Off of my flash drive, it seems to work on all of my other computers.
Even the ones at my old school which were Win7 and not Vista like my laptop. Which it does not work on.
I didn't understand from you post whether or not you used DxWnd to run Pekka Kana under Windows Vista and Windows 7.
If you haven't, then I'm not sure how to interpret your post. I suppose that what you meant is that you can run Pekka Kana 2 under some computers that run Windows 7, but you can't run it under your personal laptop that uses Windows Vista... correct me if I'm wrong.
OK, I'll try to write a simple list of things that may help you solve your problem, though I can't guarantee that following these steps will indeed solve your problem.
The list:
1. Check what your operating system (OS) really is (including version and whether it's 32-bit or 64-bit). This is useful for troubleshooting purposes and it will also be beneficial for people who may want to try to run Pekka Kana under an OS setup like yours (I'm talking about the case with using Windows Vista, as I've never used Windows Vista and I don't know if Pekka Kana 2 can really run under it).
To do this under Windows 7, you can follow one of these ways:
a) Press the
Windows key + the
Pause / Break key (or
one of these alternative keys if you don't have the
Pause / Break key on your keyboard).
b)
Start button ->
Control Panel ->
System and Security ->
System.
c) Click the
Start menu button, and
right-click on 'My Computer' in the Start Menu, then
select 'Properties'. If you don't have 'My Computer' in the Start Menu, you can add it via right-clicking on the taskbar -> the 'Start Menu' tab -> 'Customization...'.
Write down the OS name and OS version that is displayed there, as well as your OS type (32-bit or 64-bit). The CPU model and the available RAM memory are also worth writing down (though you must be dumb not to know them before you bought/ordered your PC
). Then tell us that information - it could help us solve your problem...
2. To run Pekka Kana 2 under Windows 7, you need to download and install a free and open-source program called DxWnd, and then you need to set DxWnd's settings for use with Pekka Kana 2. Information about all of that can be found in this very forum, in the very informative and well-written forum thread '
Running PK2 nowadays (Windows 7, windowed)' (the thread was originally started by
RavMahov, but many other fellow forum users also contributed to it).
NOTE: After properly configuring DxWnd for use with Pekka Kana 2 (as explained in the forum thread mentioned above), you should always start Pekka Kana 2
by using DxWnd to start it.
The same applies to the Pekka Kana 2 Level Editor - you should use DxWnd to start it (with settings similar to those used to run Pekka Kana 2). You may need to update your GPU drivers, but that may sometimes screw things up (nVidia drivers don't seem to play well with Pekka Kana 2 under Windows 7 because Pekka Kana 2 is written for an older version of DirectX, and, to top that, in many cases, nVidia's support for legacy games isn't very good - or is totally absent...
).
3. If you still can't start the PK2 Sprite Editor, it may be due to a corrupted file. Try re-downloading the Sprite Editor (and Pekka Kana 2 itself, if you have to - BUT make a backup of your PK2 and Level Editor folders!!!) from
the official website.
4. If the above doesn't help, it may very well be due to a corrupted Windows Registry... Try using a program like
CCleaner (the Free edition) to try to fix your Registry problems, but do backup your whole Registry and make a System Restore Point before running CCleaner - in case you screw up...
5. Regarding your comment about a problem called 'Component 'MSCOMCTL.OCX' or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid', try
this,
this or
this (steps 4. and 5. there seem to be the most promising) fix (
But be warned: too much messing with the Windows Registry will almost always lead to BIG PROBLEMS; also, don't install any recommended anti-malware scanning programs unless they have good reputation and aren't malware in themselves).
6. If steps 1. to 5. above still didn't help you, try running
chkdsk /F or
chkdsk /R using the Windows Command Line (i.e. Start -> Run... -> cmd.exe).
WARNING: First check
chkdsk /? for information about the CHKDSK command and read about it on the Internet (just do a web-search for 'chkdsk' to learn more about it). Using CHKDSK may lead to SEVERE problems (or it can help you), so be warned!!!
7. As a last resort, if all else fails to solve your problem, re-install your Windows OS, and then follow steps 2. and 3. above.
WARNING: Re-installing Windows will DELETE ALL OF YOUR DATA (FILES) from the drive that hosts your Windows files (that is usually 'C:\', e.g. if if you have 'C:\Windows\', and it has OS files there, all of 'C:\' will be deleted upon re-installation)!!! Making a backup of your important files to other drives (including drives on external HDDs) is a very good idea.