How To Install Singles2 On Windows 7

Installing Singles 2 On Windows 7

This is an old Simulation Game and please be noted that this is an Adult Oriented Game.
After so many installed and uninstalled on my old laptop which is running on Win XP, I recently tried it on my new one which runs on Win 7 Pro 32bit.
Well some problems shows up, and so I started to do some diggin' up, and found some useful tips and tricks.

1. Installing the game.
Do not install the game in the default location C:\Program Files\Singles2
Create a folder with similar name for installation in your target drive.
Exp : C:\MySingels2 or D:\MySingels2
2. After installations is complete.
    Run the necessary patches (you can google for it, it's not that hard to find)
    - Patch 1.1
    - Patch 1.2
    - Patch 1.3 (use this only if you have European edition, it deals with texture issues in combination with the NVIDIA drivers, if not, then skip this patch)
    - Patch 1.4 Int (full game, no no-cd fix is needed and removal of StarForce Protection Driver)
3. Run the game and have fun.

Note :
1. Some Singles2 game failed getting patched to 1.1 and 1.2 but able to get patched to 1.4, the game runs but some extensions won't work.
The solution : Get another Singles 2 installer

2. In some cases StarForce Protection still appears after patch 1.4 and blocking your game.
The solution :
Source with short steps :  deepsilver forum thread
I agree with the thread starter, the patch failed to replace Singles2.exe so we have to do it manually.

My steps :
1. No need to make a fresh install of your Singles2 Game.
2. Download "Universal Extractor" (I prefer "UniExtract Binary Archive" the portable version, it's good enough to do the job).
You can get it from here Universal Extractor
3. Extract the "uniextract161_noinst.rar" and run "UniExtract.exe" a box will appear asking you to locate your file, in this case, your "Singles2_Patch1.4_Int.exe"
4. Unpack/extract "Singles2_Patch1.4_Int.exe" (the extraction folder would be the same as the patch folder by default, this is where you'll find the "data1.cab")
5. Run "UniExtract.exe" again but this time unpack/extract "data1.cab" (the extraction folder would be the same as the patch folder by default, this is where you'll find the "Singles2.exe" the size is about 7,820KB)
6. Go to your Unpacked/extraction folder and locate "Singels2.exe"
7. Copy and Paste the "Singles2.exe" to your installed game directory and Choose Replace.
8. Now the game should run without the StarForce Protection as intended by "Singles2_Patch1.4_Int" Have fun.

Removing StarForce Protection so Windows 7 won't scream about it every time windows starts :
1. To make sure that StarForce are installed on your system :
    - Right click on "Computer" and select "Properties".
    - Under "Control Panel Home" select "Device manager"
    - Click "View" on the drop down menu, select ”Show Hidden Devices“
    - Double click on "Non-Plug and Play Drivers" to expand it and check whether StarForce is there or not.
If you didn't see it after game installation, try restart your computer/laptop, on start up windows will notify you about driver compatibility issue and has been bocked.
2. Get StarForce removal tool from here StarForce Protection Driver Removal Tool
    - Extract the "sfcdrvrem.zip" and run "sfdrvrem.exe"
    - Wait until a box popped out asking you to restart your computer to complete the removal
    - Click "OK" and your system will Restart
    - StarForce are removed from your system.
If you're not sure if it's removed or not, do the No.1 steps again.

My Screenshots
(click to view large image)