Has it really been three years again? Microsoft released Windows 10 on July 29th and it's time to see how our games are going to fare. I'm up to my ears in tomatoes right now, but will begin testing games as time allows. RebKean is also testing out a lot of games, so I will edit this post whenever I can.

Windows 10 was released as an update, so unless people downloaded the OS as an image and did a clean installation, it updated your previous system with files and programs intact. I've noticed that all the games I already had on the system are playing. But that doesn't mean there won't be issues with installing them. So I will try to differentiate and test them both ways.

As before, unless otherwise noted, these are all original CD or DVD versions of the games and I installed to the default location of C:\Program Files (x86). I have played each of the games to where I interact with inventory items by picking them up and using them, saving a game, exiting the game and loading a saved game. I’ve made sure dialogue trees work and the sound and video behave as they are intended.

We will also assume that if Big Fish Games, GOG and STEAM indicate a game works on Windows 10, that will be the case.

YOU WILL NOTICE THAT I'VE RUN INTO SEVERAL GAMES WHICH INSTALL, BUT WILL NOT LAUNCH. I FOUND THIS FROM A MODERATOR AT ONE OF THE MICROSOFT FORUMS:

So, without further ado, these are my computer specs. I am running Windows 10 Pro.

Drac's Desktop
Processor - Ivy Bridge Core i5 @ 3.6 GHtz
Disk drive - 1 TB WD Velociraptor
Video Card - Nvidia Geforce GTX Overclocked 660Ti
Ram - 8 GB
Sound Card - Creative SB X-Fi

RebKean has two computers.

RebKean's Laptop
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU: Intel core i5 3317U @ 1.70 GHz Ivy Bridge 22nm Technology
RAM: 4.00 GB
Graphics: Generic PnP Monitor, Intel HD Graphics 4000
HardDrives: 456 GB Seagate ST500LT012-9WS142 (SATA)/ 22 GB SanDisk SSD U100 24 GB (SSD)
Sound: VIA HD Audio

RebKean's Desktop
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU: AMD FX(tm)-4100 Quad-Core Processor 3.60 GHz
RAM: 8,00 GB
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6700 Series
HardDrives: OCZ VERT EX PLUS SCSI Disk Device / SAMSUNG HD154UI SCSI Disk Device
Sound: AMD high Definition Audio Device

RebKean had these games already installed on the laptop and all played with no problems.

The Sims 4
All of the Carol Reed games
Zumas revenge (Origin)
Theme hospital (Origin)
Sim City 2000 special edition (Origin)
Ultima 8 gold edition (Origin)
Syndicate (Origin)
Crime line
Criminal minds
CSI NY
Cute Knight Deluxe
Cute Knight Kingdom
Escape, special bundle edition
Fairway solitaire collectors edition
Fashion solitaire
Jewel Quest mysteries bundle
Jewel Quest solitaire
Jojo's fashion show wolrd tour
Mytery P.I series
Odium (aka Gorky 17)
Papers please
Puzzler World 2013
The Stanley Parable
Plague Inc evolved (Steam)

I'm just going to start with a few games and then organize them later.

Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine, 2006 - Installed and played.

American McGee's Alice, 2000 - Despite trying installing to another folder, installing from the setup file on the disk in compatibility mode, using compatibility mode on the desktop shortcut and Run as administrator, the game will not launch. I get as far as the User Account Control to say "yes," and then nothing happens. The game is installed on my drive just fine... it just won't launch and there are no error messages.

A Vampyre Story, 2010 - Well, it's not looking good for this one either. It installs perfectly, but the game will not launch. Uninstalled, ran CCleaner and then installed in C:\... Still won't launch and again, no error messages. Tried Run as Administrator and various compatibility modes.

Bioshock, 2007 - Installed and played.

Bioshock 2, 2010 - Installed and played

Caesar IV, 2006 - Upsydaisy says it installed and played on her Windows 10.

Darkfall The Journal, 2002 - Installed and played.

Dracula Resurrection, 2000 - Installed and played. However, an initial error message said the game wasn't compatible. So I went to the disk, right clicked on the Install file and ran the compatibility trouble shooter. It selected XP SP3 and when I clicked on Test, the game ran perfectly. After I saved and exited, I then clicked on Next and indicated the compatibility mode worked and it should be saved. The last screen said the game had been fixed.

Dracula, The Last Sanctuary, 2001 - Installed and played... same as above. Rejoice for these two games!

Gabriel Knight 3, 1999 - Stella over at Mystery Manor had the disk version of this game. RCB posted this work-around and as Stella says, she is now playing it in all its pixelated glory!

First thing you'll need is an installer patch that allows all the discs to be loaded on your hard drive. The one I'm using can be found ***HERE*** under the G's. Use this instead of the GK3.exe that comes on the first cd. You will be prompted to load the discs as the game is installed at default location: C:/Sierra/Gabriel Knight 3. At the end you may be asked to set up game configuration. Chose no because it's a good idea to know where that option is located.

Game Configuration:
Go to the Gabriel Knight 3 folder and look for Configure GK3.exe. Highlight the full screen rectangle and select 1024x768. Save.

First Time Running:
This installation didn't create a desktop short cut but the new launch file in the main folder is named Gabriel Knight 3.exe. The date of the file should be something like 9/1/2014. I'd recommend sending this to the desktop for convenience since it is necessary to apply compatibility options. Note that the original GK3.exe (1999) is still present but don't touch it. Game Compatibility Mode Settings: I know it's tempting but DO NOT change to a different (older) operating system, leave it alone. What you do need to do though is check the box for reduced color mode - 16 bit (65536) color.
Apply.
Next step is start the game. After the intro and you get control of the game right click to get the 'in game' option menu. Select Configuration Options - Advanced Options - Graphics Options. Turn off (unselect) Incremental Rendering and set the game resolution to 1024x768. Note that if each time you start the game and get a notice like frame buffer overload you will need to reset the resolution from 640x480 back to 1024x768.

Keepsake, 2006 - Installed and played.

Last Half of Darkness, Beyond the Spirit's Eye, 2007 - Installed, but I get an error - "d3drm.dll file is missing." Although I may be wrong, I believe this indicates the game has some form of DRM.

EDIT -- d3drm.dll is from an old version of Direct3D and gets its name from "Direct3D Retained Mode" See post from James Mcquellin ***here*** for possible fix.

Mass Effect, 2010 - Installed and played.

Oblivion, 2005 - Installed and played.

Scratches, 2006 - This one made me nervous. It was already installed, but would not launch or recognize that the CD was in the drive. I uninstalled and then reinstalled. The first time I clicked on Play, the taskbar stayed on the screen and the game was all jittery. Maybe Jenny100 or Inland will know if the fact that I got a popup to update my Adobe Air right on top of the jittery game had anything to do with the game. I updated Adobe Air and was able to quit the game. When I relaunched the game, it played just fine. Spent about 1/2 hour in it. Whew! I love this game.

Sybera I, 2003 - Installs, but will not launch. Tried the usual.

Syberia II, 2004 - Installs, but will not launch. See above.

The Hobbit, 2003 - Interesting. This one is already installed and played just fine. But I am unable to uninstall through any of the normal methods to check and see if it will install. The uninstaller is not compatible. I even tried Revo...

Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, 2004 - Installs, but will not launch. What a disappointment.

So after a few weeks of testing games, I'm coming to the conclusion that Windows 10 is going to be really "hit or miss" when it comes to games on CD or DVD. I'm finding information on the internet that the OS is blocking anything that remotely resembles DRM.

While no one loathes DRM any more than me, I find this a bit too bossy. Let ME decide if I want this, not Microsoft. Anyway, I will keep my eyes open for anything that helps us out, but we all know Microsoft is not going to do anything about it.

Windows 10 has a lot going for it and I like the OS very much. But there is a reason I have a dual boot computer with Windows 7 on another hard disk drive and even another separate computer with good old Window XP on it. My daily use for 90% of what I do will be on my Windows 10, but when I feel like replaying something like Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, I will boot up my Windows 7.

Thanks for the update and bad news Draclvr!

I don't think the problem is related to Windows 10 blocking DRM.
Oblivion, Bioshock, and Mass Effect contain some of the worst DRM there is, yet they are playing.

I think the problem is more that Microsoft chose to support the big selling, popular games like Oblivion, Bioshock, and Mass Effect rather than supporting old adventure games.

About "Beyond the Spirit's Eye"...
"D3drm.dll is missing" is related to DirectX.

"D3drm.dll is missing" is an error that also happened with Windows 7 and 8. One person in ***Microsoft forums*** claims d3drm.dll is from an old version of Direct3D and gets its name from "Direct3D Retained Mode" -- nothing to do with DRM.
One person found a fix for the problem in Windows 7

I don't know if that will work for Windows 10. It may be that the game comes with the file but it doesn't install on Windows 10 -- at least where Windows 10 can find it.

About.com has an article on ***How To Fix D3drm.dll Not Found or Missing Errors*** and says you can restore d3drm.dll from a DirectX package (so you don't have to download d3drm.dll from an unknown source on the Internet) and gives more complete instructions here
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/restoredx9dll.htm
I have not tried extracting it though, and don't know for sure if d3drm.dll is included with the latest DirectX.

For what it's worth, I see some folks on Steam reporting that they have Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines running on Windows 10, and other folks reporting issues with it (the CD retail version was also being discussed).

The success stories mostly involved getting around the SafeDisc copy protection and then running the game in compatibility mode for Windows XP Service Pack 3.

Thank you, Jenny. I was hoping you would clarify some things here. This is just one of several articles I've read about Windows 10 and DRM.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/08/windows-10-wont-run-games-with-securom-drm-says-microsoft-2/

Supposedly Vampire Bloodlines doesn't have any DRM. I'd like to find out why so many games like that one and American McGee's Alice. Syberia etc. install just fine, but simply will not launch. I'm hardly expecting every older CD or DVD game to play, but I'd like to know WHY. Give me an error message or something.

Marian, do you know if these are downloaded Steam Bloodlines games?

Drac, the CD retail versions were also being discussed in regards to this issue, with a resolution to the problem as described above. I am not sure if with the download version anyone was having to jump through any hoops.

I will have to check it out... I kind of got a kick out of this article scolding PC gamers!

http://www.vg247.com/2015/08/19/the-windows-10-drm-debacle-welcome-to-reality-pc-people/

Funny article!

I love this:



That's kind of how I feel about Zanzarah.

You reported that Bioshock (2007) and Mass Effect (2010) both installed and played, yet those games used SecuROM v7 and the Arstechnica article claimed they wouldn't play. So unless you didn't use disc versions of those games, the Arstechnica article isn't correct. Maybe Microsoft changed their mind and specifically allowed exceptions for certain DRM's (or those for certain games) to get through. Either that or they'd have had to integrate a patch that removed the DRM, which doesn't seem likely.

American McGee's Alice used SafeDisc v2.
Syberia also used SafeDisc v2.
Syberia 2 used some sort of SafeDisc -- one would assume v2 or later since it was released after Syberia 1.

It would be strange to block old versions of SafeDisc while permitting something much more invasive like SecuROM v7. Not that Microsoft is logical, but I would guess the incompatibilities are by accident, or there is something about the game other than the DRM that's causing the problem. GOG versions of games often update the game for newer systems as well as removing DRM. For example they might use a workaround for games that use features of old video cards that are no longer supported. I've seen Glide integrated in several of their installs, and I'm pretty sure I saw dgvoodoo in at least one of their game folders (read about dgvoodoo at ***VOGONS***). I've also seen old DirectX files in some of their game folders that may not have been installed there in the original CD versions.

If you Google for the name of a game and NoCD, you'll find that there's at least one NoCD website that identifies the type of DRM that was used on the disc version. If you want to try NoCD's, there's always the problem of whether a detected infection is a false positive or not, since free packers are often flagged as malware.

No, as I state in the initial post, I'm using original CDs or disks. That is sort of odd... although the first article did say it was "certain versions" of SecuROM.

At least for the Bioshock games, they are from Games for Windows Live, so maybe they made exceptions for their own games.

And that would definitely explain the reason why Alice and the Syberia games wouldn't launch. A Vampyre Story must use something similar since that one won't launch either. I tried to find sources that would tell me what if any DRM is used with any of these games. I finally used Safedisk in my search and found a page with a list.

Marian, when I read that article a few days ago, I thought the exact same thing - sort of the way I feel about Zanzarah!

As an FYI, Microsoft has a Compatibility Center for Windows 10 at this URL: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compatibility/CompatCenter/Home

Just type in the name of the program or game and if it's been previously tested it will show if it's been deemed compatible. I picked a few random games to test it out and found they did show Cyan's Myst 10th Anniversary Collection and Riven: The Sequel to Myst as compatible. Interestingly enough some of the newer enhanced versions such as Myst Masterpiece Edition was not compatible and Revelation was listed with a "?", meaning no information. I also found that of the Elder Scrolls games, Skyrim was compatible, but not Morrowind or Oblivion. They even had Baldur's Gate listed as compatible, but sadly the Enhanced edition was not.

So, check the search. They may have the more popular games and programs listed.

Update: I've temporarily stuck out parts of my post above because it appears that Microsoft has completely changed the webpage that previously existed at the link I listed above. If I can verify that they have moved the feature to check software compatibility and or locate the link I'll update this post again.

A Vampyre Story used SecuROM v7.
It's one of very few games where the developer released a patch that removed the DRM. Too many people couldn't get their legitimately purchased versions of the game to start.


For example, google

Vampyre Story nocd

and the first link that comes up is the one that tells the type of DRM the game uses. Not always -- sometimes it just says "CD checks" or something similar. But it's the most comprehensive site I've found. Most other nocd sites just give you the nocd without telling you what DRM was on it.

I never had much problem with older versions of SafeDisc beyond delaying the startup of the game. I'm not familiar with versions that are more recent than SafeDisc v3. However SafeDisc v4 had a vulnerability in their secdrv.sys driver that is discussed on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safedisc#SafeDisc_.28V4.29
That may be what Microsoft is blocking, though I'm not sure if SafeDisc v2 used secdrv.sys and it may only be the v4 version that has the vulnerability.

I tried a Google search for games with safeDisk and came up with a site... I notice it also has a lot of the NoCD options too.

I finally found somthing about that patch for A Vampyre Story.. Found one like that was supposed to be for the patch, but was taken to someone's blog about iphones!

I notice that compatibility site lists Vampire Bloodlines as compatible.

The old link for the game's website no longer works.
However it's available at the Web Archive ***here***
The link on the Web Archive also works to download the patch.

Drac...

Have to got a chance to see how Horizon 2 runs on Windows 10 ?

I want to buy it but I will wait for reviews on this...

Sorry, but I don't have the game.

I finally updated my win8.1 (64bit) Home edition to win 10 (64 bit) Home edition 3 days ago, and I like so far, but a bit too early to give it an honest rating.

Anyway, I installed Syberia 1 and 2 from GOG and it started with no problems, I have played around with both games for about 10 minutes each and so far so good. But I do not get a Full Screen, I get a small screen with huge black bars on each side, could be because I am using a Laptop with an Intel HD Graphics card and cannot play around with scaling or any other neat features offered by dedicated cards.
I tried changing my Screen Resolutions but no luck with that either.
Again, aside from the small screen it works very good.

Note: When I do buy another Laptop, I will come back here first to take your suggestions regarding "Make sure you get a dedicated video card", or something in that nature, again, I shall read up on all the advices given here beforehand.

That's great, Starcom! We are assuming that games from places like GOG which state they will work on Windows 10 will indeed work. I kind of quit working with this because it was so frustrating to find that games which I have no doubt would work perfectly will not launch because of Microsoft's decision to block certain forms of DRM.

re: Last Half of Darkness, Beyond the Spirit's Eye, I installed it on Win10 machine and after running the Troubleshooter all is good, the game works well, again a small screen, but maybe it was originally a small screen.

As for your missing .dll problems, this is part of the instructions of the readme file from WR:

Rename file "d3drm.bak" to "d3drm.dll" (d3drm.bak is located in the game folder after you have installed game).

I didn't have to do this since it was already converted, maybe it has to do with the fact that I bought the Trilogy from WR and he might have made some changes

No it wasn't.
It was a low resolution though, at least compared to modern desktop resolutions.
It sounds like Windows 10 isn't automatically adjusting the resolution to fit your screen, which may be a directx problem or may be due to poor Windows 10 video drivers.
Are you able to reduce your desktop resolution in Windows 10?
If you are, does it have an effect on the size of the game window?

Thanks for your reply and confirming the screen size, yes I am able to adjust my desktop resolution but that does not help, I also tried this for the 2 Syberia games which produce a small screen and No Luck there, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said about
Windows 10 drivers and I have read here and elsewhere that W10 does Not Like Intel HD Graphic cards, at least the one I have which is a Intel HD 4000 which works very well for the majority of my games.

Also as mentioned previously, I will be needing a new lappy soon and I will read and write down the advice given by you, Draclvr and others regarding buying a laptop with a "Dedicated video card rather than an Integrated one"
Take care
Ray

I've read the article below from Microsoft that shows a way to enable or disable secdrv which I believe is securom, but not sure, what do you guys think about this?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3086255

Very interesting wonder if we all need to do this?

I've seen this hack before, but haven't tried it. Secdrv.sys is a driver for the SafeDisc copy protection scheme.

Well exactly 10 days later I have decided to roll back to Windows 8.1, not because I didn't like
Windows 10, but not only as mentioned before re : getting a new laptop down the road, but W10 did not like my Intel HD Graphics card. Many of my favourite games would not play Full Screen despite numerous attempts to try and fix this, thanks to Jenny100 suggestion  
``Are you able to reduce your desktop resolution in Windows 10?
If you are, does it have an effect on the size of the game window?``

Which at first didn't help, but then after having a Duh moment, I realized by reducing the Screen size down one notch from it's maximum or recommended size, that I could now activate the Scaling feature on my card, after choosing « Scale Full Screen » this helped in a few of the games I tested and brought it to a Full screen, but there were still too many games which did not.

The deal breaker was when Darrall mentioned that he installed Culpa Innata and got a shaky screen and could not play it, well I tried to install it and with the same results and I even tried the fix suggested by Jarkeld and the site he supplied, which did work But, the screen size was only a 4 inch by 4 inch screen and there is Absolutely No Way I am going to play one of my All Time favourite game in that size of screen and now that I have Culpa Innata installed, of course I now have to replay it and of course it works perfectly in W 8.1.
And all the games I previously tested works great on my puny laptop with full screen and all in 8.1. One thing to note though, I have a lot of No CD or DVD fixes for a lot of my games which helps enormously even in W10 to make it work.
As for rolling back W10 to your previous Windows, as long as you do it before 30 days, it is a Piece of cake and it took only about 30 to 40 minutes to roll back and everything was pretty much the same, almost as if I didn't even install 10.
One other important note, before trying W10, I did a full backup (system image) of my computer, just in case….

Really good to know all this, Starcom...

I was against installing Windows 10, but my son persuaded me and I am glad. I have installed and now playing Halo Combat Evolved with the download from Bungie. I have also installed Murder on the Orient Express, Outcry, Alter Ego and Murder in the Abbey. This Windows 10 may not be so bad after all for many of my old games.

I'm so glad to hear that you are having such good luck, kazzmo! I like the operating system in general, but I sure wish there were several things they would fix... like blocking certain forms of DRM.

I've thought about installing the Win 10 upgrade but heard that it has some serious big brother issues. What have you found about that Drac?

Has anyone gotten Amerzone to install on Win 10?

I gave my Amerzone game to a friend in California. I'll ask her if she's tried to install on Windows 10.

The GOG version of Amerzone lists Windows 10 - for what that's worth. I know they have also said that sometimes Windows 10 has been problematic for some games and for some players. I don't know about Amerzone specifically.

I tried from a disk and it wouldn't work. I'll check that link, thanks Marian.

Any idea if its watered down, like it was for Mac?

When I tried the Mac version from GOG, it was the watered down Anuman version.

However the version for PC from GOG was the old version, just made to work from hard drive instead of using the CD.

Thanks Jenny.

I found GK 1-3 too.

I just edited the original post to show a work-around for running the original disks for Gabriel Knight 3. A member at Mystery Manor couldn't get GK3 from GOG to run on Windows 10, but member RCB posted a work-around.

I don't have 10 installed, but doesn't my installer work for GK3? The GOG version is based on my installer. I would appreciate any input about Win10 compatibility issues.

Collector, all I can tell you is what RCP posted for us at Mystery Manor and that it worked perfectly for Stella. I will put him in touch with you!

Collector, yes your installer worked to run GK3 with Win10 using the original CD disc set. For reasons beyond my knowledge GOG states for GK3:

Works on: Windows (XP, Vista, 7)

I don't know if this is just an oversight in not listing Win8 and 10 or that the game tended to be problematic for other reasons with those operating systems. Currently I don't have the GOG version in my possession so unfortunately I can't say for sure at this point.
RCB

Thanks for the info, RayB. It's appreciated.

Good to know. Thanks. I guess that if anyone is having issues it will be a compatibility issue with that particular user's PC.

Probably a number of things on GOG's site that they missed updating as newer versions of Windows have been released. Could be that that info gets updated as releases are updated for bug fixes. They might not want to change that info if they have not tested on the newer Windows.

Hi everyone. I was wondering if the older Nancy Drew games will work on Windows 10?

Thanks for the info!

Tracy

There is a thread on the Her Interactive website about this that includes Windows 10 users reporting that they have been able to get every single Nancy Drew game (including the first two, Secrets Can Kill and Stay Tuned for Danger) running. The earlier games apparently require the same tweaking instructions that folks used for Windows 7/8. So, although I don't have Windows 10 myself, it would appear that it is possible.

Here is the thread:

Windows 10 Compatibility

And another:

Windows 10 Compatibility with original Secrets Can Kill and Stay Tuned for Danger

Thanks so much, Marian!

Tracy

That's great news... thanks, Marian. I don't have any of the ND games, so I couldn't check them out.

I'm not sure if this has already been posted or not , however , Vampire The Masquerade : Redemption (the physical copy) will install on Windows 10 . Launches with no issues , however , the brightness can't be corrected via in-game options . The game is next to impossible to play , at least to me anyhow , in darker areas due to this . The GOG version also behaves in the same manner .

I see that issue being discussed here.

If you look at the last two posts in the thread, there might be some helpful information there.

That thread was one of several threads I have read on the issue I've experienced . None of those fixes worked .

Hi again everyone. I was just wondering if you guys know if the Witcher 2 will play in Windows 10? ( not sure if you need more specs, but if so I'll be glad to get them for ya)

Thanks!
Tracy

According to this post here, it does run on Windows 10. This is of course providing your computer meets the game's system requirements.

Witcher 2 plays just fine on Windows 10. I have it as a download from GOG, so I know there aren't any issues with DRM being blocked. It was already installed on my computer when I upgraded to Windows 10, so I can't comment on any installation issues. I can't remember if Witcher 2 was available on discs.

Thanks Marian and Draclvr! I appreciate the help. I'm still playing Witcher 3, but couldn't resist finding out about the second one just for fun.

Tracy, who may or may not get the 2nd one and play both games at the same time-LOL

I say GO FOR IT! Have you played the first one? Still my favorite.

I've had issues with Last Crown Midnight Horror . Seems like the only way I can play on Win 10 , is to run it in windowed mode . If I try to play full screen , it crashes Windows . Seeing as how I have until the end of next month , more or less , I may just roll back to Windows 7 , see if the same problem happens

Has anyone other than me had problems running Whispered Worlds on windows 10. I downloaded the game from GOG site and no walk around would work. It was a special $1.99 purchase so I was happy to just uninstall it.

What was the nature of the problem, lexxy? What happened? What error messages did you receive?

I redownloaded the game and did a QUICK click on the green start arrow and guess what it plays The problem was not with the game but with the player

Great news, lexxy.

Tracy, the Witcher will also play on Windows 10 great news for those of us addicted to it

I have installed Amerzon on 10 and on mine works fine

maggie

Cue, I had my windows 10 put on by my tech he did not want me to have any problems he said the upgrade is good he has seen it but be careful where you upgrade it. He is doing mine at his shop

Yes it the Witcher 2 plays on 10 at least on mine it does

But be aware that the DISK version of the first Witcher will not play on Windows 10. GOG does offer the download for free to those who have a disk version. GOG has Witcher the Enhanced Edition for $9.99.

Witcher 2 and Witcher 3 are only available as downloads and they are completely DRM free, so they will play on Windows 10.

I think the first Witcher is still my favorite!

Not so fast on Witcher 2 , Drac : Witcher 2

I have Windows 10 on this laptop system:

AMD A10-8700P Radeon R6

I've gotten many of my adventure games and shooters to play while others will install but not launch. I would really like to play any of these games if anyone has ant tips or tweaks to help me get them to play.

80 Days by Frogwares
MYST End of Ages
Echo
MYST URU Complete
The Omega Stone Riddle of the Sphinx II

Crysis
FEAR 2

I have been able to install and play FEAR Perseus Mandate, but original FEAR and FEAR Extraction install and try to launch but fail.

These are all CDs and DVDs.


joe

EDIT:

Also a couple of my games that require Steam will begin to install, but get stuck when Steam trys to update itself. They start to update then never do. I've tried changing my firewall settings to allow them to update, but it doesn't help.

When a game installs just fine, but will not even launch, the culprit usually is the infuriating block for certain forms of disk DRM on Windows 10. Microsoft has decided we are no long allowed to play these games. No one hates DRM more than I do, but I would like to make certain decisions for myself.

Crysis and FEAR 2 fall into this category. I believe URU also has Safedisc DRM.

I'm not sure of the issues with the other games because I don't have them, but the best resolution for a lot of these old games on disk is to get them from GOG or Steam. Make sure Windowds 10 is listed as being a compatible OS though.

Thanks Drclvr. I edited my post above about Steam not updating.

I have satellite internet, and my downloading is very limited. If I download more than 10 GB then my download is restricted for the rest of the month unless I pay an additional $10 per GB.

joe

Draclvr is right about the DRM blocking your games -- most of them anyway.
Sometimes a NoCD or NoDVD will help -- if you can find one for your version of the game and assuming the problem with the game is limited to malfunctioning DRM.

Google the name of the game and the word NoCD.

Be sure to scan any NoCD you find with an antivirus before using it. Or upload the NoCD to virustotal.com and let them scan it.

The problem with Omega Stone has nothing to do with DRM since the CD version had a "full install" option that didn't require the CD in the drive while playing. The only patch for Omega Stone is from 2003, and more fixes are probably needed to play on modern Windows. However you can read about the patch and download it from the ***Web Archive of Dreamcatcher's support page***

I have the same issue with a data cap - mine is more generous with 25 GB per month, but it still doesn't take much to go above it.

Well I went to the Steam web site and reinstalled it and updated, but to play FEAR or COD, there is a very long download. It infuriates me that I pay $50 for a game, and have the DVD but still have to download the game from Steam.

Thanks Jenny. I will check out that patch to see if it might help.

Draclvr are you on satellite internet? I know Hughesnet offers a couple of plans with more data allowance. One is for 15GB and the highest is 25, but it's like $130 mo.

Dish only has a 10GB plan and that's it.

joe

I am lucky enough to have a small local ISP that provides wireless broadband from towers. It's slow as molasses - like less that 2 Mbps and they throttle me at 65 Kb. Very frustrating, but still better than satellite and $50 a month. I'd gladly pay more for better speeds and no throttling, but they have older equipment and this is as good as it gets. Hopefully, one day they will invest in upgrades. Plus their customer service is second to none. I've had the same frustration with having to download a game that I already have a disk for. It's one of the reasons I have a huge 2 Tb hard drive - because once I have them downloaded, I don't uninstall them! I also make an image backup about once a month.

Because of Steam, I've already exceeded my 10 GB download for this month.

I give up on these games.

I feel your pain!!!

With an extra $10 per GB if you go over 10 GB, you need to start looking at the size of games. Assume Steam will be switching your entire game out for an updated version and plan accordingly.

Assuming you managed to get the rest of F.E.A.R. downloaded and installed, makes sure Steam is in offline mode so it won't try to download anything else tomorrow.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-agcb-2555
http://www.howtogeek.com/117424/how-to-make-steams-offline-mode-work/

EDIT -- Sept. 7, 2017

Steam's "Offline Mode" apparently only works for 10 days.

In June 2017 "Monokuma" posted that Steam's "offline mode" only lasts 10 days. After that, if you don't go on Internet again, it shuts down your Steam games. So if you have a computer you want to keep offline, don't use the Steam version.

http://www.gameboomers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1115492/Re:_Buying_options_for_adventu



So if you have a computer that you want to be always offline, you may run into that 10 day limit.

Thanks Jenny. It was taking too long so I cancelled the download, and I won't be finishing the download.

I have an additional 10GB of download if I do it between 2am and 8am, which I never use. If I do, I'll try and get up early for it because I'm not staying up until 2am.

joe

In case anyone is interested, here's an earlier article from Rock, Paper, Shotgun on the DRM/Windows 10 issue which has a couple links to solutions to getting around the SafeDisc DRM issue. The solutions are somewhat tweaky, but doable for someone with a bit of techie knowledge.

Windows 10 Won’t Run Games Using SafeDisc Or Securom DRM

Really interesting, but as you say "tweaky" or "fiddley." Not sure it it's worth the risk! But then I look at the hundreds of dollars of unplayable games I have and it really ticks me off that all I can do is hope GOG or STEAM releases them in a non-DRM format.

Quite so .

Keep in mind that the early versions of SafeDisc and SecuROM that didn't use the secdrv.sys driver won't be affected by whether the driver is present and signed or not. So if a game is old enough to be using a version of SafeDisc or SecuROM that doesn't use the secdrv.sys driver, and the older game doesn't work on your computer, it's due to some reason other than secdrv.sys not being signed.

For example, Mystery of the Druids is from 2001 and used SafeDisc v2. But if it doesn't work on your Windows 10 computer, test-signing the secdrv.sys driver isn't likely to help because SafeDisc v2 didn't use secdrv.sys.

That doesn't mean the DRM isn't somehow preventing the game from playing, only that signing the secdrv.sys driver won't help (while a NoCD might help).

I want to know if there is a fix for Myst IV on windows because I have a problem that whenever I try to launch the game on windows 10 it will not even open.

That is probably because of the DRM.
Google for a patch or NoCD for your version of the game.

At one point Ubisoft themselves had a "patch" that removed the SafeDisc DRM, but Ubisoft rearranged their website so the old link won't work anymore. It used to be located at
http://help.support.ubi.com/mystIV_v12_ncd.zip
but the link hasn't worked for years.
This patch may not work with later versions of the game anyway.
There are NoCD's for different versions though.

Even if you get rid of the SafeDisc DRM, there might be some other conflict with Windows 10. But the DRM on Myst IV makes even trying to get it to work a non-starter unless you have a NoCD.

And I believe Myst IV Revelation is the only one available for download at GOG.

Myst III is not available either, but you may be able to play it using ResidualVM, which skips using the DRM-crippled game .exe.

Go to the internet archive website and see if someone saved it EDIT: No one saved it there

I have checked the archives but no one saved a copy so i was unable to reach it, However i did find a link Download the 1.0 to 1.02 patch and use that first and then the 1.02 patch to 1.03 patch: http://patches.ubi.com/myst_4_revelation/

Those patches are from 2004 and at least up to version 1.02 would not have removed the SafeDisc.

There was a NoCD offered by Ubisoft that worked with version 1.02 but not 1.03.

It was called mystIV_v12_ncd.zip and you used to be able to download it from
http://help.support.ubi.com/mystIV_v12_ncd.zip
but they no longer offer it and it wasn't archived at the web archive.

I've uploaded it to Dropbox *** here ***

If you want to use it, you'll have to uninstall the game, then install up to version 1.02
Don't install 1.03 if you want to use this NoCD.

There are other NoCD's for version 1.03 from other websites you can find with Google, but they are not the one from Ubisoft.

Hi fellow Boomers,
There was mention of the Syberia 1 and 2 problems of not launching in Win 10 machines. I still have the original boxed versions of both.I installed them successfully (full install), but neither would launch on my Win 10 pc. I recently acquired the NoCd fixes, applied them, and now both games are now running perfectly.
For any of you who have those games on your shelf, and would like to replay them, I'd be glad to send the Nocd fixes to you via -mail, along with specific instructions. HAPPY GAMING!
BTW, Zodiac has the Syberia pack on sale for $3.39 right now.
Sandy

Great news Sanford, I am sure a lot of people who have the boxed version and Love their box versions of games will be happy to know that these games can work in W10.

Hi Attaboy20,
I also have the original boxed version of Myst 4, and after installing the game, downloading those patches and installing them one by one, my game (version 1.03) is running perfectly. The disc MUST be in your cd/dvd drive to play, and your compatibility settings I found that work best are:WINDOWS 98/WWINDOWS ME mode, Put a checkmark on DISABLE DISPLAY SETTINGS, and a checkmark on RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR.
I hope this works for you.
Sandy

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but I found a fix for American McGees Alice that works. Here is a link to the fix. http://www.play-old-pc-games.com/2014/02/09/american-mcgees-alice/

Thanks so much for posting this, JB, and I believe that you posted this in the right place.

I hope all is well with you - nice to see you here.

Here are suggestions from the How-To Geek on getting old games running on Windows 10.

https://www.howtogeek.com/228689/how-to-make-old-programs-work-on-windows-10/

Something to look forward to.