Old Games That Run on Vista

[TxMxRonin]

Does anyone know where I can find a list of PC games that will run on Vista? I have the 32-bit Vista Home Premium on my PC. I'm really looking for old PC games like Far Cry and Half-Life.

 

[runtheplacered]

Well, both of those will work. I've played both using Vista Ultimate 32-bit. And most old games work just fine (I play a lot of them, so if you have a specific one, just ask). I had some trouble getting Simcity 4 to work, but after a little digging around in forums I got it to work.

For the majority of games though, just right click on the shortcut and go to properties. Where then you'll choose the Compatibility tab and choose the appropriate operating system. Just look at when the game was made to give you an idea, although Windows 2000 is usually a fairly safe bet. And also choose to run the game in Administrative mode (which is also under the compatibility tab).

Here's a list I found with a quick google search. The list is probably not complete, and like I said, most games will work just fine.

http://www.thinktechno.com/2007/03/13/list-of-vista-compatible-games/

 

[Sewblon]

Farcry works, anything on steam works so you can run half-life source, Diablo 2, Warcraft 3 and Starcraft work. Max Payne and Prey don't work. Thief the dark project works but System Shock 2 doesn't.

 

[runtheplacered]

Farcry works, anything on steam works so you can run half-life source, Diablo 2, Warcraft 3 and Starcraft work. Max Payne and Prey don't work. Thief the dark project works but System Shock 2 doesn't.

I got System Shock 2 to work just fine in Vista.

Also as you said anything on Steam works just fine, and Max Payne 1 & 2, as well as Prey, are all on Steam, so I don't see why they wouldn't work as well.

 

[TxMxRonin]

Well, both of those will work. I've played both using Vista Ultimate 32-bit. And most old games work just fine (I play a lot of them, so if you have a specific one, just ask). I had some trouble getting Simcity 4 to work, but after a little digging around in forums I got it to work.

For the majority of games though, just right click on the shortcut and go to properties. Where then you'll choose the Compatibility tab and choose the appropriate operating system. Just look at when the game was made to give you an idea, although Windows 2000 is usually a fairly safe bet. And also choose to run the game in Administrative mode (which is also under the compatibility tab).

Ok, thanks. I had found a list at one point but now I can't find it anymore. I've heard that people have problems running Doom and Doom II on vista but I haven't tried as I still have an old Windows ME that somehow still works.

 

[Sewblon]

Farcry works, anything on steam works so you can run half-life source, Diablo 2, Warcraft 3 and Starcraft work. Max Payne and Prey don't work. Thief the dark project works but System Shock 2 doesn't.

I got System Shock 2 to work just fine in Vista.

I was using Home Premium, that might have had something to do with it.

 

[TxMxRonin]

I just remembered Metal Gear Solid PC. But that probably wont work.

 

[Areani]

I just remembered Metal Gear Solid PC. But that probably wont work.

It does! Although when any subtitles appeared the screen flickered like crazy, but other than that; it worked just fine

 

[Revernd Awesome]

Ok, thanks. I had found a list at one point but now I can't find it anymore. I've heard that people have problems running Doom and Doom II on vista but I haven't tried as I still have an old Windows ME that somehow still works.

I run DOOM I and II just fine on Vista Home Premium

 

[TxMxRonin]

Thanks guys. My XP died on me last September so I was forced to get a Vista PC and I was wondering what games I could get that would still run on it. I'm wanting to get back into old FPS games like Soldier of Fortune.

I know the Unreal series works cause I have the Unreal Anthology. So if anyone could recommend me FPS games that will work I'd really appreciate it.

 

[Useful Dave]

X-Com works just fine via STEAM, although the System Shock 2 demo is abit crashy on 64 bit.

As for old FPSs, Halo seems to work just fine.

 

[Archemetis]

Games?... Run on Vista?

(Being a new Vista user I find the concept laughable because i've still to find a single program that runs good with this infernal OS)

 

[geldonyetich]

I have to say, I haven't had any issue with games running on Vista. Takes a little getting used to, maybe some have to be set to run with administrator privileges, but they seem to work. I've even ran some really old games on Vista using Dosbox.

The biggest issues I've had so far is that BYOND Dream Maker doesn't seem to function unless I run a game with it first after a fresh installation (maybe this isn't a Vista problem) and the GameTap interface has some issues rendering properly unless I tweak it to run on a certain color depth. Funny enough, all GameTap games I've played (many of them being older Windows games) work just fine.

Complaining about Vista compatibility problems is so 2007. A pity the brand new version of Windows being developed to be released near the end of the year (Windows 7 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7]) is set to blow Vista out of the water on the vital fundamental of raw power (which has always been the PC's forte).

 

[Aries_Split]

System Shock 2(Seriously people, it's not that hard. You just install it in a folder other than program files so it isn't affected by Vista.)
Max Payne 1 and 2
Warcraft 3
Planescape Torment(Well written)
Any infinity engine game
Diablo 2
HItman
Thief
Quake
Unreal
and many many more.

Games?... Run on Vista?

(Being a new Vista user I find the concept laughable because i've still to find a single program that runs good with this infernal OS)

Sounds like a PEBKAC issue.

Or possibly an I.D 10 T Error.

 

[geldonyetich]

System Shock 2(Seriously people, it's not that hard. You just install it in a folder other than program files so it isn't affected by Vista.)

One thing about System Shock 2 - it'll randomly lock up on a multi-core system unless you go into the task manager and set the processor affinity for only one processor. (Which is weird, because as far as I can tell, it doesn't actually try to use more than one processor.)

That might have been Windows XP I had that trouble with.

 

[Aries_Split]

System Shock 2(Seriously people, it's not that hard. You just install it in a folder other than program files so it isn't affected by Vista.)

One thing about System Shock 2 - it'll randomly lock up on a multi-core system unless you go into the task manager and set the processor affinity for only one processor. (Which is weird, because as far as I can tell, it doesn't actually try to use more than one processor.)

That might have been Windows XP I had that trouble with.

OR simply install the fix.

 

[The Iron Ninja]

Old games?

The oldest ones that work on mine would be Diablo 2, IL-2 Sturmovik and Operation Flashpoint.

As for what doesn't work (That I've tried).
-Catz 5
-RPG Maker XP (though it's an unnoficial translation, so the patch that fixes it which is a common thing for alot of games that don't work properly on Vista wont effect anything.
-Battlefield 1942 doesn't seem to work properly either.

 

[geldonyetich]

OR simply install the fix.

I seem to recall I was already using it and still had to tweak the core affinity. I might be confusing the fix with a no cd hack, though. (Which, I seem to recall, the fix included or perhaps actually was?)