Windows 7: old and new games

N

nibs9

New Member
Hello everyone

I just joined this forum, in hopes of learning some more about computers and trying to answer my occasional questions. Recently I bought a windows 7 PC, Acer Aspire 3400 Quad Core, 3 Ghz, 4Gb RAM, 1Tb HD, Card Reader, ATI HD 4650, 1Gb PCI Express. I don't know if all those specs are necessary, but it doesn't hurt. Anyway, to my problem:

I'm a moderate gamer, and I do appreciate my classics. It may seem odd, but soon after I got my new computer I bought some old games: Starcraft I and Sim Tower. Sim Tower would not run at all, while Starcraft ran, but the colours were distorted and the mouse scrolled too quickly to play properly. I know there's a 'compatibility mode' on Windows 7, but it wouldn't work after trying extensively. I even went as far as to download a virtual XP harddrive, but recently concluded it wasn't worth it and decided I'd just play newer games.

A couple days ago, I found out there was a sequel to Sim Tower called Yoot Tower. Since Sim Tower came out in '94 and Yoot came out in '99, I tried my luck, and it ran perfectly. Just tried to download another game from 99, and it wouldn't run. Starcraft came out only a year earlier (98) and didn't run properly either.

SO, to the point. What I'm trying to figure out, instead of constantly having to play guessing games, is how can you determine what makes a game 'new' enough to run on Windows 7? What are the specs of the game required to be so that it is compatible with this new operating system? What exactly is the 'cutoff' point between what will and won't run on my computer? It would be great to know this beforehand, save lots of time and frustration. Sigh, I kinda miss XP..

Thanks for all help :D
 
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i think i just partially answered my question. Is a large part of it how the computer's CPU runs? Meaning, my Windows 7 is a 64-bit, and I think a lot of older games are only 34-bit or even 16-bit so they won't run. Tell me if I'm right or wrong.. and if there's more to it.

(also, how can you find out if the game runs in 34 or 64-bit mode, etc? this info seems to be quite difficult to find)
 
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Hi i dont know anything about computers but i thought i would welcome you to the forum.The specs of the games are on the back of the case plus you might want to up your ram abit more,dont know if this helps but someone will be along to answer all for you.:) I have 64bit and i can run 32bit games.
 
If the game is really old and DOS compatable you can use a program called DOSbox to emulate the game this works very well. For games that run straight windows I would start by going to compatability change it to WinXPsp2 disable desktop composition and run as admin. if that doesnt work try taking the OS model down to Win98 or just play with it. I find that most things run well with those 3 settings.

Probably for a 1994 game i might set it to Win95 or 98 and check all the boxes including the admin one. Most games back then ran in 256 color mode.
 
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nibs9 said:
i think i just partially answered my question. Is a large part of it how the computer's CPU runs? Meaning, my Windows 7 is a 64-bit, and I think a lot of older games are only 34-bit or even 16-bit so they won't run. Tell me if I'm right or wrong.. and if there's more to it.

(also, how can you find out if the game runs in 34 or 64-bit mode, etc? this info seems to be quite difficult to find)
Click to expand...

64 bit OS can't run 16 bit games, but should be able to run 32 bit games, though maybe in compatibility mode.

Uninstall Starcraft and then reinstall it, however, run the installer manually from the CD. Right click the setup.exe and click properties, and set compatibility to XP.

Try and run it again, but before playing, go to video settings and up the resolution, and change the colours to 32 bit if there is an option.

your specs are plenty for those games, but what is causing problems is your OS, and the age of the games
 
@ russb. you have 64bit and can run 34bit games? How is this possible? My computer is also 64bit and seems to reject most 34bit games.

and @ aastii, compatibility mode never seems to work on my computer. i've definitely put a lot of time in trying to fiddle with it but it still will not work. I understand the compatibility problem now.. but there's something I'm still confused about:

Some newer games, like Civ 4, won't run on my comp, even though it came out in 2005. And games as old as Age of Empires 2 (released in 99) or even Yoot Tower (sequel to sim tower, 99) run almost perfectly. How can a game released 6 years later not run while the early one does? Do certain companies have superior technology for their games than others? what's the reason behind this?

thanks
 
i have a 64bit Win7 and i can play Diablo 2 on it just fine.. i would imagine you could play 16bit games just fine through dos box.
 
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