Playing Lineage 2 in Windows 7 (Gameguard Fix)

l2screen

If you’ve tried to play Lineage 2 on Windows 7 you’ve probably been bummed out to find that you get that pesky “GameGuard” error that has been plaguing pretty much every game in Windows 7 that uses GameGuard. What purpose GameGuard serves I have never bear witness to, it’s only given me problems, and this definitely is not the first time.

There is a solution that works for both Aion (not sure if you even need it anymore, they may have patched Aion) and Lineage 2, and probably any game in Windows 7 that needs GameGuard. I guess I should give a little disclaimer and say that you should “do this at your own risk” because you are technically messing with files in the game directory, which is usually against the TOS/EULA, but in reality you’re not doing any harm and without this fix you wouldn’t be giving them $15/mo and playing their games. Since they don’t want to fix it themselves (yet), this is the only option for playing Lineage 2 on Windows 7.

I’ll try to make this simple. You’re basically replacing the “gameguard.des” file (one small, measly file) so that the game will launch correctly, with the trick being that you need to replace it after Lineage 2 has gone through it’s auto-update routine in the patcher. Full details after the jump.

  • Download this Windows 7 proof gameguard.des file (Note: This was stripped straight from another legit game that uses gameguard, I think Rappelz, so it’s not some “hacked” or illegitimate file. From what I understand, it’s simply the file they need to put into the Lineage 2 patcher themselves, but haven’t yet.)
  • Extract the “gameguard.des” file to somewhere handy where you can get to it every time you want to play the game. I myself put it on my desktop.
  • Run Lineage 2 and let the patcher do its thing and leave it open with the play button ready to be hit.
  • Locate the Lineage II\System folder that already has a “gameguard.des” file in it. Default location is C:\Program Files\Lineage II\System or if you’re in 64bit Windows 7, C:\Program Files (x86)\Lineage II\System
  • Copy the “gameguard.des” file that you extracted from the download and replace the one that is in the Lineage II\System folder
  • Now hit the play button

Sure, it’s kind of obnoxious to have to do this every time you want to play, but it’s better than not playing at all if you really want to play.

Enjoy some Lineage II on Windows 7!

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

~ by James Taylor on July 4, 2009.

Posted in Aion, Lineage 2, MMOs
Tags: , , , , ,

24 Responses to “Playing Lineage 2 in Windows 7 (Gameguard Fix)”

  1. That’s good to know, Nozzle… although I doubt I?ll be coming back to L2 anytime soon. Having a blast on AoC, and my Demonologist is now reaching lvl 70 (he will be 70 as soon as I stop RPing enough to PvE him LOL!).

    DOn’t miss L2 at all, not even one bit. Never been happy in a game before in many, many years!

    ValerieRose said this on July 5, 2009 at 8:49 pm

  2. Glad to hear from you and that you’re still enjoying AoC. I still have my Collector’s Edition key waiting to be activated, just haven’t had the itch to try it yet, even with the latest patch coming out. Too many games to play!

    James Taylor said this on July 5, 2009 at 8:52 pm

  3. James.. if u check this page again …i’m sad to tell u …that doesn’t work :)) …so if u know something else to fix that error … pls leave a reply …ty

    Bye

    Jerry said this on July 14, 2009 at 1:39 am

  4. I just tested it again, and it worked for me :/

    You may just be getting a different error altogether?

    James Taylor said this on July 14, 2009 at 7:15 am

  5. It works only in win7 x64

    Vildar said this on July 17, 2009 at 6:28 am

  6. THANKS! :D was getting desperate, THANKS :D:D

    Daniel said this on July 24, 2009 at 6:23 am

  7. @Jerry – It works, but as someone mentioned, perhaps just for x64. I probably should have mentioned I’m running x64 Windows7. Haven’t tested it on 32bit Win7.

    @Daniel – glad to hear it worked and helped you! :)

    James Taylor said this on July 24, 2009 at 6:44 am

  8. Isnt working on Win7 RTM x64. Getting warning about hacking tools as soon as pass login screen.

    Snorx said this on July 25, 2009 at 10:24 am

  9. Just like Snorx, I’m using Windows 7 RTM x64 and it doesn’t work. I’ve tried everything and all compatibility modes…nothing. I’m running out of options here..

    Rob7even said this on July 25, 2009 at 9:55 pm

  10. Sorry for double post, but I forgot to say that it doesn’t even enter the game. I double-click the icon, I get the splash screen and this pops up: L2.exe has stopped working…

    Rob7even said this on July 25, 2009 at 9:57 pm

  11. not working on my windows 7 32bit 7600 build

    tigz said this on August 2, 2009 at 5:52 am

  12. 123

    Wlad said this on August 4, 2009 at 10:10 am

  13. Confirmed working in win7×64 7600 RTM. Thanks

    Hub said this on August 11, 2009 at 8:28 am

  14. 2009.8.14 02:34:22
    OS : Windows Vista 6.1 (Build: 7600)
    CPU : GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Extreme CPU X9650 @ 3.00GHz @ 3006 MHz 4095MB RAM
    Video : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 (8618)
    PosCode : LS1(83) 0:0:0 4/0 [436]

    Error setting display mode: CreateDevice failed (D3DERR_DEVICELOST). Please delete your Option.ini file if this error prevents you from starting the game.

    History: UD3DRenderDevice::UnSetRes <- CreateDevice <- UD3DRenderDevice::SetRes <- HandleBigChange <- UD3DRenderDevice::Lock <- UViewport::Lock <- UWindowsViewport::Lock <- Precaching <- UGameEngine::Draw <- UWindowsViewport::Repaint <- UWindowsClient::Tick <- ClientTick <- UGameEngine::Tick <- UpdateWorld <- MainLoop

    Rune said this on August 13, 2009 at 7:40 pm

  15. Helppppppppppppp :-’(

    Rune said this on August 13, 2009 at 7:41 pm

  16. I got a problem with the l2.bin instead.

    Crimzon said this on August 25, 2009 at 2:03 pm

  17. Holy comments batman. I’m not sure what to tell you all, this worked when I played – but I haven’t touched Lineage 2 in a few months and don’t currently have it installed, otherwise I would go do some more troubleshooting to figure out if it still works.

    Sorry!

    James Taylor said this on August 28, 2009 at 12:00 pm

  18. You have to repeat these steps everytime L2 has been patched. An easy way is to let the game do all patches, then close the patcher, copy that gameguard.des into the system-folder and overwrite the existing there. Then rename L2.bin to L2.exe and use that exe file to start lineage each time u want to play. Once it doesn’t work anymore, it means there have been new patches, so rename L2.exe to L2.bin again, start the patcher, let it patch everything, then close it again, copy gameguard.des into system-folder, rename L2.bin to L2.exe and play again using that file till next patch.

    Vlahd said this on August 31, 2009 at 12:23 pm

  19. on windows 7 32bit not worked, anyone know when lineage2 update the gameguard offi. for windows 7 ? :/

    Anynom said this on October 2, 2009 at 12:20 pm

  20. doesnt work

    Xca said this on October 16, 2009 at 6:53 pm

  21. in windows 7 enterprise 64 bit, it doesnt work, cause in the Gameguard folder i have got gameguard.ver file not gameguard.des

    SPPHS said this on October 30, 2009 at 5:47 am

  22. oh, sry it was just a misunderstanding, it works:P

    SPPHS said this on October 30, 2009 at 5:48 am

  23. I got the same l2 bin problem!! I d tried everything i have windows 7 64

    Daniel said this on November 8, 2009 at 3:03 pm

  24. как установить линейку на етой чёртовой в7 ?

    Тимур said this on November 9, 2009 at 5:43 am

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