Starcraft – How to run StarCraft: Brood War on Windows 7 without problems

starcrafttechnical-issueswindows 7

There are plenty of problems with SC 1 Broodwar running on Windows 7 Ultimate x64 like freezing, corrupted colors etc.

How to fix this?

Best Answer

The solution is to kill the explorer causing these problems:

  1. Open notepad and paste this in:

    @echo off
taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
start /wait StarCraft.exe
start C:\Windows\explorer.exe

  2. Choose all files -> save as WIN7FIX.bat

  3. Copy WIN7FIX.bat in the starcraft directory (where starcraft.exe is)

  4. RUN this bat file. DONE !

P.S. There are other guides on the net, but they miss 1 important thing: the wait switch. We have to wait until sc1 ends, otherwise the explorer won't start!

Extra Credit: If you don't like seeing a command prompt window open up when you run Starcraft, create a second file, however give this one a .vbs extension. Right-Click->Edit and paste in the following:

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run chr(34) & "scFixed.bat" & Chr(34), 0
Set WshShell = Nothing

change scFixed.bat to whatever you named your batch file. Save and close the editor, and run the .vbs file.

Cleaning up

  • Create a shortcut for the .vbs file on the desktop (or wherever you keep your game shortcuts) and rename it if you wish
  • Right-Click and go to Properties->Change Icon
  • Browse to the Starcraft directory
  • Click on the original Starcraft.exe (with the Wraith fighter icon) and click Open
  • Click OK a couple of times

Hey Presto! a brand new (working) Starcraft shortcut that doesn't open a command prompt window

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