Halo 1 Not Working on Windows 7 x64

I recently installed Halo: Combat Evolved and patched it to version 1.09. When I run it, it plays the logo videos fine but then when it gets to the menu, it plays only the music on a black screen. Is there a compatibility problem with my system?

My specs:

• Windows 7 Professional x64
• Intel Core i3-3110m 2.4Ghz
• Intel HD Graphics 4000
• 8 GB DDR3 RAM

Try installing it in the default directory (don't pick somewhere else). I tried every tweak I could find on the net, and nothing was working. Then I decided to go with the default directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Halo) and voila, none of the other stuff (compatibility, etc.) was necessary -- it worked fine.

I guess the simple thing to check would be to make sure your graphics drivers are up to date, but assuming that doesn't help, There are two solutions I can think of that might work

Running the game in compatibility mode

• Navigate to the .exe file in the install location.
• Right-click the shortcut, and click 'Properties'
• Click the Compatibility Tab
• Check the box that says Run this program in compatibility mode for: and select Windows XP (Service Pack 3)

You can also try Run the Program as an Administrator as well.

Killing explorer before running the game

The other thing I sometimes find when running these old games in Windows 7/8, is that the taskbar seems to stuff them up somehow. You can also try killing explorer.exe before starting the game.

I usually wrap the game's executable in a batch file that kills explorer, starts the game, and waits for it to finish, before starting explorer again. Here are the commands. Put these in a .bat file in the Halo install directory, and run this to launch the game:

@echo off
taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
start /WAIT <halo executable name>.exe
start explorer.exe