Fix it Yourself: Playing StarCraft on Windows 7

If you play StarCraft (not SC2 ) on Windows 7, there is a problem with the color palette when running the game. To fix this problem, you have to terminate the process of “explorer.exe” before running StarCraft. After terminating the “explorer.exe”, you can normally play StarCraft. Then after exiting the game, you may launch the “explorer.exe” to return the desktop normally.

So, three simple steps to play StarCraft on Windows 7 are:
1. terminate the “explorer.exe”
2. run StarCraft
3. run “explorer.exe” after exiting the game
To do that, you’ll need Task Manager help (terminate the process of “explorer.exe”, launch the StarCraft executable, and return the Windows Explorer).

Do The Task Automatically

Well, using Task Manager to play StarCraft normally in Windows 7 is not that simple and quick. We need to write a batch command (loader) to do this task automatically. So, open your Notepad and type this command (I’ll explain this later):

@taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F
@echo -
@echo - Running game. Please wait . . .
@StarCraft.exe
@echo - DON'T PRESS any key for now. Game will run!!
@echo -
@echo -
@pause
@echo -
@echo - Press ANY KEY to return to normal mode.
@echo -
@pause
@explorer

Attention:

• Save this as “myloader.bat” (or whatever) in your StarCraft game directory (make sure you enter it .bat not .txt).
• Change “StarCraft.exe” to loader.exe name if you use one
• You can create a shorcut in your desktop from this loader.
  right click > Send to > Desktop (create shortcut)
• Then change the icon for the shortcut (you can’t change the icon of “myloader.bat” directly) using the icon from StarCraft.exe
  right click > Properties > Change Icon… > Browse StarCraft.exe > OK

You can play StarCraft normally in Windows 7 using this loader now

How the Command Works

Well, I’ll explain what we typed in that loader so you know what you’re doing

1. Terminate (kill) the “explorer.exe”—(using ‘@’ sign to hide the command in the displayed messages)

   @taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F

2. Run the game after “explorer.exe” was terminated

   @echo -
   @echo - Running game. Please wait . . .
   @StarCraft.exe
   @echo - DON'T PRESS any key for now. Game will run!!
   @echo -
   @echo -
   @pause

   You see that “@echo” command is used just to display a message and “@pause” command is to pause before executing next command.

3. When you exit the game, you may launch the “explorer.exe” to return the desktop normally.

   @echo -
   @echo - Press ANY KEY to return to normal mode.
   @echo -
   @pause
   @explorer

Simplify the Loaders

So we know that to play StarCraft normally in Windows 7 we need three simple steps: #1 terminate the “explorer.exe”, #2 run the game, #3 return the “explorer.exe”.

If you understand what the loader works, you can simplify the loader (remove the displayed messages). So, it is the main commands used for the loader:

@taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F
@StarCraft.exe
@echo DON'T PRESS any key for now. Game will run!!
@pause
@explorer

If you have same problem in another games, you can also try this trick.
Have fun!