Geralt of Rivia

Fortunately, buying the Deluxe edition is becoming increasingly more difficult as Mastertronic went bankrupt in 2015. No new copies are being made, so the only copies that are left are whatever is dwindling in the Amazon and Ebay marketplaces.

It should be noted that patch 1.3.1 and patch 1.3.1 Deluxe are two distinctly different patches. Patch 1.3.1 is not compatible with the Deluxe edition of the game (I get an error message if I try to install that patch), and patch 1.3.1 Deluxe is not compatible with the Standard edition of the game. The Deluxe edition patches weren't made by FireFly Studios; they were made by Sold Out Software themselves. In fact, the Deluxe edition content was originally made by Sold Out Software, and then later licensed by FireFly Studios to be included in the 1.3.1 Standard Patch for North American retail copies of the game (the Deluxe edition was never formally released in North America; only in Europe). It should also be noted that Patch 1.4 and Patch 1.4.1 are not compatible with the Deluxe edition of the game. If you try to install either of these patches, you'll get error messages stating as much.

Sorry for the delay in reply. Here in the United States, we have just finished celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday. Despite being a holiday, you're incredibly busy trying to get everything ready, attending social gatherings, etc. I rarely had any free time to play video games, let alone Stronghold. Anyways, onto the post. So yeah, I got my cousin's standard edition last week: https://u.cubeupload.com/Buzzed_Lightyear/IMG20201203145657.jpeg After fully uninstalling the Deluxe edition, I made two Alcohol images of the original disks and mounted them in the virtual drive and installed the new standard edition: After patching the game to version 1.4 (and then later 1.4.1), I was greeted with this upon trying to play the game: In other words, it works perfectly. So what can we conclude from all of this? That my suspicions were correct: that this issue is specific to the Deluxe Edition of the game, and specifically the 1.3.1 Deluxe Edition Patch. So word to the wise: avoid the Deluxe Edition of Stronghold 2. There's something wrong with that version for whatever reason.

Yes, I've tried running the game from the original installation media. It still doesn't work. Also, here's proof that I do indeed own a physical copy of the game. As you can see, it is indeed the Mastertronic Deluxe edition: Anyways, I got my cousin's Standard edition today. Will be installing it later tonight. If it works, then we can conclude that it's an issue exclusive to the Mastertronic Deluxe edition. Not if you live in the United States. Being able to make a copy of a DVD/CD or other physical media (such as cassette tape or floppy disc) for the purpose of personal backup/protecting the original discs is literally written into the United States copyright law. This applies to all copyrighted media including (but not limited to) movies, music, and video games.

I know that Alcohol 120% isn't causing the issue because I used to run this same image on Windows 7. I only started having this issue within the last week when I decided to run this game for the first time in years on my new Windows 10 PC. However, after doing even more research, I discovered that Standard patch 1.4 included all of the extra features added in the Deluxe edition as well as all of the bugfixes that I wanted in the 1.31 patch Deluxe. Fortunately, I actually have a cousin who owns the Standard edition. What I'll end up doing is borrowing his copy, making Alcohol images, and patching the game to version 1.4 (technically legal given that I'll end up with the same game that includes the exact same amount of content as the version I currently own). Not the solution I wanted, but at least I'll end up with a working copy. Also, I might not be running patch 1.4.1 given that in my research, I discovered that patch 1.4.1 patches some very delicious "cheese" that I might want to exploit in the single player campaign. 😉

No, currently, this is the only game that has this problem. And yes, I've tried this many, many times. No matter how many times I "End Task" in the Task Manager and attempt to restart the game, it keeps on hanging in the task manager. It's not SecuROM that's causing the issue. I know this due to two things: #1. I can run other SecuROM games that use the same version of SecuROM (to be specific SecuROM 7) such as Sid Meier's Pirates. #2. I'm running this using Alcohol 120% using Extra Emulation (specifically Sub-Channel Data Fixed and Emulation) with the image created using high DPS precision measurement, so the disc is a completely 1-for-1 mirror of the original disc. Besides, even if it WAS a SecuROM issue, then we would get the famous "Failed to Authenticate" screen. It wouldn't hang there doing nothing. No my anti-virus isn't blocking anything. It's Bitdefender Internet Security. Crazy thing is I came across another post very much like mine while researching this issue on this very site no less! Here's the post: Small world, am I right?

Hi @Lord_Chris, and thank you for your reply. No, I actually own the Mastertronic Deluxe Edition which includes the 1.31 patch right on the DVD installation disc. Whenever I try to run the game, it just hangs in the Task Manager. It never ends up actually launching. I don't get any error messages either: https://u.cubeupload.com/Buzzed_Lightyear/Stronhold2WontStart.png

As some of you may know, there are two versions of Stronghold 2: the Standard edition and the Deluxe edition. The standard edition patches to version 1.4.1, however, the Deluxe edition patches to version 1.31; and it requires a special Deluxe patch. The good news is that this patch was included on the DVD disc itself of late releases of this game (I have a late release which includes a 1.31 patch right on the disc; alternatively, the patch can also be downloaded here: https://www.patches-scrolls.de/patch/4050/7/51651/download). The problem is that I cannot get the game to start when applying the 1.31 patch; and I would very much like to apply the patch as it contains a large amount of bugfixes, balancing fixes, and AI improvements. Any help getting this to work would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! Additional Info: -Windows 10 Professional x64 bit edition -Intel Core i7-8700 CPU -NVidia Geforce GTX 1660 -64 BG RAM -1TB SSD