Windows 7 's gaming compability and MAC-issues

[He_Is_Legend]

Hello again, gamers world wide.

I am present with more questions about gaming and Operation Systems communicating. I did use the search function to find any earlier problems similiar to mine, but the search wasn't working at the time. If this has been mentioned pr asked before; please post a link to those topics, thank you.

My first question is concerning Old Games, ranging from windows 95 to windows XP, and it's playability on the Windows 7 platform. All new games are playable, and most old games, but I am having some trouble playing the really old games. Games such as "Syndicate" , "Metal Fatigue" (this game isn't that old), "Star Craft", "Dungeon Keeper", Warlords 3" and other old games. What I would like to know is this; What is the best and easiest/cheapest way to play these games again on the Windows 7 platform?
I have already tried to change Compability-mode, but that doesn't seem to do anything. Sometimes when I'm about to install a game it may say that the program is not compatible with my x86 something something. Can you please tell me if there is anything I can do?

The other problem is concerning Mac and Pc communication, and more describingly; linking a mac and a pc. Me and my girlfriend love to play games together, and we often play "Star Wars: Battlegrounds" together. She uses a Mac and I use a Pc, but when we play said game, she uses a PC-partition on her Mac to play on my server. We both just installed StarCraft, and I've gotten her hooked on it! When we tried to create a game, we didn't find each other. Now the issue could be that ;
-She doesn't have the same version as me (Brood WAr)
-She is playing it from her MAC partition
-doesn't have the same StarCraft version as me

Are all of these likely? What do you thing? Is it hard to link a Mac an a Pc together?
Thank you for any information.

 

[He_Is_Legend]

I have heard of Microsoft Virtual PC, but does that work? I can not download it for my version of Windows 7 because I got the Home Premium edition.
I obviously need something that can emulate a x32/x16 machine/OS, or a program to fool the install file. Any suggestions?

 

[He_Is_Legend]

I also found Virtual Box, which seemed nice. I installed it and ran it on my system, but I don't have a copy of my Windows XP-cd here (In UK), so I uninstalled it. Any tips?

 

[He_Is_Legend]

Do you have problems playing Oblivion on Windows 7? What kind of problems?

 

[Avaholic03]

I can only speak to Starcraft. I know you have to have the same version (and updates) to play each other because there are balancing issues. So if your girlfriend doesn't have the Brood War expansion installed, then it won't work. However, once you're on the same version, I believe you can both connect to battle.net (accounts are free) and play a private game even if the LAN game doesn't work.

 

[dommyuk]

Speaking of Dungeon Keeper, I think I've fixed that:

You'll need the Application Compatability Toolkit. You may have noticed that none of the 'fixes' it already has works for it, so you'll need to make your own. Click the Fix button and fill out the name and the destination of the executable. You'll want Keeper95 or Deeper95 if you want Deeper Dungeons and select next. Now you'll be at the compatability screen, select none and then next. Now you'll be at the Compatability Fixes section, scroll down to find 'ForceDirectDrawEmulation' and activate it. Now use the Test Run button and the game should run, but the colors might be all messed up. Exit the game and click next and finish on the next screen. If the colours were all screwed up, find the Dungeon Keeper or Deeper Dungeons executable and right click on it and select properties. Go to the compatability tab and turn on 'Run in 256 colours' and 'Run at 640x480 screen resolution'. Then go back into the Application Compatability toolkit and select the fix you previously created then click run and it should work. Only problem I have is the map and 'after mission' score scrolls to fast, so you may need CPUkiller or something similar. If it still doesn't work turn on XP SP2 compatability, which may fix it.