NHL Series (98, 99, 2000, 2001, 2002)

[Matt]

Welp...just tried installing NHL 98 in a virtual machine (Windows XP SP3 with VMware Player), and I got the same terrible sound I get in Windows 10.

Then I ran the old DXDIAG program and turned off the sound acceleration. Boom, perfect sound. That has got to be what the problem is. Unfortunately, from what I'm reading there's no way to adjust that in Win 10.

In an earlier post you mentioned you could spin up a virtual machine. I know this isn't really a fix, but just FYI - from what I can see NHL 98 works GREAT in a XP Virtual Machine. You can even install nGlide for the graphics.

That's the only way to play NHL 2003, too. That was the version where EA stupidly linked the main menu to Internet Explorer/Javascript.

[Thane]

Greetings. I'm having real problems with NHL 2002 and was wondering if you could help me out.

I'm getting the CTD every time I try to start a game (sometimes even earlier, as soon as I hit 'Play Now'). I've tried all sorts of things - running in compatibility mode, disabling desktop composition, running with integrated graphics card or dedicated high-spec card, and using the nGlide thing. (I'm on Windows 7.)

The only thing I haven't tried is replacing the dx7z.dll file with one from NHL 2001. Any chance you could upload one for me to copy? Or indeed, do you have any other ideas which might help?

Thanks in advance.

[Matt]

Greetings Thane!

Here's the dll file - drop this in the main NHL 2002 folder. Before you play, turn off any compatibility modes you may have applied - except run as administrator. I believe you will want that checked. Also, you might have to re-run the 3Dsetup.exe program.

dx7z.dll download

Is funny you mention this -- I was looking at the 2002 page last night, thinking -- why didn't I just put the stupid DLL on there. I wrote that page a year ago when I was still worried about getting sued by EA...lol

Let me know if this helps.

[Thane]

Oh dear. Thanks for providing the file, but it's still not working.

After swapping the files over, the same thing happened again. The menu ran more smoothly, but it still crashed upon starting a game.

So I uninstalled the whole game and reinstalled it, and now it won't run at all - I run the .exe (as admin or not) and nothing happens. Doesn't matter which version of the DLL file I'm using.

I think I'm cursed never to be able to play this game again...

[Matt]

Are you on Windows 7 32 bit or 64 bit?

Not sure how much you know about the registry but I suggest poking around in regedit. The keys are supposed to be located in

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\EA SPORTS\NHL 2002 (for 64 bit)

or

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\EA SPORTS\NHL 2002 (for 32 bit)

However, if you don't run as an administrator, even one time, these EA games love to move the keys to another spot in the registry called the VirtualStore.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VirtualStore\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\EA SPORTS

I'd like you to check to see if there's anything about NHL 2002 in that VirtualStore directory. If there is, delete it.

[Thane]

I think I'm on 64 bit.

I've emptied all I can from the registry folders - the ones called 'default' won't let me delete them. Game still won't start though.

Going to have to give up on this soon, I fear.

[Matt]

Ok, I have one more idea to try before we give up.

Just need one favor - can you go to file explorer and check the date and filesize of your nhl2002.exe file? I need to figure out what version you have, 1.00 or 1.01.

[Thane]

It's a 4375kb file from the 20/08/2001, if that helps.

[Matt]

OK

Download and install the NHL 2002 version 1.01 patch. Make sure you navigate to your NHL 2002 folder yourself when you install - I know from testing it just now that the folder it defaults to is wrong if you're using 64 bit Windows.

NHL 2002 Patch Link

If it's still no go after installing the patch, replace your nhl2002.exe with the version from this no CD patch. Sometimes these things will trigger it.

NHL 2002 no-CD patch

If you try both and still get nothing, your game might be cursed after all.

[Thane]

No good. Both of those result in an 'abnormal termination' message and something about failing to load a video file.

Thanks for all the help, but I think I'm going to have to give up on this one.

[Matt]

Sorry I couldn't help you, Thane.

Some weird stuff going on there for sure. I'm certain there's still some way to make it work, but a lot of times getting something like this to go sucks up way more time than it's really worth.

[maarcis12]

Hi, Matt.
I wanted your help on this matter, i installed nhl 98 on my Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit using your instructions and even made 3d acceleration option work, but when i start a match in 3dfx mode, it doesn't go fullscreen, it shows black, it only showed the game after i invoked Ctrl+Alt+Del, but it's windowed then. But without 3d acceleration it worked just fine, is there any solution to fix this issue? Thanks in advance.

[Matt]

Hi maarcis,

There might be a solution, but let's try this first. Remove the dgvoodoosetup.exe and glide2x.dll from your NHL98 folder. Next download nGlide from www.zeus-software.com/downloads/nglide. This is an alternative program which is sometimes more compatible than dgvoodoo.

Install nGlide and try NHL 98 then. Let me know if it works - if not, we'll go back to dgvoodoo and work on tweaking that.

[maarcis12]

Ok, luckily i got both wrappers installed on my pc. So i'll try that.

[maarcis12]

Thanks, Matt. You're golden. Nglide worked like a charm. Fullscreen and no issues what so ever.