Running older PC games on new machines

[Stg-Flame]

I found an old PC game from 2001 in my storage that I was never able to beat because my old HP Pavillion Windows ME could not run the game at a playable rate. Given how old the game is, I decided to install it and give it another shot, to which I am met with a constant error. Given what the manual and readme say about their game "should" run on most systems, it leads me to believe it isn't going to be an easy fix to get this game to work. I tried installing DX7, but it appears DirectX 7 isn't compatible with Windows 7, so I'm hoping someone knows of a workaround to get some of the older DirectX 7 games to work on newer systems, especially considering I have a lot of older DX7 games in this box that I would love to revisit.

The game I'm trying to play is called Evil Islands and the error pops up every time I click Play from the launcher. The screen goes black for two seconds, then a CTD with the error:

Can't create HW IDirect3DDevice# interface (w/ or w/o T&L). (0x88760082) DirectDraw received a pointer that was an invalid DIRECTDRAW object.

Any ideas?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Have you tried compatibility mode and trouble shooter?

 

[XavierMace]

Unfortunately that's pretty common with older DirectX games. Even if you get it running, you often have other issues. Your best bet is dual booting XP. Most virtualization systems don't handle 3D acceleration very well and are limited to DOS era games.

 

[BFG10K]

I tried installing DX7, but it appears DirectX 7 isn't compatible with Windows 7, so I'm hoping someone knows of a workaround to get some of the older DirectX 7 games to work on newer systems, especially considering I have a lot of older DX7 games in this box that I would love to revisit.

You don't install DirectX 7. You need to install the last DirectX 9 runtime (released June 2010) which includes the files needed for older DirectX games.

Of course your GPU device drivers might have trouble with DirectX 7 games, but I run a few such titles on Win7-64 (e.g. NOLF, Undying) without issue.

 

[BSim500]

DirectDraw or DirectX? I have several old DX7 games that still work fine on Win7 (both 32 & 64 bit), eg, Giants: Citizens Kabuto, Operation Flashpoint (original), No One Lives Forever 1, etc. Hell I've got one DirectX 5 game running just fine (Commandos Behind Enemy Lines). DirectDraw is often more fiddly though it's still often "doable" to get old DDraw games to run (eg, Age of Empires 2 & Diablo 2).

Suggestions:-

1. Install latest Direct X 9 runtimes.

2. Check for official patches / support page.

3. Run the program in compatibility mode for XP (right click, compatibility). Disable visual themes, desktop composition, etc.

4. Does the game come with some "config" utility that allows changing from DirectDraw to DirectX?

5. If it's popular, you may find a modding community that's created a "wrapper", unofficial patch or even a new renderer of some kind for it.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Edit: I spoke too soon. Full screen was locking the loading screen at 50%, but window mode (if you can call it that...) works just fine.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Compatibility mode for windows xp actually worked when i had my copy of Doom 95. I was running W7 32 bit back then...amazingly enough my copy of Q3A which is a original disc works without zero issues on W7 64bit.

Don't know much about your game Op but i found out Doom 95 doesn't support 64bit cause the 64bit os doesn't have support for 16bit software,why the game worked on W7 32bit but not 64bit.

 

[BSim500]

Don't know much about your game Op but i found out Doom 95 doesn't support 64bit cause the 64bit os doesn't have support for 16bit software,why the game worked on W7 32bit but not 64bit.

Try the Doomsday Engine if you still want to play Doom under Win64. Works for Heretic & Hexen too. All you need is the WAD files.

 

[KiethHoyt]

Aren't there emulators you can download to run older games through? I tried playing Neverwinter Nights using compatibility mode and it would not load at all.

 

[BSim500]

Aren't there emulators you can download to run older games through? I tried playing Neverwinter Nights using compatibility mode and it would not load at all.

- DOSBox will run old 16-bit DOS programs that no longer work natively in 64-bit Windows.
- ScummVM will run a lot of the old Sierra / LucasArts DOS adventure games
- MAME runs old arcade machine ROMs
- Many other console / old Commodore 64 / ZX Spectrum emulators are available for those
- Virtual machines (VirtualBox, etc) can run WinXP under Windows 7/8 which will run old 16-bit Windows software (but often not that well with 3D hardware acceleration).

BTW, NWN1 runs fine on mine (Win7 32 & 64 bit, v1.69). What errors do you get / GFX card do you have?

 

[Stg-Flame]

The 16 bit option for the resolutions ultimately worked for me. I think it was the full screen and X32 bit resolutions that were causing the lockups. Once I ran it in compatibility mode and modified the resolution (I'm amazed there were so many options to choose from) to the appropriate size and bit, it worked no problem.

I just loaded up Total Annihilation and I had to manually force/change the resolution from 32 bit to 16 bit in order for the game to even load on my computer.