The Fix – DarkStar One crashing in Windows 7

Situation:

DS1 (Dark Star One) in Windows 7 Beta (x64) was crashing immediately upon trying to start it. This is the Steam version of the game, although the fix may apply in other situations. The Ascaron Exception Dialogue pops up with a “Walhalla Exception” and says there’s been an “Ascaron Exception Error”. If you look through the Advanced tab details, you’ll see mention of D3DERR_NOTAVAILABLE and a file called dxapdirect3d.cpp .

In any case, I was able to fix it.

I’ll give credit to the post here for the info.

Solution:

I went through most of the steps, but it wasn’t until the “Additional Troubleshooting” section that I found my answer…

1) Install the latest DirectX Runtimes (November 2008) from here (microsoft.com). In the event that a while has gone by, this post’s a bit old, and there are new versions out, you may want to start here instead and browse your way through to the DirectX End User Runtimes. Now this MAY not be necessary, but since I did it (and don’t have any reason to UNDO what are currently the latest versions), You could skip to step #2, and if that doesn’t work, come back and do step #1 afterwards.

2) Delete the iphlpapi.dll file from the following location (or to be safe, just MOVE it to the desktop or something so you can restore it):

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\darkstar one\

Now try running Darkstar One. It certainly started working for me!

Reason this works:

Basically from what I gather, this is what happens… There are 2 copies of the iphlpapi.dll file on the computer. One is in your Windows/System32 folder (and may be updated when you go through step #1). The other is in the Darkstar One folder (and is older). When the game starts, it uses the OLD one by default, which doesn’t get along with Windows 7. By deleting it, the game doesn’t see it in the game folder, and next looks to the various system folders. It finds the new one, and things work!

It’s possible you could simply replace the iphlpapi.dll file in the Steam folder with the newer version. However, I’ve heard that Steam can be finicky about running programs that have been modified, so deleting it may be a better option. It worked for me anyway.

Good luck!

12 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1. Vejita on April 13, 2009 - click here to reply
    Thank you!

    This worked fine for me! ^^
  2. André on June 12, 2009 - click here to reply
    Thank You!!

    Greetings from Germany :-)
  3. Louis on January 13, 2010 - click here to reply
    It Worked! Thanks a million dude!
  4. Jeffrey Imbody on February 9, 2010 - click here to reply
    Hey gang, have an issue I can't resolve with DS!, and since you all seem to be getting it going, I'm hoping you can help. I have windows 7, and a quad core amd processor. When I go to install the game, I get the error message, (Cannot proceed, error 577(. I have tried to install and run the game in several different compatability modes but to know avail. Does anyone have any ideas about how to get around this? I love this game too much to let it go. Let me know if you have any thoughts, and thanks.
  5. Tyler on March 13, 2010 - click here to reply
    @Jeffrey Imbody


    I'm having the same exact problem. Working to find a fix now.
  6. Tyler on March 13, 2010 - click here to reply
    @Jeffrey Imbody


    Found a Fix, Jeffrey.

    http://www.tagesprotection.com/main.htm?page=minimum.htm

    Download the driver. Works.
    • Daniel on March 9, 2012 - click here to reply
      Thanks for the link. I was really happy to see that it did work :)
  7. junior on July 17, 2010 - click here to reply
    my games cant work......pls hlp...i already try everthing but still cant not work ...
  8. Anonymous on October 9, 2011 - click here to reply
    Thanks bud, worked first time! :D
  9. Anonymous on August 25, 2012 - click here to reply
    it don't work for me. I use the old version which i bought in 2008, is it the problem?
  10. Cyberhawx on August 31, 2013 - click here to reply
    Thank You ... Thank You ... Thank You .... that is amazing. I gave up on DS1 when I moved to 7, but WOW thanks man. It is now working !
  11. Name (recommended) on August 24, 2018 - click here to reply
    Nice that you explain how to fix it if it not works but you must have forgotten to explain it for people who have no problem. How to apply it for them?

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