Playing games in Windows 10 (argh)

[donline]

Hi folks,

So I got a new laptop with Windows 10 installed and I'm trying to play my old games (on CD-ROM) such as Worms, Command & Conquer, Populous, Counter-strike... but none of them are working (they just bring up various error messages before the games even begin to load up).

Do you folks have any suggestions on what I could do? I was reading something about 'Virtual PCs' today and was wondering if that's an option? Any solutions much appreciated.

 

[Eximo]

Every game is a little different.

I don't recall having too much of an issue getting Worms to work in Windows, just the very latest version from Team17 and some custom config for high resolutions.

For C&C look up OpenRA, it is an open source tool that runs the older Westwood Studios applications.

Populous might be a good candidate for DosBox which is a DOS emulator that can run most DOS games on a modern computer with relative ease.

Not sure about Counterstrike, there is always Counter Strike Global Offensive, or Counter Strike Source as newer versions.

Running a VM is an option, but that means hosting another OS on your computer. This means disk space and memory requirements are quite a bit above normal.

VirtualBox is pretty good, it will run pretty much any environment. I use a Windows XP guest OS to run some old motor controllers. Don't really use it for games though.

 

[Scottray]

Here's a link that may help you: https://www.howtogeek.com/228689/how-to-make-old-programs-work-on-windows-10/

Most likely, you need to run your old games in compatibility mode.

 

[James Mason]

It's not really windows 10 fault here. The old games are written for OSs that aren't around anymore.
They all will need some software like Eximo mentions to translate their functions to modern systems.

 

[Eximo]

Additionally, very popular titles like you are referring to often have newer releases on Steam or GoG that you can get for relatively little money. Sucks to have to buy them again, but they then have 'extended support' through those vendors.

 

[donline]

Additionally, very popular titles like you are referring to often have newer releases on Steam or GoG that you can get for relatively little money. Sucks to have to buy them again, but they then have 'extended support' through those vendors.

Thanks Eximo.

It sounds like using Steam may be the easiest option. By the way, if you have the original game on CD-ROM (e.g. Counter-Strike COndition Zero), could the code with that CD-ROM be redeemed on Steam?

How safe do you think Steam is to use by the way? (And also GoG?)

 

[Carnaxus]

Original CS is probably not liking your multi-core CPU. Half-Life was created long before even dual core was a thing, so it doesn't really know what to do with more than one core; unfortunately, because it doesn't include any code to prevent itself from being put across multiple cores, it tends to spaz out as its data gets split up and then recombined. You can at least reduce the issues by setting its CPU affinity to only one core; your single CPU core should be easily more than enough to run the game.

The other thing is that, as the others here have said, newer versions of Windows do things differently than older versions. Running in compatibility mode can help; unfortunately, I personally have noticed that compatibility mode in Win10 isn't what it used to be, and still sometimes doesn't fix the problems at all.

One option that is a little more in-depth (and expensive if you don't already have Win10 Pro) is to use a virtual machine with an older version of Windows for those games.

Edit:

In response to your ninja-post, yes, you can use your CD key to activate CS and other old VALVe games on Steam, and yes, Steam is just as safe as any other digital distribution platform.

 

[Eximo]

I think I have a few games from GoG, mostly from GPU bundles.

I don't use Steam often, but it hasn't let me down. I've bought a few humble bundles over the years.

EA, since they own half the games of my youth, has Origin as well which is a decent enough platform for all the IP they have. Every once in a while they will make old games available for free even.

 

[donline]

Original CS is probably not liking your multi-core CPU. Half-Life was created long before even dual core was a thing, so it doesn't really know what to do with more than one core; unfortunately, because it doesn't include any code to prevent itself from being put across multiple cores, it tends to spaz out as its data gets split up and then recombined. You can at least reduce the issues by setting its CPU affinity to only one core; your single CPU core should be easily more than enough to run the game.

The other thing is that, as the others here have said, newer versions of Windows do things differently than older versions. Running in compatibility mode can help; unfortunately, I personally have noticed that compatibility mode in Win10 isn't what it used to be, and still sometimes doesn't fix the problems at all.

One option that is a little more in-depth (and expensive if you don't already have Win10 Pro) is to use a virtual machine with an older version of Windows for those games.

Edit:

In response to your ninja-post, yes, you can use your CD key to activate CS and other old VALVe games on Steam, and yes, Steam is just as safe as any other digital distribution platform.

Thanks Carnaxus

Yes, it seems like running games in compatibility mode in Windows 10 (Home) doesn't help at all (I've also tried running the games as administrator and other options).

Good that the original CD keys can still be used on Steam, thanks

 

[donline]

I think I have a few games from GoG, mostly from GPU bundles.

I don't use Steam often, but it hasn't let me down. I've bought a few humble bundles over the years.

EA, since they own half the games of my youth, has Origin as well which is a decent enough platform for all the IP they have. Every once in a while they will make old games available for free even.

Good to know, thanks. I didn't know that about EA and Origin - interesting!

 

[donline]

Thanks to everyone who has posted and helped out on here