when i start a game i immediately get a this program has stopped responding BS!!

Same. Did you ever figure it out?

I found that starting in Safe Mode worked by running the "Tropico 2 Safe Mode.bat". It appears the only difference between safe mode and regular is the .ini file is uses, and the only differences in the .ini file are as follows.


Tropico2.ini vs. Tropico2Safe.ini
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[DDraw]
SoftwareDevice=0 vs. SoftwareDevice=1

[PirateUI]
UIScreenSize=2 vs. UIScreenSize=1
CharacterLevel=7 vs. CharacterLevel=5
ShadeLevel=7 vs. ShadeLevel=2
TextureLevel=7 vs. TextureLevel=4
TreeLevel=7 vs. TreeLevel=6
OceanLevel=4 vs. OceanLevel=0

[PirateGame]
AutoSavePeriod=1000 vs. AutoSavePeriod=1200
---------------------------------------------------------------------

After messing around with these settings, I figured out that in order to get this to work for me, I just needed to change the settings in the Tropico2.ini file to the following:

SoftwareDevice=0 to SoftwareDevice=1

Mu full Tropico2.ini file is listed below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[A16App]
AmbientDanger=0
DisableTaskSwitching=0
MouseControl=0
ShowFrameRate=0
Borderless=0
FullScreen=1
MinFramePeriod=5000
MaxFramePeriod=0
ClearScreen=0
MouseWheelDelta=1

[DDraw]
SoftwareDevice=1
TextureManage=1

[DRenderer]
ZBuffer=0

[Sound]
Channels=2
Frequency=22050
SampleBits=16
Voices=6
Volume=50

[PirateApp]
ScreenShotCounter=0
LastCampaignSave=
TransitionMovies=1
PlayOpeningMovie=1

[PirateUI]
CancelMButton=2
MapScrollSpeed=1600
ScrollMButton=1
SelectionMButton=0
UIScreenSize=4
DisplayShipsLog=1
MultipleCondemn=0
ResolutionTextDuration=7000
SpeedTextDuration=3000
RainbowMeters=1
AntiAliasLevel=7
BlendingLevel=4
BuildingLevel=7
CharacterLevel=7
DisplayIslandLog=0
DrawGrid=0
DrawOverlay=1
ShadeLevel=7
TextureLevel=7
TreeLevel=7
AnnounceHats=1
AnnounceParrots=1
AnnouncePeglegs=1
AnnouncePlunder=1
AnnounceRecruits=1
AnnounceNewShips=1
AssistantVolume=75
BorderSize=0
FaunaLevel=7
OceanLevel=4
UnitVolume=75
FXVolume=50
ShipLevel=7
DisplayTutorial=1
PersistentSmitty=1

[PirateGame]
MaxFramePeriod=100
ParticleCount=200
DisallowSillyShores=0
AutoSavePeriod=1000

[TMapView]
AntiAliasLevel=7
BuildingLevel=7
CharacterLevel=7
DrawGrid=0
DrawOverlay=1
ShadeLevel=4
TextureLevel=7
TreeLevel=7
BlendingLevel=4

[MapTreeSprite]
ShowStumps=0

[Music]
Volume=50

[TIslandLog]
ReselectTOCChapter=0
ShowUndiscoveredInvasion=1

[AmbientSound]
Volume=50

[EventSounds]
Voices=12

[PathConstructionModule]
AllowSingleTileConstruction=0
HideTreesDuringConstruction=1

This worked! I ran tropico 2 safe mode and it works like it should. Thanks man.

Can you help me please ? (sorry for the bad english, I am French).

I desesperately try to run Tropico 2 on Windows 10 but it doesn't work. I bought Tropico Reloaded on GOG, Tropico 1 works fine but each time I try to run Tropico 2, I got this message error : "failed trying to set screen to 640 x 480 x 16 bpp".

I tried modify the .ini file as described (changed SoftwareDevice=0 to SoftwareDevice=1), the compatibility mode (xp, 98...), changed my screen resolution to 800x600, try to launch the safe mode, install a no cd crack... nothing works.

I really want to play this game, please help :(

Trying to bump this. Experiencing the exact same issue.

I have windows 10 and unfortunately salomj's advice did not work for me.

However, I found following the advice in this video did:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-wGOsVqUTs

This video is for another game, but it did the trick for me in Tropico 2. You basically download a ddwrapper ddl and it's config file and put it in the game directory for Tropico 2. You then modify the config file as the video tells you and change the compatability settings for the game.

I found after doing this the game would run for me -- if I started it with the Tropico 2 Safe Mode.bat file mentioned by solomj.

@salomj

you my hero man - ty to share your way to fix the game - it's run now

Just to add for folks like myself still googling this problem, the steps I found effective were:

1. Right-click Tropico2.exe and choose Troubleshoot Compatibility
2. Let it set the compatibility - it will go with WinXP SP3
3. When you test, you will get an error. Ignore the error.
4. Hit Next and tell Windows that the settings worked.
5. Try to launch the game. If you get 3 crashes in a row, edit Tropico2.ini
6. Change the value for DDraw: SoftwareDevice. If it's 0 make it 1, or vice versa.
7. Try launching again. Repeat steps 5-7 until you make it into a game.

In my experience, Safe Mode got no better results than the main .exe, and what value you set under SoftwareDevice doesn't matter, only that you changed it. Yes, I have to repeat steps 5-7 almost every time I launch the game. Once you're in a game, though, you're golden. Maxing out the resolution with in-game settings caused me no problems, and is remarkably sharp on a giant 4K display. DO NOT change the 3D rendering setting to "Hardware." I had to reinstall after doing that, but reinstalling did let me narrow my troubleshooting steps down to the above, which have been reliable since then.