The Blade Runner Game on Vista 64
I got the Blade Runner Final Cut Tin for Christmas which got me thinking about the game I played a few years ago. One thing that always bugged me was that after I uninstalled it and deleted my save games I found out that the game has multiple endings. I decided now was the time to dust it off and have another go.
Turns out that the game uses a 16bit installer which no longer works with Vista 64. I did a bit of digging and found a script by Steve Simenic to create a shiney new installer for the game using the Nullsoft Scriptable Install System. I’ve been using this system for a few months now so it was good timing to find this. I made a couple of small changes to the script; the first is to remove a dependance on the user to have a D: drive to install the game to, the second change was simply to add an icon to the installer.
One requirement for the script is a file that is only created once the game is installed called “HDFRAMES.DAT”. Well more accurately the file is created during the installation process by combining several files off the installation CDs. It’s kind of a catch 22 with the installer since you need to have the game installed to be able to install the game! Luckily for me I still have a 32 bit XP system around so I installed the game on that and copied the required file over the network to create the installer. Prior to that I tried searching for the file online via google, yahoo and emule.
I decided that I might as well upload all the required files so that others may have a go at playing this awesome game. The total size is just over 280MB and the files in the zip are:
- Blade.ico – icon to use for the installer
- Blade.ini – ini file to use for the game
- Blade.nsi – Steves installation file (slightly modified by me)
- Readme.txt – Steves original readme file
- HDFrames.dat – the all mighty hdframes file
To setup the installer is fairly straight forward:
- Create a new directory on your system called “Blade Runner Installer” and then inside that create a directory called “Base”.
- Copy the entire contents of the Base directory off the first Blade Runner CD and into the Base directory you created in the last step. Just copy the files, don’t create a second sub directory inside Base.
- Copy the files specified in the zip files readme out of the CD1, CD2, CD3 and CD4 sub directories off the Bladerunner CDs straight in to your new Base directory as well.
- Now unzip the file I provided into the Base directory and overwrite the similar named files that already exist there. One of the files copied here is the mystical HDFrames file.
- Move the “BLADE.NSI” file outide the Base directory and into “Blade Runner Installer”.
- Copy the “BLADE.ICO” file to the “Blade Runner Installer” directory.
- You should have NSIS installed to compile the installer in the next step.
- Now you can right click the NSI file and pick “Compile NSIS Script” to begin creation of the installer.
- When the process completes you will find a file called “BladeRunner.exe” in the “Blade Runner Installer” directory, this is your shiney new Blade Runner The Game installer.
I did used to host the 280MB zip file myself but it seems that 1-18GB of downloads a day was killing my server so I have decided to upload it to a few file hosting sites If you notice any of them not working any more then please post a comment and I’ll re-upload it. Please try and use a random one and not just the first one, otherwise the other hosts will auto-remove the file due to inactivity.
- File Factory – The Blade Runner Game HDFrames Zip File
- Send Space – The Blade Runner Game HDFrames Zip File
This isn’t the full game or even the compiled installer since that would all come to over 1GB (1.179GB to be precise). You’ll have to find your copy of the game elsewhere and install the Nullsoft Scriptable Install System.
If you have any problems then be sure to read the comments below as most things that can go wrong have already been covered. So far, everybody has managed to get the game running.
Comments: 160
:crazy:
u shud be working harder not playin games.
if u got time to work, u cud be working so that yor aged mother cud retire, not to mention your even more aged father.
Thank you for this!
I did everything as descriped and have working installer.
Game installed fine, but it won’t start. Screen goes black and
then jumps me back to desktop. I’ve tried compatibility modes,
but none of them seems to be working.
I’m using Vista Ultimate x64 sp1
Any ideas?
I feel that I’m really close to get this great game to work again.
-LarsSon
I think I forgot to mention that when you start the game it might be all garbled, the only thing I found to work for that was to alt-tab out and then back in again. I didn’t have to enable compatability mode.
A few things you could check would be to start with the Desktop/Start menu icon(s). Right click one of them and choose Properties. On the shortcut tab make sure that the “Start in” path is correct and that the “Target” path is also correct. For me those are:
Start in: “C:Program Files (x86)Blade Runner”
Target: “C:Program Files (x86)Blade RunnerBLADE.EXE”
I just noticed I had ticked “Disable desktop composition” but I think I was just trying that to prevent the garbled start I mentioned before. That seems to be it.
If I go to the Blade Runner directory I see 140 items (including a Save directory).
Make sure you have this line in your BLADE.INI file:
Full_HDFrames=1
I thought it was in the one I included in the zip.
Hmm… still no go. I have 137 files, but no saves.
Everything is triple checked to be correct.
For me, it just wont start at all. Not even shoving any
signs of loading or starting anything. 3 seconds black screen and that’s it.
I’m glad that you get it to work.
Maybe I need to wait for next Windows version. 🙄
Thanks,
LarsSon
oki so it seems you’re missing two files (the 3rd is the Save directory). I just did a directory listing to a text file so you can check what you have against what I have:
1.TLK
2.TLK
3.TLK
A.TLK
AI-ACT1.DLL
AR01.DLL
AR02.DLL
BB01.DLL
BB02.DLL
BB03.DLL
BB04.DLL
BB05.DLL
BB06.DLL
BB07.DLL
BB08.DLL
BB09.DLL
BB10.DLL
BB11.DLL
BB12.DLL
BB51.DLL
BLADE.EXE
BLADE.ICO
BLADE.INI
COREANIM.DAT
CT01.DLL
CT02.DLL
CT03.DLL
CT04.DLL
CT05.DLL
CT06.DLL
CT07.DLL
CT08.DLL
CT09.DLL
CT10.DLL
CT11.DLL
CT12.DLL
CT51.DLL
DR01.DLL
DR02.DLL
DR03.DLL
DR04.DLL
DR05.DLL
DR06.DLL
HC01.DLL
HC02.DLL
HC03.DLL
HC04.DLL
HDFRAMES.DAT
HF01.DLL
HF02.DLL
HF03.DLL
HF04.DLL
HF05.DLL
HF06.DLL
HF07.DLL
KP01.DLL
KP02.DLL
KP03.DLL
KP04.DLL
KP05.DLL
KP06.DLL
KP07.DLL
MA01.DLL
MA02.DLL
MA04.DLL
MA05.DLL
MA06.DLL
MA07.DLL
MA08.DLL
MODE.MIX
MUSIC.MIX
NR01.DLL
NR02.DLL
NR03.DLL
NR04.DLL
NR05.DLL
NR06.DLL
NR07.DLL
NR08.DLL
NR09.DLL
NR10.DLL
NR11.DLL
OUTTAKE1.MIX
OUTTAKE2.MIX
OUTTAKE3.MIX
OUTTAKE4.MIX
PS01.DLL
PS02.DLL
PS03.DLL
PS04.DLL
PS05.DLL
PS06.DLL
PS07.DLL
PS09.DLL
PS10.DLL
PS11.DLL
PS12.DLL
PS13.DLL
PS14.DLL
PS15.DLL
RC01.DLL
RC02.DLL
RC03.DLL
RC04.DLL
RC51.DLL
SFX.MIX
SPCHSFX.TLK
STARTUP.MIX
TB02.DLL
TB03.DLL
TB05.DLL
TB06.DLL
TB07.DLL
UG01.DLL
UG02.DLL
UG03.DLL
UG04.DLL
UG05.DLL
UG06.DLL
UG07.DLL
UG08.DLL
UG09.DLL
UG10.DLL
UG12.DLL
UG13.DLL
UG14.DLL
UG15.DLL
UG16.DLL
UG17.DLL
UG18.DLL
UG19.DLL
Uninst.exe
VQA1.MIX
VQA2.MIX
VQA3.MIX
_ESPER.DLL
_INIT.DLL
_KIA.DLL
_VK.DLL
SAVE
😳 …HDFRAMES.DAT
I thought that it was used when installing the game.
So that wasn’t in my game folder. Now everything works fine.
Thank you so much!
-LarsSon
Hi David, I’m having some problems trying to fix the game.
I got Windows Vista Home Premium but I’m not able to start the game, even with the instructions!
I created the BladeRunner.exe file, i installed the game in a directory where i copied all the 140 file, but when i press BLADE.EXE nothing happens.. I’m desperate, what can I do?
Oh, by the way, i’m from Italy so the game version is in italian, but i believe this will not change a thing, do you think so?
Hi, have you checked that you have all the files I listed in my previous post in your installation directory, the one you installed the game into.
Sure, i checked and i got all the 140 files.. i don’t get it, what could be the problem?
Well, the only file that is missing is the save directory, but i created it, so now it’s ok, but it still doesn’t work..
hmmm try running it from a command prompt and see if it gives you any feedback there. Also check the Windows Event Viewer and see if that says anything related to it.
i am forever indebited to you, it’s like being reunited with an old friend! thank you!
thanks to tann san, alt+tab thing works fine for me.
Hello!
I have downloaded the files you provided and tried to follow the instructions in “readme” but i did not manage to install the game.
Could you please be more explicit? (how to and when to use the NSIS?
Thx!
Hi, I updated the main post with a more indepth set of instructions.
Man, you’re a Wizard!
All works fine. The sweet taste of nostalgic visions…
Blessings of all Digital Gods upon ye!
All works fine. Thanks very much.
Hey can anyone solve this problem. I did everything as instructed. Now I launch the game and all goes smoothly. Then case 1 begins and there is no Runciter in his shop. I can’t proceed the game. Is there anything I can do to fix it??
Ty for this guide. But i have a problem 😛 After the install, when i try to start the game there is an application crush.. do you have any idea? :/
Usually the actual crash will give you a hint as to what is causing the problem, what does it say?
hi big problem:
i installes it from the new installer.exe (everything worked fine) i now got an directory on d:blade runner with all the 140 files (i generated the “SAVE”-directory) – when i start the game only a black screen and than back to desk (no time to do that alt+tab switch thing… if i do, nothing happens till iam back on desk) HEEEEEEELP 😀
THANK YOU, dude. you’re a genius… you made my day, sorry gotta leave now, wanna go on with bladerunner (FINALLY AGAIN!) 😉
greetings and thanks again,
till
I’m not sure why some people are getting a black screen when they try running it. Someone who said they got the black screen issue said they had simply not copied HDFRAMES.DAT into the game directory. Check to make sure it is there after the installation. I can’t really think of anything else to suggest since I can’t recreate the problem.
hi there again, i know whats the problem with the blackscreen. in the edited “blade.ini”, where the “hdframes.dat=1” comment is, theres also a language part, which sayes “ENG”. people with other languageversions of the game need to edit that ini, BEFORE creating the installer with their languagepart. in my case it was “GER” instead of “ENG”. it’s just a little edit but that’s it.
if you try to start the game and your gamefiles are not the english ones but the .ini sayes that you’ll only get a blackscreen and come back to desk after a few seconds.
try it. i recreated it 2 times. ( i made a backup directory BEFORE generating the installer, so could see that this is one reason for a blackscreen)
there is a new problem. there are NO TARGETS at the firing station ingame and also SPOILER:when you’ve to disarm the bomb, the counter goes a way to fast.impossible to disarm it that way.there’s also a part, where you have to track the rastaguy i think, but he’ll not appear where he has to.SPOILER-END thats cause of the to fast cpus from today… i heard that people used slowdown programs for the cpu, or started ca. 20 apps in the background, so that the cpu is busy and slow like back in the days… the targets appear again in the firingstation and the bombtrigger should also run normally – but i am to affraid of using these “cpugrap”, “cpukil2.0”, “slowdown” programs – there must be another way, that the game thinks it’s running on a older sys. any ideas? (dosbox like would be great :D)
hope i could help. blackscreen = correct your language in the .ini BEFORE creating installer… (you still need all the 140 files)but the bugs caused by the to fast systems of today is a bigger problem 🙁
greetings,
till
Any solution for slowing down the system for the shooting range? I’ve read that this is a problem and the fix for it only works in windows XP (Turbo). I haven’t played this game in a LONG time and don’t remember if this part of the game is necessary to proceed. Please advise. Thanks!
I do remember something about there being no targets in the firing range. I think this is time related i.e. you can only do it at a certain point of the game. I didn’t use a CPU slower to play it this time around and that’s on Vista x64 with a quad core processor. I’m not sure about the bomb trigger, don’t remember any problems with that. Maybe try it in XP compatibility mode and see if that helps.
The game is flawed in a few ways like you can end up blocking yourself from advancing and have to resort to earlier save games to get back on track. I did this when the game first came out and I did it again a couple of times on my last go. One sure way to do this is to pull your gun on the guy in the wheel chair. He rolls off shouting at you and you can then no longer advance in the story.
You legend. I thought that I would search out any issues with Vista 64bit before installing the game and I come across this gem.
Bravo, I’ll try it out.
I experienced a problem of my own, which is that the Pioneer SATA DVD-RW drive I have can’t even read the DVD-Rom (Packard Bell ‘special’ repack version) so I had to use another machine to get the files from it. Might re-pack the DVD with this installation fix!
Thanks again.
I’ve had something similar with old game CDs. They seem to slip in the drive somehow. I get it with new games as well like I always got that with Dawn of War and its sequels. I used to get it with the Battlefield 2142 DVD but then I gently sandpapered the plastic around the whole in the middle so it could get better traction.
The quoted comment did it for me. That, and then alt-Tab, when the video’s scrambled and back to the game, and it worked on Vista 64.
Also, your installer! <3 Thanks for this.
>>>hi there again, i know whats the problem with the blackscreen. in the edited “blade.ini”, where the “hdframes.dat=1” comment is, theres also a language part, which sayes “ENG”. people with other languageversions of the game need to edit that ini, BEFORE creating the installer with their languagepart. in my case it was “GER” instead of “ENG”. it’s just a little edit but that’s it.
if you try to start the game and your gamefiles are not the english ones but the .ini sayes that you’ll only get a blackscreen and come back to desk after a few seconds.
try it. i recreated it 2 times. ( i made a backup directory BEFORE generating the installer, so could see that this is one reason for a blackscreen)
Hi,
Brilliant job… Outstanding work around for Vista 64. Ditto on the Steve Austin statement for this one. Full game operable with discs. Now back to fantasizing with BR…
Thanks again
Yeeehaww!!! this works like a charm! Thank you so much David. I got it running on my vista 64x laptop. The display is all messy at start but using alt-tab as posted before fixes that.
Keep the Blade Runner alive!
Hi,
I have recently aquired a copy of this game after buying it over 10 years ago (wow).
ALl was working fine, installed, started up perfectly. i had the problem with the shooting range however that doesnt bother me, the main problem ive experienced is that whenever i use the esper, either in the police station or his aprtment, it just appears with a blank screen and i cant use it!!! any ideas why this could be? any help would be greatly appreciated as i LOVE this game!
thanks!
i seem to be haven problems getn the (blade.exe) and also the uninstall to be un packed when compilen script due possibly to :(Make sure you have this line in your BLADE.INI file:
Full_HDFrames=1
I thought it was in the one I included in the zip.
which was stated above in post (# tann san [Member] on 2008-05-03 at 09:43) if this is to be true where in the BLADE.ini file is this (Full_HDFrames=1) code to be placed
so close i can count the digital sheep
thx
Hi, you can download my Blade.ini file from here: Blade.ini
like a champ!!! amazing, thx amilli
Hello,
The article for making the installer is great. I could have the game installed on win7 64. Now i have another issues, ingame.
spoiler_start
First of all, i couldn’t see the targets in the shooting area of the police station (during act I)
Second issue, a bit more annoying, when running after the cook (Zuben) in the chinatown restaurant (still act I)
Quoting the walkthrough : “Quickly run up the stairs on to the right. Once in the hallway, proceed to the locked door ahead of you. As you do, Zuben jumps down from behind, blocking your exit”
I’ve proceeded a lot of times to the locked door, and Zuben never jumped down behind me… so i’m stuck in act I
spoiler_end
Hope some genius will come up with a solution 🙂
thx
Hi, I don’t think anyone who uses this method can see the targets on the shooting range. It doesn’t affect the story as far as I can tell.
This is one game where walkthroughs are tricky to follow since the game changes each time you play it. Just try exploring the game world more and you will probably run into him at some point. Be warned though that there are points in the game when you can end up in a dead lock. The first time I played it, like back when I had it on the original medium and it actually taxed my system, I pulled out my gun on the guy in the wheel chair at the garage. He rolled off and I found myself stuck as the game wouldn’t let me proceed anymore. The only way I could get back on track was to load up an old save game and not pull my gun out like a jerk ^_^
Hi, I’ve loaded up bladerunner on my laptop running vista. It loads fine and a can play the first cd with no worries by as soon as it trys to load cd 2 it goes back to windows and can run it. Any ideas?
Are you sure you copied in all of the files from CD2 as specified in the readme file?
Disc 2:
* Files from the “CD2” folder:
2.TLK
OUTTAKE2.MIX
VQA2.MIX
To sum up the file copying part. Inside the directory where the .nsi file exists you need to make a new directory called BASE. Then copy all of the files specified in the readme file into this directory. Don’t actually copy the “CD1”, “CD2” etc directories, just the files inside them.
Output: “C:Program Files (x86)blade Runner InstallerBladeRunner.exe”
Can’t open output file
Error – aborting creation process
can not make the installer would you happen to know why im getting this error?
Try creating it in a directory without spaces in the path i.e c:blade_runnerinstallerBladeRunner.exe.
Hi, thanks a lot for that great tutorial, how to install the game. I proceeded all steps and finally had to change the “Language” setting in BLADE.INI to “GER”. (Otherwise the game did not start with a blank screen.) Now, BladeRunner is running properly on two Win7 (64-bit) systems. Interestingly, the one with Nvidia graphics has the ALT+Tab problem; the one with ATI graphics starts it correct at once.
Hint1: For users with Comodo and Defense+ installed. Set the Defense+ to Training and start the game once.
Hint2: If you install the game into Program Files (x86), it writes savegames to the virtual folder “AppDataLocalVirtualStore”. (On Win7) If this botheres you, install the game into a not protected folder as “c:gamesBladeRunner”.
Hint3: @ras I lost the cook Zuben, too. Move to your home and you are attacked by an Replicant on the roof top. Afterwards, use your bed (ingame ;-)) and chapter 2 is starting.
Maybe this helps some of you.
I get the error “Error in script “C:GamesBlade_Runner_InstallerBLADE.NSI” on line 24″ when compiling the NSI. Any idea how I can circumvent it?
Line 24 is part of the bit where it checks to make sure there are no other instances of the installer running. You can delete all of this bit:
Function .onInit
System::Call ‘kernel32::CreateMutexA(i 0, i 0, t “Blade Runner: The Game”) i .r1 ?e’
Pop $R0
StrCmp $R0 0 +3
MessageBox MB_OK|MB_ICONEXCLAMATION “The installer is already running.”
Abort
FunctionEnd
Hi everybody, I need your help. I did everything is listed but when I compile the BLADE.INI, the follow error message appears:
Error in script “C:Blade runner InstallerBaseBLADE.NSI” on line 33 — aborting creation process
What could be the reason? May I haven`t copy a file yet?
It probably means you didn’t create a directory called “Base”.
Hi again. Now works! I havent readed that I have to move the NSI file and others to the “Blade runner installer” folder. Thanks!
UPDATE: The game works! YOU ARE MY HERO SIR! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
You rock man … thanks.
Okay, so the game is working. (Thanks for all of this, btw.) However, I am getting error messages when I try to save my progress in-game.
I click on Slot 1, then type in a random name for the save file, and then the game tells me “Error Saving Game!”
Do you know what I’m doing wrong?
Appreciate all your help!
Make sure you have a directory called “SAVE” in your Blade runner directory.
wow! Thank you so much.
it works, thanks for your efforts!
Whoa, thanks man! Just finished watching The Final Cut, and remembered this great old game. Obviously it didn’t work straight out of box in Win7 64-bit, but thanks to your files & info, it’s running smoothly now. Cheers.
thank you very much! your detailed description made it work like a charm (used XP x64) 🙂
Thanks a lot for this, That work fine. I had to change the:
Language=Eng to Language=Fra since my game is in french tough because at first the game didnt start but now this is good.
You just made my day! Runs perfect on Windows 7 64 Bit! Thanks a lot from Germany!
just dug this game out of the classic games collection i own. been dieing to play it by when i put the disc into my computer it doesnt even autoplay or show up in “my computer” sometimes it will show up as blade runner disc 1 but when i double click on it it doenst do anything. I got windows vitsa 64 bit , any help would be great, dieing to play this!!
It could be that the CD is damaged or possibly incompatible with your current drive. Try it in another computer if possible. If the CD is scratched then obviously that may be a factor. Also, when trying to access it listen to your drive. Does it sound like it is trying to spin the CD and failing? I get this with some of my older CDs. Don’t hold me responsible if you try this and totally wreck your CD but this is something that has worked for me in the past. Did it with my Dawn of War DVD as that constantly seemed to slip. I got some rough sandpaper and lightly rubbed it around the inner ring so that it was a bit rough. Afterwards the CD always worked straight away. Note that I did this on the inside of the ring, not along the top and bottom surface of it.
Awesome, it worked great (windows 7 64-bit). Thanks for your help!
Hi there,
I have followed all the instructions on this site, but when I right click on the NSIS file and start the “Compile NSIS Script” it stops and I get this error message:
“Error while loading icon from “BLADE.ICO”: can’t open file
Error in script “M:GamesBlade Runner InstallerBLADE.NSI” on line 14 — aborting creation process”.
I also checked my list of files against the list you posted earlier, and I don’t have the “SAVE” file. Where can I get that from? I’m not very technical I’m affraid, just love the game and I’m longing to play it again.
Any help very much appreciated. =0)
SAVE is an empty directory you should of been created by the installer. If it wasn’t then you must create it yourself. Just create a new directory called SAVE in all capitals. That should be inside the game directory you installed to.
You would get the error message about BLADE.ICO if that file was not in the same location as the nsi file. It must exist in the same place as the BLADE.NSI file, in your case that would be M:GamesBlade Runner Installer
It works!!!
Thank you SO much.
Now, do keep this site open, I’m gonna need another program in 15 years time. ;o)
Thanks again.
Not had time to play yet but loads fine – thank you!
Hi David – thought you might like to know you were in Edge magazine this month. The ‘Making of’ article was Blade Runner and there was box out with a link to this post. Despite Blade Runner being one of my favourite films I’ve never played the game (in ’97 if it wasn’t on PlayStation I wasn’t interested), but I just bought a copy on eBay so I’ll be coming back here tomorrow to get it working.
Ra, thanks for the headsup. Now I’m famous I want royalties from the magazine and my own reality TV series starring just me and Christina Hendricks ^_^
Add me to the list of people thanking you for this. Fantastic! Now Blade Runner is alive and well on my Win7 64 bit laptop. Many kudos.
thanks
It worked fine on my Win7 64bit laptop
Seb
After finding this solution I obtained a used copy and installed this great old game again, thanks!
The only apparent issues are apparently those known previously about running on modern cpu’s related to speed. Namely that I’m failing to escape the bomb at Moraji’s lab, and the shooting range where targets never appear. In theory they probably would eventually appear, but the range wouldn’t operate right anyway without speed adjustment if I understand correctly.
Regardless, it’s already been worth the effort. To think that a 14 year old game still has more depth to me than most that I’ve seen since. A remake wouldn’t offend me though.
please please, someone tell me how to get esper to work on my win 7 system. i have everything else working fine. i have put so much time into this. please someone help me!!!
Esper machine worked fine for me. It’s actually one of my favourite things ported from the movie ^_^
Esper works fine on my Win7 64 bit. Have you tried to compile everything again? Maybe something to do with your machine. Have you tried it on another computer?
i’ve been able to install it but when i play, after alt+tab, i got image skip, like everything i can interact with is flashing, is it my cpu speed ? I got win7, quadcore pavilion 7
I didn’t have to use any form of CPU throttler for the game to work and I have a quad core.
Is the whole game flashing or just the interactive elements?
Maybe a setting in your graphics card options is conflicting with the game. What graphics card have you got?
I got an Nvidia GeForce GT 230M and my computer is a i7 CPU Q720@1.60GHz with 6 ram 64 bits
Ho and the flashy things are such thing like the policeman,mccoy but also the menu when you click on mccoy, but the videos works fine…
I’m not sure what Nvidia graphics settings you have access to as I’ve been stuck on this crappy Ati 4870 X2 card for so long. Will be switching back to NVidia next month, can’t wait!
With Ati they have this thing called Ati A.I. that can be set to off, normal or advanced. I’ve found that using it can screw up certain games but turning it off actually forces the card into single GPU mode. Well annoying.
I use profiles with my graphics settings Catalyst app and fine tune a new profile for each game. Then I can change a load of graphic settings with just a couple of clicks. This lets me use one setup for Bad Company 2 and another for normal daily usage. If you can do the same then try it out and make a copy of your current settings. Then create a test profile and tweak around with your settings to see if anything helps with the Blade Runner game. I’d set everything to low and off as a starting point i.e. no AA or AF.
Thank you! Works like a charm on Windows 7 X64. Only the alt-tab needs to be used every time, bit that’s no problem.
I would just like to give you a big THANK YOU. The time and effort you put into this, is very much appreciated! I am sure not just I, but a lot of people are extremely happy about this. 🙂
Thanks so much for this – I have been trying to find a way to run this awesome game on Windows 7, your step by step instructions and hard work have made it easy.
Thanks again!
Dear Mr. Millington,
you may understand how frustrated I was when I found out, that my cardboard box BladeRunner refuses to install under W7-64. I really appreciate your kind assistance and detailed instructions posted here. The above instruction set works fine even for my other Russian version of the game (I have to install the CDs into the drive to use it though, but this is a minor problem). As to English original version, I just had to apply ALT-Tab procedure, but I’m familiar with that since Vista, this is not a problem and does not diminish your credit =)
And now thanks to you I seemingly have a backup setup copy, which I can conveniently store on just one DVD, instead of 4 CDs – this is one totally awesome feature!
I wish I could also help you somehow the way you did help me!
Thanks and have a very nice day indeed!
Regards,
Anton Lebedev
Actually, EVERYTHING is fine. I just have forgotten to copy some files from the CD1, hence the disc requirement problem.
THanks again =)
Hej David,
it worked all fine for me on Windows 7 x64. Thanks a lot for your clever solution. (And thanks >till< for the hint with the german version) This game, like the music and the movie, is just mind-blowing.
But. Blade Runner without the blue, lonely nights on the shooting range? I can’t bear it.
Some people say you have to slow down your processor to get it working (Turbo.exe). So can you David or anybody else explain me please a comfortable way how to handle this problem under Windows 7 x64?
Cheers,
M ^^
I just tried out “Advanced Game Loader” from this page. It’s pretty basic to setup:
Install it and run it.
Do Options->Add Game.
It will add a “_Unknown” to the game list.
On the right hand side on the Main tab just point the “Game Exe” option to your Blade Runner exe. I left everything else on default.
At the bottom under the “CPU Mode” fieldset I scrolled the CPU speed down to 10% as a test.
Loaded up the game, luckily I had a save point right outside the shooting range. The game was well laggy and speech seemed to repeat itself but the targets did show up in the range and I could shoot them. I reckon you can tweak the settings to get a smoother experience. I’d only recommend it for that bit of the game though and maybe the bit where the bomb timer is ticking down although I didn’t have a problem with that bit when I played it normally.
hey, i have the same problem like someone above me. when creating the installer, it says at the end
Output: “C:Program FilesBladeRunnerInstallerBladeRunner.exe”
Can’t open output file
Error – aborting creation process
i have all 140 files in the base folder, what can be wrong??
Does the directory “C:Program FilesBladeRunnerInstaller” exist?
You should have three things in that directory:
BLADE.NSI
BLADE.ICO
A directory called “Base” (case sensitive).
The Base directory should have all the copied game files and the HDFrames file from the zip.
If all of that is correct then try creating the installer in a directory that does not have spaces in the name as “Program Files” does.
thank you! i put the whole thing on the desktop and it worked fine!
(was the problem that in the german win7 version the folder is not called “program files” but “programme”?)
No, it shouldn’t be. The installer script uses the NSIS $PROGRAMFILES global path variable to find your program files directory. That doesn’t get used until you are actually installing the game. It shouldn’t affect the bit when you are compiling the installer. Glad you got it sorted.
Also, if you are using the German version of the game then make sure you edit the BLADE.INI file from the zip and change:
Language=ENG
to be:
Language=GER
When I click on BladeRunner.exe after doing everything it says verifying installer and when it finishes gives me an error saying that “Installer integrity check has failed.” I looked and it turns out I’m missing the Uninst.exe file, but I can’t seem to find where it comes from. Any ideas?
Hi, I think Uninst.exe is from CD1s “BASE” directory. I zipped mine and uploaded it for you:
http://www.davidmillington.net/trials/blade-runner-game/uninst.zip
Wow. You are the GreyscaleGorilla for the Blade Runner game.
Thanks a lot for your great help.
Cheers. ^_
I love you!! Thanks!
🙂
hey there tann san i love that port of yours it’s already working but I can’t really play as long is I dont see the character and mostly interactive objects because of that nasty flashing. any1 else, any idea? thx
I have Windows 7 x64, and the install worked perfectly.
However: I have a problem with the CPU speed. The shooting range won’t work as it should – and using the shooting range can open plot lines.
I’ve tried all the famous CPU slowdown apps. I’ve tried CPUkiller (doesn’t even work), I’ve tried Turbo (6x simultaneous apps), I’ve tried Throttle..
None of them work for windows 7. I need a similar app for Windows 7 x64. Does anyone have anything similar?
Hi, I also tried a bunch before I found one that worked for me on Vista x64. I wrote about it in the the comments here.
This could also help out the person that commented before you.
Greetings David!
I’ve been wondering if there’s any chance you could provide a link to the fully compiled installer. I’ve got more than enough space to spare. I’m not exactly the most tech savy person when it comes to doing compile jobs like this… Not only that but I’m unable to complete the required steps since I don’t have access to files from a previous installation of the game, which meant all the time I spent downloading your file, the installer and moving the items off the CDs kinda went out the window. I use Windows 7 and I’m simply getting the error that the game won’t let me install it because it’s not compatible with 64 bit versions of Windows. Any help would be greatly appreciated, especially if you could e-mail me the reply.
Hi, you don’t need to of installed the game already. That is the point of the zip file. The short version is that normally you would need to install the game using the original installer so that you can gain access to the file HDFRAMES.DAT, this is only created during the install stage.
What I have done is take that file from my installation and provided access to an installer that can be used in conjunction with that file and your original game discs to install the game on x64 systems. You DO NOT have to install the game using the original installer yourself.
All you need is the files in the zip I provided and the game install discs, then just follow the instructions to create your x64 friendly installer. It sounds like you have everything you need already so you should be ready to go.
I just reinstalled this game after watching the final cut of Blade Runner lastnight. Quite a blast from the past. Running w7 here and didnt run into as many problems as id thought.
The slowdown program tann san mentions seem to work for the shooting range for me but caused audio issues so i doubt i could play it that way – might be worth just doing for a run through of the shooting range.
Zuben bug – I also was getting to the locked door and not having him trigger and drop down behind me. This annoyed me quite a bit and i tried various speeds with the slowdown, net searches etc. It turns out though that just as he throws the pot of soup over you you can click to the right to dodge (just keep clicking as you are talking), you get up quick and if you run out door asap can see him running down alley – proceed as normal and i got the correct trigger at door and he dropped down behind me.
Only tried it the once will have to go back and complete some stuff again before doing this properly, so hope it wasnt a one off. Hope it helps 🙂
After setting the language to our german GER it works perfectly!
THANKS A LOT!
Same thing for me (only, in my case, I had to set the language in the “.ini” file to FRE for french !)
Thanks very much Mr Millington & Mr Simenic, you rock !!!
This installed perfectly for me.
Although it does still need the disc in the drive. Is this correct?
If it is not, that might explain a problem I have:
At the end of Act I, after checking my vidphone and going to bed, a cutscene plays of some rastafarian interrogating a fat man. When this finishes, the game just closes and goes to desktop. No error, no crash, no nothing. It just stops. What’s happening?
Hi, no it should not need the disc in the drive to play. Check the list of files you were supposed to copy from the CDs in the Readme.txt file. Maybe you missed one or two.
Thank you very much for the script!!
ive tried following the steps but it doesn’t unpack the game files.
In the programe files/blade runner directory it seems to have just copied the files I copied to the BASE subdirectory my install is in and up in an uninstaller.
Any ideas what’s going wrong?
Graphics are completely garbled in Win 7. The installer seems to have worked, I have 138 files, and when i start the game, i can hear Deckards voice saying something about animals. But the graphics look like this
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/844/brgfx.png/
i have tried the compatibility options in Win 7 but nothing works.
I haven’t seen that kind of distortion before. I did used to get a black screen when the game first loads up, the easy fix to that was to alt-tab out of the game and then alt-tab back into it. When the game screen went back to full screen it would be clear. Didn’t have to do that when I switched from Vista to Windows 7.
Hello,
First, thx you for your help.
Problem is, I just can’t launch the game on my laptop (W7 64). Everything works just fine but when I clicked on the exe to launch it, I just have a black screen and the process just stops. Any idea ?
Finally get it work w/ the language trick on the INI file. You are a genius guy.
Thx.
yeah, alt-tab fixed the graphics problem. somewhat amused by the simplicity of the fix.
Thanks # tann san.
Advanced Game Loader did the slowdown trick perfectly on Win7 64-Bit
Still took half a dozen attempts but I managed to get far enough before the bomb went off.
FYI – I went in a straight down direction, double-clicking like mad with my CPU (only an E2140) set to 5%
Hello, I believe I have followed all steps correctly, and then when I run the NSIS compressor, I get through most of it and receive this message:
Output: “C:Program Files (x86)Blade Runner InstallerBladeRunner.exe”
Can’t open output file
Error – aborting creation process
Any idea what would cause that, and how I can fix it? Thank you!
Hi, I’m not sure what the exact cause is. Something simple to try is using a file path without spaces to create the installer. So instead of:
C:Program Files (x86)Blade Runner Installer
Create a new dirctory and do it in there:
C:BladeRunner
Wow, that worked! Thank you!
On a side note…I guess there’s nothing out there to improve the quality of the graphics, even if slightly? The character models are so much grainier than I expected. I’m assuming the only fix would be a smaller resolution.
No, the game uses it’s own Voxel engine which at the time was revolutionary ^_^ I wouldn’t worry about it too much. You kinda of get used to it after a while, like watching a movie with sub-titles.
Dude! You legend, worked just fine. Thank you 🙂
Hi, thank you for the awesome opportunity to play this great game.
However, as a few others I also have a problem with the ESPER machine. After some initial noise on the ESPER screen, it goes black. The rest is working fine, just the ESPER screen itself. I have no idea how this mistake can happen – do you have any new ideas?
Ok, about the ‘broken ESPER’: it is working, I just didn’t have the video disc and it was too late in-game to obtain it. I’m sure that’s what the other problems were about as well 😉
I had to remove the local copy of the file as my server was getting rammed with download requests. It was coasting at 1GB per day minimum but averaging between 5-18GB each day. I’ve opted to use a few online file hosts so hopefully that will work out alright. If anyone notices any problems with them then please let me know and I’ll do my best to correct it.
hey thanks so much for this fix. it worked perfectly and i’ve been alt-tabbin like the rest here no big deal… but…. do you have a solution for the garbled graphics?
As far as I remember, the alt-tab thing was to fix the garbled graphics! It has been about a year since I fired it up though so I’ll give it another go later on today and report back.
Awesome work you are doing!
Despite from running and the alt tab work on the videos and scenarios, the characters are all mess up.
Any solutions?
Using windows 7 64bit
Messed up how? Upload a screenshot to imageshack so we can see.
David,
It looks like the link to “File Savr – The Blade Runner Game HDFrames Zip File” is now dead. Is it available anywhere else? Thanks!
I deleted the File Savr link as it was dead, the other two still work though. I tried to re-upload the File Savr one but it refused to progress past 1% so I gave up!
Thanks so much for sharing your know-how. I followed your instructions and had a glitch free install on a 64-bit Windows 7 OS. Thanks again.
I’m stuck on NSI compile scripts. There are no nsi files in blade runner folder. What am I loading into NSIS?
Ok, i realised what i was doing wrong but now NSIS has this to say:
Icon: “BLADE.ICO”
Error while loading icon from “BLADE.ICO”: can’t open file
Error in script “C:UsersAndrewDesktopBLADE.NSI” on line 14 — aborting creation process
I recopied it to the folder from your HDFrames, but no cigar.
Got a windows message saying “Rep detect” at what may be end of first CD. It exited the game and closed it. Any suggestions?
Forget all those problems: i’ve sorted them all out myself. I may have been a bit too nostalgically impatient to play. And of course thankyou, good lad.
Why Hello!
I have literally looked through every comment, troubleshooted every potential issue, have re-done this entire process at least 5 times to no avail.
I have 139 files in my BASE folder which includes a self created folder (a sub-directory)called “SAVE” as I was seemingly instructed to do so if there were potential save issues or if the installer did not create its own save folder. I have merely right clicked, made a new folder, and labeled it SAVE and placed it inside the BASE folder. If I have done something wrong, please tell me as to what so that I may correct it. In addition, The uninstall file (rather unist.exe file) was never found in copying files from the CD 1’s BASE to the NEW BASE folder. However, some type of uninstall program was created with the new installer as when I search my programs and find BLADE RUNNER, it is also accompanied with the UNINSTALL BLADE RUNNER.
Essentially, the game runs just fine on CD 1 but will not transfer over to CD2 properly. After the cinematic with the anti gravity room leading into CD 2, I get an error message saying REP DETECT: unable to detect CD. Clicking “okay” will bring you to the desktop. Ejecting the CD 1 and putting in CD 2 regardless of the message and then selecting the “okay” will cause the computer to return you to the desktop while indicating it is attempting to load something with the rotating circle but ultimately does the same thing, it will just load for a minute and then bring up the CD 2 file to explore but not launch you into the second part of the BLADE RUNNER adventure.
I have quadruple checked to make sure all my files downloaded properly and that I have all the files needed. The ini file is correct and has the correct script. And to test all possibilities as to why the SAVING isn’t occuring, I created not only a SAVE folder in the BASE but also in the Blade Rnner Installer folder as throughout the comments it has indicated to essentially do both (however I assume that is simply wordy mis-communication). I have tried to create (compress) the new installer in three different scenarios: one that has a save folder in the BASE, one in the Blade Runner Installer Folder, and then one in both. All three separate made installations did not allow for proper saving or continuance into the next CD.
I am not sure what I have done wrong in this process but that is exactly why I have left this painfully long message in order to hopefully solve the issue. If anyone can respond with the answer I would be extremely grateful. Thank you!
Hi!
Did everything, works fine except I can’t save. I’m also a computer noob, so can someone explain what a “save directory” is and how I can incorporate it?
Cheers!
Dude, many thanks for the installer instructions and such. I somehow missed this gem back in the days. Now I can finally dig in. Too bad the game is REALLY hard to find as an original copy though. I hope GoG.com would get the rights to re-release this game someday, or whoever now owns the ip would do a re-release. But thanks man, really appreciated.
I wonder if some magic like this could be done to X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter, as it’s 16-bit win95 game? I have it as an original on my shelf, but I’m not able to get it install anymore, as I have Win7 nowadays. Just wondering is it even possible, I mean: was this somekind of special case, that could be tricked like this? Or would NSIS help every Win95 installations, if done right?
HELLo tHERE!!!
AWESOME… Bravo!
I got a new pc recently… I tried to install it… No way.
And i found You! THANK YOU, You are a genius. It worked like a charm.
Et merci
Thank you very much, this works perfectly! And I’m hyped for 30 Anniversary Edition coming out later this year.
If someone have the Spanish version, the BLADE.INI file is:
[Language]
Language=SPA
—
Great Job!! Thanks! =)
Hello David,
thank you ever so much, McCoy is now Blade Runnin’ swiftly on Win 7 64. [Apart from the shooting gallery, but never mind that.]
I’m using the German version, no problems there, just set Language=GER in the blade.ini file.
Deus Ex 3 made me think of this cyberpunk classic.
Compiling my own exe-file was great fun. My programming skills are minute, but with your instructions I felt like I was a hacker for a moment, thanks a lot.
It seems I have matured over the years, nowadays I can’t bring myself to retire any defenseless rep. I remember I was quite mouse click happy back in the day, but that gun made such a great sound and you could hardly ever use it…
Re Dermo Design Dilemma:
It’s hard to escape the bomb, but just keep trying, I’ve done it about once per 20 attempts. Try and keep to the right side of screen but keep some distance to the right edge, worked for me anyway. Just then Moraji almost always ends up beyond the right edge, so that there’s no dialogue and Moraji’s body can only be seen in the cut scene between the Dermo Design view and the DNA Alley entry view.
Ok. And now a little fix for the “Garbled screen problem” without the need to use the “ALT+TAB” keys: Search in Google for the “bitpatch ddwrapper” and download the file “ddwrapper.zip”.
Extract ddwrapper.zip in the Game’s directory and edit the file “aqrit.cfg” with notepad or wordpad.
Leave all the values to the right with an “1” except “Wine_Diablo” and “NovideoMemory”, there you should put a “0”.
This works for Windows 7 (Ultimate) but should work also in other versions of W7 and Vista.
I cant copy from CD 4. outtakes4 seems to be protected…can anyone help??
Hi, just wanted to say I followed your guide down to the last letter and everything went completely smooth from start to finish.
Been many years since I played this game and it’s great when people take the time to create fixes to keep old school stuff compatible.
(More people should work on remaking the greats, like the Black Mesa ppl fx that is a masterpiece aswell.)
I also have a completely bug free experience when launching every single time, never get any errors or anything at all when launching the game. There’s no need to tab switch or anything either. I’m running on Windows 7 x64.
I have installed the game on my computer and it works fine. I now have transfered it to my laptop and when I try to launch BLADE.EXE the screen goes black for a few seconds and then it crashes to desktop with “BLADE.EXE has stopped working” It isn’t a game language problem.
Any help would be appreicated.
Works great on Windows 7 Home premium 64 bit. I did have to use the integrated graphics card on my laptop to run the game properly though – I had a lot of flicker issues using my high performance card.
Side note: I love this game! The architecture of the set pieces and atmosphere are 2nd to none. I still have my original CD roms which I bought way way back in 1997(ish). Great to be back in the game again. Thank you!! -)
Thanks a lot for this article – everything went perfect, and now I can play this classic again on my laptop 🙂
Awesome! Worked perfectly, I dug this game out of my collection a while back and couldn’t get it to work until now! Thanks a lot!
Hi, thanks for this amazing tutorial!
The weird thing is that this didn’t work out for me, eventhough I followed every single step, changed language, etc., BUT, the game launches just fine when I double-click on the “BLADE.EXE” in the new BASE directory with all the copied files from the CDs…
What could cause that?
Anyway Thanks! I created a SAVE directory and everything works 🙂
This worked great for me! Thank you so much
Hi man!
Thanks a lot, the game works perfect!
Just a little problem, there is no mouse cursor in game!
Any solution for this?
I really appreciate the effort you have put into making this old classic work. That said, I cannot make this work on my Windows 7 64 bit device. I get a black screen that just hangs there. I made sure to read all the posts before posting myself.
I made absolutely sure I had the proper number of files (140). I used your posted technique of compiling an installer to allow it to be installed on a 64bit system (it worked like a charm!!!). I also made sure to use the new HDFRAMES.DAT file, and made sure the .ini file had the correct settings under the options subheading. I also checked the .ini file to ensure the correct language was set for my disk (I am using the DVD, but the files and processes were all the same).
I tried launching the game with and without compatibility settings (including Win 2k, 98 and 95, along with disabling desktop compositions and trying to force 640 x 480). All these left me with the same hanging blank screen after launch.
So, then I checked the Windows application error log. This showed me that BLADE.exe was failing with an Event Name of AppHangB1. I am currently looking into what may cause this kind of hang up. I know this is an old thread, and I am guessing you don’t have a lot of time for this old game, but if you get a brief couple of minutes, I would appreciate your input. If you need any more information from me, please let me know.
Thanks again! This is a great game, and if I can get it up and running it will be worth the trouble.
p.s. Not sure if it matters, but I am running dual monitors. I may attempt to see if removing one of them helps. I also may consider running an old version of windows as a virtual machine. If I figure it out, I will report back with what I did to fix it.
Hi, got to admit that I haven’t run the game for over a year now although I will probably play it again at some point.
I do remember something about alt-tabbing out and then back into the game although I think that was to clear up a garbled screen when first loaded. This might also solve the lack of mouse cursor although I don’t remember having that problem.
Another thing to check is that the language is set correctly in the config file, that has definitely been reported to give people black screens at the start.
To Tyler H Oldham:Are you using a multiple drive computer? I suffered the same issue years ago with my old computer.
troubleshoot solved for another drop to desktop/crash to desktop is you should run your new made install in compatibility mode, i did win98 and after that you will need to lower screen resolution on desktop, i did 1024×768.
even if you try resolution setting in the game run exe properties it still will not run, has to be set on desktop resolution. this tends to happen with most old games the have been modded in some way to run on. new system hd resolutions. hope this helps 🙂
Hi,
thanks a lot for the great effort, game seems to work. However, that is definitely not HD and I have done everything as instructed …
Its not HD what to do about it?
I’m fairly sure the idea of “HD” didn’t exist back in 1997 when the game was released. The name HDFrames might refer to the game developers idea of HD but it’s not what you are thinking.
Forgive my stupidity..but where is the link for the zip file?
Ok sorry. i was quite stoned last night. i’ve now Sorted everything and i’m now playing the game. Massive thanks for all your effort. very much appreciated 🙂
Stop this Spam!
haven’t tried the install process yet, found your site after other attempts failed. will ley you know how I go. Have win 7 64 bit i7, latest laptop.
Love this game have played many times onXP, Vista and Win7 32 bit. Look forward to giving it another play,.
Like your site too. Simple, great font and delivers.
Thank you for sharing.
tom
I am happy to report that this continues to work on my Windows 7 PC (Service Pack 1, all the latest Microsoft updates as of 8/20/2016, and with a 64-bit OS).
Doesn't work Blade.exe has stopped working once all is said and done
Hey 🙂 Im using Windows 10 now and Ive been able to download the game…loads fine…however after the cut scene with the fat man in the gravity chamber…many of the NPCs are not visible. I am unable to interact with the Dragonfly women specifically…the cursor does not even go green over her but it does over the scorpion box (both of these are not visible..i just know where they are from playing the game many times previously).
Has anyone managed to get this working on Windows 10 – 64 bit yet and completed the game all the way through?