I give up, and endeavor to get a W98 game working

So, some of you may have heard of this game, maybe you might have advice on how to get it to work.

I used to play this game designed for Windows 95 & 98 called USAF by Jane's Combat Simulations. It works flawlessly on Windows 98 (which is what I used to pay it on). Then when my family bought a new computer, I had to use Windows XP which has quite a bit of less compatability with the game, for example, you pretty much cannot use the custom game editor.

If I really want to, I can install the game on my dad's desktop and try to play it. I know it will work since thats what I used to use. If I wanted full compatability, I could boot up the old Pentium II machine with Windows 98 on it. However, the case is bulky, the monitor is huge (and I'm not sure how well the screen would display on one of today's monitors, plus I'd need a VGA cable), the keyboard and mouse need to be replaced with newer PS/2 devices, basically a whole mess if I want it to be bearable to use.

So, I've tried installing it in the following but it seems I still cannot get it to work (it always installs, just doesn't run):
-Windows Vista 32bit
-Vista32 XPCompatability Mode
-Vista32 98Compatability Mode
-Vista32 VMWare 98 Virtual Machine (could not get more than 16 colors, needed 256)
-Vista32 VMWare XP Virtual Machine (worked but only got 3 frames per second)
-Vista32 VMWare XP Virtual Machine 98Compatability Mode
-Linux Ubuntu 11.04 64bit Wine Compatability Layer (the game being on two CD-ROMs doesn't help)
-Windows 7 Virtual PC XP Mode 98Compatability Mode (got a W95 DLL error)
-Windows 7 Virtual PC XP Mode

And with that, I'm out of ideas (not too mention all of these were over my head). It's been 2 years since I first tried to get the game running and now I've exhausted my last idea. I'm not even going to attempt to get it to work in Windows 7 itself. Again, if I wanted to, probably $10 on speakers, $30 on PS/2 mouse & keyboard, and $10 on a VGA cable and I could nicely play on the old Pentium II machine, but I'd rather just be able to play on this laptop. I would try to dual boot Windows XP itself, but there is no way there is any driver support since in Windows Vista, quite a few drivers need to be installed to get the laptop working (as compared to Windows 7 which I needed less than half the drivers)

 

or, you could dual boot win98/95 on one of your current machines, or pick up an old laptop...

 

With your vmware, did you install "VM Tools"?
VMware KB: Overview of VMware Tools

There's a similar performance/feature package in virtual pc as well.
Have you tried this?

 

Ya, that seems even more so over my head than what I've already done. I don't have a Windows 98 or XP disc anymore (the ones I used for VMWare were shady lets say, nothing I'm proud of, I didn't keep them or the ISO files when I was unsuccessful). I'm not sure if I can use my dad's XP disc from his laptop (since it is OEM and designed for reinstalling only). At this point, I would think best bet is to see how it works on my dad's laptop, and ask to have it when he buys himself a new laptop. It is an old 1.6GHz Pentium M, but then again, USAF only recognizes up to 300MHz Pentium III from any CPU greater.

I think I'm just going to give up.

 

Hmm, Jane's games were the BEST. I ran a site called Jane's Hangar back in the day. Will have to search my archives, because I believe I had a way to get that working in XP and Vista.

VirtualBox with Windows XP should work.

 

I'd like to suggest VMware player, and pick up a used copy of windows 98 somewhere (I got mine at the Amazon marketplace). I have one game that will only work on 95/98, and I'm happy to say it works quite well.
I never did get USAF but I have Jane's Fighters Anthology and love that game!

 

Uhg, I like the settings configuring a lot better in VMWare than Windows Virtual PC. Although Virtual PC seems to be a lot less in the way.

I would have had Windows 98 working, its just that the audio and video emulation wasn't working. I couldn't get sound, and for USAF you need at least 256 colors, I couldn't get more than 16 which is rediculous. As for XP, I have no clue as to why it ran at 3fps. In XP mode, I don't understand why the game won't run at all. It starts up, then the disc starts making terrible clicking noises, then the error report message comes up. I know the games works on an XP machine, so why not an XP virtual machine? The only reason I never bought 98 on Amazon for example was because it was still too expensive to me. Besides, I already tried VMWare Plaer with 98 and it didn't work.

I'm running updates for my XP Mode Virtual Machine. Maybe there is something else I can try later.

 

"XP mode" is only virtual pc. It does NOT have any 3d acceleration whatsoever. Tell me the specs of your machine and I might be able to give you some advice.
I tried Fighters Anthology on my 98 VM, and it played with excellent performance. FA is only software rendered, it was never updated to use direct3d. Does USAF use direct3d?

 

I can't imagine not getting it to work in vmware player but virtualbox is another alternative to try. I do believe vmware has better 3d accerleration support though.