# Can't run old games on XP?



## Loki (Oct 29, 2005)

A bunch of games I own, original copies, don't work well/at all. I suspect it's either Microsoft's Service Pack 2 or Windows XP. I'm talking about Prince of Persia 2 (Prince 1 works though :idunno, Final Fantasy VII, Loom, King's Quest 7 and others of the same time period. I even copied Prince 2 from a computer where it worked and couldn't get the exact same copy to work on my computer. 

Has anyone else run into these problems? Resolved them?


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## mantis (Oct 29, 2005)

Loki said:
			
		

> A bunch of games I own, original copies, don't work well/at all. I suspect it's either Microsoft's Service Pack 2 or Windows XP. I'm talking about Prince of Persia 2 (Prince 1 works though :idunno, Final Fantasy VII, Loom, King's Quest 7 and others of the same time period. I even copied Prince 2 from a computer where it worked and couldn't get the exact same copy to work on my computer.
> 
> Has anyone else run into these problems? Resolved them?


 i would expect final fantasy to work but why not prince of persia two? if you have original copies go to their support forums, or contact their customer support... sucks for you tho!


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## Bob Hubbard (Oct 29, 2005)

Alot of older games no longer work, or function poorly under XP.
Many old DOS games break or run so fast as to be unplayable.

Your best bet is to do a dual-boot system that you can boot to Windows 95/8, and have a few customized DOS boot disks handy as well.


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## Loki (Oct 29, 2005)

Bob Hubbard said:
			
		

> Alot of older games no longer work, or function poorly under XP.
> Many old DOS games break or run so fast as to be unplayable.
> 
> Your best bet is to do a dual-boot system that you can boot to Windows 95/8, and have a few customized DOS boot disks handy as well.



Yeah, my thoughts too, but what do I need to DOS boot disks for?


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## Bob Hubbard (Oct 29, 2005)

If you're running any older DOS games. (Ultima 7 / 8 are 2 that require them)
For that, check out http://freedos.org/


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## BlueDragon1981 (Nov 4, 2005)

I believe the same thing is going to happen with Vista. They changed their file system again and well some games may not run or play correctly.


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## Loki (Nov 19, 2005)

Another option is to open the executable file's properties, open the compatibility tab and changing the OS to an older version of Windows. Only worked for one game though...


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## Cthulhu (Nov 20, 2005)

Would you be able to create a config.sys file and maybe autoexec.bat file so the game could run in XP? 

It's been so long since I had to deal with those config files, it ain't funny.

Cthulhu


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## Bob Hubbard (Nov 20, 2005)

XP doesn't have "real" MSDOS, it has an emulator. I've run into the same problem with 2000. Both are built on NT, and use a different codebase than 95/98/ME. Thats where the problem in part lies.


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## Cthulhu (Nov 20, 2005)

Yeah, I figured the pseudo-DOS would be a problem.  

Ah, the good ol' days of trying to free up as much of the 640K block of RAM as possible.

Cthulhu


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## Bob Hubbard (Nov 20, 2005)

Eh, thats nothing.  I'm in the process of switching to Mac.  Now thats a challenge. 

But, the issues on playing older games is why I have a few older systems laying around.


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## Cthulhu (Nov 21, 2005)

Bob Hubbard said:
			
		

> Eh, thats nothing.  I'm in the process of switching to Mac.  Now thats a challenge.



Sacrilege.

Cthulhu


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## Andrew Green (Nov 21, 2005)

Cthulhu said:
			
		

> Sacrilege.
> 
> Cthulhu



No way, I refuse to run Windows unless absolutely neccessary, which is not very often.

Course I run Linux, not OS-X, but I am considering a Mac at some point


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## OnlyAnEgg (Nov 22, 2005)

Back up your files, reformat to FAT32 and install your games.  Bet they work then.

Better yet, reformat and install 2k.  XP is for sheep.

 Microsoft!


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## arnisador (Nov 22, 2005)

Andrew Green said:
			
		

> No way, I refuse to run Windows unless absolutely neccessary, which is not very often.


 
That's what I say! Yet, it seems that often enough they find ways to force me to do it.


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