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    Will older Windows games (95,98) work on 64-bit Vista?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by evanft, Nov 28, 2008.

  1. evanft

    evanft Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have a lot of older games (Windows 95,98 era) that I plan on playing on my new laptop, so I'm not sure if I should select 64 or 32-bit Vista. I know 32-bit's compatibility is probably good enough, but what about 64?
     
    evanft, Nov 28, 2008
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  2. Citizen86

    Citizen86 Notebook User Guy

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    Some games are going to take some work... I'm sure there is probably a way, but you are sure to get some programs that won't run in x64. When I had Vista x64 installed on my old desktop, I tried to run one of the King's Quest games which had a Windows program, but it wouldn't run... I didn't bother to check online if it would though.

    For REALLY old games there is Dosbox. Anything newer than that you'll have to experiment with the compatibility menu and checking online
     
    Citizen86, Nov 28, 2008
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  3. Jstn7477

    Jstn7477 Sam I Am

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    Some games are not even going to be compatible with x64. If you want "greater" game compatibility, then I suggest that you use 32 bit. I have also seen some problems with people getting lower graphics performance in x64 but that may have been cleared up by now.

    -J.B.
     
    Jstn7477, Nov 28, 2008
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  4. brianstretch

    brianstretch Notebook Virtuoso

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    I'm not sure that 16-bit code is going to run on 64-bit Vista at all, without the help of something like DOSBox or VMWare Player running a Win98 instance.
     
    brianstretch, Nov 28, 2008
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  5. jjgoo

    jjgoo Notebook Deity

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    I have tried to run old games and cant get them to work on vista at all.
     
    jjgoo, Nov 28, 2008
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  6. Rahul

    Rahul Notebook Prophet

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    As brianstretch has recommended, use DosBOX to play DOS games, games that did not work on my 32-bit XP work perfectly fine in DOSBox just like I used to play them back on Windows 95 a decade ago.

    For older Windows games, try to get a virtual machine of Windows 95 or 98 to run those games. Get a program like VMware or Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 (Virtual PC 2007 doesn't support Windows 95). You'll also then need the OS itself to install as well.

    You can download it below.

    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...9D-DFA8-40BF-AFAF-20BCB7F01CD1&displaylang=en

    As for Windows 95, I downloaded the floppy disk version from a torrent in IMA format. I dunno if I can provide the link, can I?

    It seems cumbersome just to play some older games but its a pretty solid solution.
     
    Rahul, Nov 28, 2008
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  7. Citizen86

    Citizen86 Notebook User Guy

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    VirtualBox is a free open-source VM program, and I believe it does up to DirectX 7 alright, so you should be fine with those older Windows programs.
     
    Citizen86, Nov 28, 2008
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  8. S.SubZero

    S.SubZero Notebook Deity

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    The oldest game I have tried to use in Vista x64 is Age of Empires I. It installed and ran fine.

    I have played Starcraft in Vista x64.
     
    S.SubZero, Nov 28, 2008
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  9. Necromas

    Necromas Notebook Deity

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    Blizzard still supports starcraft too. :)
     
    Necromas, Nov 28, 2008
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