Unable to play Nancy Drew Danger by design

So I have the hard disk copy of Nancy Drew Danger by design and am unable to play it. I can get to the options screen where it gives you the game options, new gave, load/save, that sort of thing, but I can't get any further then that. I tried the method that Her Interactive suggested for the older games but it didn't work, and have even contacted their customer support 5 days ago with no response from them other then a auto-response saying that due to holiday's and contests they're busy at the moment and will get to my question when they can. I've had this game and this problem for months, can anyone help me please? I miss this game!

to GameBoomers, GreatDetective.

Did you follow the instructions for installing older ND games on newer systems here? It sounds like you already tried that, but I just wanted to make sure.

It should work, as even folks with Windows 10 can play all the games. And I have no problem getting Danger By Design to run on my Windows 7 computer.

Let's wait and see what the techies have to say.

If the link Marian gave at
https://www.herinteractive.com/2014/04/windows-vista-windows-7-installation/
is the one you're talking about, that's more for the earliest games.
Using Compatibility Mode might help, but you don't want to set it to Windows 98 compatibility.
Try Windows 2000 or XP compatibility if you have Windows 7
or XP compatibility if you have Windows 8 or 10.

You may also want to try checking the checkboxes on the compatibility tab for:
Disable visual themes
Disable desktop composition
Disable display scaling on high DPI settings
and Run the Program as an Administrator

If there are checkboxes for using 640x480 or reduced color mode (256 colors), don't use them. The game is from 2006 and uses higher resolution and color depth than that.

Options on the compatibility tab are slightly different between Windows 7, 8, and 10, so if you don't see one of the options I mentioned, don't worry about it.

I tried the link above's methods and it didn't work, I even tried to check the boxes on compatibility mode, none of it works. I don't want to wait for tech support because I have been trying to play the game for years off and on honestly, and I wanted to have it set-up before I have my tonsil removal surgery so I can just relax and play all my games...

Here's a YouTube video about installing ND games, just in case.

The guy who did this video, who has Windows 10, says the following:

Have you tried downloading the game from Big Fish? Unfortunately they do not have a demo for the game, but I have the download from Big Fish and it works just fine on my computer.

So he
1. Ran the installer on the CD as an administrator
2. Installed to a location in his User folder instead of the default Program Files folder
3. Chose not to install DirectX during the installation. He said this was a very important step.
4. Set Compatibility mode on the desktop shortcut to XP for Secrets Can Kill, but said you probably wouldn't need it for Stay Tuned for Danger.

Unlike the information on the HerInteractive link, the information he described is more likely to help with the later games.

I didn't have any problem with the disc version of this game in my Windows 7 when I installed and played it a few years ago. I didn't do anything special with it at all.

Have you tried uninstalling and then installing again?

If the info in the video doesn't help, please tell us which version of Windows you're using.
7?
8?
10?
XP?
Vista?

I use a windows 7 system, and the video did not help it still is stuck on the main menu screen, although it apparently keeps working, I managed to get a new game started but what I heard was the into to last train to blue moon canyon so I'm not quite sure what that means.

Yes I have uninstalled and reinstalled it many times.

That's sounding like you may have a registry problem.
Do you have Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon installed?
If not, I don't know where it would be getting that intro.

I have a vague recollection that having more than one ND game installed at the same time has caused problems. I don't remember if it was any two games, or just specific ones that would not coexist.

I have a whole bunch installed and no problems. There were, however, two specific games that did conflict with one another, but they were two of the very early ones, I believe - I could probably find out which ones with googling.

There was a problem with having Nancy Drew 4: Treasure in the Royal Tower
and Nancy Drew 5: The Final Scene installed at the same time.

I found the issue described on the archived webpages from 2002 at
***HerInteractive's technical support page for Treasure in the Royal Tower***
***HerInteractive's technical support page for The Final Scene***

It's possible Nancy Drew Central could be causing an issue. According to
https://www.herinteractive.com/2014/04/nancy-drew-central-error/
installing an earlier game in the series after a later one could
corrupt Nancy Drew Central. According to
http://herinteractive.wikia.com/wiki/Her_Interactive
Nancy Drew Central was intended to work with the first 24 games, even though
it didn't ship with games until Nancy Drew 16: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek.
So if Nancy Drew Central went bad, it might be connecting Danger by Design and
Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon in the wrong way.