than I expected, so I might just have to divert from Ancient Egypt for a while and take a run around the Caribbean  .  I just hope it runs on my Win 7.  It does say on the box 'for Vista', so I think it ought to be OK.  I'll try it later. 

[City Builder]

Hopefully you shouldn't have any issues running it on 7, back when I had the original and expansion pack for Tropico installed on 7 it didn't have any running issues, so hopefully you won't either, but as we all know, not 2 computers are alike so what runs on one might on another.

[Catfriend]

Well, it doesn't look like I am going to get the chance to find out whether 'Reloaded' works on Win 7 because my drive won't recognise the DVD  .  When I load up the disc the drive lights up and I can hear it seeking, then it all goes dead.  If I check the drive manually it just asks me to insert a disc, so it just doesn't see it at all.  I have googled the problem, and it seems I'm not the only one this has happened to, and all Kalypso can say is that it is a rare fault caused by some peoples' dvd drives not being able to cope with the drm and they suggest upgrading firmware and other stuff I can't be bothered with for a game that cost me next to nothing.  I am very disappointed but that's life I suppose. 

[City Builder]

Wow, what a bummer.  Maybe I didn't have issues because I have the original game and expansion instead of the newly printed Reloaded.

Do you have another computer that you can put the disk in just to check and see if it can read it?  Perhaps it's just a bad disk.  In all the years that I've been gaming I can't think of any particular game that couldn't at least let me read from the disk itself to install the game.  What is really odd is that the DRM (if it's normal) should not affect installation of the game only a problem when the game goes to read from the disk to authorize the game to play.  This is what makes me wonder if it's just a bad disk.

[Catfriend]

Thanks for your reply, City Builder.  No, unfortunately I don't have another machine.  I do vaguely remember having this problem years ago - I think it was Zeus, and it did work eventually although I have long forgotten how (a different computer obviously  ).  I'm not sure that it is a bad disc as other people have had the same problems, and one guy said he had had two or three replacements and that was when Kalypso said it was his problem and to update the firmware on his drive.  I am actually considering whether to buy a new DVD drive as they are quite cheap these days and see if it makes any difference, not just for this, but I have a few Region 1 DVD movies which currently we can only play on our main multi region player and I'd like to be able to play them on my computer (I'm in UK so it's set for Region 2), so I could set a new drive to Region 1 and presumably have the best of both worlds, plus a chance Tropico would load.  I'll have a think what to do, but meanwhile I apologise for turning this thread into a technical discussion.  If I have any update on the situation I will use the Tropico forum.  Thanks so much for your input which is greatly appreciated.  Meanwhile, back to the pyramids!

[CoconutKid]

Well, it doesn't look like I am going to get the chance to find out whether 'Reloaded' works on Win 7 because my drive won't recognise the DVD.  ..., and all Kalypso can say is that it is a rare fault caused by some peoples' dvd drives not being able to cope with the drm and they suggest ...

  That makes me absolutely furious.

What the kind of "drm" did they put on it anyway? An ancient game that is for sale on the second-hand market for next-to-nothing and that the pirates have no doubt copied to death. And they loaded it up with a crappy "drm" that they claim is the fault of "somefolk's DVD drives" --- holy Toledo what BS!

I'll tell you what -- go back and read the very earliest patch 'readme' lists. The very original versions released had some DRM crap that screwed up almost everybody. It was so bad that PopTop dropped it ASAP; but now it appears that Kalypso used that version as the base of the "Reloaded" release. What dingbats!

If they answered you that fast, that means they are having thousands of problems with "Reloaded" --- and it's for the same reason that they had the code residue problem with T3 == their quality control lives in the privy! They issued "Reloaded" with some drm that wasn't used after six months from the start out of the gate or else they added some super genius crap of their own.

@ Catfriend - I extend my abject appologies for the recommendation. I shall never again make that mistake.

It's sad when the pirates are more reliable than the official publishers.

[RhiannOn]

Gosh, that sucks   .
Is it worth looking on Amazon for a new/second hand copy of the original tropico?

I've kept my older, second pc with a removeble drive with XP on for the older games now,  ie like thief series, doom, industry giant etc. It has a fx5900 graphics card with combatible drivers of that time so I don't have any of the graphic issues with these games that are now happening with the new nvidia drivers and graphics cards of the 6 series plus that make you want to pull your hair out.
 I just switch over to the 2nd pc via the kvm switch using the keyboard and I can still use my current monitor/keyboard/speakers and mouse.  Very cool.
I also can swap the drive out and put the windows 98 removeable drive in for even older dos games.  Things we do for this hoddy called gaming    

Pharaoh is a very cool game!!

[CoconutKid]

... Is it worth looking on Amazon for a new/second hand copy of the original tropico? ...

Naturally I'm biased    but it surely is. I don't know the market now, but it used to be available second-hand on E-bay for little more than the shipping.

However, there's no use going for the "original" and then having to search out Paradise Island too. There were tons of the "Mucho Macho" edition published (two disks) ; they have the full game and included the strategy guide in PDF and all but one small, last patch.

"Mucho Macho" was sold by itself, and then as part of the "Master Players Edition" ("Tropico Gold" in Europe) in a different box along with "Pirate Cove" (the pirates \ T2).