A couple nights ago, I decided to reinstall Thief 3: Deadly Shadows and give it another spin. The only catch: I’m running Windows Vista, and old games can be very iffy on this OS.
My problem was that after installing, any time I tried to run the game, I got the following error:
(Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library)
Runtime Error!
Program: C:\Program Files\Thief – Deadly Shadows\System\t3.exe
abnormal program termination
When this happened, the cursor would get stuck as a spinning CD, which normally indicates that the computer is accessing the CD. Only this time, it would stay that way until I restarted the machine. I don’t think I could open the CD tray either.
After a few hours of mucking about, I finally got the thing to run, even though some parts are a bit buggy. I figured I’d share all the steps I took to get it to run in Vista. I’m fairly sure that not all of these steps were necessary, but I’ll list everything I did just in case.
1- First, I should mention that I’ve had UAC turned off for a long time now. I never had any trouble with malware in XP, and the UAC was actually preventing me from running a lot of my software, besides being very annoying. According to this page, it’s important that if you turn UAC off, you do it before installing the game. If you’re installing the game, you might also find this tweak guide useful.
2- After installing, I downloaded and ran the Thief Deadly Shadows v1.1 patch.
3- I don’t think that this is any part of the fix, but I downloaded and installed John P.’s Thief Deadly Shadows texture pack.
4- I downloaded and implemented the no CD patch. I don’t feel guilty about it, since I legally purchased the game and I’m just trying to get it to work.
5- I right-clicked t3.exe, visited the compatibility tab, and set it to XP(SP2) compatibility mode. This was actually one of the first things I tried, but by itself it didn’t fix my problem. In the end, this step didn’t even matter for me, since I used the no cd exe rather than this one, and I haven’t set any compatibility on the no-cd exe.
6- Here’s one I put off until the end because I was hoping not to have to do it. I disabled DEP. Following the instructions in this forum thread, I went to a command prompt, typed bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff, and rebooted.
7- Lastly, when I actually run the game, I right click the no cd exe and pick “run as administrator”. Yeah, it’s a pain to do it this way, but the game runs. I should re-emphasize that I don’t have compatibility set for this exe, not that I’m sure whether that matters.
Here’s the other quirky thing. During every loading screen, this error pops up.
Every time a loading screen pops up, the machine goes back to the desktop and I see the error again. When this happens, don’t go within five feet of the mouse or keyboard. Just step away. The game will continue. The one time I clicked OK on the message, the game crashed. If you don’t touch anything, the game should continue normally.
Hopefully, this article helps someone else get the game running on Vista. It’s a heck of a pain, but Thief: Deadly Shadows is a great game, so it’s worth it.
[…] I got Thief Deadly Shadows to run in Windows Vista, which was a bit of a pain, and then I managed to set it up so that I could use my mouse 4 + 5 buttons and my mouse’s tilt wheel. Since then, I’ve been enjoying the game quite a bit, playing it slowly, and savoring it. […]
Thanks!
=)
plz help i love thief deadly shadows and i cant make it work on my vista and i dont know what you are saying cant there be a easyer way:[
I agree that there should be an easier way, but it doesn’t seem that there is. I’ve added links in the above text with instructions on how to do certain things, like turning UAC off. I’d say that steps 1 and 6 are likely the important ones. Good luck!
my father when he bought a new computer, he got the game thief deadly shadows, it didn’t run first on my windows vista (it was a while ago when he bought that computer) so i sed that thingy with run and than windows 95, that worked well, till i wanted to save and it ses my save game is damaged, so i cant save and i don’t wanna start al over again and again and again and again. any one knows anything for that or has a save game for me?
I had the exact same situation as you did, same setup, same error messages, everything.
I did everything you did, except I couldn’t do step #4 on account of that website is blocked from where I am.
So that must be the critical step: I disabled DAC, disabled UAC, ran as administrator, set compatability, etc.
None of it worked with my Vista machine.
I had that situation also, and for me the problem was solved along installing the NOCD- crack from MEGAGAMES.
one think very easy download this crack http://www.megagames.com/cracks/html/912280_0.htm
Actually it’s a mediocre game and nowhere near as good as the First two. Just give it a miss altogether.
Worked like a charm for me! Took me a few tries, but finally did it!
I had to unstall the one I had first.
Make sure you don’t forget #6 AND REBOOT YOUR MACHINE or it won’t work.
And make sure you right click t3.exe and RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR or it wont work.
Thanks for these directions!
FWIW, I tried this all on Windows 7 64bit and it will not work. Well, the error message he shows with the screenshot shows up after trying to launch the game, but it seems to stay there forever and the game doesn’t start ever (I didn’t truly wait forever, but several minutes which I thought was longer than anyone could bear). Running Task Manager, I see t3.exe startup, then, almost immediately, t3main.exe starts and goes away after about 1-2 seconds. After about maybe 30-40 seconds the error message pops up that it timed out waiting for t3main.exe. t3.exe is still running in the processes list at this point, but using 0% of the CPU. It stayed like this for several minutes. Clicking “OK” on the error message causes t3.exe to disappear from Task Manager.
Personally, I’m wondering if it has anything to do with the 64bit OS. Is anyone running this under Vista 64? If so, then I’d say possibly a Windows 7 thing. I’d love to hear if anyone else tried this in Vista64 or Win7, and also how long I should be waiting for the game to start after displaying the error.
While I’m bummed because I wanted to play the game, at least I only paid $5 for it on Direct2Drive.com’s 5th year anniversary deals.
Hello,
Just reinstalled the game on a VISTA 64bit laptop and I’m getting the Data Execution Prevention error. My computer tells me: “A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available”
When I click the solution bubble, it takes me to the DEP menu. I tried switching DEP of for Thief but it won’t let me. Any ideas?
To get it working on vista 32bit, all I needed to do was download and replace the original t3 file in the system folder located in the thief deadly shadows program folder after installation, with the one on this site : http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_thief_3.shtml#Thief%203%20v1.0.0.1%20%5BALL%5D%20No-CD/Original%20EXE
Its the very first file, Thief 3 v1.0.0.1 [ALL] No-CD/Original EXE
Works like a charm and gets rid of all those annoying ‘the program has stopped working error’.
You don’t need to disable DEP at all.
I’ve had it running on 64bit vista home premium, no problems. I’m now having problems with 7 Professional
Sorry Desmond – I can’t help you. I’ve only got Vista installed, although I wish I had Win 7.
Just installed the third thief game “deadly shadows” on my new win 7 pc. could mot play the game on my win 98 old pc so waited to buy game when I updated my computer.
It loads fine, and plays the first instructional level fine, until I have to use the flashbomb which is used by pressing F1 button. That is when win 7 interupts and starts launching windows ! its so frustrating. can not go any further !
Only had win 7 pc for a week and have no manuals supplied so just learning win 7 quirks.
Any feed back would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Jodas apprentice.
Jodas apprentice –
When I played, I used Logitech SetPoint to remap keys so that I didn’t have to use function keys to use items. Something like this could solve your problem.
EUREKA…….
Finally got Thief 3 to run on vista….
I’ll share the magic…
1) Download the unprotected exe file from gamecopyworld.com and replace ur t3.exe with it.
2) You need to change your save directory settings in the registry. Eidos didn figure that microsoft would change the user directories in vista
Here’s what to do.
Hit Windows Symbol + R on keyboard to bring up the run dialog
type in: regedit
hit control + F to perform a search
search for: Ion Storm
expand the Thief – Deadly Shadows folder, right click SaveGamePath, and select Modify… option
select a location ( I created a folder in users\Saved Games )
game was released well before Vista, obviously, so the default save game path was pointing to a location you didn’t have write access to, which was causing the problem
problem should be solved – was for me
thanks Rahul
Thanks 😀
I’ve followed all of of your steps and finally i’m running Thief Deadly Shadows on my Vista!
Amazing 😉
Greetings from Portugal
thank you so much for the help. some steps like the UAC and DEP are not needed. I just followed all your other steps and im running it with no problems on vista. thx again
really weird it worked BEFORE i rebooted my computer and AFTER i rebooted it didnt…..
and also i couldnt patch it (before and after)
You’re great. Thank you. With your post I am able to run this awesome game (the best ever, in my opinion) under Windows Seven 64-bit
I’ve worked on this for 3 hours trying to find the solution and yes I found it!
I have Windows 7 x86 (32bit so I don’t know if it’s same with 64bit version)
This are the things I did:
1. Followed steps from this website to 1 – 3 EXACTLY as it says!
(for vista users just follow the instruction on this web page only)
2. The razor1911’s crack won’t work so you have to replace t3.exe
with T3.exe from Thief 3 Editor pack. Download it here:
(you need to register to download the file) Link:
http://www.fileplanet.com/150454/150000/fileinfo/Thief:-Deadly-Shadows-Editor
3. I then right clicked the T3.exe -> Properties -> Compatibility tab ->
Set the compatibility mode to Windows XP Service pack 2.
4. I right clicked again and ran the application as administrator.
Finally it worked… I hope it helps!
I just want to strengthen Silichip’s comment. The T:DS Editor executable works just perfectly on Win7 32bit. But you have to use the official 1.1 patch first before exchanging the executables. I didn’t even set any compatibility modes.
Greets
-A3D
I to was having the same issues with TDS. I installed it again after not playing it for some time, and was getting the constant intro loop. I initially tried compatibility mode, which didn’t work. So I shut off the UAC and yay! it works now, don’t even have to mess with dep or whatever that was called. Ty for posting this.