Problems getting old games to run

[Wuffykins]

Indigo Prophecy. Not only did the installer not want to open under Vista/7 (which was fixed by making a copied disc with a 'patched' .msi file) but at the end of the installation the DRM tried to install itself, was refused by Windows as the driver wasn't signed, then wigged the hell out and wiped the freshly installed game from my hard drive.

Now I've been told that Atari and the DRM supplier in question have settled that issue by means of other downloaded patches to resolve that particular issue, but I tracked down a PS2 copy nice and cheap so I won't be bothering.

 

[redisforever]

Weird things like that happened to me when I tried playing KoToR on XP. It was explained to me, through hundreds of forums posts, that it will not work on Windows 7, much less the 64-bit version. Well, on XP it died, glitched, failed, and kicked me in the ass. I tried on 7, and worked perfectly. Just keep trying different options.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

I tried to install Thief from GOG today. Starting it up went fine, got to the menu screen and I could even watch the videos. No graphical glitches. Great so far, way better than any other version it tried before. Then I tried to start the campaign. It loaded the first level and immediately crashes to desktop.

So I try running as administrator, various compatibility modes, reinstalling as administrator. Nothing works. Then I try installing to a different folder than program files.

Game works fine. Facepalm.

 

[Da Orky Man]

OT: yes, lots of times. Last game I've had a lot of trouble with was KOTOR 2 on Vista.

Snap, and unfortunately I don't know of any way of fixing it (damn and blast!)

I think KotOR ust doesn't like Vista. I spent forever trying to force the two together, and just gave up. Happy to say it runs fine on 7 though.

 

[Squilookle]

Maybe it's just your disk, as others have said. I bought a physical copy of the GOTY version of Deus Ex and it runs fine on Windows 7, without even asking for the disk to be in. I can launch it through steam, too. Maybe you just need to get it again- preferrably from GOG.com

For me, my most heart wrenching problem with an old game is Crimson Skies on the PC- it's my favourite flight combat game, yet it's completely incompatible with ATI cards beyond a certain series. Easy as I hear it is to fix, ATI refuses to acknowledge pleas for it to be fixed. As a result, I can't play the game. While Nvidia doesn't want a bar of supporting those old games either, I hear someone found a way around it themselves in less than 24 hours.

On that information alone, perhaps I'll be switching to Nvidia next time I upgrade. It's a shame it's not because Nvidia did anything themselves, though.

 

[Bad Jim]

I had trouble installing Deua Ex back in the day. I got around it by copying the contents of the CD into a folder on my hard drive and installing from that. It then ran fine. You might want to try that.

 

[DoPo]

Nothing works. Then I try installing to a different folder than program files.

Game works fine. Facepalm.

Oh, right. For future reference - never install your games in Program Files. That goes for everybody.

I myself have never done it because I never install anything there anyway (all my programs go in a different partition, same goes for games) since forever. I helped somebody else who had problems installing something on Windows 7 and it didn't make any sense why it wasn't working, since every step the guy made was virtually the same as what I had done. It turned out that Windows 7 has some extra protections and restrictions on everything in Program Files or something along those lines. And I didn't know that because there was no way for me to run into it.

OT: yes, lots of times. Last game I've had a lot of trouble with was KOTOR 2 on Vista.

Snap, and unfortunately I don't know of any way of fixing it (damn and blast!)

I think KotOR ust doesn't like Vista. I spent forever trying to force the two together, and just gave up. Happy to say it runs fine on 7 though.

Yes, I suppose so. But hardly anything likes Vista. I don't like Vista. I was really happy when I could finally replaced it with 7.

I haven't tried KOTOR 2 since then because there is always something else that comes up