Discussion Forums > Technology
Windows 7 x64 & Classic/Win95/98-era Gaming Compatibility
CatSoup:
--- Quote from: sdedalus83 on December 07, 2009, 01:14:46 AM ---
It won't work with a lot of games. VMware Player is a much better option. You can also create a virtual machine using an image of your current XP installation with vConvert.
--- End quote ---
vConvert...NICE! I might just make a VM image anyway, that's really cool.
To everyone who is raising the alert about 32-to-64-bit compatibility problems: Thanks!
Do any of you have specific games you've had trouble with? Was it difficult to solve them (whether you used a VM or not)? I'm just trying to to gauge the level of headache, because VM compatibility itself seems like it'd be a little iffy...
CatSoup:
--- Quote from: zherok on December 07, 2009, 01:23:34 AM ---XP Mode is definitely not meant for games, there's no 3D acceleration.
Personally I'd just emulate it. The PC version isn't notably better looking.
--- End quote ---
That's a good bit of info--no 3D acceleration in VM? Ouch. Know of any attempts to include early 3D hardware emulation in VMs?
I know some emulators do well with smartly upconverting console content (E.g., N64 texture addon packs for Zelda: OOT and Mario 64), but with all the PC-only tweaks I've used, I think FF7 and FF8 definitely look better than an emulated PSX version. Might just be missing an optimization or two, but the console often results in more blurry, jarring messes when upconverting low-res textures to match higher resolution geometry. At least, that's my impression.
But yeah, FF7 and 8 are just the two notable examples. I'm also thinking of other same-era stuff that has been hard to keep running, like Starcraft, Carmageddon TDR2K, Heroes of Might and Magic 2/3, Age of Empires II, etc...
Starcraft and AoE II also show another problem: Networking from the early days of gaming. You need Hamachi to play SC online nowadays. Would internet tunneling/networking even work in a VM?
zherok:
--- Quote from: CatSoup on December 07, 2009, 09:56:55 AM ---That's a good bit of info--no 3D acceleration in VM? Ouch. Know of any attempts to include early 3D hardware emulation in VMs?
--- End quote ---
Nope, that's about the extent of my knowledge on virtualization; the included xp mode with professional on up is meant primarily for legacy apps in business and not to play old 3D games with. If you're talking DOS era games you could DOSBox them instead, but I don't know much more than that. I have Home Premium and Sony has decided for unfathomable reasons to lock virtualization as an option on Vaios, so even if I wanted to...
--- Quote ---I know some emulators do well with smartly upconverting console content (E.g., N64 texture addon packs for Zelda: OOT and Mario 64), but with all the PC-only tweaks I've used, I think FF7 and FF8 definitely look better than an emulated PSX version. Might just be missing an optimization or two, but the console often results in more blurry, jarring messes when upconverting low-res textures to match higher resolution geometry. At least, that's my impression.
--- End quote ---
I figure that regardless of texture resolution Cloud is going to look like he's made of blocks, but eh, to each his own. Emulation is so much less hassle though, and support for a PSX emulator is going to be a hell of a lot better than 21 year old Square PC game.
--- Quote ---But yeah, FF7 and 8 are just the two notable examples. I'm also thinking of other same-era stuff that has been hard to keep running, like Starcraft, Carmageddon TDR2K, Heroes of Might and Magic 2/3, Age of Empires II, etc...
Starcraft and AoE II also show another problem: Networking from the early days of gaming. You need Hamachi to play SC online nowadays. Would internet tunneling/networking even work in a VM?
--- End quote ---
I ran Diablo 1 the other day with no issues. Now, if you're talking IPX connections, then yes, its a pain in the ass. Vista on up has no native IPX support. But battle.net is perfectly viable for network games. Only thing that stopped us from playing it is apparently you can't all join battle.net on the same ip. But otherwise the game worked flawlessly. You won't need to virtualize it.
I assume the same holds true for Starcraft. Diablo II as well, and if I recall you've probably got better networking options than the older titles. The other ones I haven't tried in 7. AoE2 might be a problem, but last I tried it was in Vista, and I think I was having Hamachi issues...
Neco:
http://www.dosbox.com/
I can't believe no one has mentioned this. The site also has a compatibility list, as well as a general progress graph of various emulation aspects (CPU's, special modes, etc) and there are tens of GUI's available for it.
GoGeTa006:
Windows 7 is now giving me crap about "Authentic microsoft software" every time i open a MS program (paint, minesweeper etc)
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version