I Guess It's Goodbye to Links 2K3 For Me

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ChuckyB
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Joined: November 1st, 2019, 10:02 pm

I Guess It's Goodbye to Links 2K3 For Me

Post by ChuckyB »

I've been playing Links for many years. Enjoyed online play with Hackmaster and Axe (hopefully, they are both resting in peace). Just upgraded to a new PC and, for the life of me, can't get L2K3 to run. Get the L2K3 logo and then a window that stay black - end up having to run task manager to end task. Then getting a 'Links failed to start' error. I've tried everything that I could find in these forums to get this fixed but nothing works. So, unless someone can provide a tutorial on how to L2K3 working on a PC with an Intel i9 (14th gen) processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU I am done. I'm too old to spend this much time (of whatever I have left) to continue to spend it on repeated failure. Folks on Links Corner have been great throughout the years so I will continue to visit on occasion. I'm going to miss the only video game I've ever played. Hope all of you stay happy and healthy.
Cheers,
ChuckyB
dwg
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Re: I Guess It's Goodbye to Links 2K3 For Me

Post by dwg »

I have had Links running on a Gen 7 machine under Windows 10 and on Gen 11 and 13 machines under Windows 11. it most cases with the embedded Intel graphics but also with onboard Nvidia.

I used the wrapper in the Intel sticky to facilitate it, even with Nvidia.

I have seen a black screen with some straight horizontal lines. This was resolved by using a different resolution in Links, Links does seem to have trouble with some of the resolutions in the WXGA family, at least on the systems I have.
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Adelade
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Re: I Guess It's Goodbye to Links 2K3 For Me

Post by Adelade »

Your 14th gen CPU has onboard graphics right?

CD or Download version of Links?

Did you apply the 1.07 and Nvidia patches?

Did you try compatibility settings such as Win 7, running as admin, DPI scaling?

Did you try running Links form both LinksMMIII and LinksLauncher?

Did you try the registry edit with one of the modes within the WXGA format as mentioned above by dwg?

Did you try the wrapper?

Did you try unplugging USB devices?

Did you try updating your GPU drivers or using older GPU drivers?
Finished Courses - Main: Amedal (fictional), Nine Bridges (real)
Other: Austin, Sheshan, Kauri Cliffs, Le Golf Nat. Updates: Whirlpool, Royal Lytham, Royal St George's, Chicago, Chambers Bay, Munchen Nord E
Working on: 2 fictional courses + a couple things...
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GoBucks
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Re: I Guess It's Goodbye to Links 2K3 For Me

Post by GoBucks »

What, exactly have you done? Not trying to be a wise guy, but if we know what was done we have someplace to start.
No matter where you go, there you are.
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ChuckyB
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Joined: November 1st, 2019, 10:02 pm

Re: I Guess It's Goodbye to Links 2K3 For Me

Post by ChuckyB »

Answers to Links Corner Thread Questions


Answers to Adelade’s and GoBuck’s questions. Didn’t think you were being a wise-guy GoBucks, your question has merit.

So:

Your 14th gen CPU has onboard graphics right? Yes, but use NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU.

CD or Download version of Links? Both, tried CD but kept getting ‘Insert Disk 1’ error so I bought DL from Links Country Club.

Did you apply the 1.07 and Nvidia patches? Yes.

Did you try compatibility settings such as Win 7, running as admin, DPI scaling? Tried all available compatibility settings. Set to run as admin. Tried various DPI scaling’s. No love.

Did you try running Links form both LinksMMIII and LinksLauncher? Yes.

Did you try the registry edit with one of the modes within the WXGA format as mentioned above by dwg? Tried both XGA and WXGA, multiple permutations – no love.

Did you try the wrapper? Yes, tried multiple permutations – again, no love. But DID manage to get the watermark to appear. Also, in some of the permutations, instead of a black window, got a snapshot of my desktop’s current open window. Though honestly, I never found information that addressed the ‘exact’ settings to use for L2K3 either from Links Corner or andyhope.com’s documents online. I’m just a ‘middlin’ computer guy, no expert for sure, so a lot of stuff is way beyond my knowledge & skill level.

Did you try unplugging USB devices? Only USB connected is Logitech Unifying receiver. And because I knew someone would ask – I unplugged Unifying and tried wired mouse…still no love.

Did you try updating your GPU drivers or using older GPU drivers? Have the most current Nvidia drivers. Fresh installation.

I truly appreciate any guidance that would get L2K3 working on my new PC. Thanks.
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Daniel
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Re: I Guess It's Goodbye to Links 2K3 For Me

Post by Daniel »

What version of Windows do you have 23H2 or have you installed the new update 24H2. If your are using the 23H2 try installing the new update if it is in your updates. Try running links with the 24H2 update installed. If it does not work try reinstalling Links in the 24H2 it might just work. I installed the 24H2 manually and Links would not work. So I uninstalled it by going to recovery and waited for the update in my updates once it installed Links was working. Hope this might help you.
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GoBucks
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Re: I Guess It's Goodbye to Links 2K3 For Me

Post by GoBucks »

Uninstall the wrapper. You don't need it with the NvIdia card.

Did you double-click the v1.07 file? Doing this runs the installation routine.

Put the Nvidia patch in the main links folder and double-click it. This will install that patch.

What is the video resolution of your monitor?

I'm assuming that since this a new pc, all of the microsoft updates were done when you first set up the pc. That includes the update that Daniel is talking about. I wouldn't worry about it right now.
No matter where you go, there you are.
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ChuckyB
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Re: I Guess It's Goodbye to Links 2K3 For Me

Post by ChuckyB »

Daniel, running 23H2 as the folks a Micro Center, who built my new PC, stated not to upgrade to 24H2 because it has too many issues. Also, 24H2 is not offered in Window Update for me – might be MS is scrambling to fix the issues? Seems a lot of folks who upgraded to 24H2 lost sound, among other known issues. Oh, on old PC that originally had Win 10 and upgraded to Win 11 – including updating to 24H2 when it came out - still runs L2K3 just fine. So, I’m considering that the issues I’m having are hardware related possibly.

GoBucks, my monitor’s resolution is 3840 x 2160. However, I tried numerous display resolutions trying to get L2K3 to work without success. See reply to Daniel regarding 24H2.

One thing I haven’t tried is to hook my old monitor up to the new PC and see if that makes a difference. Will try this after I reinstall L2K3. I got to the point where I figured that I may have corrupted something with all the things I’ve tried so will start fresh.

Thanks for continuing to provide information and suggestions, most appreciated.
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Adelade
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Re: I Guess It's Goodbye to Links 2K3 For Me

Post by Adelade »

The insert CD 1 error with the CD version can be fixed by replacing the Rukshuk file in the Links main folder with the version from the link from this post:
pmgolf wrote: November 8th, 2024, 12:47 pm The fix that people have used to take care of the "Insert Disk" when starting Links is to replace their "RuKsHuK.exe" file in the /Links 2003/ directory with the one in this download link. First, though, SAVE YOUR OLD RUKSHUK.exe by typing the word "OLD" in front of RUKSHUK!!!!!!!!!

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/cderjb86 ... iortu&dl=0

Pete

I know the registry edit and the wrapper can conflict with eachother, at least in terms of display resolutions, so it is likely best to not test both those at once.


I am curious why GoBucks said:
GoBucks wrote: January 24th, 2025, 12:30 pm Uninstall the wrapper. You don't need it with the NvIdia card.
Maybe you are right, I dont know, but I dont see any reason to exclude the possibility of it being helpful when the CPU has onboard graphics so I am curious what makes you think this?
Finished Courses - Main: Amedal (fictional), Nine Bridges (real)
Other: Austin, Sheshan, Kauri Cliffs, Le Golf Nat. Updates: Whirlpool, Royal Lytham, Royal St George's, Chicago, Chambers Bay, Munchen Nord E
Working on: 2 fictional courses + a couple things...
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Daniel
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Re: I Guess It's Goodbye to Links 2K3 For Me

Post by Daniel »

ChuckyB. Microsoft have sorted out a lot of issues with 24H2, I think it is fine now. If you do get the update I recommend it, most will have Links running now on the 24H2. I think the best hack in the registry for you would be 14, that is 1920x1080 32 bit color
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