I have the disks still and I'm running Win7 64bit. I installed the game and the offical patch with no problem. When I start the game, I get the intro video but the game setup screen is screwy. I see all of the options, but there are not graphics, no race picks, not empire flags, etc. When I click on start game, I then get the diretx error. Any one else see this before. I've tried compatipility mode with XP sp3 and Win2K.
I have TWO sets of disks, both packed in boxes from the last move, so I got the GoG version for $5. I had the DirectX Surface error with the GoG version. It has to do with the patching process, I think. I found some instructions, followed them and have had no problems since on my Win7 64-bit machine. I have attached them below after editing for clarification. It should also work with the original disks, other than the deleting the exe part.
Steps:
#0: Download Moo3 from Gog. Download the Guerra patches from
http://members.chello.nl/gbrinkers/codemods.html and one of the Tropical, Strawberry and Vanilla mods from
http://www.mediafire.com/?bab6i5ezwj6u1Bhruic’s patches are included in the mod packages.
#1: Install Moo3. (this will be in the GoG directory. This avoids the problems arising from putting old games in the Windows7 “Program Files (X86)” directory…do NOT do that!)
#2: Back it up! Just copy the whole install directory and paste it right back into a backup directory you should make in the gog directory. " - this is much easier to restore than from the install.
#3: Extract the your mod package (Tropical, Strawberry, whatever) to its own directory. These mods come with their own exe file, which will cause problems with the GoG install. DELETE the mod’s moo3.exe - we won't be using it, but rather the GOG (drm-free) moo3.exe. THIS IS IMPORTANT. If you don't delete the pre-modded executable you will be starting over.
#4: Copy the contents of the mod directory into your Moo3 directory. All of it. Make sure you click "yes" to the copy confirmation and to REPLACE the original files.
#5: Run Bhruic’s Moo3Patcher.exe - this is what will apply the patches to the GOG moo3.exe. It and the patch data is included in the Tropical, Strawberry and Vanilla mods. If you copied the mod files over correctly, the patcher exe should be in the same file as the moo3.exe. The Bhruic and Guerra patches that were used in the mod are listed in the Tropical v1.38 readme file. These are what you need to install now, Bhruic's patches FIRST!
- this next step is critical -
#6: Underneath the patch window is a window That says "Moo3DLL.dll" - there's an install button next to it. Press it. Do this BEFORE trying to apply the mini-patches. If it can't find the file, browse to the Moo3DLL.dll file in the moo3 directory. This is from the mod files. You want this.
#7: Some tedium: You have to manually patch in all the patches you want in the window above - just click on it and hit 'patch'. If it is successful, it'll say so in the status column. If it's not successful, make sure you did step 6 (only an issue for the ones that say "Yes" in the dll column), and that in the bottom window it's pointing to the Moo3.exe file to patch. There must be a typo in the patcher database because on one patch (forget which) this has an extra "\" in the directory string and it needs to be re-pointed to the Moo3.exe file. (solops note – I did not have this problem)
#8: Apparently patching in SenateVictory breaks Allied Victory, and vice-versa. if you patched in AV first. You just need to "unpatch" Allied victory, and then "repatch" it. Oh well. Pick one.
#9: DO NOT PATCH IN WINDOWED MODE. Don't say I didn't warn you.
If you follow/ my instructions you should be able to get every patch in with the exception of the SV/AV which are exclusive for some reason.
#10. Now copy all of the Guerra patches into the main MOO3 directory and run them.
You should now be good to play.
