Running older games on newer pc

[Dustin_Broke]

I noticed I been having this problem when trying to play older games like Quake or Turok Dinosaur Huner etc but it seems like it won't even install because my Windows is Windows 7 Home 64 bit. Is there a way to run these older games on Windows 7 Home 64 bit systems?

 

[Dustin_Broke]

Also it says the file I downloaded is not compatiable with the version of Windows. I did try using Windows compatiable mode and select Windows 95 or 98 but that didn't work at all. I think it's because my system is a 64 bit and not 32 bit. But I don't know how to fix this problem.

 

[Guest]

here is an idea. try installing win xp as your secondary operating system you know you can use 2 operating systems on 1 computer

 

[Dustin_Broke]

Is that the only way to be able to play older games? Will I have driver problems if I did install Windows XP Home? I do have the retail copy of Windows XP Home. I know that Sony doesn't have drivers for XP for my laptop. It only has for Windows 7 Home since that is the system that was pre loaded on my notebook.

 

[Guest]

well in that case i don't know hey tell me whats your laptop and i will try to find out if you can run xp on it

 

[Herr_Koos]

Mid-90's games can be a bit of a pain in Windows 7. Many of them have fixes and work-arounds, but you have to be willing to do some serious digging and fiddling.

Installing XP may not be a bad idea. The best way to get two OS's running side-by-side is using a tool such as Oracle's VirtualBox to create a virtual machine and then installing XP inside the VM. Dual-booting W7 and XP can be very tricky and I would nor recommend it unless you know what you're doing. The VM route is much simpler.

 

[Dustin_Broke]

I did download and install Windows XP Home on the Oracle's VirtualBox program and updated Windows to latest but it seems like the video driver isn't installed and I tried using Windows XP version of Intel HD drivers from Intel but it says system doesn't meet the req. I did to some adjustments like increase the video ram to 128mb and enabled 2D,3D etc and others but will the older games run fine even the driver isn't installed? After all I did put 128mb ram for video and added the 3D and 2D features.

 

[Herr_Koos]

Depends on how old the game is. What is the most graphically intensive (i.e. "newest") old game you plan to play?

 

[Dustin_Broke]

I did find a way to make my drivers run and install right so now every driver is updated and installed. There is a problem and I tried using my USB flash drive but it won't load on Windows XP. It only loads on Windows 7 for somereason. I thought if I' am using Windows XP it will load anything that is used in the hardware like CDROM and USB etc. It seems like the CDROM works and everything else though.

 

[Dustin_Broke]

Also there is another problem. Basicly when I try to install the game the CPU usage goes to 100% so it won't load the wizard completly. It kinda freezes after the installshield. I did try to end task it but still it says CPU usage 100%. But if I reboot the system then it goes back to normal. I did try to see if it's because I need to have 2 virtural CPU but it doesn't work when I selected it. I get this message. Basicly this error message comes when I try to start Windows XP.


Failed to open a session for virtual machine Windows XP Home Edition.

VT-x feature locked or unavailable in MSR.
(VERR_VMX_MSR_LOCKED_OR_DISABLED).

 

[Dustin_Broke]

Would it been better to install Windows XP like how you would normaly install an OS? Or is there a way to fix the problem I' am having? I would truely appreciate it if someone can help me on this since I do want to play older games I use to play when I was around 14.


Thank you

 

[blakwidowrsa]

Would it been better to install Windows XP like how you would normaly install an OS? Or is there a way to fix the problem I' am having? I would truely appreciate it if someone can help me on this since I do want to play older games I use to play when I was around 14.


Thank you

You can download and install windows xp mode from microsoft.It launches a realmode XP in a window in windows 7. But just confirm the requirements, can't remember what version you need...think Home Premium/Professional upwards.

For REALLY old games that needs MS-DOS, google DOSBOX, its a very good and stable MS DOS-4GW emulator that works in XP, Vista/7.


That Error you get when you want to load the XP Vm.... just go into your BIOS and look for Intel VT-x and Enable it.Should be in advanced/main screens, but it IS thereif your pc is a core 2 duo and up, just look.
The default setting in VMWare is to use CPU accelerated virtualisation. ie VT-x extentions,and i guess it is disabled then in BIOS, as WMware cant detect that function.
If you fnd VT-x s Enabled, Open VMWare, but before you try and load the image, go to options and uncheck use VT-x in advanced settings.Then close and re-open WMware, ...load image of XP.

That should get it to start at least.But it might run a tad slower.

 

[Dustin_Broke]

Well I get that error message when I select to have 2 virtual CPU on the controls for the VM program and click start for starting Windows XP Home. My Sony laptop is fast enough for XP since it had Windows 7 Home preloaded. My laptop has a Intel i3 370M 2.4Hz processor and has 8GB ram since I upgraded it. It original had 4GB of DDR3. The hard drive space is 320GB. The video card is a Intel HD and has 1.76GB of video ram.

 

[Herr_Koos]

Agree with BlakwidowRSA, you need to check your VirtualBox settings.

If you select more than one virtual CPU and do not have VT-x enabled, the following warning is displayed:

"On the System page, you have assigned more than one virtual CPU to this VM. This will not work unless hardware virtualization (VT-x/AMD-V) is also enabled. This will be done automatically when you accept the VM Settings by pressing the OK button."

So either you need to use a single CPU with VT-x switched off, or you must enable virtualization in BIOS.

 

[Dustin_Broke]

I just checked and it was already enabled. That's not the error message I got though the one I got is the one I typed on my other post. Maybe did I need to download something else form that site where I got the program from? I did download the extension file or something so it will enable USB 2.0 and other stuff I can't remember and also the guest file I think it was so it will install virtual video drivers and other stuff.

 

[Herr_Koos]

As mentioned, you also need to verify your BIOS settings to make sure that hardware virtualization is enabled.

 

[Dustin_Broke]

Here is a pic of the program and what is selected. As you see it automaticly selects everything. I did manualy select PAE/NX feature though.

 

[Dustin_Broke]

Here's another pic where the error message happens. I did click details to show the error code.

 

[blakwidowrsa]

Just download WMware vSphere and youll get a 30-60day trial.
And the pakage includes VMware Player that is freeware....

It will be everything you need....you are making this so complicated and it is really simple.

Start with good tools.
Download vSphere
Install vSphere
Open vmWare Player in the vSphere installed directory
open that XP vm image you want to view.

 

[Herr_Koos]

See my previous post. Have you checked BIOS yet?

 

[Dustin_Broke]

Are you talking about the bios on my Sony laptop or the settings on the virtual machine program? Since I did already select everything on the virtual machine settings. But if you are talking about the bios settings on my laptop I haven't done anything it yet.

 

[Dustin_Broke]

Where you talking abou this screen on the program? Since it is already both turned on.

 

[Herr_Koos]

BIOS on your laptop.

 

[Dustin_Broke]

By the light it worked. Now I' am able to select two virtural cores. But for somereason when I look at the task manager and look at performance it only shows one core. But when I look at the device manager it shows two processors. Kinda strange but does that mean I need to delete Windows XP and reinstall and update Windows XP again so it will detect both CPU?

 

[Dustin_Broke]

Ok I now finaly was able to install Turok since now the CPU doesn't go 100% but still reads like single core on the task manger. But anyways now I have this problem. I' am using the virtual video driver and did select it to have direct3d so it should work but it doesn't. I wanted to test the demo version first before I buy the game again since I sold alot of my older games years agao.

Here is a pic I was talking about it only showing as single core.

Here's a pic that is showing on the device manager that it sees two cores.