Windows windows 7 and XP games

I am sure this has been asked, i tried using the search feature but it did not bring up threads with the answer.

Do most of the older games which i ran on XP IE pre windows 7 work on Windows 7 home or do i need to stump up cash for the 7 Pro version so i can switch to XP mode?

Assuming most developing companies that are still around released Windows 7 patches for there games?

Or is it a case that pre win7 games will not work on win7 outright?

Or am i just mis-informed?

 

most games seem okay in win7.

IMHO don't pay extra for XP mode, assuming you still have your XP discs, install one of the many virtual PC programs and install XP on that

MS virtual PC

Virtualbox (has some 3d hardware acceleration)

VMWare (pretty good 3d acceration)

 

Assuming you are going Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 64-bit has drop 16-bit application support.
So any game that is made in 16-bit (usually DOS games/software) will not work. However, using a DOS emulator, such as DOSBox will work, or finding a hack patch where the game has been decompiled and recompiled in 32-bit. This is usually called "NT patch".

Now you have have SOME games in 32-bit that won't be able to run properly under Win7.
They are several easy fixes:
- Go to the folder properties of where you installed the game, and allow full permission access to it. Some old games writes data on where it is installed instead of Application Data (user games/applications settings is supposed to be stored). As back in the XP days everyone was running as true Administrator, and created HUGE problems for people who made several accounts in their system. Now it's not the case. No one is true Administrator. So a program cannot right on where it is installed as it will need Admin rights (as it can by-pass files and folder permissions) which you need to allow. Providing full permission to the install folder, will allow the program to write on itself, and the game will work.

- Another possibility, for these pesky installers or executable that uses some depricated API codes in it's source code, or have a a stupid if condition like:

Code:

if (OS != "Windows XP") {
   //User is not using Windows XP, go screw yourself!! LOL! Let's show a cryptic message, so that when a new version of Windows will come out, I'll get to be payed to do a patch to remove this condition
   output(ERROR 0x266456);

} else {
   //User has XP
   start();
}

You can solve this by going at the properties of the executable, and go under Compatibility tab, where you can set some compatibility options, like emulating Windows XP, Vista, or even Windows 98, and other few options.

- Another trick, this one is a pain, for games that works but all the colors are wrong.
Like so:

These are games that have workarounds embedded into them to support both Windows 9x and 2000/XP, it scans the running explorer.exe process (your folder, desktop, and taskbar manager), and checks if it's from which Windows, and applies the correct graphic workarounds. To solve this, kill explorer.exe, and then run the game. You can make a BATCH file. Do a quick Google search on your game running under Vista/Win7 and you'll find what your looking for on the first page. Alternatively, some times just playing with the compatibility options will solve the problem, like forcing 256 colors.

Sadly, XP Mode cannot run DirectX or OpenGL instructions. You will need a more advance environment like Virtual Box (and even then, it's not full DirectX/OpenGL support). XP Mode has been designed and focused on applications and not games.


Now enough scaring you, well programmed games installs and runs perfectly fine. So don't worry about it. Some might require a patch update from the official site, but that is about it.

 

I find its the older pre xp games that where windows only that have the most issues when getting to run. Due to the fact you cant use dosbox and also there 16 bit. There is ways to get them to work but its usually alot of hassle. An easy fix if you are willing to pay is to see if GOG has the game in question which will make it really easy to run on newer os.

 

heheh, yeah if need a good xp mode.. try vmware workstation- I got it to run beyond good and evil in 3d with it's native s3 graphics driver

 

Thanks folks..should manage my way around it with these suggestions..

 

xpmode in win7 pro/ultimate, doesn't work for most games anyway, as it emulates an s3 trio 32/64