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

[Matt]

Hey Dream, thanks for the pics, very helpful!

You're definitely on the right track. Only thing is, you don't ever have run that 3dsetup program. I think the game might need the files physically there in that folder, but I could even be mistaken on that. Regardless I think all that setup program ever did was change the registry entries to determine whether the game used Direct3D or 3DFX graphics, which we can do manually.

What I would do first is re-add the registry key. Like I told Brandon, download it, and either double click or right click on it and select merge. You'll know you did it right when you get a popup asking you if you wish to add the information to the registry.

Once you've done that, right click on your NHL99.exe file (it's the file in the folder that just says "NHL99" file type "Application), and make sure you have no compatibility options checked. No Windows XP mode, no run as administrator, no nothing. If anything is checked there I believe it overrides the compatiblity patch from the guide.

Then try launching the game by clicking the NHL99 file. If you still get the CD-ROM message, we'll have to go back to the drawing board.

One more thing - I'm assuming BD-ROM drive is related to Daemon Tools?

[Matt]

Brandon, if you come to this page I left a post for you on the bottom of the previous page.

[99 is the dream]

Not 100% sure what the BD-ROM drive means exactly, dont have a large knowledge of computers but i know thats what pops up when the MHL99 CD is in the disk drive, Also i reinstalled the compatibility patch and redid the registry, ran it without compatibility options and like that it booted up!! Thank you so much Matt, keeping the old but good games alive!!!

[Matt]

Great! Let me know if you run into anything else; these games were always finicky. I know I spent 10x more time tinkering with them to get them to work than I ever did playing them. lol

[gurry87]

BD-ROM is a Blu-Ray drive. Nothing out of the ordinary.

[pikesteve22]

Matt, just wanted to say thanks for all the hard work you've done. NHL 98 was one of the first PC games I ever got, and loading it up's brought back some instant memories.

I do have a question, though. An earlier poster had issues with the sound in that all that was coming out was static. They were able to use DXDIAG to fix the issue, but I'm running Windows 10 Home 64-bit, and they said it may not be possible to do in 10. Has anyone else with 10 reported this issue at all? Or do you know of any way to fix it, outside of starting up a VM?

[Matt]

Hi Steve, thanks for the kind words.

Unfortunately, I think everyone has the sound problem on Windows 10. I have Win 10 too and it's the same for me. Windows 7, also the same deal.

After Windows XP Microsoft took out the little slider in DXDIAG that allowed you to adjust the sound acceleration, and that appears to be the root of the problem.

I've tried all sorts of weird tricks trying to influence the sound quality in 98, but nothing has helped so far. For whatever reason, EA games released in 1997 all seem to have this problem. NBA Live 98 has it, Need for Speed II has it...I've read reports of NFSII sound being fixed by setting the CPU affinity to single core, but I've tried that with NHL and it doesn't do anything.

[sami]

first off thanks alot Matt , ive been looking to play nhl 2000 for years now but will your mthods work for windows 7 ?

[Matt]

Hi sami

There's never any guarantee with this stuff, but I tested 2000 on a Windows 7 comp last week and it did work. I would start by just copying the files and adding the registry key and see what happens with that.

[Helge]

Hi Matt, just wanted to give you a quick feedback on your advices I read in this thread. I have a new 64 bit machine with Win10 and experienced just the problems you described with NHL 2002. As this is the last NHL hockey game that can properly be controlled by a joystick, I searched the web for a solution. Many thanks to you, I found it right here. Replacing the .dll file with the one from NHL2001 solved the problems for me. The game, if started as an admin, runs smoothly with full functionality. This is great, thank you again!
Best regards from Germany
Helge

[Roberto]

Hi all,
firts of all I have to say big thanks to you guys, you who make lot of job here. After many problems I am playing Nhl 99 on my win 7 -64 finaly.
But I have one question here - when I wanted to change graphics (because it is a little crap) - when I wanted to run 3DSetup to set graphics it shows me message - Error. Could not oped 3D Data registry.
Can u tell me if it is possible to solve this problem?

Thank you.

Robert

[Matt]

Hi Robert

There probably is a way around that, but I actually prefer not to use the setup program if I can help it. It doesn't detect Glide, so once you've opened it up, the only way to get Glide graphics back is to reinstall the registry key.

What do you mean by the graphics are crap? Does the game play slow or is it just ugly/low resolution?

[Roberto]

Hi Matt,

thanks for realy fast reply. Game speed is ok - it is not slow. But problem is low resolution. Maybe I will be okay with screen mode, I dont know... (but forget the screen mode for now . Reinstal registry key - Can u tell me please how? And what should I do after that? I am not very experienced. After many tries of installing Nhl 99 on my PC on win 7 the game is running. So I am realy happy with that and I dont want to break it again. Only that resolution... but its tiny problem.

Thank you Matt.

Robert

[Roberto]

Hi Matt,
problem solved. Thank you for your time. It was my fault. I forget to set resolution ingame, everything is ok now.

Robert

[Matt]

Robert -- I was going to say, if you have nGlide installed, you can set the resolution using the nGlide configurator. If you're using Windows 7, there should be an nGlide folder in your start menu.



You can set way higher resolutions here than the in-game setting will allow - really makes the game look good. Just make sure you don't select anything your monitor can't handle. If you set the resolution to 'by desktop' the game will automatically use your regular 'desktop' resolution.