Steve's XP Legacy Games Corner
11th January, 2021: Well now... events have overtaken us once again, and
we've gone from XP, to Vista, to Windows 8, to 8.1 and now Windows 10. And guess
what? All the tools that worked for getting games to work in XP still work for
Windows 10. So I've cleared any mention of XP out of this article (aside from
just below) so as not to mislead people.
5th January, 2014: Windows XP is 12 years old already, and patches for
it will no longer be released after 8th April, 2014. So over the Christmas
break I bowed to the inevitable and upgraded to Windows 8.1. It went a lot
smoother than I anticipated, and I'm delighted to report that the two most
important tools of the trade for running very old games on new systems, DOSBox
and ScummVM, work just fine. I'm going to have to take a deeper look at how you
could actually get something like Windows 98 running in a virtual machine in
Windows 8. That might take some time. Oh, wait, I already did that:
metzomagic.com
Virtual PC 2007 FAQ
Oh, and almost forgot: had to rename these pages to "Steve's XP
Legacy Games Corner". Didn't change the URL though, as people may have it bookmarked...
you do have this place bookmarked, right?
To quote Martin B., maintainer of a (sadly, former) great skeptical resource
called the T-Files, "The Net is a huge library of bulls**t,
lies, stupidity and nonsense. And all the shelves have been
toppled and the books are scattered on the floor... Yes, the truth
is out there. It's just damn hard to find". It would seem
that nowhere else is this more applicable than when it comes to
trawling through Internet forums, looking for advice on how to get
a particular game working on your system :-(
So welcome to Steve's XP Legacy Games Corner then. I've done all the
trawling through the forums so you don't have to! You see, in my
'real' job I happen to be a professional programmer (in fact, I've
been programming computers since 1974. That's really scary, isn't
it?). I'm thereby willing to go that extra mile just to get a
game up and running. All the advice you will find in this column
has been verified to work by me personally. No "this might
work" or "so-and-so says this works" will you find
here. And yet this column would not be possible were it not for the
innate curiosity and perseverance of the many dedicated individuals
who post on the aforementioned forums, so I'll make every effort to
give due credit to their contributions.
Many of the games featured here are quite old, and have to be
dragged literally kicking and screaming onto your modern computer,
so be prepared for a little hacking in order to get them to work.
I'll be updating this column regularly as I get new games up and
running, so check back often. Your feedback is appreciated,
especially if it relates to crashing, timing, or control problems
that I haven't mentioned here.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
Q. What old games will/won't work on modern computers?
Q. How do I turn off auto-run?
Q. What is DOSBox and how can I use it to run old
DOS games?
Q. What is ScummVM?
Q. What is VDMSound?
Q. OK, I've got DOSBox working, but I've never
used DOS before. How do I get my DOS game running?
Q. My game intermittently locks up, or my
cursor leaves trails on the screen. Both of these symptoms are indications
of possible hyperthreading or dual/quad core problems. Is there any
way to fix this?
Q. How can I use Virtual PC 2007 to run old games on
modern computers that will not work using any other method?
A. So you're playing Pandora Directive, and you need to swap CDs
every 2 minutes. Each time you put a new CD into the drive, Windows
minimises your game and throws up an unwanted Explorer window. You
then have to get rid of this window, and double-click on your
minimised game to open it up again. Aaarrgh! What to do? The
solution is indeed quite simple. There are several approaches, but
this one is the most direct (thanks to
Windows Annoyances):
- Run the Registry Editor ('Start'
-> 'Run' ->
and type in: regedit.exe)
- Open the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom
- Double-click on 'Autorun', and replace the '1' with a '0'.
(If it's not there, create this key by selecting 'Edit'
-> 'New' -> 'DWORD Value', and typing
Autorun for its name)
- Exit the Registry Editor. You now have to restart your PC for
this change to take effect.
The only side effect of this change is that when you, for instance,
load up a DVD to watch a film, Windows will not do anything automatically.
You have to start your DVD player software manually. The only other
practical method for killing Autorun is if you can remember to hold
down the shift key each time you insert a new CD. But you won't remember,
believe me. And besides, you almost need three hands to do this :-(
A. A series of frequently asked questions and answers regarding DOSBox can
be found in our very own
metzomagic.com
DOSBox FAQ.
A. ScummVM is a utility written by some dedicated LucasArts game fans that
allows you to run games written using the SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for
Maniac Mansion) engine (plus a slew of other games), on modern operating systems.
Instructions for setting it up can be found here:
metzomagic.com
ScummVM Guide.
A. Like DOSBox, VDMSound is a utility that lets you run DOS games in Windows, and
is especially useful if your processor does not have enough 'oomph' to run
DOSBox. See the
metzomagic.com
VDMSound FAQ for further details.
A. We've cooked up a simple
DOS
Tutorial to outline the basics of DOS navigation and programme execution.
A. Hyperthreading is a technique used by Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10 (along with special hardware in
late model Pentium IV processors) to make your single processor appear as two processors. The
theory is that while one thread of execution is blocked waiting for something to happen (like a
piece of data to be read from disk), another thread can be running away blissfully on the
other virtual processor. And of course, if you have one of the newer dual or quad core processors,
then you also have a multiple processor scenario. Some Windows games that were written before
the advent of XP cannot handle this thread switching between processors, and will randomly
freeze up. Here are a few examples:
Grim Fandango (after saving your game and returning to it, you lose sound, or Manny freezes as
soon as he starts to speak)
Thief: The Dark Project
Outcast
Tex Murphy: Overseer
If your PC does have hyperthreading/multiple cores, there is a universal patch programme
that you can run to permanently bind a particular application to a single processor.
We have archived it for you here:
imagecfg.zip. Just download that file and
unzip it. Then copy the IMAGECFG.EXE file to the folder:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32
Now you can run this programme from anywhere. To fix up a particular game, install
the game first. Then open a Command Prompt. In Windows Vista/7/8/10, you will need administrative
privileges to accomplish what we are about to do next. In that case, search for the Command Prompt
application, then right-click on it and Run As Administrator.
Now you need to figure out where your game's main executable file is located. Using Grim Fandango
as an example, you would enter something like this at the Command Prompt (note the quotation
marks around the path to GRIMFANDANGO.EXE. These are only necessary if the path
contains any spaces, but it does no harm to include them anyway):
imagecfg -a 0x1 "C:\Program Files\LucasArts\Grim\GRIMFANDANGO.EXE"
And you should see the following output:
C:\Program Files\LucasArts\Grim\GRIMFANDANGO.EXE contains no configuration information
C:\Program Files\LucasArts\Grim\GRIMFANDANGO.EXE contains a Subsystem Version of 4.0
C:\Program Files\LucasArts\Grim\GRIMFANDANGO.EXE updated with the following config
information:
Process Affinity Mask: 00000001
Done! Just remember that should you ever re-install the game, you will have to run imagecfg on it
again. Oh, and you also need to create a shortcut on your desktop that points to
GRIMFANDANGO.EXE rather than the launcher, Grim.exe. Hey, the icon looks
cooler anyway, so win/win all around :-)
A. Just visit our
metzomagic.com
Virtual PC 2007 FAQ.
A. Just below you will find the list of games that can be made to work in modern versions of Windows.
By no means is this a comprehensive list, just a list of games that I own and
have been able to get working. It is truly a work in progress.
You can see at a glance whether Windows Compatibility Mode, VDMSound, or
DOSBox is required to get the game running. Further on down the page is the
list of games that don't work (either at all or not
very well) in modern versions of Windows.
Amerzone: The Explorer's Legacy
Anachronox
Beneath a Steel Sky
Day of the Tentacle
Diablo II
Discworld Noir
Fallout and Fallout 2
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within (with English subtitles patch)
Grim Fandango
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny
The Longest Journey
Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy
Outcast
The Pandora Directive
Planescape: Torment
Realms of the Haunting
Ripper
Riven
Sam & Max Hit the Road
Simon the Sorcerer (I and II)
Space Quest 5
System Shock
System Shock 2
Tex Murphy: Overseer
Thief: The Dark Project
TimeLapse
Tomb Raider
Ultima VII Parts 1 & 2
Under a Killing Moon
| Amerzone: The Explorer's Legacy |
Win Comp: yes |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
| Runs fine using Windows 98/ME Compatibility Mode.
|
| Anachronox |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
| All you need do to get it
working in modern versions of Windows is download and apply the
1.01 patch
before you run the game for the first time.
|
| Beneath a Steel Sky |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: yes |
Works just fine using
ScummVM
or DOSBox. Sample command line to run off CD using ScummVM (assuming
your CD-ROM drive is letter 'D'):
"C:\Program Files\ScummVM\scummvm.exe" -f -g hq2x --aspect-ratio -n -pD:\bass sky
|
| Day of the Tentacle |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: yes |
Works a treat using
ScummVM
or DOSBox. Sample command line to run off CD using ScummVM (assuming
your CD-ROM drive is letter 'D'):
"C:\Program Files\ScummVM\scummvm.exe" -f -g hq2x --aspect-ratio -n -pD:\dott tentacle
|
| Diablo II |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
| I had no problem running Diablo II with my 'old' video card,
an nVidia 8800 GTX that came with my XP PC in April, 2007. But once it finally gave up the ghost
and I replaced it with a GTX 550 Ti in 2012, no dice... until I downloaded the 1.13d patch
from here. As
these things go, it was probably more the various updates to Windows along the way rather than the
new video card, but who knows. In case the patch disappears, I have archived it
here.
|
| Discworld Noir |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
| A strange one, this. Works fine until you try to either resume your game
or access the options from the menu. But there's a very easy workaround: just use F1 to access the
save/restore screens and the options, and away you go :-)
|
| Fallout and Fallout 2 |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
| No trouble at all getting
either of these classic RPGs to run. Make sure to download the patches for each game
before you start to play though. You can find links to them in the Tips section of
the corresponding metzomagic.com walkthroughs for Fallout
and Fallout 2.
|
| Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: yes |
| There's a new kid on the block, and the name is
DOSBox. Previously, you had to jump through a few hoops to make this game
run in modern versions of Windows, but the process has now become a whole lot simpler thanks to this
great utility.
Full details here.
|
| Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within (with English subtitles patch) |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: yes |
Previously, the game was really difficult to get running with
the English subtitles patch, mainly due to difficulties with the RESOURCE.CFG file. But the
owner of The Sierra Help Pages, where the patch is hosted,
contacted me to let me know that an updated version of the GK2 installer with DOSBox support is
available, and this gets rid of all the problems. Sure enough, if you download the latest version of
GK2ForDOSBox.exe from
here, and use it to install the game from your CDs to the hard drive, you can then download the
English subtitles patch (GK2Subtitles.exe)
from
here and apply it... and away you go.
Many thanks to Andrew Branscom at The Sierra Help Pages for the update.
|
| Grim Fandango |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
| Normally you just have to turn off hyperthreading/dual core
to get this game running. But on my new nVidia 8800 GTX, all the characters in the
game, including Manny, had stripes running through them. I couldn't get rid of this rather
undesirable texture effect no matter which setting I tweaked in the nVidia control panel.
So I finally gave up and... originally had you all installing Virtual PC 2007 and running
the game in software mode to get around this problem (because even running the game in
software mode in Windows wouldn't work). But reader Jim Luczak just e-mailed me with
a much simpler solution: Start > Run... dxdiag, and in the Display tab, simply disable
DirectDraw Acceleration. And away you go. Many thanks for the tip, Jim. Of course, you
have to remember to re-enable DirectDraw Acceleration to resume business as usual.
|
| Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: yes |
Another classic brought
to you via
ScummVM,
but also works with DOSBox. Sample command line to run off CD using
ScummVM (assuming your CD-ROM drive is letter 'D'):
"C:\Program Files\ScummVM\scummvm.exe" -f -g hq2x --aspect-ratio -n -pD:\atlantis atlantis
|
| Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: yes |
Runs fine in DOSBox, but this is one of those games
that checks the available hard drive space before it installs, and it probably
gets it wrong on your modern system and refuses to install. The remedy for this
problem is to add the following parameter to your C: drive mount
command in dosbox.conf:
mount C C:\ -freesize 500
Then start up DOSBox and install the game by running the setup
command from your CD drive. For the sound and MIDI devices, choose Sound
Blaster ASP/16 (I usually recommend Sound Blaster Pro, but that seems to
be really choppy in this game). Once the game starts, be sure to nick into the
Options/Video menu and set everything to High, with a Large texture cache. The
game is so pixellated on the default settings that it's unplayable.
|
| The Longest Journey |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
Just don't use its Launcher.
Instead, open the folder where you installed it and double-click on
game.exe to run it.
|
| Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
| If you try to run this one out of the box,
you won't get very far. But all you need is a patch, and it should run
fine then on most modern video cards. As usual, because the developer and publisher
are no longer active on the web, we have archived this patch for you here:
Nightlong version 1.1 patch
|
| Outcast |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
Just follow the steps below to get Outcast running in modern versions of Windows:
- On the Outcast CD-ROM, right-click on
Setup.exe and tweak it to run in
Compatibility Mode for Windows 98/ME. Then run it to install the game.
- Download Outcast Patch 3
and apply it.
- If you have a late model Pentium IV with hyperthreading, or a dual core processor, you'll need to
run
imagecfg.exe on the Outcast.exe file. See the Q & A above
regarding hyperthreading/dual core if you don't already know how to do that.
- Now you can run the game, and when you eventually get to the game menu, open Settings >
PERFORMANCE SETTINGS, then hit the down arrow. Up the Resolution to 512 x 384, and make sure all the
other settings are on High (except Depth of Field on the last page, which you can leave at Med). Then
hit the 'OK' button to save your settings.
- Finally... before you run the game, if you don't use a slow-down programme to slow down your
processor, you'll find that three undesirable things will happen:
- Combat will be difficult.
- You'll have extreme difficulty wading through even the shallowest water.
- You won't be able to ride a kwon-ha (you can mount him but he won't move).
So... I've had good results in the past using Turbo,
but this can be tricky with dual core, as it just hops to the free core and you get no slow-down. However, I
believe if you bind Turbo itself to the same core that Outcast is using, with imagecfg.exe, that
it will work. I can't verify this though, as I need to some time get to the part of the game where you obtain
a kwon-ha to try it. Some people have reported success with CPU Grabber. It's on that same page of slow-down
software I just pointed you at.
Well, that's about it. Good luck with it if you can get it running, because it's a true classic.
|
| The Pandora Directive |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: yes |
| There are now two alternatives to running Pandora
Directive in modern versions of Windows. If you have at least a 2GHZ processor, you can try the
DOSBox
route. Otherwise, you can try using VDMSound, but the set-up is
more
complicated.
|
| Planescape: Torment |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
| Be sure to apply the V1.1 patch before you start
to play. It primarily fixes a problem with memory leaks that causes the game
to slow down terribly and eventually crash. You can find a link to the patch
in the Tips section of the metzomagic.com
Planescape: Torment walkthrough.
|
| Realms of the Haunting |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: yes |
DOSBox: yes |
| Use VDMSound with all
the defaults. One thing you should do immediately once you get the game
running: re-map the movement from the default cursor keys to the ASWD
keys. Otherwise, if you accidentally hit one of the cursor keys just to
the right of the Ctrl key, your character will begin spinning uncontrollably
and you will have to hit one of the cursor keys on the keypad to stop
spinning. Note: if you have at least a 2GHZ processor, this game runs
just fine in DOSBox :-)
|
| Ripper |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: yes |
| Works in DOSBox, but the setup is a bit complicated. See
here for details.
|
| Riven |
Win Comp: yes |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
Another one that is well
behaved in modern versions of Windows. You will want to download and apply the Riven Updater
1.02 before playing though, as you can get absolutely stuck in a few
places without it. Since nearly every Riven page on the web points
you to the Broderbund site for this patch, and Broderbund is now
effectively defunct, you would have a very difficult time indeed
finding this patch. So... we have archived it
here on metzomagic.com for
you :-)
Well... on my PC it was well behaved. Others are not so lucky. Firstly,
if the game won't run at all, you should try running riven.exe
in Compatibility Mode for Windows 98 / Windows Me. If you don't know how
to do that, there are instructions in the FAQ above. Then if the sound or
the movies still won't work, one of the following should fix the problem
(courtesy of Myst Community forum:)
- Go to the folder where you installed Riven and open the file 'mohawk.w32' with
a text editor (eg. MS Notepad). Find the line with "fEnableAudioProxy=true" and change
it to "fEnableAudioProxy=false". Save the changes and try to run Riven. If it works,
then you are done.
- If Step 1 didn't work, then uninstall QuickTime, and install the version of
QuickTime that came with Riven. There will be a setup programme for it somewhere on
the CDs or DVD.
|
| Sam & Max Hit the Road |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: yes |
Another game that works using
ScummVM
or DOSBox. Sample command line to run off CD using ScummVM (assuming
your CD-ROM drive is letter 'D'):
"C:\Program Files\ScummVM\scummvm.exe" -f -g hq2x --aspect-ratio -n -pD:\samnmax samnmax
|
| Simon the Sorcerer (I and II) |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
I had bought a special edition of these two games that
purported to work in modern versions of Windows. As it turned out, they didn't. But they work fine in
ScummVM.
All you need to do is find the folder on the CD where the game's executables are
located, and you're away. In the case of the first game, that was: SimonI.
And for the second, SimonII. Sample command line to run off CD using
ScummVM (assuming your CD-ROM drive is letter 'D'):
"C:\Program Files\ScummVM\scummvm.exe"-f -g hq2x --aspect-ratio -n -pD:\SimonI simon1
|
| Space Quest 5 |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: yes |
| Use DOSBox, with
IRQ 5 as the SoundBlaster interrupt request. You will also
need to download and install this
updated SoundBlaster driver.
|
| System Shock |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: yes |
DOSBox: yes |
| One of the most
difficult games of all to get running, but well worth the
effort. See
here for full details.
By the way, if you have at least a 2GHZ processor, System Shock works
just fine in DOSBox :-)
|
| System Shock 2 |
Win Comp: yes |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
| Even more difficult to get running than its predecessor. Check
out the set-up
here.
|
| Tex Murphy: Overseer |
Win Comp: yes |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
I previously thought that you needed
hardware MPEG2 decoding in order to run the DVD version of Overseer,
but the 1.04 patch made a wider selection of DVD players available,
including those that play back using software :-) So here's how to get
Overseer working in all its original glory, using the Mediamatics
DVDExpress player:
- Install Overseer from the DVD. You will need to run the
Setup.exe
programme on the DVD in Windows 95 Compatibility Mode. While setting
up the RSX 3D audio, I recommend going to Advance Settings - Buffer Times and
changing the 120 milliseconds value to 400. But you can always do this later on if
you wish. Just follow the instructions in the Overseer README.TXT file.
- Download and apply the Overseer 1.04 patch.
- Download the DVDExpress player,
unzip and install it.
- Now run
OVERSEER.EXE. First try it without Windows 95 Compatibility
Mode, then with if the game will not run. In the Config/VIDEO panel, the game should have
auto-detected the presence of your Mediamatics DVDExpress player. If not, select it
from the list of MPEG II Devices. And now we are done.
If the control panels in-game fragment/break up when you slide them in, then quit
the game and navigate to the folder you installed Overseer to. Edit the Tex.ini
file and set: LockVideo=1.
You get a meaningless error message after each FMV sequence (Windows returns a code to
the game that it couldn't anticipate 5 years ago), but the game is still eminently
playable :-) Note: you can also run the CD version of Overseer in modern versions of Windows. Just ignore all
the stuff regarding the DVDExpress player in this case.
Pixel-Artist has just reminded me that if the game crashes on you in Gideon's gallery,
there is a work-around you can use to get past this spot: go into the game options and mute
the MIDI section. Then, once youve crossed over to the center, you can switch the MIDI
sounds back on.
A final note: Overseer is one of the programmes that seems not to like hyperthreading.
See section above on: Turning off hyperthreading.
|
| Thief: The Dark Project |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
I had been trying to get Thief working for a long time
in modern versions of Windows. I could get it running, but it would lock up intermittently. Very frustrating.
I tried all variations of video/sound acceleration settings, still to no avail. Then
up on the Through
the Looking Glass Forums, I finally discovered the solution. Dark Engine games
don't work in multi-processor/hyperthreading environments. And hyperthreading (making
your single processor appear to be two processors) is turned on by default in modern versions of Windows.
In the end, you only need to do two things to get Thief working in modern versions of Windows:
- Start -> Run, and execute:
d:\setup.exe -lgntforce to install Thief
(that's a lower case 'L', by the way. Thief thinks you're trying to install the game in
NT, which has insufficient DirectX support, so you have to force it to install)
- You need to turn off hyperthreading for Thief. See section above on:
Turning off hyperthreading.
|
| TimeLapse |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: no |
| Amazingly, this beautiful
adventure game works right out of the box, almost as if it was
waiting for modern versions of Windows to come along. Just goes to show that when developers
adhere properly to the conventions of the Windows API, even
forwards compatibility is possible. One thing though: you'll
want to have Autorun turned off for sure, or it's pretty vexing
whenever you need to change CDs. Instructions on how to accomplish
this can be found earlier in this article.
|
| Tomb Raider |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: yes |
DOSBox: no |
| It's possible to get this game running in it's
original glory, with a Glide wrapper that emulates an old 3DFX Voodoo card.
The set-up is a bit complicated and involves VDMSound too, so it
gets its own page here.
|
| Ultima VII Parts 1 & 2 |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: yes |
Much along the lines
of what
ScummVM does for
LucasArts games, so have a group of dedicated Ultima fans created
Exult.
If you are a dedicated Ultima VII player, you owe it to yourself
to try out this fantastic utility. And... of course, it now works
in DOSBox. All you have to do is make sure to set ems=false
in dosbox.conf.
|
| Under a Killing Moon |
Win Comp: no |
VDMSound: no |
DOSBox: yes |
| Full instructions for getting UAKM up and
running in modern versions of Windows with DOSBox may be found
here.
|
With the advent of Virtual PC 2004, and now Virtual PC 2007, there are no games
that I know of that cannot be made to run in modern versions of Windows. See the Virtual PC 2007 FAQ in the FAQs at
the top of this page for details. For the record, the following games that
previously would not run in modern versions of Windows will now run in a Windows 95 (maybe) or Windows
98 (definitely) virtual machine:
AMBER: Journeys Beyond
Dark Side of the Moon (fixes missing text in dialogue trees problem)
The Feeble Files (not yet verified, but it should work :-)
Copyright © Steve Metzler 2004 - 2014. All rights reserved.
Should you need to contact me via e-mail, the address is:
See also the
metzomagic.com Help! page
for links to additional help in getting games to run.
|
