Micro Machines V3 on Windows 7

[tnn]

Recently I installed a game from 1998, Micro Machines V3, on my Win 7 64-bit system. To my surprise, it ran seemingly flawlessly, and it even uses takes advantage of my ATI 5850 for Direct3D instead of simply running in software mode!

However, the one thing it does have problems with is the menu. Most of them are pitch black, meaning that I can still navigate them but I can't actually see what I'm doing. None of the compatibility settings seem to make a difference, and attempting to play the game in software mode will make it crash immediately after the intro. So, when it comes to choosing my car, the track, my savegame, etc. I'm completely blind.

What I then did was run the game in VMWare with Windows XP. The menus showed up, but I couldn't get Direct3D to work...so finally, I ran the game in VMWare on Windows 98 SE, except it turns out VMWare doesn't support Direct3D for Win 9x guests, which meant I ended up with software mode yet again.

I really want to find a way to get the best of Win 7 and Win XP, so I can enjoy the graphics while still being able to see what I'm doing in the menus.

Here are my system specs:
Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium
AMD Phenom II X4 B50 3.1 GHz
ATI HD5850 (Catalyst 11.4)
6 GB RAM

[allikat]

Try hitting Alt+Enter when in the menus to go into windowed mode, and use the same keys to go fullscreen for the races. It's probably trying to go into a display mode your monitor doesn't like.

[yojo2]

Try clicing RMB on desktop and opening Screen Resolution window. For some odd reason, keeping this window open fixes most color palette issues with older games.

[tnn]

What do you mean by "color palette"? There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the game's colours. If you mean the 16-bit and 32-bit mode, I've tried both already. Keeping the Screen Resolution window open did not make a difference either.

Originally Posted by allikat

Try hitting Alt+Enter when in the menus to go into windowed mode, and use the same keys to go fullscreen for the races. It's probably trying to go into a display mode your monitor doesn't like.

Alt+Enter doesn't work. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to force windowed mode without crashing the game (I used this). The game always runs in 640x480 resolution anyway, which my monitor does support.

The only solutions I can think of would be to wait for the VMWare guys to introduce D3D for Win 9x, set aside a small partition for just Win 98 and Micro Machines, or go to eBay and buy an old Win 98-compatible PC.