• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 06:23
CET 12:23
KST 20:23
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview2TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners12
Community News
ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career !3Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win3Weekly Cups (Dec 1-7): Clem doubles, Solar gets over the hump1Weekly Cups (Nov 24-30): MaxPax, Clem, herO win2BGE Stara Zagora 2026 announced15
StarCraft 2
General
Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career ! Did they add GM to 2v2? RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview Weekly Cups (Dec 1-7): Clem doubles, Solar gets over the hump
Tourneys
RSL Offline Finals Info - Dec 13 and 14! Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) Winter Warp Gate Amateur Showdown #1: Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 504 Retribution Mutation # 503 Fowl Play Mutation # 502 Negative Reinforcement Mutation # 501 Price of Progress
Brood War
General
FlaSh on: Biggest Problem With SnOw's Playstyle How Rain Became ProGamer in Just 3 Months BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ [BSL21] RO8 Bracket & Prediction Contest BW General Discussion
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] WB SEMIFINALS - Saturday 21:00 CET [BSL21] RO8 - Day 2 - Sunday 21:00 CET [ASL20] Grand Finals
Strategy
Game Theory for Starcraft Current Meta Simple Questions, Simple Answers Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile General RTS Discussion Thread Dawn of War IV Nintendo Switch Thread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Survivor II: The Amazon Sengoku Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine The Games Industry And ATVI Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
TL+ Announced Where to ask questions and add stream?
Blogs
How Sleep Deprivation Affect…
TrAiDoS
I decided to write a webnov…
DjKniteX
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Thanks for the RSL
Hildegard
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1699 users

[G] Windows 7 Color Glitch Fix

Forum Index > BW General
Post a Reply
1 2 3 Next All
vaderseven
Profile Joined September 2008
United States2556 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-09-13 19:40:21
September 13 2009 06:04 GMT
#1
I figured out a true solution to this. Alt Tab friendly and no compatibility buttons needed. Finally I can go back to AIM and the web in between matches without having to close SC completely!

Solution 1*

+ Show Spoiler +
Step 1 : Paste the following into a text file and save it as "StarcraftStarter.cmd" :

taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
d:\Games\Starcraft\StarCraft.exe
pause
start explorer.exe

(replace the destination with your sc.exe of course)

Just make sure you open any programs you want to alt tab to FIRST as without the explorer its harder to open programs. I leave AIM and a web browser open and I have everything I need!

Credit to "Viper" of sc2gg for the idea.


* - Make sure you have windows set to show extensions for known file types or you will create a file like explorer kill.cmd.txt which is NOT going to help you. To do this, go here and follow the instructions


Solution 2*

+ Show Spoiler +
Alternative for those that use Chaos Launcher or ICCUP Launcher :

Step 1 : Paste the following into a text file and save it as "Explorer Kill.cmd" :

taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
pause
start explorer.exe

Step 2 : Start your starcraft launcher (chaos or icc launcher)

Step 3 : Run "Explorer Kill.cmd"

Step 4 : Start Starcraft via your sc launcher

Just make sure you open any programs you want to alt tab to FIRST as without the explorer its harder to open programs. I leave AIM and a web browser open and I have everything I need!

Credit to "Viper" of sc2gg for the idea. I expanded upon the idea so that it can be used with a launcher but the original explorer kill that starts sc in one command is his.


* - Make sure you have windows set to show extensions for known file types or you will create a file like explorer kill.cmd.txt which is NOT going to help you. To do this, go here and follow the instructions


Solution 3

+ Show Spoiler +
Open your display properties to the window where you can select screen resolution. Leave this window open. Play SC as normal.

This only works for some users (no known reason why it works for some and not others).



edit take 2 - Consider this my major thank you for putting up with newb questions from myself in the strat forum! ^^

Edit 3 - Added other common solution for completeness sake. Improved the look via spoiler tabs.
Grobyc
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Canada18410 Posts
September 13 2009 06:38 GMT
#2
I don't have Windows 7 now, but I may be upgrading shortly.

Thanks for this
If you watch Godzilla backwards it's about a benevolent lizard who helps rebuild a city and then moonwalks into the ocean.
nttea
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Sweden4353 Posts
September 13 2009 06:47 GMT
#3
Yay! this is fucking awesome!
Mikilatov
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States3897 Posts
September 13 2009 06:57 GMT
#4
Awesome.

Haven't tried it with SC yet, but tried it with another game I was having the same problems with, sadly the other game won't run using this, it just goes to black screen and crashes. =( Oh well, at least it supposedly works with SC!
♥ I used to lasso the shit out of your tournaments =( ♥ | Much is my hero. | zizi yO~ | Be Nice, TL.
nttea
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Sweden4353 Posts
September 13 2009 07:10 GMT
#5
On September 13 2009 15:57 Mikilatov wrote:
Awesome.

Haven't tried it with SC yet, but tried it with another game I was having the same problems with, sadly the other game won't run using this, it just goes to black screen and crashes. =( Oh well, at least it supposedly works with SC!


works perfectly for me! and the fucked up colors was so annoying i'm really happy now^^
vaderseven
Profile Joined September 2008
United States2556 Posts
September 13 2009 07:33 GMT
#6
All this fix does is kill windows explorer while setting in action a future option to turn it back on.

So if the problem in your other game wasnt caused by windows explore (which the SC color problem is caused by [and the Diablo 2 color problem if you guys care]) then this fix is N/A.

For windows 7 and SC though, this should be a 100% fix.
kerr0r
Profile Joined September 2008
Norway319 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-09-13 10:46:14
September 13 2009 10:28 GMT
#7
Either all of this, OR...
Right click desktop -> Screen resolution -> leave the window open while you play.

Though I'll admit this is a somewhat "cleaner" solution.

edit: I just saw this:

Just make sure you open any programs you want to alt tab to FIRST as without the explorer its harder to open programs. I leave AIM and a web browser open and I have everything I need!

I changed my mind, it's not a clean solution at all! I hereby declare mine to be superior!
disco
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Netherlands1667 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-09-13 10:59:56
September 13 2009 10:59 GMT
#8
On September 13 2009 19:28 kerr0r wrote:
Either all of this, OR...
Right click desktop -> Screen resolution -> leave the window open while you play.

Though I'll admit this is a somewhat "cleaner" solution.

edit: I just saw this:

Show nested quote +
Just make sure you open any programs you want to alt tab to FIRST as without the explorer its harder to open programs. I leave AIM and a web browser open and I have everything I need!

I changed my mind, it's not a clean solution at all! I hereby declare mine to be superior!



Wait... what?
Leave what window open?
this game is a fucking jokie
kerr0r
Profile Joined September 2008
Norway319 Posts
September 13 2009 11:29 GMT
#9
On September 13 2009 19:59 disco wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 13 2009 19:28 kerr0r wrote:
Either all of this, OR...
Right click desktop -> Screen resolution -> leave the window open while you play.

Though I'll admit this is a somewhat "cleaner" solution.

edit: I just saw this:

Just make sure you open any programs you want to alt tab to FIRST as without the explorer its harder to open programs. I leave AIM and a web browser open and I have everything I need!

I changed my mind, it's not a clean solution at all! I hereby declare mine to be superior!



Wait... what?
Leave what window open?

The screen resolution window.
Don't ask me why it works, but it does.
Scorch
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Austria3371 Posts
September 13 2009 11:55 GMT
#10
On September 13 2009 20:29 kerr0r wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 13 2009 19:59 disco wrote:
On September 13 2009 19:28 kerr0r wrote:
Either all of this, OR...
Right click desktop -> Screen resolution -> leave the window open while you play.

Though I'll admit this is a somewhat "cleaner" solution.

edit: I just saw this:

Just make sure you open any programs you want to alt tab to FIRST as without the explorer its harder to open programs. I leave AIM and a web browser open and I have everything I need!

I changed my mind, it's not a clean solution at all! I hereby declare mine to be superior!



Wait... what?
Leave what window open?

The screen resolution window.
Don't ask me why it works, but it does.

Meh, more or less. It still happens to me sometimes that the colors go on the fritz as if on LSD, only to turn back to normal later. Only in menus/lobby though, in-game is fine apart from very minor flaws.
Gotta try killing explorer and see if that works.
floor exercise
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Canada5847 Posts
September 13 2009 12:30 GMT
#11
leaving the resolution window open isn't a 100% fix, nothing is but killing explorer, which isn't a new idea.

You can also just launch bw with the iccup launcher, alt tab, kill explorer in the task manager and run it again when you are done playing
DivinO
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States4796 Posts
September 13 2009 17:24 GMT
#12
Awesome, thanks a lot.
LiquipediaBrain in my filth.
vaderseven
Profile Joined September 2008
United States2556 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-09-13 17:34:37
September 13 2009 17:28 GMT
#13
On September 13 2009 19:28 kerr0r wrote:
Either all of this, OR...
Right click desktop -> Screen resolution -> leave the window open while you play.

Though I'll admit this is a somewhat "cleaner" solution.

edit: I just saw this:

Show nested quote +
Just make sure you open any programs you want to alt tab to FIRST as without the explorer its harder to open programs. I leave AIM and a web browser open and I have everything I need!

I changed my mind, it's not a clean solution at all! I hereby declare mine to be superior!



Sadly your solution does not work for myself and a large number of people! The solution I outlined is quick and easy.

It is very equiv to the above post where you just kill explorer via task manager but this solution leaves it the option to restart explorer quickly and painlessly.

added the personalize resolution solution for completeness sake!
Louder
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States2276 Posts
September 13 2009 17:41 GMT
#14
You could probably modify that second solution to work with the ICCup launcher. If you set your launcher to run starcraft automatically, and the script file launches the launcher, waits a few seconds, then restarts explorer...
AcrossFiveJulys
Profile Blog Joined September 2005
United States3612 Posts
September 13 2009 18:48 GMT
#15
thanks! I have the same problem but on vista with weird ghx settings. It fixed the dreaded color glitch caused by alt tabbing!
Probe.
Profile Joined May 2009
United States877 Posts
September 13 2009 19:08 GMT
#16
Interesting. I have windows 7 and my colors never get messed up. I didn't even do anything to fix it.
meow
vaderseven
Profile Joined September 2008
United States2556 Posts
September 13 2009 19:38 GMT
#17
On September 14 2009 02:41 Louder wrote:
You could probably modify that second solution to work with the ICCup launcher. If you set your launcher to run starcraft automatically, and the script file launches the launcher, waits a few seconds, then restarts explorer...


I actually tried to get something like that going but I couldnt make it happen. I'm no pro at writting scripts and the like so if someone else can take a shot at doing just that I would add it as well.
floor exercise
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Canada5847 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-09-13 19:49:06
September 13 2009 19:48 GMT
#18
You don't need any scripts.

1) Launch SC with the iccup launcher, colors will be fucked
2) Alt tab
3) Ctrl alt delete, taskmanager, find explorer.exe in the processes, end it
4) Go over to the Applications tab and double click Starcraft, colors will be unfucked
5) Play game
6) Get cheesed, alt f4, task manager is either still running in the bottom left or just ctrl alt delete again and go to file, new task, type explorer
Scorch
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Austria3371 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-09-13 20:48:37
September 13 2009 20:41 GMT
#19
Here's my version with ICCup Launcher:

start G:\Games\Starcraft\Iccupl~1\Launcher.exe
ping localhost /n 15
taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
pause
start explorer.exe


start G:\Games\Starcraft\Iccupl~1\Launcher.exe
Runs ICCup Launcher, which starts Starcraft if you set it to automatic. Substitute with the appropriate directory, but make sure to use the old DOS notation with the ~ for directory names longer than 8 characters!
ping localhost /n 15
Meanwhile, wait 15 seconds for Starcraft to run. (ICCup Launcher needs explorer.exe to start!)
taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
Kill explorer
pause
wait for any key (which you enter after playing)
start explorer.exe
restart explorer

The good thing about this is that it kills explorer automatically in the background after 15 seconds while you are already in-game. No need to alt-tab to run the script.
CorsairHero
Profile Joined December 2008
Canada9491 Posts
September 13 2009 20:42 GMT
#20
On September 14 2009 04:48 floor exercise wrote:
You don't need any scripts.

1) Launch SC with the iccup launcher, colors will be fucked
2) Alt tab
3) Ctrl alt delete, taskmanager, find explorer.exe in the processes, end it
4) Go over to the Applications tab and double click Starcraft, colors will be unfucked
5) Play game
6) Get cheesed, alt f4, task manager is either still running in the bottom left or just ctrl alt delete again and go to file, new task, type explorer


thats what i've been doing as well, but i find that once you make the script, then it simplifies the steps; no more ctrl alt delete and tabbing out
© Current year.
1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
The PondCast
10:00
Episode 76
CranKy Ducklings36
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SortOf 273
trigger 18
ForJumy 7
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 23045
Rain 4909
actioN 1820
GuemChi 1362
Horang2 1204
Soma 464
Stork 385
ZerO 273
Light 267
Larva 235
[ Show more ]
Mini 225
EffOrt 209
Last 177
Hyuk 176
Sharp 151
Pusan 149
firebathero 148
Hyun 143
BeSt 142
Zeus 110
hero 94
Rush 83
sorry 72
Barracks 62
Mind 60
JulyZerg 38
JYJ 30
yabsab 28
soO 26
Sacsri 24
Sea.KH 16
Mong 14
Shine 12
Icarus 12
Terrorterran 11
Movie 11
Noble 10
Shinee 1
Dota 2
singsing1246
Gorgc721
XcaliburYe109
League of Legends
C9.Mang0326
Counter-Strike
olofmeister5580
shoxiejesuss853
pashabiceps621
x6flipin167
byalli139
allub134
Other Games
ceh9679
B2W.Neo559
crisheroes291
Mew2King70
Livibee65
QueenE33
Trikslyr30
Organizations
StarCraft: Brood War
Kim Chul Min (afreeca) 1441
Other Games
gamesdonequick689
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 74
lovetv 9
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH114
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 7
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota266
Upcoming Events
WardiTV 2025
1h 37m
Cure vs Creator
Solar vs TBD
herO vs Spirit
Scarlett vs Gerald
Rogue vs Shameless
MaNa vs ShoWTimE
Nice vs TBD
WardiTV 2025
23h 37m
ByuN vs TBD
Clem vs TBD
OSC
1d 2h
CranKy Ducklings
1d 22h
WardiTV 2025
1d 23h
SC Evo League
2 days
Ladder Legends
2 days
BSL 21
2 days
Sziky vs Dewalt
eOnzErG vs Cross
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
Ladder Legends
3 days
[ Show More ]
BSL 21
3 days
StRyKeR vs TBD
Bonyth vs TBD
Replay Cast
3 days
Wardi Open
4 days
Monday Night Weeklies
4 days
WardiTV Invitational
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #4 - TS3
RSL Offline Finals
Kuram Kup

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
YSL S2
BSL Season 21
Slon Tour Season 2
WardiTV 2025
META Madness #9
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22

Upcoming

CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Big Gabe Cup #3
OSC Championship Season 13
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.