older games on widows 7

Just wondering if older games will work on windows 7

How "old" are we talking about? Windows 7 has all the same compatibility modes that Windows Vista has. Also, if you have really old software that requires Windows XP, Windows 7 has a Windows XP Mode, similar to a virtual box, that is available if you have Pro or higher Windows 7 and an XP install disk.

I have yet to find a program that does not work in Windows 7. In fact, I have yet to click the compatibility mode button. I have even gotten DosBox to work!

Play UT2004, F.E.A.R. MP, Far Cry, F1 2002,Nero StartSmart,Battlefield 2

thehacker010 said:

How "old" are we talking about? Windows 7 has all the same compatibility modes that Windows Vista has. Also, if you have really old software that requires Windows XP, Windows 7 has a Windows XP Mode, similar to a virtual box, that is available if you have Pro or higher Windows 7 and an XP install disk.

Click to expand...

There is no install disk for XP Mode. If you have Windows 7 Pro or higher you have to download and install two files from Microsoft:
1. Windows XP Mode:
WindowsXPMode_en-us.exe
2. Windows Virtual PC
Windows6.1-KB958559-x86.msu (32-bit), OR
Windows6.1-KB958559-x64.msu (64-bit)

Once installed you have the following running in a seperate Window:
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3
RAM: 1 GB (I have a total of 4GB installed)
Video Card: S3 Trio32/64 (old generic 2-D card with 16-bit colors)
Sound Card: Sound Blaster 16 or AWE32 compatible
Network: Intel 21140-Based Ethernet Adapter
Ports: Serial and Printer Ports
USB: Shared or excusive access to devices

You have a virtual "C:" drive but physical drives are also accessible.

CD/DVD burners appear as read-only devices only.

XP Mode was developed for regular applications not games. The emulated graphics card is only an old generic 2-D one with 16-bit colors.

I use it mainly to support my nine year old HP 5370cse scanner. The included HP PrecisionScan Pro software does not work under Windows 7 but does work under XP Mode.

thehacker010 said:

I have yet to find a program that does not work in Windows 7. In fact, I have yet to click the compatibility mode button. I have even gotten DosBox to work!

Click to expand...

I was going to install Windows 7 (64-bit) but so many of my programs did not work under 64-bit I had to install the 32-bit version instead. Still even with Windows 7 (32-bit) a lot of my older programs do not work even under compatibility mode.

Even the ASUS driver software that came with the motherboard I bought 6 months ago required compatibility mode to run.

A number of my older games do work under Windows 7 (some of these do require compatibility mode):
Road Rash (Sep 1996)
Microsoft Golf 2001 (Sep 2000)
The Sims: House Party (Apr 2001)
Grand Theft Auto III (Oct 2001)
Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (Aug 2001)
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (Oct 2002)
Quake III Arena v1.32 (Oct 2002)

another thing you need to do, and i learned this trick for getting dungeon siege 1 to work.

INSTALL DIRECTX9.0c!!!!!!!!

Seems stupid, but install that and a lot of older games work instantly.

Mech Commander Gold, 2 and (Mech) Warrior 4 worked for me in compatibility mode (XP) in Beta – haven’t tried in retail yet though.