From reading these posts it seems that there's no silver bullet that works for everyone. I had the color problem when running Starcraft Brood War with Windows 7 64 bit on an eMachines ET1331G-03W with an NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430. I tried a few of the fixes on this page with little success, but finally fixed the color with this configuration:

On the Compatibility tab of the Properties for the Starcraft.exe file, I checked "Run this program as an administrator."

I did NOT check the box in the "Compatibility Mode" section.

I right-clicked on the desktop and opened Screen Resolution and left it open.

With the Starcraft folder open, I double-clicked on the Starcraft.exe file.

That fixed the colors for me. I can still connect to battle.net with this configuration. I haven't had any freezes yet - knock on wood!

Thanks to all for your previous posts - they helped me know what settings to mess with. Good luck to those still experiencing it. I'd encourage you to try various combinations of the settings and tricks posted in this forum, since there doesn't seem to be a universal solution. Hopefully you'll find something that works for you.

CTRL + ALT + DELETE
Start Task Manager
'Processes' tab
Select 'explorer.exe' (sort column by name to find it easier)
End Process.

Enjoy Starcraft (or Diablo as it is the same).

When done playing:

CTRL + ALT + DELETE
Start Task Manager
File -> New Process (Run)
explorer.exe

I figured it out for WIndows 7 x64 Build 7600+

eather goto the direct file starcraft.exe in x86 program files, or goto the link on your desktop or start>programs....

right click on it and goto propertys.....

click compatibility then goto settings.... DO NOT TURN ON THE CHECK MARK
"RUN THIS PROG IN COMPATIBILITY MODE"

instead click all the checkmarks in settings

- run in 256
- run in 640x480
- disable themes
- disable desktop comp
- disable display scaling on high dpi

then below it is the privilege level setting.... check mark that one tooo

- run this prog as admin

then click apply and press ok and now open startcraft and enjoy!!!

I wouldn't recommend running SC under wine in Ubuntu or any variant. It works flawlessly but if you use a widescreen monitor the Xserver can't stretch the game window and you'll have to either play with a missing 1/4 of the screen or squint at windowed mode.

I tried As many different combinations as I could think of for the different compatibility tab check boxes as well as leaving the screen resolution window and or .exe folder open.
After trying many different things I found 1 minimal setup that always worked.
-Right click the shortcut and go to compatibility tab. Check run as 256 colors and run at 640x480.
-Right click the desktop and open the screen resolution window.
Use the shortcut.
This seems to always work for me.

My comp:
Windows 7 Ultimate x64 6.1.7600 Build 7600
Nvidia 8800GTX- nvidia Driver Version 8.17.11.9621
CRT 4:3 monitor.

I also want to point out that when I went to my battle.net account and downloaded SC I had no problems. When I first connected to battle.net and downloaded the update is when the color glitching started happening. I installed SC on my friends computer also running windows 7 x32 version, same video card, and it also worked fine until i downloaded the update from battle.net.

***So I guess if you don't want to play on battle.net you can try uninstalling and getting the downloaded version from your battle.net management page!

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Q u o t e:
I searched everywhere trying to find a fix to this problem, and here's what I found.

Open a new .txt document and paste in the following:

taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
D:\"StarCraft"\"StarCraft.exe"
start explorer.exe


the 2nd line needs to direct towards your SC Directory (so C\"Games\Starcraft"\"StarCraft.exe" for a lot of you)

When you save the file, save it as a .bat file and use that to launch Starcraft. It will terminate explorer while SC is running, and when you close SC explorer automatically restarts. This is the only fix i have found that works for my setup; Windows 7, Build 7100 w/ Nvidia 7950 GT.

Hope this works for you!

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Thank you VERY much for this fix. It works perfectly.

Note to everyone that uses this. Because it closes explorer, you wont have access to your start menu or other programs while playing SC. If you have a program (e.g. Firefox) already open, though, you can Alt+Tab to FF and use it just fine.

Thank you again!

My friend had this problem on his windows 7 setup. I'm not sure about his exact settings but his menus were messed up and his game would be okay at first but after a few seconds it would change to rainbow colors. The fix that I discovered was that the changing desktop backgrounds were causing it. After I turned off the changing desktop backgrounds the game was fine.

tl;dr pick one desktop background and stick with it.

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=23214533181&sid=3000


Hey,
this is the color fix for Windows7.
If you have a 32 bit windows then activate sc116-x86.reg.
If you have a 64 bit windows then activate sc116-x64.reg.
That's it.
[What does this reg-file do?]:
It changes "[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\Starcraft116]" to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\Starcraft116]
This will fix the Color Bug.

[Ad:Please take a look at |www.starcraft2.pro| and feel free to check out our Starcraft II Tower Defense Game and/or give suggestions :)]

packet by: warlord_7 (Administrator[starcraft2.pro])

since the download links that were posted in this topic no longer work you could manually put the following lines in a file called starcraft_win7_color_fix.reg file then click on it and add the keys to the registry. After doing this I found the start screen graphics are still glitched out but the main menu looks good.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\StarCraft116]
"Name"="Starcraft.EXE"
"ID"=hex:ca,89,65,49
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\StarCraft116]
"Name"="Starcraft.EXE"
"ID"=hex:ca,89,65,49
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00

If you look in the registry in the same location as each of these keys you'll find Starcraft115 as well, only the ID values are different.

---

Q u o t e:
I figured it out for WIndows 7 x64 Build 7600+

eather goto the direct file starcraft.exe in x86 program files, or goto the link on your desktop or start>programs....

right click on it and goto propertys.....

click compatibility then goto settings.... DO NOT TURN ON THE CHECK MARK
"RUN THIS PROG IN COMPATIBILITY MODE"

instead click all the checkmarks in settings

- run in 256
- run in 640x480
- disable themes
- disable desktop comp
- disable display scaling on high dpi

then below it is the privilege level setting.... check mark that one tooo

- run this prog as admin

then click apply and press ok and now open startcraft and enjoy!!!

---

Thanks, this works for me! I'm using windows 7.

I've had similar issues and have been able to fix the color problems but I'm still cursed with the Black Box in the upper left corner with black lines going across my screen that alternate... I've tried messing around with aspect ratio, refresh rates, and other things and have had no luck.

Compatibility Modes only do one thing, either it launches the same as if it was off or it says the CD is not in the tray.

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Q u o t e:
If you have problems whit color glich on Windows 7/Vista follow my instructions:

1. Right click on the StarCraft icon.
2. Select "Properties"
3. Click on the "Compatibility" tab
4. Select "Windows XP SP2"
5. Select "Run in 256 Colors"
6. Select "Run in 640 x 480 Resolution"
7. Select "Run as Administrator"
8.Click "Ok"


And your Problem is Done.
Play!!!

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This post sounds like it is supposed to be a "sure way" of making the game work 100%.

Well, I had messed up colors until I un-selected the options you mentioned. Setting "Windows XP" compatibility and "Run as Administrator" didn't make the game work for me.

I only have these options:
- Run in 256 Colors
- Run in 640x480 Resolution

And the game looks and plays great.

Usually.

I've also applied the "Starcraft116" registry setting.

Killing Explorer.exe is the only fool-proof method I've seen, but that is awfully sloppy.

---

Q u o t e:

taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
D:\"StarCraft"\"StarCraft.exe"
start explorer.exe

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Hi, new to SC and forums in general.

Got the SC battle chest and tried to play the game on a win7 pc.
Tried very unsuccessfully to run it, but the colors were skewed in horrid shades of pink and green.

Tried the above .bat trick and it worked a charm!
Thanks alot! :D

The .bat file works for me. win7 64bit.

just to keep the good help topic alive.

this is what mine looks like.


taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
C:\"Program Files (x86)"\"Games"\"StarCraft\"StarCraft.exe"
start explorer.exe


keep the quotes around the folder locations and it will work.

You can play StarCraft with any graphic card and with Windows 7 without problems.

Just download this program,
[LINK] http://www.mediafire.com/?zazw8unarra0wx5 [LINK]

[1] Place it into StarCraft directory and run the program.
[2] Type StarCraft.exe and press enter.
[3] Enjoy the game!

ALSO:

If you dont want to use the .bat file.

I was playing around with settings.

Under Compatibility:
(X) Run this program in compatibly mode for:
Windows XP (SP3)
(X) Run in 256 Colors
(X) Run in 640x480 screen resolution
(X) Disable display scaling on high DPI settings


those are the only things i have checked and it works GGGRREEEAAATTTTTTTT

So try that as well

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Q u o t e:
ALSO:

If you dont want to use the .bat file.

I was playing around with settings.

Under Compatibility:
(X) Run this program in compatibly mode for:
Windows XP (SP3)
(X) Run in 256 Colors
(X) Run in 640x480 screen resolution
(X) Disable display scaling on high DPI settings


those are the only things i have checked and it works GGGRREEEAAATTTTTTTT

So try that as well

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That only works for some. For the rest, it's a waste. Windows 7 is simply not compatible with SC1.

---

Q u o t e:
Yeah windows 7 support is pretty bad. The color problem is just the start though, you'll later find that games also randomly freeze up. Until someone writes proper DDRAW to D3D wrappers the only real solution to both problems is to use a windower to play (chaoslauncher).

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Chaos Launcher or the Iccup launcher are your only real solutions since they render the game inside another program which isolates it for the most part from Windows interference. That and it has a 2x size mode and a window and mouse lock so you don't leave the game area or move the whole window.

Or you could ... you know ... finally upgrade to StarCraft II. Give up the flame. SC1 is a relic that just isn't going to work with later operating systems.

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/

Chaoslauncher and iccup launcher does NOT render sc in another program, idk where you got that from...
There's still a crapload of issues with SC2 which makes people not want to play it, especially since it's priced at $60. Not everyone gets a smooth framerate and internet connection in sc2 which also ruins the experience