How to run Dungeon Siege on Windows Vista/7/8

With these tweaks you will be able to run DS in the latest O.S

Steps

• Go to your Dungeon Siege installation folder "Steam\steamapps\common\Dungeon Siege 1" and find "DSVideoConfig", then double click on it. Change the video driver to your graphics card model without the "TnL" (NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GS - Hardware, for example)
  
  
• Search for "DungeonSiege.ini" on the Dungeon Siege 1 installation folder and open it with notepad. Edit the lines "width = height =" with your native resolution, in my case 1920 1080. Save changes but dont close the file yet.
  
  
• Then select the first 4 text lines and copy them using Control+C. Go to your "Documents" folder
  "C:\Users\yourusername\Documents\Dungeon Siege" and open the Dungeon Siege.ini there and replace the first 4 lines with those you copied from the previous .ini file, close and save changes.
  

  driver_description = NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GS - Hardware
  width = 1920
  height = 1080
  bpp = 32
  

  
  
• You need to disable Steam ingame overlay in steam settings, and that's all.

If you have flickering problems in Windows 7, go to your library and right click on Dungeon Siege, select Properties and click on Launch Options, then add the following text:

bltonly=true vsync=true nointro=true

In addition of this you maybe need to change compatibility mode to Windows XP SP2, but in my case with the steps listed above I can play the game smoothly.

Have fun!

[Nemis]

Worked for me on Intel ARC A770 and Viewsonic 1200x1900 monitor.
I think setting the INI file to my monitor native resolution is what fixed it. This is on the latest version of Windows 10 as of today 11/7/2024.
Thanks OP!!! (note: I edited this post a couple times for clarity)

[Wahlols]

Does this work on Windows 11 Pro 23H2? I just got the game today and wondering why its only displaying a black screen but with the sounds playing on the background.

[Alastor2012]

Can you update this post for win 10?

[Shamiko]

thanks

[JacquesPatat]

awesome it worked. before i tried this, i tried the windows compatible with windows xp sp3 and run as administrator, game still froze but mouse i could move around, and i also put in -force-d3d10 to see if it would make any difference. but this guide did the job, quick and easy as well

[Tantric Teflon]

Great job! Got my install tweaked to perfection now, many thanks

[Galagna]

i have two monitors, and this fix just broke the game entirely for me, my mouse was locked to my primary monitor and the game launched in my secondary one

[Jughead Hellcaster]

It works! Thanks!
Main menu still has old resolution, but in-game everything works.

[Almyback]

Getting "exception detected" on start and on saves even after your fix. I also ran "Steam-local files-verify integrity of game files". This fixed one error. Would not start properly off desktop icon. Ran compatibilty test again on XP2 instead of 7. Copied start icon from steam apps/common/ dungeon siege folder to task bar. Deleted desktop icon for Dungeon siege.Finally runs fine. Love the 1920 x 1080!

[Zalpha]

I got it finally by just following the basics of guide then instead of using my graphics card without "TnL" I used it instead and it finally worked perfectly. So now I have my full screen size and the graphics look sharper. Thanks for the tutorial, I hope those having issue come right eventually.