OG PC Version of Vice City Doesn't Work in Windos 11 64Bit

[ChiroVette]

Okay this is driving me insane! I have a brand new gaming laptop. an Omen with the GeForce 3070. I installed GTA III and San Andreas without a hitch. I even modded them with the G-Input's awesome Xbox/PS controller schemes. They work fine, but I cannot get Vice City to load and I have tried every fix I know how to do and ones I dug out on the Internet. A lost of what I have tried:

 

-Uninstalled and reinstalled from original discs OG version, NOT Steam version.

 

-To enable Directx 8.1 and get rid of the Unhandled Exception c0000005, I into Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features Utility > Turn Windows Features On or Off > Legacy Windows Components and checked Legacy Components and Direct Play. (Didn't work, I am still getting the unhandled exception error)

 

-Downloaded the Draw.DLL file and copied it to my VC directory, same one as the VC exe file is located.

 

-Turned off Date Execution Prevention for Vice City.

 

-I am running it in Compatibility Mode. Not only that, but I tried EVERY single entry there one at a time, from Windows 95 all the way down the list to Windows 8. None of them worked.

 

-Set VC to run program as Administrator.

 

-I also changed the properties so that it can "Run in 640 x 480 Screen Resolution."

 

-I went to Microsoft's site and installed the latest DirectX

 

 

Any idea what the hell is going on here? The game is definitely trying to load, which is more than it was doing yesterday when just clicking on the .exe file would freeze my PC and I kept having to force a restart. But what's happening now is the entire screen goes into really low res mode with everything getting really large and ugly, but it sort of freezes there, and I get the Unhandled Exception c0000005 error every time, and I have to hit enter to get out of the program and back to where my desktop looks normal again.

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by ChiroVette

[Stahli]

Does the game not start at all? Or does at least something happen? 

If you have already started it and changed some settings afterwards, you can try to delete the gta_vc.set in the GTA Vice City User Files directory.

Do you start with original OG CD?

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by Stahli

[ChiroVette]

1 minute ago, Stahli said:

Does the game not start at all? Or does at least something happen? 

 

If you have already started it and changed some settings afterwards, you can try to delete the gta_vc.set in the GTA Vice City User Files directory.

 

Do you start with original OG CD?

 

Yesterday I tried that, but there was no set file in the User Files Directory in my Documents Folder. Then I slapped myself in the head and realized that there would be none because I have yet to get the game to actually load in on my new laptop so a set file can even be created. Note that I do have set files in both San Andreas and III, obviously, because I tested them and applied the G-Input controller schemes/

 

So the game doesn't start at all. What happens is I get that characteristic spinning silver/rainbow disc, then as you would predict, my desktop gets big, blocky, and ugly on my screen, again, as you would expect. Then I get a big mouse cursor, again, as you would expect. But then I immediately get the Unhandled Exception error. I have yet to be able to load into any of the menu screens in the game or the game itself.

[Stahli]

Try the SilentPatch from Silent. Download 

 

Maybe this patch will help you. It fixes a lot of small problems.

[ChiroVette]

Thanks! I just tried but that was no help. But I may have done it wrong, as the instructions in the readme file are a little unclear. I copied both the SilentPatchVC.ini and the SilentPatchVC.asi into the main game directory, and then I copied the Maps Folder, which was in the "Date" folder of the mod files into the the "Maps" folder in the VC directory. So I basically went Rockstar Games > Grand Theft Auto Vice City > Data > Maps  and copied the "Map Folder" into there. But maybe I was supposed to copy maps into Rockstar Games > Grand Theft Auto Vice City > Data instead?

[GhettoJesus]

3 minutes ago, ChiroVette said:

and then I copied the Maps Folder, which was in the "Date" folder of the mod files into the the "Maps" folder in the VC directory.

If I understand right you are doing it wrong. Because what I got from this was that you created another "Maps" folder within your existing "Maps" folder.

 

You need to overwrite the existing "Maps" folder instead. So if you did what I just theorized then delete the newly pasted "Maps" folder. You just need to take the data folder and extract it into the main directory of game (the same directory in which you see VC's .exe). When Windows asks whether you want to overwrite existing files just say yes to all.

[ChiroVette]

8 minutes ago, GhettoJesus said:

If I understand right you are doing it wrong. Because what I got from this was that you created another "Maps" folder within your existing "Maps" folder.

 

You need to overwrite the existing "Maps" folder instead. So if you did what I just theorized then delete the newly pasted "Maps" folder. You just need to take the data folder and extract it into the main directory of game (the same directory in which you see VC's .exe). When Windows asks whether you want to overwrite existing files just say yes to all.

 

 

I deleted the maps folder that I erroneously copied into the Maps Folder. Okay, so before I go further, let me clarify: You are saying I should also copy and paste the "Maps" Folder that came with the Silent Patch I just downloaded into the main game directory? Before I do it, did you mean that I should actually copy it into Rockstar Games > Grand Theft Auto Vice City > Data? Or copy it into Rockstar Games > Grand Theft Auto Vice City?

 

Because in my game directory the "Maps" folder you are saying I need to overwrite is NOT in the main game directory. It is in Rockstar Games > Grand Theft Auto Vice City > Data, which is one folder deeper in than the main game folder with the VC exe file in it.

Edited January 9, 2022 by ChiroVette

[GhettoJesus]

7 minutes ago, ChiroVette said:

 

 

I deleted the maps folder that I erroneously copied into the Maps Folder. Okay, so before I go further, let me clarify: You are saying I should also copy and paste the "Maps" Folder that came with the Silent Patch I just downloaded into the main game directory? Before I do it, did you mean that I should actually copy it into Rockstar Games > Grand Theft Auto Vice City > Data? Or copy it into Rockstar Games > Grand Theft Auto Vice City?

No. In Vice City's main folder you will see the game's executable (it is called gta-vc.exe) and a bunch of other folders. Here you will also see a folder called "Data". The compressed file, in which you found Silent Patch, has a folder named "Data". Simply extract that folder into the main directory (in which you see the executable). As you extract the files Windows will warn you about already existing files. Agree to overwrite all.

Edited January 9, 2022 by GhettoJesus

[ChiroVette]

4 minutes ago, GhettoJesus said:

No. In Vice City's main folder you will see the game's executable (it is called gta-vc.exe) and a bunch of other folders. Here you will also see a folder called "Data". The compressed file, in which you found Silent Patch, has a folder named "Data". Simply extract that folder into the main directory (in which you see the executable). As you extract the files Windows will warn you about already existing files. Agree to overwrite all.

 

 

 

Okay give me a minute to try that right now!

 

In case it's relevant, here are the specs of the new Lappie:

 

OMEN by HP 17 Laptop PC
Product number: 4V372AV

•1 TB PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSD

•Full-size, 4-zone RGB backlit, shadow black keyboard and 26-Key Rollover Anti-Ghosting Key technology

•16 GB DDR4-3200 SDRAM (2 x 8 GB)

•Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (2x2) and Bluetooth® 5 combo (Supporting Gigabit data rate)

•Windows 11 Home 64 ADV

•HP Wide Vision 720p HD camera with integrated dual array digital microphones

•6-cell, 83 Wh Li-ion polymer

•Intel® Core™ i7-11800H (up to 4.6 GHz, 24 MB L3 cache, 8 cores, 16 threads) + NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3070 Laptop GPU (8 GB)

•17.3" diagonal, QHD (2560 x 1440), 165 Hz, 3 ms response time, IPS, micro-edge, anti-glare, Low Blue Light, 300 nits

Edited January 9, 2022 by ChiroVette

[ChiroVette]

Nope, I still get that same Unhandled Exception error.

 

There is one thing I tried yesterday, before all these other steps. I looked for the original patch for the game, which was I believe version 1.1? But it looks like Rockstar/Take2 took it down from their site for some reason, and none of the normal sites I know had the patch file. I think there were some sites hosting the file, if I remember, but I have no idea if they are safe or not.

[GhettoJesus]

4 minutes ago, ChiroVette said:

In case it's relevant, here are the specs of the new Lappie:

This shouldn't be an issue. Windows 11, from what I have seen, is nothing but a reskinned Windows 10 so the game will run just like it would on Windows 10.

 

1 minute ago, ChiroVette said:

Nope, I still get that same Unhandled Exception error.

Are there any numbers in the error? It should go something like "unhandles exception [numbers] at address [numbers]

[ChiroVette]

4 minutes ago, GhettoJesus said:

This shouldn't be an issue. Windows 11, from what I have seen, is nothing but a reskinned Windows 10 so the game will run just like it would on Windows 10.

 

Are there any numbers in the error? It should go something like "unhandles exception [numbers] at address [numbers]

 

This is the exception:

 

Unhandled Exception c0000005

 

The address numbers literally change every time. Almost looks like they are being randomly generated? By the way, that particular Unhandled Exception should have supposedly been handled when I enabled DirectX 8.1 after going into Legacy Windows Components and checking Legacy Components and Direct Play.

Edited January 9, 2022 by ChiroVette

[GhettoJesus]

19 minutes ago, ChiroVette said:

 

This is the exception:

 

Unhandled Exception c0000005

 

The address numbers literally change every time. Almost looks like they are being randomly generated? By the way, that particular Unhandled Exception should have supposedly been handled when I enabled DirectX 8.1 after going into Legacy Windows Components and checking Legacy Components and Direct Play.

Well this is quite a pickle. I was looking at what you have done so far and you have tried every fix in the book to so I only have two solutions left for you

 

 

The first one is more likely to help than the second imo. Link to the widescreen fix.

 

Honestly I doubt its the second one but if you live somewhere where Vice City was localized (e.g. Italy or Germany) then it might be worth a try. If none of these help then personally I am out of ideas.

Edited January 9, 2022 by GhettoJesus

[ChiroVette]

Thanks, @GhettoJesus! I have to run out for a little while now, but I will try those when I get home and post here with success or failure. Oh and I think I mentioned that I installed all three of the games from the OG PC Trilogy, which launched before they removed all the music from VC and SA.

[ChiroVette]

Okay, @GhettoJesus, I tried the first thing, which didn't quite work, BUT one piece of good news was that I didn't get the exception error. However, it took about two minutes of the "spinning CD/DVD icon" before I decided to open the disc drive, which at least kicked me back to normal my Windows desktop. So then I tried the second part of what the link you gave me recommended, which was to download and extract the files for something called GTAVC.WidescreenFrontend.zip and extracted that to the game directory. Still nothing, at this point, BUT some good news. I decided to reboot my PC, and when I did, this got me at least into the first screens of the game. It went to the first page, which is some dark music and the Rockstar logo. Then to the second screen with the 1980's videogame screen and sort of Pac Man sounds, and even to the Flock of Seagulls theme song for the game. But it hangs on the screen I posted a pic of below. I let it stay on that screen for about 6 minutes, mostly freezing my computer. I could use alt-tab but all that would do was show me the other tasks, without actually switching to them. I was able to use Ctrl-Alt-Del to "Sign Out" which closed all my programs without rebooting, and I had to sign into Windows again.

 

But at least now the game is trying to load in and I can get to the first screens, which is a lot farther than I have been able to get to this point.

 

Now my question is what do you mean by "Change ResX and ResY to a value supported by your monitor and higher than 640 and 480, respectively"? I did something like this yesterday, in compatibility mode, when I checked "Run in 640 x 480 screen resolution." But I am not sure if that's what you mean.

 

Oh and the second solution probably won't work, since I live in America not Spain or Italy.

 

I think I am going to try one more thing, and it will be a little tedious. I am going to go back into Compatibility Mode and see if changing the compatibility works now, since it seems I am at least getting into the initial game screens. Right now I have Compatibility set to Windows 98 / Windows ME. But there are 7 other entries, starting with Windows 95, and going through XP Service Packs 2 and 3, Vista, Vista SP 1 and 2, Windows 7, and Windows 8. Maybe one of them will work. 

 

 

Edit: What about some of the other checkable boxes in compatibility mode, such as Reduced Color Mode 8 bit (256) color, or also Disable Fullscreen Optimizations as well as Use Legacy Display ICC Color Management?

 

 

 

Edited January 10, 2022 by ChiroVette

[GhettoJesus]

6 hours ago, ChiroVette said:

Now my question is what do you mean by "Change ResX and ResY to a value supported by your monitor and higher than 640 and 480, respectively"? I did something like this yesterday, in compatibility mode, when I checked "Run in 640 x 480 screen resolution." But I am not sure if that's what you mean.

You need the regular Widescreen Fix as well, not just the frontend one. What the guide means by it is that you have a GTAVC.WidescreenFix.ini file in the "Scripts" folder.  If you open this .ini file you will find ResX and ResY right among the first lines. Delete the two 0s and write in a resolution (X is horizontal, Y is vertical, X will be higher than Y) that is higher than 640x480 and is supported by your monitor. 800x600, 1280x720, 1920x1080 etc. are examples of such resolutions.

 

If you wanted to force 800x600 as a resolution, for example, then the two lines would look like this:

ResX = 800

ResY = 600

 

6 hours ago, ChiroVette said:

I think I am going to try one more thing, and it will be a little tedious. I am going to go back into Compatibility Mode and see if changing the compatibility works now, since it seems I am at least getting into the initial game screens. Right now I have Compatibility set to Windows 98 / Windows ME. But there are 7 other entries, starting with Windows 95, and going through XP Service Packs 2 and 3, Vista, Vista SP 1 and 2, Windows 7, and Windows 8. Maybe one of them will work. 

 

 

Edit: What about some of the other checkable boxes in compatibility mode, such as Reduced Color Mode 8 bit (256) color, or also Disable Fullscreen Optimizations as well as Use Legacy Display ICC Color Management?

Windows 98/ME should be the correct option here. That's what I am using. Other compatibility modes won't fare any better I am afraid. The other options won't help anything either in my opinion. I don't have any of these ticked and the game runs fine. Although Windows 10 doesn't have Legacy Display ICC Color Management so maybe that's worth a try but I don't think that's it.

 

Checklist of steps to try out:

1. If you have only downloaded to firontend widescreen fix just download the regular widescreen fix as well (same link) and try launching the game after extracting the folder in the right place.
2. If the game still doesn't launch then disable the "launch with 640x480 resolution" option in the compatibility tab and try again
3. If it still doesn't work then follow my steps above and change the resolution to something higher in the GTAVC.WidescreenFix.ini
4. If this is unsuccessful try step 3 but with forcing 640x480 resolution via the compatibility tab

 

By the way, you said you don't have a gtavc.set yet but I think the game might create a gtavc.set file before actually managing to tweak any settings. For me there are two GTA Vice City User Files. One is in Documents\GTA Vice City User Files while the other is in C:\Users\Public Documents\GTA Vice City User Files. The two folders' contents differ so you might want to check whether any of them has gtavc.set. If you see any files in either of them (if both folders exist) it might be worth deleting gtavc.set

Edited January 10, 2022 by GhettoJesus

[Igor Bogdanoff]

windows 10 and up (and windows 7 past certain update) are incompatible with many old DRMs found on discs, Vice City included.

So it's necessary to find nocd exe on internet 

 

same goes for any mod, they are made with nocd exe in mind

Edited January 10, 2022 by Igor Bogdanoff

[ChiroVette]

1 hour ago, Igor Bogdanoff said:

windows 10 and up (and windows 7 past certain update) are incompatible with many old DRMs found on discs, Vice City included.

So it's necessary to find nocd exe on internet 

 

same goes for any mod, they are made with nocd exe in mind

 

I wasn't aware of all this about the inability to run from a disc for legacy games, although, I suppose it makes sense. If the fixes that @GhettoJesus recommended don't work, I will look for a nocd exe. In fact, I think I will do this anyway when I get to work today. Note that I used to use them all the time, but they keep kicking my virus scan software into bitching at me. At least they did a couple of years back. I'm sure it's okay, and in the past, I have used them, because they were better than wearing out my DVDs! lol Anyway, if I remember correctly, and it was years ago since I downloaded a nocd patch, I think Burncopyworld or something was where to download so I can ignore the weaning by Norton?

 

If not, do you have another suggested safe site, where I won't be exposing my PC to pests and viruses? Thanks!

 

3 hours ago, GhettoJesus said:

You need the regular Widescreen Fix as well, not just the frontend one. What the guide means by it is that you have a GTAVC.WidescreenFix.ini file in the "Scripts" folder.  If you open this .ini file you will find ResX and ResY right among the first lines. Delete the two 0s and write in a resolution (X is horizontal, Y is vertical, X will be higher than Y) that is higher than 640x480 and is supported by your monitor. 800x600, 1280x720, 1920x1080 etc. are examples of such resolutions.

 

If you wanted to force 800x600 as a resolution, for example, then the two lines would look like this:

ResX = 800

ResY = 600

 

Windows 98/ME should be the correct option here. That's what I am using. Other compatibility modes won't fare any better I am afraid. The other options won't help anything either in my opinion. I don't have any of these ticked and the game runs fine. Although Windows 10 doesn't have Legacy Display ICC Color Management so maybe that's worth a try but I don't think that's it.

 

Checklist of steps to try out:

1. If you have only downloaded to firontend widescreen fix just download the regular widescreen fix as well (same link) and try launching the game after extracting the folder in the right place.
2. If the game still doesn't launch then disable the "launch with 640x480 resolution" option in the compatibility tab and try again
3. If it still doesn't work then follow my steps above and change the resolution to something higher in the GTAVC.WidescreenFix.ini
4. If this is unsuccessful try step 3 but with forcing 640x480 resolution via the compatibility tab

 

By the way, you said you don't have a gtavc.set yet but I think the game might create a gtavc.set file before actually managing to tweak any settings. For me there are two GTA Vice City User Files. One is in Documents\GTA Vice City User Files while the other is in C:\Users\Public Documents\GTA Vice City User Files. The two folders' contents differ so you might want to check whether any of them has gtavc.set. If you see any files in either of them (if both folders exist) it might be worth deleting gtavc.set

 

I have to get to work, so I will try all this later/ I have a lot of down time between patients so I will be able to dive into this. By the way, I probably wasn't clear above, but yesterday when I was doing this I applied BOTH widescreen fixes, one was the regular ini and asl files and the other was the Frontend one.

 

I just edited the ResX and ResY in the ini file now, after jumping through a few annoying permissions hoops lol. So I will try all that other stuff later as well as the nocd patch that Igor recommended.

Edited January 10, 2022 by ChiroVette

[ChiroVette]

Okay, so I tried all the steps from @GhettoJesus. and still the same problem persists. The good news, as I said, is that I can at least get into the introduction screens. I just need to figure out why it freezes on that screen I posted a pic of above. But no more Unhandled Exception, so lol that's something, I suppose.

 

However, I went to GameBurnWorld for the no cd patch, and that tries to load as well, but now hahaha I am back top the same Unhandled Exception Error with that version of the .exe file.

 

On a side note, too bad that the Defective Edition is such a steaming pile of dogsh*t or I would just buy that.

[_BlackShadow]

Try deleting GTA Vice City User Files and also have you upgraded from Win10 to Win11? I suggest you to do a clean install because Windows upgrades were always dogsh*t. 

[GhettoJesus]

1 hour ago, ChiroVette said:

Okay, so I tried all the steps from @GhettoJesus. and still the same problem persists. The good news, as I said, is that I can at least get into the introduction screens. I just need to figure out why it freezes on that screen I posted a pic of above. But no more Unhandled Exception, so lol that's something, I suppose.

 

However, I went to GameBurnWorld for the no cd patch, and that tries to load as well, but now hahaha I am back top the same Unhandled Exception Error with that version of the .exe file.

 

On a side note, too bad that the Defective Edition is such a steaming pile of dogsh*t or I would just buy that.

Welp sadly I am out of ideas then. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me comes by. I was almost about to suggest to buy the Steam version but I forgot R* pulled the plug on that...

[ChiroVette]

1 hour ago, BlackShadowX said:

Try deleting GTA Vice City User Files and also have you upgraded from Win10 to Win11? I suggest you to do a clean install because Windows upgrades were always dogsh*t. 

 

I have no user files yet, as I have not been able to get far enough into the game for it to create one. There are no user files for the game in either Documents folder.

 

 

4 minutes ago, GhettoJesus said:

Welp sadly I am out of ideas then. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me comes by. I was almost about to suggest to buy the Steam version but I forgot R* pulled the plug on that...

 

I hear you! Thanks for trying as hard as you did, it is very much appreciated. Hey, maybe they will fix the Defective Edition and I'll just buy that at a discount. lol

Edited January 10, 2022 by ChiroVette

[Igor Bogdanoff]

22 hours ago, ChiroVette said:

Anyway, if I remember correctly, and it was years ago since I downloaded a nocd patch, I think Burncopyworld or something was where to download so I can ignore the weaning by Norton?

if you aint sure, use virus total to scan exe by numerou av engines, if it has only few reports, its probably safe, and only reported due to its nature of being nocd exe

 

12 hours ago, ChiroVette said:

I have no user files yet, as I have not been able to get far enough into the game for it to create one. There are no user files for the game in either Documents folder.

 

user files should be created once you manage to boot the game, as it creates settings files right away

 

have you downloaded 1.0 or 1.1 exe? 1.1 exe is not compatible with mods

 

 

also i would recommend posting your game folder here just to check if you installed mods correctly  

[ChiroVette]

5 hours ago, Igor Bogdanoff said:

if you aint sure, use virus total to scan exe by numerou av engines, if it has only few reports, its probably safe, and only reported due to its nature of being nocd exe

 

 

I know that site, from years ago downloading GTA No CD fixes/patches. Oddly enough, the site didn't cause Norton to bitch at me, so I guess that's progress for you!

 

5 hours ago, Igor Bogdanoff said:

user files should be created once you manage to boot the game, as it creates settings files right away

 

have you downloaded 1.0 or 1.1 exe? 1.1 exe is not compatible with mods

 

 

Yeah my game hasn't gotten that far. It basically only gets to that screen I posted above, which I suppose is some kind of secondary title screen that comes after the Rockstar Logo, the 8-bit '80s videogame parody, and the Flock of Seagulls song. Presumably, before user files or set files are automatically created, you have to at least have gotten as far as the initial menu screens?

 

5 hours ago, Igor Bogdanoff said:

also i would recommend posting your game folder here just to check if you installed mods correctly  

 

Sure thing! (It surprised me that one screen shot was all I needed to get the entire directory)

 

[Igor Bogdanoff]

hmm, have you used the 1.0 nocd exe? as the exe you got is larger than nocd i checked.

also i recommend you moving ginputvc.asi/ini and silentpatchvc.asi/ini into scripts folder and also removing ddraw.dll (as you will load silentpatch soon enough for components in ddraw.ini to load with it)

 

also i recommend you to not use any compatibility mode etc with the game no more, nor having dep disabled for it

[ChiroVette]

4 hours ago, Igor Bogdanoff said:

hmm, have you used the 1.0 nocd exe? as the exe you got is larger than nocd i checked.

also i recommend you moving ginputvc.asi/ini and silentpatchvc.asi/ini into scripts folder and also removing ddraw.dll (as you will load silentpatch soon enough for components in ddraw.ini to load with it)

 

also i recommend you to not use any compatibility mode etc with the game no more, nor having dep disabled for it

 

Hey brother, I have been crazy busy with patients all day today, so I just got to this now between office visits. Worked like a charm! I now have a fully functional Vice City working! Turns out it was the 1.1 no cd patch that was the problem. I had one initial snag after doing all you suggested. Since this is a 20 year old game and this lappy is pretty much a beast, I set the resolution up to max for the game, which is 2560 x 1440, but it kept irrevocably locking up my PC. Then I remembered that yesterday, I had set the widescreenfix.ini file to 1920 x 1080, as an attempted fix, and that this was probably locking the resolution to full HD. Before I remembered this, I was perfectly content to playing the game in 1920 x 1080, but I just decided, in for a penny in for a pound, and set the resolution to the higher one in that file. This eliminated that issue, and now the game runs and looks really beautiful in that resolution over full HD, which honestly surprised me.

 

Literally the highlight of my day was hearing Billy Jean blaring through my external speakers, causing my front desk girls to come running into my office to see what all the noise was. It was just a reminder that all this work was worth it, even if for no other reason than because Take2 refused to re-up the music license in the Defective Edition. Hearing Billy Jean alone was worth the price of admission!

 

Thank you very much, man! Thanks to you, too, @GhettoJesus for trying literally for hours to help me!

 

If you guys are ever anywhere near NY City and need a chiropractor for anything, at least a couple of adjustments are on me!

Edited January 11, 2022 by ChiroVette

[pls_fix_vc]

On 1/12/2022 at 3:29 AM, ChiroVette said:

 

Hey brother, I have been crazy busy with patients all day today, so I just got to this now between office visits. Worked like a charm! I now have a fully functional Vice City working! Turns out it was the 1.1 no cd patch that was the problem. I had one initial snag after doing all you suggested. Since this is a 20 year old game and this lappy is pretty much a beast, I set the resolution up to max for the game, which is 2560 x 1440, but it kept irrevocably locking up my PC. Then I remembered that yesterday, I had set the widescreenfix.ini file to 1920 x 1080, as an attempted fix, and that this was probably locking the resolution to full HD. Before I remembered this, I was perfectly content to playing the game in 1920 x 1080, but I just decided, in for a penny in for a pound, and set the resolution to the higher one in that file. This eliminated that issue, and now the game runs and looks really beautiful in that resolution over full HD, which honestly surprised me.

 

Literally the highlight of my day was hearing Billy Jean blaring through my external speakers, causing my front desk girls to come running into my office to see what all the noise was. It was just a reminder that all this work was worth it, even if for no other reason than because Take2 refused to re-up the music license in the Defective Edition. Hearing Billy Jean alone was worth the price of admission!

 

Thank you very much, man! Thanks to you, too, @GhettoJesus for trying literally for hours to help me!

 

If you guys are ever anywhere near NY City and need a chiropractor for anything, at least a couple of adjustments are on me!

Broooo pls message me how to do this I'm so confused I slapped myself so many times because my game is getting that stupid unhandled exception error pls help me pls I beg you it's my fav childhood game pls I want to run it pls help me.........

[ChiroVette]

On 5/17/2023 at 11:06 AM, pls_fix_vc said:

Broooo pls message me how to do this I'm so confused I slapped myself so many times because my game is getting that stupid unhandled exception error pls help me pls I beg you it's my fav childhood game pls I want to run it pls help me.........

 

Hey there. Honestly, it's been almost a year and a half since I got the OG version of VC working. I don't really remember how I did it, so I would strongly suggest you try all the steps I did above. Because also I have no idea what is specifically causing your unhandled exception. It may be the 1.1 patch, which I believe was causing mine, or maybe not. I forget how I did it, but I believe I went to the 1.0 patch. Not sure if I uninstalled and reinstalled or if I somehow downgraded the 1.0 no cd patch.

[GTA-mert95]

On 1/9/2022 at 11:27 PM, ChiroVette said:

Okay this is driving me insane! I have a brand new gaming laptop. an Omen with the GeForce 3070. I installed GTA III and San Andreas without a hitch. I even modded them with the G-Input's awesome Xbox/PS controller schemes. They work fine, but I cannot get Vice City to load and I have tried every fix I know how to do and ones I dug out on the Internet. A lost of what I have tried:

 

-Uninstalled and reinstalled from original discs OG version, NOT Steam version.

 

-To enable Directx 8.1 and get rid of the Unhandled Exception c0000005, I into Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features Utility > Turn Windows Features On or Off > Legacy Windows Components and checked Legacy Components and Direct Play. (Didn't work, I am still getting the unhandled exception error)

 

-Downloaded the Draw.DLL file and copied it to my VC directory, same one as the VC exe file is located.

 

-Turned off Date Execution Prevention for Vice City.

 

-I am running it in Compatibility Mode. Not only that, but I tried EVERY single entry there one at a time, from Windows 95 all the way down the list to Windows 8. None of them worked.

 

-Set VC to run program as Administrator.

 

-I also changed the properties so that it can "Run in 640 x 480 Screen Resolution."

 

-I went to Microsoft's site and installed the latest DirectX

 

 

Any idea what the hell is going on here? The game is definitely trying to load, which is more than it was doing yesterday when just clicking on the .exe file would freeze my PC and I kept having to force a restart. But what's happening now is the entire screen goes into really low res mode with everything getting really large and ugly, but it sort of freezes there, and I get the Unhandled Exception c0000005 error every time, and I have to hit enter to get out of the program and back to where my desktop looks normal again.

 

 

 

Even my saved game crashes in my GTA Vice City too