Okay.. Today I watched one episode of a program called "Atlantic Convoys" or smth like that and that made me want to play SH3 again. So I dig up my old SH3 disc, fire it up, some minor problems with install..
a) I'm using Windows 7 x64 Professional (RTM release version, NOT RC or beta) and first trouble was that every time I wanted to change install dir it would crash.. -> Solved this by running setup.exe from the disc manually with XP SP2 compatibilty mode. The game installed fine..
b) Next I try to launch the game for one before patching to 1.4b to get starforce crap to install.. I get the error that my OS is not supported. I find myself here, becuse I knew that this is THE place for SH3 community and I would certainly get the help I need from here. So I start reading this thread and quite quickly realize that the problem is with SF and x64 version of my OS.
c) took me 15 minutes to find myself in star-force.com and this page:
http://www.star-force.com/support/users/group3.php
scroll down to the x64 OS support part. I checked the version of SF in my install folder: 3.04.72 (I have the original UBI release disc). So SF themself say it will NEVER WORK ON x64! Unless UBI will release some fixed files to us with a newer sh3.dll (thats the starforce .dll file) or a official no-cd patch
YOU WILL NEVER (legally) GET (your original) SH3 WORKING ON x64 OS's! (read up more to get the ifs)
So all of you who are saying you got it working in Vista are either using 32bit version (as you can see from the link I posted the earlier versions are working with 32bit OS) OR bought a new version from D2D, Steam or the newer disc versions. But in my opinion, even though I love SH3 and SH4
THIS IS WRONG to make us buy a game AGAIN just to play nowadays! There was one guy who said that he'd gotten some files from Ubi support that enabled him to play with 64bit os, which were meant for XP x64. WHY DOESNT UBI RELEASE THESE FILES PUBLICALLY?!?! Because they are greedy to the point that is SICK! They dont care about having the customers needs or wants fulfilled. All they care about is how to screw more money out from you!
So to sum it up on HOW TO MAKE IT WORK on Windows 7 x64 (aka 64bit):
IF and only if you are using a 64bit OS AND have the original SH3 WITH SF protection your only option is to use no-cd patch which you can find from google.
a) run setup.exe from the disc manually and use XP SP2 Compatibility mode to change the install directory (like posted here before, installing outside program files is your best choice to avoid problems later).
b) after the game has installed, install 1.4b patch
c) get the no-cd patch (google)
d) install all the rest you want to add to your game (GWX, SH3CMDR etc)
e) enjoy your game!
Sorry about the ranting but stuff like this makes me mad. Thank you Ubisoft for
making me support piracy (by downloading the no-cd patch), a thing I really dont want to do, but you leave me with no choice.