Windows 7 and Games

Since the question will continue to come up and I've not seen any other posts about people playing games on Windows 7, I thought I would do a compilation of my experiences. As the post has grown, I've added added other players' experiences to this first post to keep things in one place.

* Sarahandus has a list of games on page 6 of this thread.

* Collector has also added a list of games on Page 7 of this thread.

* Becky and Venus have lists on page 13 of this thread

* Jenny100 has a link on page 24 of the thread to a GOG forum discussion of games from there working on Win 7.

* cas1701 has added more games on page 24 of the thread.

I installed the 32-bit Windows 7 final release candidate for the main purpose of testing it with games in May 2009. I've since installed the full 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium.

Basic computer specs:

Intel Core Two Duo, Wolfdale E-8400, 3.0 Ghtz
500 GB WD hard drives (3)
160 GB drive from my old HP computer (XP Home)
Nvidia Geforce GTX 260 video card, 896 MB
Creative SB X-Fi sound card
4 GB RAM

OLDER TO OLD GAMES THAT RAN PERFECTLY OR WITH ONLY MINOR TWEAKS:

Al Emmo and The Lost Dutchman's Mine installed and played with no problems on 64-bit.

Alida This game has the odd feature of requiring that you copy the game file to your hard drive. I used the Win 7 snap feature to open a CD window and a C:/Program Files (x86) window and dragged and dropped the Alida game file there. From there I played it for about an hour with no problems at all. This is the 5-CD version.

American Magee's Alice installed and played fine on both 32-bit and 64-bit.

Barrow Hill installed and played with no problems on 64-bit.

Beyond Atlantis 2 (thanks, Jenny, for the reminder about the patch for the glitch in the first conversation with the guard)

Carol Reed mysteries. I tested the first three for Mikael Nyqvist after they rewrote some code so they could be played on Windows 7. Remedy, Hope Springs Eternal and Time Stands Still all installed and played perfectly on my 64-bit Win 7 without any extra steps or changes.

Clive Barker's Undying runs great on both 32-bit and 64-bit.

Counter Strike Condition Zero Grandson installed and played for a couple of hours. We had to play in XP compatibility mode, but it also played flawlessly.

CSI-Deadly Intent

Darkfall The Journal installed and played with no issues on both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7.

Darkfall Lights Out installed and played fine on the 64-bit.

Delaware St. John games. Judith played all three. The only game that had a problem was the second Delaware St. John. If she didn't reboot the computer each time before she played, all she got was a black screen. I don't know if playing in XP compatibility mode was tried.

Diablo

Diablo 2, Lord of Destruction

Divine Divinity Both the GOG and CD versions are playing.

Dracula The Last Sanctuary On my 64-bit Win 7 I got an error about having the wrong version of windows for the game. So I went to the CD and installed from there. I wanted to install in Program Files, but I told it to install to Program Files (x86). I did not install the old version of DirectX. No more errors and the game played just fine.

Dracula Resurrection As with TLS, I got the error about having the wrong version of Windows for the game. I installed from the CD in XP SP2 compatibility mode. It's playing better than it ever did on my XP computer as I had to play it in 98SE compatibility on that machine.

Fable: The Lost Chapters installed and plays perfectly.

Grim Fandango/In 64-bit it would not install without an installer. Thank you, traveler! Grim Fandango Installer for 64-bit When I tried to play, I had several issues with sound and video. I tried playing in XP SP3 mode and then it played just fine.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Templeton Peck played the game with no issues on his 64-bit Windows 7 Professional.

Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban plays on Windows 7 64-bit edition with no problems.


Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Templeton Peck also played this one with no issues.

Intrigue at Oakhaven Plantation

Keepsake installed and ran perfectly for about an hour and a half on 64-bit Win 7.

Larvamortus, an arcade/RPG/shooter game, from Giveaway of the Day plays perfectly.

Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events

Morrowind loaded and played - woo hoo!

Myst 4 Revelation Judith bowed to her masochistic side and braved the triple slider chair puzzle in on her 64-bit Win 7. She installed both patches and the game played fine. *NOTE* After losing large patches of hair trying to get this game to run on her 64-bit Win 7 without success, Cissy found the culprit was her dual monitors. When she turned one monitor off, the game played just fine.

Mysterious Journey 2 Judith is having no problems with this game.

Nancy Drew fans, rejoice! Judith played all but three of them with no problems on her 64-bit Win 7. Stay Tuned for Danger had a error message related to the sound and Treasure in the Royal Tower would not install. She did not try Secrets Can Kill as she disliked the game the first time around.

Nikopol

Post Mortem

Penumbra Overture

Prey

Ratatouille This action game installed and played with no issues.

Runaway: A Road Adventure Venus couldn't get it to work on her 64-bit Win 7. SharonB suggested the download from the GOG website and now Venus reports the GOG version of the game plays perfectly. A caveat from Venus on Runaway: A Road Adventure - the video in some of the cutscenes did some strange things like a head disappearing or lips stop moving. She has an 8600 GT video card and integrated sound.

Sacred Gold played for Syd with no problems.

Schism Judith is playing the 4-CD version on her 64-bit with no problems.

Scratches plays perfectly, but needs a fix. See Scratches notes below in the section on games that need tweaking.

Shivers 1/Installed and played fine in 32-bit, but does not install in 64-bit. As far as I know there is no installer for Shivers 1 as there is for Shivers 2.

Shivers 2 needed an installer from Squirt the Cat. But after I downloaded the installer, it played perfectly and in full screen - woo hoo! Same happy results on 64-bit Win 7. Look under "S" Shiver 2 Installer.

Simon the Sorcerer MsMercury downloaded the 1993 game from GOG and it is playing fine on her 32-bit Win 7..

Syberia 1 - I had absolutely no problems with game installation or play. However, the Alt/Tab was a bit glitchy. It's been a long time since I played the game, so I don't remember if it was like that before or not.

Syberia 2

The Hobbit

Thomas & Friends Railway Adventures Playset This game was made for Win 95 and Win 98 and comes with a playset you attach to the keyboard with a Velcro strap. Six year-old grandson was able to drive Thomas all over and do all the little jobs on grandma's 64-bit Win 7. You can find the game and playset at Amazon for $120 up new and $60 up used. I think I paid $20 for it in 2001.

The Longest Journey Inland has the 4-cd version and it plays fine.

The Messenger is playing for carlahelp on her Win 7 Professional

The Polar Express plays with no issues on 64-bit.

Tomb Raider Legend The downloaded version from Steam is playing with no problems.

Vampire Masquerade

Vampire Redemption - The only thing I had to do was change the in-game video options which I also had to do with my video card upgrade on my old XP computer. Played for about 2 hours with no problems at all. Needed to install and play in XP compatibility mode in 64-bit Win 7.

NEWER TO NEW GAMES THAT RAN WITH NO TWEAKS OR ISSUES:

Alter Ego While several people have had problems getting this game to run on Windows 7, JKEerie installed and played the game with no problems on her Asus gaming laptop. This gamer has some serious hardware including 6 GB of RAM and a dedicated 1 GB ATI 5870 video card. The processor is a Core i7 720 QM.

A Vampyre Story

Avencast: Rise of the Mage

Bioshock

Bioshock 2

Black Mirror II People who played it on both 64-bit Win 7 and XP have noted that the ambient sounds sometimes drown out the dialogue. Enabling the captions option ensured that no dialogue was missed.

Crysis

Darkfall Lost Souls

Darkness Within In Pursuit of Loath Nolder

Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage Becky notes that after she download the Nvidia PhysX drivers from the Nvidia website, the game plays fine.

Dragon Age Origin needed a Tages copy protection update on the 64-bit, but otherwise play perfectly (thanks, Jenny!).

Fallout 3 GOTY Misslilo has the GOG version with all the DLC and is playing with no problems.

Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island Becky and Venus had no problems on 64-bit, but misslilo has exhausted all options trying to get the game to work with no luck.

Left 4 Dead

Machinarium

Magnetic Revisited Peter Hewitt's new game is a download and is playing perfectly.

Oblivion

Rhem 4 Inland played this one on Win 7 with no problems.

Sherlock Holmes The Awakened is playing fine for judith on her 64-bit Win 7. She did install the Vista Patch.

Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper Mary said she did have to update the Tages copy protection drivers.

The Whispered World Jenna was having issues with the game locking up on her repeatedly. However, once she updated her ATI HD5570 video card driver to the 8/25/10 version, the game loads and plays fine.

The Witcher Oldman notes that downloading the 1.5 patch takes care of the Tages copy protection update issues.

Tombraider Underworld

All my casual games from Big Fish Games run perfectly. Peter's Jigsaw Puzzles runs perfectly.

GAMES THAT WON'T INSTALL, PLAY OR REQUIRE A LOT OF TWEAKING:

Egypt II Heliopolis Ikonious has tried all options and cannot get this game to install.

Nautilus, of course.

Myst, Masterpiece Edition - I finally got this game to install and play. It's not perfect, but it works. I had to uninstall my current Quicktime. Installed the game in XP SP2 mode and installed the 4.1 (I think) version of Quicktime. I then went to the "play" icon in the Red Orb game folder and right clicked to select Troubleshoot Compatibility. The only compatibility mode that I got to work was Win 95. But I moved everywhere around the first area in the game. All the video played in the book etc. One glitch was when I moved the books to get to the elevator. The sound stuttered for about 15 seconds and then the game picked up again. I was able to use the elevator and come back down. When I moved the books again, the game stuttered and then recovered as before. I saved the compatibility settings so now when I restarted the game a few times, I didn't have to go through any of the other steps. I didn't make any changes to my GTX 260. EXTRA NOTE: I downloaded and installed Real Myst from GOG which is supposed to work with 64-bit Vista. It worked until I would try to go inside any building - then the game would hang up.

Zanzarah installed fine and played until I tried to walk Amy out of the kitchen. Then the game froze - sound continued, but nothing else. I tried several times (using Ccleaner on the registry and getting rid of all other traces of the game between installs), but had the same result. When I installed it on my XP Home drive, it played just fine (same hardware). I've exhausted all options to get Zanzarah running on both 32-bit and 64-bit Win 7 and nothing has worked.

Scratches installed, but trying to play the game caused a BSOD and a memory dump. Upsydaisy reported the same result on her newly installed Windows 7. I tried playing both from a full installation and playing from the disk - same result.[/b]

EDIT for Scratches. Inland and I found a work-around posted by the game developer. You must edit the Scream.CFG file. To accomplish this in Windows 7, go to C:/Program Files/Nucleosys/Scratches. Find the Scream.CFG file and right click. Select Properties and from within that window, change the Open With option to either Notepad or Word Pad. Change the Rate from 0 to 60. Save the file, exit and restart the game.

Sherlock Holmes Mystery of the Mummy mcc could not install, even in XP compatibility mode. She had the combo CD version.

Martin Mystere: Operation Dorian Gray Judith has tried installing in all available XP compatibility modes on her 64-bit Win 7 and playing in different compatibility modes, but had no luck with getting the game to play.

Thanks Draclvr!

Not to mention that DOSBox and ScummVM seem to run under Windows 7 without issue.

Thank you for your hard work, Draclvr.

Ya, Jenny, it's been just TERRIBLE having to get out all these games and play them again! My excuse has been that I'm doing it for a good cause... *he, he, he*

It's good to know that DOSBox and ScumnVM work too. Thanks, Collector.

Draclvr, you have done a tremendous job of keeping us up to date on Win7. I know it's been a real hardship re-playing all those games.

I will be installing Win7 on my pc in a few days and thanks to you I can do it with confidence now.

Thank You~

Let us know how it goes, sarahandus. I'm going to hold off on my installation for awhile because I've decided to install the 64-bit version of Windows 7. I would like to try a few more of the older games on this 32-bit to see how they work. Then when I install the 64-bit, I'll try them again to see what happens.

I haven't installed my WIN7 yet and wonder if I have a choice as it says 64bit on the disc. I have played quite a few of my BF games on the Vista 64 bit and actually got Chemicus to work plus The Hobbit. I should quit draggin' my wagon and get it installed but.... Can you lay it over Vista without consequential problems? I think I read somewhere, (probably here), that it is best to do a clean install. Has anyone experience in doing it either way? Always looking for new input,

Hi, Lotus777!

Only the retail versions contain both 32-bit and 64-bit. If your computer came with 64-bit Vista preinstalled and you ordered your upgrade directly from Microsoft, you will get the 64-bit version of Windows 7.

I received my upgrade from Microsoft on Thursday (like you, I have 64-bit Vista so I received 64-bit Windows 7), but haven't installed it yet. I prefer to do a clean install rather than an upgrade over the existing operating system, and that's definitely an option by clicking on "Custom" instead of "Upgrade" during the install.

If you choose "Custom", your hard drive will be reformatted, so make sure you back up any files and settings you want to save if they're on the same drive as your operating system.

Susan

Yes, what Susie said. Windows 7 will create a "windows.old" file, but it's not recommended that you totally rely on it to restore your files.

Thanks so much Susan. This is enlightening for me. Maybe just one more question?? There is a place in the Vista where you can back up files. I did this onto a flash drive. I have no idea what it backed up. Would it have saved my email and internet settings? Would it have saved my Documents and my email? If so, then if I use the Custom install and then later restore all my backed up items would I be good to go , so to speak? I sooo appreciate all of the help everyone gives here, btw!!!

EDIT: Just saw your post, Draclvr and thank you for that info too. Now if I can be sure of the back up it did...it took almost all the room on my 8 GB flash drive.

Hi, Lotus777!

Here's the link to Microsoft's website that provides detailed instructions for doing a custom install from Vista to Windows 7. I have bookmarked it and plan to print it out before I start.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-vista-to-windows-7-custom

I've never used the Vista backup function. When you backed up your files to a flash drive, did you have the option of choosing which files to back up or did it automatically back up everything? I would assume it would back up all of your user files, but I'm not sure about your emails or internet settings. Are you able to view the files on your flash drive? I would suggest you do a test first and delete a file you don't really care about, and then try to restore it.

I have all of my user files on a separate D: hard drive, so I just back up the entire drive. My operating system and program files are on C: drive and I have all of the original CDs so I can reinstall my programs once I have upgraded to Windows 7.

Susan

Thanks so much, Susan. This will be a great help to me. And no, it didn't give me an option of what I wanted to back up. It is mainly some emails I would like to keep such as lic. number of my Avast which is easier to copy and paste. However, I do have that on another computer and I do have all of my settings written down sooooo, I just might be able to do this on my own. If I get in trouble I can always go to the other computer and holler for help here or if worse comes to worse I can take it in and have it done for too much money, haha. I will do as you suggested and test the files on the drive just in case. Thanks so much again.

For the e-mails you want to keep, another thing you could do is set up a Gmail or Yahoo or Hotmail e-mail account and send the e-mails you want to keep to the internet account. That way you can access them after the install and send them back to yourself.

What a great idea!!! Thanks so much, Draclvr. One more itsy little question, please. What about drivers? I have never done anything like this before and haven't the foggiest about how do I know which drivers I need , where to find them etc. I have only updated drivers in the past. I thank you once more very much for all the help.

To be honest, since you are upgrading a Vista machine, I have a feeling Windows 7 is going to find all your drivers for you. I only had to manually install one drive for my video card. Windows 7 found everything else, down to my 7 year old HP printer!

I had to do a clean install of Win 7 because during the upgrade installation my computer froze and I lost my OS.
When I logged on all my emails for the past 2-3 years were in my folder. Even ones I had deleted. This was great because I had kept all my registration codes for games etc., and were able to re-install.
Are emails kept by servers for a couple of years? or are they floating about in cyber-space.

I've edited my first post to add two more games to the lists.

Hi Draclvr, have you tried to play Scratches (not the Directors Cut version).?
It installed fine but when I tried to play it, had the BSOD and a memory dump.
Caesar IV runs beautifully so does Harry Potter-Prisioner of Azkaban.

Funny you should mention Scratches, Upsydaisy! I got it out last night and it's next on my list.

EDIT: Added it to the list as unsuccessful. Upsydaisy, is your Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit?

Did you apply the patch?

Nucleosys

You can find some interesting comments by Agustin in the thread below -

Nucleosys Forum Index -> Technical Support

And on the second page, a work around -

Folks, I have some bad news. I did manage to reproduce the error: thing is I was testing the game in windowed mode and that works perfectly fine - it crashes badly when it attempts to switch to fullscreen, which means this is a very, very odd behavior. I can't say when (and if) I'll be able to look into this strange problem, but in the meantime you can definitely run Scratches in Windows 7 by simply editing the SCREAM.CFG file and setting FULLSCREEN to 0. It's a quick fix and far from ideal but at least you will be able to run the game.


Followed up with -

Forget what I said! Great news - after further testing, I realized what the problem is. Automatically detecting the refresh rate doesn't seem to work in Windows 7 as it previously did (again, I've NO idea how this could be causing a BSOD).

Just edit the SCREAM.CFG file and set RATE to 60. Then save and run the game. It will magically work again

Obviously great minds think alike, Inland! I finally had some time tonight to look into the Scratches issue and found the same posts you did. I will edit my original post with the word-around and how to accomplish it.

Hallo all
Draclvr - I have 32-bit.
Inland - Will have a go at the patch and work around but am just settling into playing the new CSI!! I'll see if Draclvr has any success.
Thanks

I installed Windows 7 Professional yesterday, the 32bit version on a new, clean hard drive using the "custom" install. Aside from the nail biting about whether it was actually installing on the new drive,(I have 3 hard drives) I can say that was the quickest and easiest OS install I have ever done. It did add another step in the OS selection on start-up. The list shows a choice of Windows 7 and "older versions", then I get to the choice of the earlier 2 XP drives.

I have to install some drivers yet, but things look fine so far. The introductory screen is really pretty.

Upsydaisy, I edited my first post with directions on how to do the work-around for Scratches.

That's great sarahandus! I had my other drives unplugged when I installed the Windows 7 release candidate - for the same reason you mentioned. I was too nervous about it installing on the correct hard drive! So I don't get that screen at the beginning - I have to go into my BIOS and change the boot order. Hopefully when I do the upgrade, that will change.

Hi, Draclvr!

I'm moving into the 21st century tomorrow and getting a high speed modem. Then I'll be installing Windows 7.

I have two physical hard drives, and all of my user files are on D: drive. Even though I back up my D: drive on a regular basis, I'll be sure to do so immediately prior to the custom install because it never even occurred to me that Windows 7 may install on the wrong drive.

Susan

I don't think it will! I was just nervous and inexperienced with this new OS..

Hi, Draclvr!

I didn't run into any glitches when I upgraded from Win98 to WinXP, but it's better to be safe than sorry, especially when Windows 7 is responsible for reformatting my hard drive .

Susan

Words to live by, Susan!

Susan,

At that stage in the installation where it asks which drive you want to install the OS on take your time to look carefully and you should have no problems. But I'd say Draclvr idea of removing the other drive(s) would certainly be a less stress full option.

I do have a problem with my DSL modem, there are no USB drivers for Win 7.

However, as I found out, if you unplug those other drives, you will not get the nifty option of which of your drives you want to boot into. To boot another drive, you will have to go into the BIOS each time and change the boot drive order.

Hi, sarahandus!

Actually, for me, removing the other drive would be more stressful, so I think I will stick with backing up my user files on D: drive and keeping my fingers crossed !

Susan

Can't you just go in through the Ethernet port?

Collector, Unfortunately I don't have an Ethernet port so I'm having to order an adapter card. Next time I upgrade the motherboard I will make darn sure it has an Ethernet port. Of course, by that time it will be something else I miss. (sigh)

Can't you put a ***network card*** in it?

edit:
Sorry I read "adapter card" as USB adapter.

She said that she is ordering one, but I wonder if the motherboard is not new enough to have an onboard NIC, will it be able to handle Windows 7? 7 may not be the resource hog that Vista is, but it has been many years since an onboard NIC has been standard.

Are you positive you don't have a LAN (Ethernet) port? What is the model of the motherboard?

You can download and run CPU-Z to identify it - (look on the Mainboard tab)

CPU-Z

Collector, I put a new Gigabyte MOBO in the build I did this spring that does not have onboard NIC. It does have ethernet. Actually, while shopping for my components, I didn't see any MOBOs with onboard NIC, but they all had on-board ethernet. It does seem odd that Susan doesn't have it.

EDIT: I meant that it's odd that Susan doesn't have ethernet.

Here's a picture of a motherboard with an ethernet port.
See the blue, green, and pink audio ports arranged vertically?
To the left of that is an ethernet port with two USB ports below it.



Draclvr,
Do you have a picture of what you mean when you're referring to an "onboard NIC?"

I have no idea, Jenny. Collector mentioned that most all new motherboards now come with on-board NIC. My experience is that none of them do.

NIC stands for Network Interface Controller. A few occasionally refer to it as "Network Interface Card". "On board" just means that the function is built into the motherboard and as such would not be used to refer to an add in card. But all of this is semantics and is beside the point. The point is that whatever you want to call the Ethernet Adapter, the feature has been built into most motherboards for nearly a decade, now.

Ah, now I understand. I thought NIC referred to a wireless card or controller. I have to install wireless "NICs" in my computers as I live out in the country and have wireless broadband from a tower for my internet.

Thanks for explaining, Collector... One of the reasons I hang out here is to learn new stuff.

Like Draclvr I learn something new from here. On checking again with the motherboard manufacturer I see it does list a LAN/Ethernet port. I had assumed it was only for LAN. I had tried to use it and it doesn't work at this time. On checking with drivers for it, I found some and downloaded them.
Downloaded the CPU-Z you suggested Inland. We'll see what it says.

This won't be the first time I've ordered an unneeded item, and I'm sure won't be the last either.

Make sure it is enabled in the BIOS as well as Windows.

Check your Device Manager to see if it is under the "Network adapters" category. If it is not there, be sure that it is enabled in the BIOS, as InlandAZ said. If it is listed under a category called "Other devices" it need to have the driver installed for it. If you find the "Network adapters" category expanded and there is an explanation point icon over it, it means that Windows couldn't load the driver for it. This may be from a resource conflict, corrupt driver, etc. If this is the case you can try uninstalling the device and reinstalling the driver for it.

Under device manager the 1394 net adapter is enabled and "working properly".

CPU-Z was very interesting and listed the net adapter and "from Texas Instruments". I tried to find drivers from them but failed to find any for Ethernet devices.

In the Network Connection in the control panel the 1394 connection is working and connected online. But Firefox can't get online with that connection, only the local connection with USB.

I have e-mailed Gigabyte about this problem, but have yet to hear from them. It's a GA-MA78GM-S2H motherboard, installed in January.

Did you get a disk with your motherboard? That's where all the onboard device drivers were for the Gigabyte motherboard I used last February.

For what it's worth I'm playing Sacred 2 on Windows 7. It has "issues" mainly with dropping back to desktop without warning after about an hour of playing (found out the hard way when I lost a quest item because of it). Never had that problem with Vista. I also had to uninstall and re-install the game after I upgraded. The save I had while playing with Vista became unplayable after installing Windows 7 - which meant I had to start over - not necessairly a hardship but I did have some pretty neat armor and weapons with the old save - sigh.

I can't see any difference between Vista and Windows 7 to tell you the truth - still takes forever to boot up and I still can't find anything without hunting forever for it. Not all that impressed with this latest wonder child from Microsoft. Maybe it'll grow on me but right now I feel like I've wasted my money.

There's always that learning curve to deal with. Don't feel bad, it took me nearly a year to get warm and fuzzy with Vista. Once I got the hang of it and stopped trying to make it act like XP it ran just fine.

I agree that it takes awhile to get the hang of a new OS. I went straight from XP to Windows 7 and was completely lost at first!

One of my favorite things about Windows 7 is that it boots up in just 65 seconds. And that's counting about 30 seconds while the BIOS does its thing. When I run one of my XP hard drives (same system, same hardware) it seems ponderous and slow. Maybe going from Vista to 7 isn't that much of a sea change.

Ignore the 1394, that is just your Firewire. Look on the back of your PC. Is there a jack that looks like an extra wide phone jack?

Sarahandus, here is a picture of the I/O panel for your motherboard. As Collector says, 1394 is your Firewire port. In this picture the ethernet/LAN/RJ45 port is right above the 2 e-SATA ports.

Sarahandus Motherboard I/O

Syd,
Did you do a clean install or did you do an upgrade of Vista?
The clean install might be faster.

Jenny I bought the upgrade. Just don't have the time nor the energy to reformat my hard drive and start over. I use my home computer for work and right now I have way too much stuff on it to risk a disaster

I'll deal with the slow startup etc. I'm used to it after having Vista for a year now.

Besides, won't I have to buy the full version in order to do a clean install?

Absolutely. An upgrade carry over all the accumulated detritus from your old system; all of the things that can grind a system down to a crawl. You end up with all the same needless garbage in your start up, disk fragmentation, left over registry entries, no longer used system files and drivers, etc. By far, most people's experience with Windows 7 is that it is less of a resource hog and more responsive than Vista.

Another thought, do you have enough RAM?

Hi, Syd!

I just installed Windows 7 this afternoon, and the process is effortless. All you do is start the install and then you can pretty well walk away until it's time to input your product code. I have the upgrade, but I chose "custom" (or clean) install. As long as you already have a valid copy of WinXP or Vista, you don't have to buy the full version.

Personally, I prefer to start off with a clean slate rather than simply upgrade from one operating system to another. That way, if there were any problems, they're gone!

Susan

I'm totally with Susan. When I do my upgrade, I have to do a custom/clean install as I'm upgrading from XP. But if I had a Vista machine, I'd be backing up and doing a clean install there too.

But at least if you have Vista, you have to option to do a clean or upgrade install to suit your needs.

It is common for many users to occasionally do a clean reinstall, even when not upgrading their OS as a kind of maintenance. Starting with a fresh clean install fixes a myriad of problems and makes for faster, leaner machine. The only time that I don't do a clean install is when all I am trying to do is a repair install.

It's good to have confirmation that the upgrade from Vista without the clean install doesn't improve the startup time (for those who aren't sure whether to do a clean install or not).


No. As long as you already have a valid Windows license for your computer, it's both legal and possible to do a clean install. There's an article on doing it at Paul Thurrott's website
http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/clean_install_upgrade_media.asp

So if you ever you have the time, energy, and inclination, the option is there for you.

Oooops! Oh am I embarrassed. In trying to fix the damage done by the Texas Instrument driver I read all the list in the BIOS. Lo and behold the LAN was disabled. Enabling that got the Ethernet working just fine. However the damage done by the TI driver was so extensive I spent the weekend re-installing the OSes again. Also I installed the new Ethernet adapter, it has compatible drivers and I surely don't want to deal with TI again. So far I have XP fully working, but 7 still has drivers and programs to install.

Thank you all so much for all the help and instructions, really learned a lot of new things.

Let us know how you like your new Windows 7 OS!

I'm such a glutton for punishment, I installed the new Linux Ubuntu OS on a partition! Whew, talk about a learning curve!

I think it will take me the rest of my life to get Win7 figured out, that one is really different!

I've found one game that does not like this new OS, Jigsaws Galore ver6. It plays fine, but won't close. Have to shut down to get it closed.

I have thought about trying out Linux, but that's as far as it ever got. We'll bet waiting to know how that goes.

Why not just kill it with the Task Manager?

Indeed. Ctrl/Alt/Delete works the same as always in Windows 7.

Hi Guys
I have just installed Windows 7 clean install from windows xp, no problems with that, but, I have installed 2 games Perry Rhodan and Dracula Origin both installed without any problem, but when I try to run them I get a pop up box stating "insiufficient prevliges: you must be an Administrator to run these applications for the first time", have I got some of my initial setting wrong, the only thing I did was set a password to initially log onto my PC, any help will be gratfully received

Cheers
SAFC

You can try to right click on the executable and choose "Run as administrator", otherwise don't install the games in the Program Files folder.

Collector and Draclvr, Task manager couldn't shut it down either. Very reminiscent of the days when I had to deal with Win ME. Now there was a really bad OS.

Sometimes you can't kill the program, but you usually can kill the process.

Hi Guys
I have just installed Dracula 3 onto my PC having installed Windows 7 and updated all drivers, on running the game, the initial screens are flickering and shortly after I have read the letter in my room, the graphics start to go into what I discrbe as like having double vision as I move my cursor around, anyone else come across this issue, I have searched for a patch, but the only places I have found want me to subscribe etc before download, any help gratefully received
SAFC

safc, I just loaded up Dracula 3 and had exactly the same issue. I don't think there are any official patches for this game, but I might be wrong. The only ones I found were unofficial and I doubt they would have anything to do with this problem.

I checked in the game options, but didn't find anything there that would help. What is your video card? I'm running a GeForce GTX 260. I'm going to try adjusting the framerate.

EDIT: Well, nothing I did helped. I couldn't find the familiar video acceleration in Windows 7, but I tried manually adjusting the screen resolution and turning off PhysX GPU acceleration with no change.

I just got a new computer with Windows 7 64 bit. I wanted to play the first Last Half of Darkness and after install it won't launch because it's missing the D3drm.dll file. I did uninstall and reinstall and restart. I read that this file was not on Vista and assume it's not on Windows 7. Don't know if the solution is to D/L the file and copy into the WoW64 file or if there is something else I should be doing.

I have Beyond the Spirit's Eye, but I don't have the first one, tazmanw.

Thankyou, Draclvr for your response. I installed Beyond the Spirit's Eye just now to see if I encountered the same problem. But it installed perfectly and launched perfectly. So for now perhaps I will forgo replaying the first one and play this one as a warm up to Tomb of the Zojir.
Margie

I have switched to 64bit Windows 7 and find that Jigsaws Galore now works fine. Whether that was because of the 64bit or just a general clean-up is an unknown.

I am playing Outcry at the moment. Have loaded Chronicle of Mystery-The Scorpio Ritual and Barrow Hill with no problems, so far.

And I played Penumbra Overture for a couple of hours last night. Will update my first post...

I might have time to get the 64-bit installed today. I will still have my 32-bit RC on another HDD, so will be able to compare on the two systems.

Tazanw has the same problem I have. What is D3drm.dll file and what do we do to fix this. I tried to install and play Crime Stories and Still Life but got this message. Can anyone help?

carlahelp

That's part of DirectX 9 - if the game prompts you to install DirectX, let it do so. If not, download and install the latest version of DirectX 9.0c (even when your PC is running DX 10 (or greater).

Thanks, Inland. I was hoping to find out what that was. In each of the older games I've installed, I've let the game install it's version of DX - except for the Shivers games.

Now that makes me wonder-- when I load a newer game I let the game install their version of DX in case I am missing something- and it says something like-"we are checking your DX and will add what is necessary---missing. So the thought I am having now is--- if you load an older game does it take out the newer version and files??

I never knew for sure about that either, Winfrey. I can't remember if it was Inland or Jenny who explained to me that it doesn't.

It does not remove older versions. And in the case of DX 10 and 11, the libraries are maintained in different folders so no harm will be done at all to the newer versions of DirectX.

Installed Beyond Atlantis (Atlantis 2) last night and it runs fine with no tweaking. Also Aura and The Sacred Rings.
Can not get Beyond Atlantis 2 or The Riddle of the Sphinx to run. They both install but won't get beyond the intro. The Riddle of the Sphinx seems to have a problem about Quicktime, even though I let it install it's version.
Echo-The Lost Cavern installs but won't even start, the curser does it's little spin for a second or two and stops and that's it.

Nikopol (Big Fish version) and Casebook Episode III: Snake in the grass both perform well under Windows 7.

Here's a list of the games I've tried on my 7/64.

install and run-

Agon The Lost Sword of Toledo **
Amerzone
Aura-Fate of the Ages
Barrow Hill
Beyond Atlantis (Atlantis II)
Dracula-The Last Sanctuary
Dracula Resurrection
Dark Fall The Journal **
Keepsake
Last Half of Darkness-Beyond the Spirit's Eye *
Last Half of Darkness-The Tomb of Zogir *
Return to Mysterious Island
The Sacred Rings
The Lost Crown
Voyage
* there is a lot of black and forth flashing before the game starts, but after that it seems to play fine.
** with some hiccups.

Won't install or run

Echo The Lost Cavern
Byzantine - The Betrayal
Connections
Egypt II the Heliopolis Prophecy
Egyptian Prophecy
Dark Fall Lights Out
Shivers
Torin's Passage
The Dig
Last Half of Darkness-Shadow of the Servant

Amber & the Kyrandia series I didn't even try.

This will be interesting to see what works in 32-bit vs 64-bit. Which Shivers did you try? Shivers 1 installed and played perfectly. Shivers 2 required an installer from SquirtTheCat.

I tried Darkfall, Lights Out last night and so far it's playing perfectly.

I just installed Scratches Director's Cut and got the BSOD when I tried to run it. Found your earlier posts about changing the value to 60. My problem is that I cannot save the cfg file. When trying to save, a window pops up and says that scream.cfg already exists and asks me if I want to replace it. If I say yes, it tells me that access is denied!!?? Am I doing something wrong? Here's a picture:

You need to elevate notepad - From the start menu, right click notepad and select Run as Administrator.

Also you need to install the game in anywhere but Progamme files, otherwise you can't have access and save any changes.

My Scratches game is installed in Program Files in the Nucleosys folder and it plays just fine from there?? I also made the Notepad changes from there and was able to save.

Thank you, thank you!!
Just to be safe, I uninstalled and reinstalled somewhere else. I was also able to make changes in notepad and the game is running now!!

Great, Sherlock!

For Torin's Passage use this installer. Shivers 1 is a 16-bit game and won't run on 64-bit Windows. If you have 64-bit Windows you will need to run the the non-DOS games in a virtualizer. For the DOS games use DOSBox. Also, don't forget about ScummVM. It supports the Kyrandia series and the LucasArts Scumm games, including The Dig. Even though jafa did not test his installers on Windows 7, I would be surprised if they didn't work on Win7.

On a side note, I just installed Windows 7 Pro 64 on my workstation and will be able to start experimenting, myself. One thing that I want to do is to start testing some of my new Sierra installers to see if there are any issues with them on Win7 that need to be fixed.

Collector, I can't wait for your results. When you get them working, would you like that million dollars in cash or as a check?

I absolutely LOVE my Win 7 Pro 64!
It plays everything I throw at it - also applications. So Cool.

I have Microsoft's Virtual Machine installed on the other HD with XP as well as Scummv, that's where I play those old games. Yes, I received the error message they were 16bit and non-workable for 7 64 bit windows.

I don't love this new fangled thing. Maybe some day when I figure out how to find things like restore and documents without trawling through mounds of files. In the meantime it does play the games that work very nicely.

Two clicks for Documents and after opening up Control Panel, 3 clicks for System Restore. Easy!

It may be easy for you but I can't find documents from control panel, have to use start menu. And the restore seems to be erratic, some time it's as you say three clicks but the last time took wandering around to find another way in. Of course that time was because of a crash and resulting problems with the folders.

But there are so many things that won't work in 7 that were a snap in XP, for instance moving things from one folder to another. Just point to move was so easy as compared to drag and drop.

Ah well, I'll get use to it some day.

I don't think you can find documents from control panel. I use the folder looking icon in the taskbar which is also called Libraries. From there, I have access to everything.

Hey, I've had - oh, about 5 more months of wandering around in the OS than you have, so I MIGHT have an advantage on you!

Here are my initial results on Windows 7 Pro 64. I have many more that I can check. Note that I only checked to see if the games started and that I could do basic game play, such as in game navigation and interaction with objects, etc. and did not play any of these games very far, so there may be specific bugs that may arise at later point in the games. Also I do not think that it hurts to have multiple reports on the same games, as some may have issues with certain games and others not. This can eliminate Windows 7 specific issues and what may just be problems with hardware, driver or configuration differences.

Works for me without issue:

A Tale of Two Kingdoms (AGS game)
Barrow Hill
The Black Mirror
Culpa Innata
Dark Fall
ECHO
Indigo Prophecy
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Keepsake
The Longest Journey
Dreamfall
Paradise
Penumbra
Sinking Island
Stargate Adventure (AGS game)
Syberia
Syberia 2
Sam and Max - Season One
Titanic: Adventure Out Of Time

Runs, but with tweaking and/or issues:

The Last Express - Compatibility issue message on close.
The Neverhood - Win 95 compatibility mode for installer, color artifacting
Sanitarium (2nd release)- color artifacting
Scratches - BSOD, but runs by editing config file as previously noted.

Requires XP Mode:
Obsidian
NOIR - Requires XP Mode to run 16-bit game on 64-bit Windows, had to disable integration features for compatibility mode to get 640x480x 256 colors.

Will not even start for me, even in XP Mode:

Crystal Key 2 - Does not work on XP/Vista, either
Still Life - Black screen only, game does not load.
The Legend of Lotus Spring - Does not work on XP/Vista, either
King's Quest: Mask of Eternity - Does not work in Vista, either

It's great to have multiple experiences and I see that they seem to be consistent with mine so far. Did you figure out a fix for the color artifacting in Sanitarium? I got it too, but have not had time to troubleshoot it.

I don't seem to be able to change to 256 color depth through Compatibility mode and an old stand by tool that I have used for this does not work right on 7. Even changing color depth through the advanced display settings does not help. Setting "Disable visual themes" in Compatibility mode fixes the color artifacting for The Neverhood, but not Sanitarium.

I have a couple of ideas that I want to try, but it may be an issue with my graphics card's drivers and I am having trouble getting the ATI installer to work. I had to manually update my driver.

Ahhh... Let me know if you figure something out.

That's probably due to the StarForce copy "protection" used on it, which is an older version that isn't compatible with Vista (and apparently not with Windows 7 either)

Even the none starforce version has the same problem. Currently playing it on VirtualBox and it plays great on that.

Runs fine on my Vista. I have not spent any time investigating it.

For some reason it didn't work for Inland
http://www.gameboomers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=481869

Are there some versions without StarForce?

Yes, mine is SecuROM. Still didnt work.

There is no message, just a black screen. I'll try a no-CD patch, just to make sure that it is not StarForce rearing its ugly head.

I can pretty much assure you it's the version of Starforce (The Black Mirror and Still Life - each shipped with Starforce V3).

The nocd wont work (famous last words) but there is a French hack/patch if you hunt arround which some people had some success with.

I got it working on Windows 7 with the No-CD patch and compatibility set to NT4.

I had the same problem with Still Life - the non-Star Force version - and got it to run using the NT4 compatibility mode. I didn't even need the No-CD patch.

I tried the compatibility after I tried the No-CD, so I was not sure if the patch had anything to do with it, but you are right, restoring the original files works with NT4 compatibility, so it is not a Starforce issue. I had forgotten that that is what I did to make it run on Vista, too.

In NT Compatibility Mode I see this -



Which version of the game are you running?

I assumed I had the Starforce version, but never bothered to check. The No-CD patch I tried was only identified as for the English language version. I am getting ready to leave town and won't have time to check until I get back.

I added Clive Barker's Undying to my first post as one that installed and ran perfectly. I am now running the 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium.

I have been playing Chronicles of Mystery-The Scorpio Ritual for some days now and find it is giving me a few problems. At first it was the voices fading at the end of sentences; which would be a real setback without the subtitles. Now, however it is a serious problem of the pc shutting down unexpectedly, not freezing but actually shutting off. I have changed to a compatibility setting but haven't had time to test that yet.

later: Well none of the compatibility settings I tried worked. Since I don't have the patience or knowledge to experiment, I'll finish this game in XP.
Hope someone with more patience has better luck.

Perhaps he can use the Starforce removal patch (which is downloadable) solve this problem?

Hi Guys
I am running the 32 version on my PC and I am encountering the same problems with some of the mentioned games Still Life, protection problem, Dracula 3 as mentioned in an earlier post, I have just loaded Art of Murder FBI Confidential, it runs no problem but I have no sound what so ever, I have selected all 3 options from the flash screen with the Graphics, Sound etc in the sound option, anyone else found this. Windows 7 is excellent but its starting to frustrate me with not being able to run certain games, I got the latest CSI(a prestent from Santa. so I havent tried it yet) also I have ordered the 3rd in the series of Art of Murder and Treasure Island and I am very worried that none of these will play on my PC, are Microsoft aware of these problems, if not I might have go back to good old XP
A very frustrated
SAFC

I should be back home later tonight or tomorrow and will be able to check which version I have, then.

I'm running the 64-bit version of windows 7 and CSI - Deadly Intent plays just fine
The same does Nikopol.

Hi All
Just installed Nikopol and its running ok, but what are Microsoft going to do with all the games that now wont/dont run on Windows 7 (for various reasons), is it going to be like the old windows 92 etc after windows XP arrived, they just dont work anymore unless you use alternative methods like ScummV or Dosbox etc, I have well over 100 games that will run on XP, but after the last couple of days I will probably only get a handful of those to run on Window 7. Are most of my games now resigned to the Gaming Graveyard, or do I have to go back to XP, what are your thoughts guys
A now totally frustrated
SAFC

safc,
You may have to wait until someone comes up with a good emulator for a 3D video card that can be used inside programs like Virtual PC.

Have you made a list of which games work for you and which don't? Also do you have the 64-bit or 32-bit version of Windows 7? Have you compared which of your games are working (and not) with the results other people are getting for the same games?

Hi Jenn100
I have been checking games, I tried the VirtualBox for Secret Life, but that didnt work, got an boot install failure, the other games I have tried people have had problems with, I have had no response to Art Of Murder FBI Confidential yet, it loaded but there was no sould, I am using the 32 Bit version, although when I had my processor replaced I was told it was an Athlon 64 3000+ Dual Core, excuse my ignorance but how do I find out if I can install the 64 bit version of Windows 7
SAFc

An Athlon 64 has 64-bit capability. That's what the 64 in Athlon 64 is about. But installing the 64-bit version of Windows 7 (as opposed to the 32-bit version) is not going to help with game compatibility.

Although, as Jenny says, 64-bit won't help your game compatibility, if you want to know whether your computer can run the different versions of Windows 7, you can download and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor here.

A-Ray identifies the StarForce on my copy of StillLife as 3.4.65.11. I did a clean reinstall of the game, just to make sure that the No-CD patch was a factor. That version of StarForce will not install. I reapplied the No-CD patch and without Compatibility mode (thus eliminating StarForce), again got a black screen. Reapplying Compatibility mode to NT4 the game runs fine. If the black screen occurs on the non-StarForce version and the StarForce version after removing StarForce, I would suspect that the problem arises from the way that the rendering engine interacts with changes to the APIs on Vista and 7.

Agustin has a similar problem with Scratches under Windows 7.

Scratches works on Win7 by editing Scream.CFG value for Rate from 0 to 60, as noted earlier in this thread by Draclvr. I, too was getting BSODs with the game, but this config file edit worked for me, too.

Yes, Agustin pointed this out on his own web site (nucleoSys.com) - His speculation was that Windows 7 handled the refresh rates differently.

Edit -

Thought I'd posted this earlier (but I can't find it) -- Here's his final response.

Forget what I said! Great news - after further testing, I realized what the problem is. Automatically detecting the refresh rate doesn't seem to work in Windows 7 as it previously did (again, I've NO idea how this could be causing a BSOD).

It might actually be in this thread, Inland. I remember that both of us found Agustin's solution on the website the same night.

You mentioned it on the second page of this thread, Inland -- at least it's on the second page for me after I log in: Post #563685 - November 02, 2009 11:33 AM

And the info was originally on the ***nucleosys forum***

I have been testing my installers under Win7 and have yet to encounter any issues. There are a lot of "under the hood" changes to Windows 7. Not that it affects games, but one bug that I had to deal with for my installers in Vista has thankfully fixed. It was with the file copy dialog. After a large file has been copied from a CD, the copy dialog will remain until another message box, other than another file copy dialog, is generated.

With some of the larger FMV games like Phantasmagoria or GK2, when enough of these dialog boxes pile up, the installer can crash. The NSIS developers are aware of this, but dismiss it as just a Windows bug. I have developed a workaround to it, but it gives the installer a bit of a pulsing look as the installer looses and regains focus.

So far from this thread it looks like most of the games that ran on Vista will run on Win7 in spite of these changes, even if a few, like Scratches need a bit of an extra tweak.

I was inspired by a new member, Sincerely Sam, to install and see how Keepsake did in my 64-bit Windows 7 and it was perfect, so will add to my first post.

I am taking the advice of you all and getting Windows 7 Pro. My computer man is ordering it and will come out and put it in when it comes. I can't wait because according to all of you I will be able to play most of my XPs. Thanks for all the info I got from this thread. Will let you know how it does.

I know someone in communications any everyone recently got new laptops. The company switched the operating systems to XP because they hated WIN7. It didn't function for them in any capacity.

Like what?

I don't understand what you mean. The company changed all of their new laptops to XP. I don't work for them, but noticed they overwrote the new format with XP. I asked about it and was told the company hated WIN7 and it didn't work for them, nutshell.

Could be the company had software that didn't work with Windows 7. I wonder if this company got the Windows 7 Professional which has XP compatibility for software issues.

Definitely not enough information here...

Added Darkfall The Journal to first post as having no issues...

Businesses are usually slow to adopt new OSs. They will wait until an OS has proven itself, first. Compatibility is another big consideration. It is not uncommon for many big businesses to still be using ancient programs. I wouldn't expect too many to make the transition before at least the first service pack.

I agree, Collector. I retired from state government and I pretty much guarantee they will be the last to make any move. Hey, I was excited when they moved from WIndows 2000 to XP about 5 years too late!

I had a problem early on with random crashes while on the net with my new Win 7 computer, usually when the site had some animation. The crashes stopped when Adobe updated Flash a few days ago -- though that may be a coincidence.

Now if Adobe would get off their butts and release a 64-bit version of Flash.

All I know is they haven't been wrong yet. They preceded most people when it came to the updates for WINDOWS until things got corrected. I don't know what they find out when they find it out, but I tend to follow suit before I update or buy new. I haven't changed my XP except for updates and I haven't been sorry. I recently got Black Circle and when it didn't start right up, I kinda figured I probably hadn't done something right. In the past, I would have thought SOMEBODY ELSE was wrong. Check here at GB if you don't believe me. I STILL don't know what I did wrong with Black Circle, except it did load and IS playing correctly. I won't do a thing until her company gets things right with WIN 7. They don't like Vista either, I do have a Vista laptop, but do not use it for much.

I just added a couple more older games to the first post that played flawlessly in Windows 7 - Morrowind and Condition Zero.

Okay, so general concensus here....
XP ~vs~ Vista ~vs~ 7

Is 7 going to be for Vista
what XP was for ME?

And is it 'un-buggy' enough yet
for this blonge g'ma
to dive into it? :rolleyes12:

BTW~I would keep XP on my laptop
and change my desktop to 7.

I have been running the Release Candidate since last May and did a clean install of 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premiun over my XP Media Center about a month ago. I have run into no bugs or issues at all. And I've been very pleasantly surprised at how well it does with older games.

I'm not sure what you mean by your first question. If you are happy with Vista on you desktop, I would stick with it. If you aren't satisfied with Vista, you can upgrade it to Windows 7. You will find that it feels very similar to Vista, but is a lot faster and easier to navigate.

You can download and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft to see if your computer can run it. Upgrade Advisor

Draclvr, do you own Runaway: A Road Adventure? The reason I ask is this is the only game I am having serious issues with on Win 7 64-bit, and I was wondering if you were experiencing them as well.

Sorry, Venus, I sure don't have it. What is the game doing? Have you tried running it in compatibility mode?

Yes, I have tried running it in every single compatibility mode, and none of them work. All of the videos freeze for long periods of time. They start up again after that, but the game is really unplayable that way.

Yeah, I agree that would be unplayable. I'm really not very good at tweaking the video card, but I wonder if that could be part of the problem. What video card do you have?

I have NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT. Actually, I've tried to change the video card preference so that it actually runs from my video card rather than the primary display driver, but the game stubbornly refuses to do it. I switch it in options, and the game switches it right back again.

And it could be that this is just one of those game that won't work in Windows 7.

Yes, it looks as though that may be the case. Thanks for trying though, Draclvr.

I am amazed that Grim Fandango works on Win 7? It's one of my all time favorite games. One of the very few I have kept on my game shelf.

I had hard time getting it to play smoothly on Win XP because of my high end computer.

I also have Win 7 32bit and will give it a try soon.

Cissy, yes Grim Fandango works on Windows 7. :thumbsUp12: I had to use the installer, but since you have 32-bit, you probably won't even have to do that. You may need the patch, though, I'm not sure.

I love Grim Fandango, too. It is one of my six favorite games of all time.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if Discworld Noir plays on Win 7? This is one of my favorite games and I know I had to go thru hoops to make it play on XP. Any chance it plays better on Win 7?

I don't have a Win 7 system yet. I expect to get one in the next 3 months.

It does!! Grim Fandango is working flawlessly on my 32-bit Windows 7! Amazing.....I am so glad I hung onto this game b/c it's just a classic. Thought I'd never be able to play it again.

What memories these wonderful charactors bring. This old game is so well done and truly an adventure game at it's fullest.

WOOHOOO! Flawless I tell ya! Flawless

Dontcha love it!!

There might another reason why (big) companies do not switch to new OS asap; they need to buy (or rent?) licenses for each of their mahcines, I believe. And 200 licences for XP or WIN 7 can be a a lot of money...

edit:

Anyway, I'm glad to see that (some of the) old games can be played on Win 7

As for the problwm with Runaway: A Road Adventure (this is the first one, I believe?), is there a problem with the cutscenes (videos) in the game? Sometimes you can disable the videos (cutscenes) I believe. Maybe you can do this here, too. If you have tried this already, I don't know what to suggest.

Karsten, yes it is the first Runaway, and it is a problem with all of the cutscenes. I could try to disable them - not sure how to do this - but even if I managed it, I would miss a lot of the story that way. As of now, I have it installed on my old '98. I can't play it on its highest settings, but at least the game is playable. I'm just hoping that eventually either a patch or a more updated version will become available. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Have you tried the GOG version? It is XP and Vista 32 & 64 bit compatible.

Runaway: A Road Adventure

That's a great suggestion, Sharon.

Thanks for the suggestion, Sharon. I've been trying to get information on the GOG version, so knowing that it works with 64-bit Windows is very helpful. I will give it a try.

EDIT: And now I see that it was clearly marked on their website. Feeling very silly. Oh, well, at least I know now to give it a try.

You're welcome! Glad I could help.

Thanks again, Sharon! I bought and downloaded the GOG version, and it works beautifully. No more video skipping. :yay12: The cutscenes even look a lot better than they did in the original disk version. :thumbsUp12:

That's excellent, venus! I'll add it to my list in the first post.

Is anyone using a controller in Windows 7 for games? I have a Logitech and a PS3, Windows recognizes them but I cannot get them to work. The PS3 keeps the 4 lights on like when it needs to be connected to the PS3.

In this PC I only have at present Left 4 Dead, that theoretically can use controller. The PS3 doesn't do a thing and with the Logitech I can only move, it doesn't take any settings in the options.

Is there a list of games that can use them? I may have a game and could install it in this PC to check if I can get them working.

I sure don't have a controller, mcc. Maybe someone else has tried one. I sort of doubt the operating system has anything to do with it as long as it's recognizing them.

With the Logitech, have you gone to their website. You may have to download an update to your software.. although I do not have windows 7 I have in the past gone in and updated my software for my rumble pad. Their customer service is pretty good they might be aware of any issues with window 7 and their product.--Just a thought- good luck

Edit-----
I found this link for you and your question
logitech

Thank you Winfrey, the one I have (M/N: G-UD8, G-UF13A) doesn't seem to be supported by Windows 7.
It appears in the control panel but when opening the Profiler it says it is not connected. It appears in the Logitech page but I don't see support for Windows 7, it .is rather old, I may need a new one.

I noticed that Dell still has the same gamepad for sale, then it should not be a question of age.

mcc, I found this on a Logitech forum from another user with the same problem. This person found a fix for the issue which manually installs the correct drivers.

Win 7 Fix for Logitech Controller

Thank you Draclvr, I'll try it tomorrow and let it know how it goes. It is not crucial but after getting the PS3 last year I got hooked on controllers that almost scared me at the beginning because my aim was flying all over the place.

I applied the gaming software as indicated, now I can see and test the buttons in the Control Panel , in the game (Left 4 Dead) however the right joystick does respond up and down but not right and left, this must be a problem with the game itself because in the test it reacts up-down and right-left. The game doesn't have the option for this because I think it gets automatically.
I will install the Left 4 Dead 2 and check if it is the same, if so I can install an older game like Crysis ( I don't remember if that had gamepasd option) and check again.


Thank you again for your help.

never mind

Yes, Miss Rosanne Rosannadanna? Remember that old one from SNL! I loved Gilda Radner.

BTW, I bookmarked that link you posted, Winfrey, as I have several Logitech peripherals. Great find!

LOL. I wrote to Logitech and they said 5.08 would work--- but I copied your response and put it in my rumblepad folder so when I do get windows 7 I will be prepared. (yes I remember---Really liked Gilda Radner.)

Draclvr, sorry I missed your post before. Thanks for adding Runaway to your list!

I do have an update, though. I managed to play through the entire game and see all the cutscenes and everything. However, there were graphical glitches in each and every one of them at some point. (Strange because I didn't notice it the first time I watched the intro.)

Perhaps that's something that will eventually be patched - it is a little irritating - but for now, I am just happy I was able to make it through the game with no hangups. Just thought anyone who was thinking of purchasing the GOG version for Win 7 may want to be aware of the occasional graphical glitches during the cutscenes.

Thanks, venus. I will add your caveat to the first post. I'm trying to keep it all in one place! What were the glitches you noticed? Plus, I'd like to mention your video card and sound card for extra info.

I've been playing Assassins Creed on Windows 7 Professional 64-bit with no issues so far.

You're welcome, Draclvr. Hope I am not making things too challenging. You're doing an excellent job keeping everything together!

My video card is NVIDIA 8600. Unfortunately, I'm not sure about my sound card. I used to know how to find that information when I had XP, but now that my computer is updated, I'm at a loss. It's the same card that came with the computer in 2006, so it's definitely not the latest model.

As for the glitches I noticed - sometimes a character's head would disappear when another character was speaking. That was the most common one, I think. Or someone's lips wouldn't move when they were talking. At one point, the picture was actually almost unrecognizable, but it was very brief and only happened once as far as I can remember.

It's odd because other than the glitches, the graphics in the cutscenes looked a lot better than they did in the original disk version. I wonder if they were updated, and that's why the game is able to run in 64-bit Windows now.

Just a little correction for your first post about me

I'm NOT using Win 7 Home Premium!
It's the 64-bit Professionel edition

I'd suspect you have integrated sound. You can still so DXDIAG in Win 7 by typing it in the search box when you click on Start. Thanks!

Got it, misslilo!

Anyone with problems running either Secret File games on Win7? Solutions? Sorry if this has already been answered, I couldn't find any info. Thanks for the help.

Sierra Rat (Jack)

I don't think I've seen anyone trying to play the Secret Files games on Win 7. What problems are you having?

I just added the first three Carol Reed games to the first post.

I've played an hour into Secret Files 2: Puritas Cordis on Windows 7 (64 bit) with no problems. I KNOW I have Tunguska somewhere, but can't locate the disks at the moment -- if I do I'll try that one next.

My son has been using an Xbox 360 controller with our new Win 7 computer while playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. It works, though he does occasionally experience a random crash -- we don't know if the problem is the game or the controller, unfortunately.

Here's a list of adventures (plus a couple of casual games) that I've had no problems playing on Win 7 so far (I haven't finished all of these games, but installation and initial play has revealed no problems so far):

Secret Files 2: Puritas Cordis
Return to Mysterious Island 2
Treasure Island
Sherlock Holmes Nemesis
Tales of Monkey Island
Casebook Episode III: Snake in the Grass
Dark Fall Lost Souls
Black Circle: A Carol Reed Adventure
3 Cards to Dead Time
Secret of Monkey Island SE (Steam)
Big Brain Wolf (Steam)
Green Moon (demo)
Dream Chronicles 2 (Big Fish)
Diamon Jones: Eye of the Dragon (Big Fish)
Nikopol (Big Fish)
Static: Investigator Training
Machinarium

EDIT: More additions for games that run so far in Win 7 (some I've only played a short ways in)

CSI: Deadly Intent
Chronicles of Mystery: The Tree of Life
Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island
Simon the Sorcerer 5: Who'd Even Want Contact? (Gamers Gate)
Dream Chronicles
Dream Chronicles 2 (Big Fish)
Dream Chronicles 3 (Big Fish)
Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera Curses! (Big Fish)
Enter the Story: Genesis of the Gods
MOULagain (Myst Online Uru Live)
Sherlock Holmes: Mystery of the Persian Carpet (Steam)
Sam & Max Season One

EDIT: More additions for games that run so far in Win 7

Yoomurjak's Ring
The Whispered World (download)
Hamlet
Sam & Max The Devil's Playhouse
Sam & Max Season Two

I've played more games on Big Fish with no problems. I think you can assume that games downloaded from Big Fish will run on Win 7. I'll note it here if I happen to encounter any problems in the future.

EDIT: More additions for games that run so far in Win 7

Tex Murphy: Pandora Directive (downloaded from Good Old Games)
Riven (downloaded from Good Old Games) -- use "Alt/S" to bring up the menu to save the game

PROBLEM -- Azada downloaded from Big Fish was so slow as to be unplayable

EDIT: I've played Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage on Win 7 64 bit -- no problem after installing the NVIDIA PhysX drivers from the NVIDIA website.

Just amended my first post with your list, Becky...

You can add Sacred Gold to the list that plays without a hitch (if it hasn't been mentioned already that is)

Draclvr -- A consolidated list with everyone's experiences in your first post -- a great idea!

Added yours, Syd...

Becky, when I saw how many hits the thread was getting, I thought it might be easier for someone reading it for the first time to keep everything in the first post with references to the pages with other long lists. What I love is how long the list is getting!

Draclvr, I have more games to add if you're interested.

I haven't gotten around to playing all of my old games yet, but I am working on it. I have tested both Secret Files games just a little past the introduction. So far, they have been working smoothly on my Win 7 64-bit.

Games I have completed:

The Longest Journey (had to disable 3-D acceleration before installing patch)
Grim Fandango (had to install launcher)
Escape From Monkey Island (had to install launcher)
Gabriel Knight 1 (with patch)
Gabriel Knight 2 (with patch)
Gabriel Knight 3 (runs perfectly)
Syberia (has some sluggishness during conversations with the rectors and hesitates before one or two cutscenes, but other than that, runs fine)
Syberia 2
Journey to the Center of the Earth (download version)
Memento Mori
Sinking Island
Perry Rhodan
So Blonde
A Vampyre Story
Still Life (had to run in NT 4.0 compatibility mode)
Everlight
Murder in the Abbey
Dracula Origin


Other games that I have tested a bit include:

Culpa Innata
Dreamfall
Secret Files: Tunguska
Secret Files 2
Runaway 2
The Moment of Silence
Overclocked
Next Life
Paradise
Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper
Jack Keane
Undercover Operation Wintersun (have to use Alt Tab in order to watch cutscenes)
Ceville (also have to use Alt Tab to watch cutscenes)
Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual (voices occasionally cut out during cutscenes - have to enable subtitles)
Chronicles of Mystery: The Tree of Life
Treasure Island
Mata Hari

just to say I have had probs with Cleopatra riddle of the tomb .The game instuled and plays but its like having double vision

Draclvr -- this may become an issue -- there is a time limit for the ability for members to edit their posts (because of the way the forum software is configured). Just to let you know that, at some point, you won't be able to keep adding game lists via edits and will either have to start a new post with the info or have a moderator do the edits for you.

I will let the moderators here decide how best to keep things fairly organized. I'm sure that at some point, they may have to just say there is enough info for people to get a feel for Win 7 and gaming and they will deal with issues on a game by game basis.

Thanks, Becky, I didn't know that!

Ah, I was trying to help, and it looks like I only complicated things even more. Sorry Draclvr and Becky.

Not a bit, venus! I just added another edit to my first post referencing your list. I'm trying to allow people to see everything in the first post, so they don't have to go searching for a specific game through all the pages.

Becky was just saying there will be an end to my ability to edit that same post. I'll let the moderators decide, but perhaps at that point they'll just deal with Win 7 and gaming issues on a case by case basis.

Draclvr,

Thank you for this great help on Win7 as well as all the help you give to the other members.
It is appreciated very much.

Please check your e-mail.

Has anyone tried Safecracker or The Messenger? I have Windows7 Pro 64-bit.

I haven't seen these games in any of the testings. I really would like to know because I like both games very much.

Thanks, Draclvr. I read your updated post. You are doing a lot of excellent work with the lists.

I was wondering if anyone has tried Safecracker (either/both) versions and The Messenger? I really like these games. I have Windows 7 Pro.

I don't have either game. Did you check the lists I referenced from other gamers in my first post?

Hi; probably everyone knows this, but just in case; I re-played all the Nancy Drew games except for Secrets can Kill because I never finished this one. I hated it. All but two worked perfectly on Win.7 64 bit.
With "Stay tuned for Danger" I got an error message saying: your sound settings are being changed. It would not let me into the game.
I could not install Treasure in the Royal Tower. Only the "repair or uninstall" would come up.

Art of Murder loaded & played but with no sound.
Art of Murder 2 loaded & played but the conversations cut in & out.

Yes Draclvr. I checked the all the posts here but these two games were not amongst them. . If someone tries them please let me know.
Thanks

Thanks, judith. Carlahelp, hopefully someone will give them a try!

Hello Carlahelp .Just tried the Messenger .It installed and played then got a message saying it may not have installed correctly.Do you want to uninstall and install on recomended settings and low and behold runs like a dream .Seemed ok to me any way .If this game plays all the way through I havent got a clue but it was ok at the beginning .Hope this helps .Can play it again if you wish

Thanks Dragon,

I tried to install it again but the message something about 32 bit or 64 bit on my media comes up but I don't know how to check if mine has a 32 bit for a game like this. Can you help?

Just guessing sounds like a vidio card problom .If I am not wrong you can change the resalution(think thats how it is spelt)on your computor sorry to say I rely on my son for all this sort of stuff .Maybe some one else could sort this out .Guess it is nt the windows as it goes ok on mine .Will play a little more just to see .

Carla, can you give us the error message word for word?

This is from the Microsoft website.

To find out if your computer is running 32-bit or 64-bit Windows, do the following:

1.Open System by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking System.
2.Under System, you can view the system type.

Thanks Draclver Not to good atya this end of the game I have got to chapter 2 no probs

Win 7 is like that - it's really good at detecting a problem and present a possible solution. I'll let you get a little further into the game before I add it to the first post.

Here is the exact message I get:

This version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need an x86 (32-bit) or x86 64-bit) version of the program.

Hope you can help because I love this game.

That is the error that you get on 64-bit Windows when you try to run a 16-bit program. Try a VM.

What is a VM and how do I do it?

How do I install XP mode to my computer using Windows 7?

Virtual Machine. If you have Pro, you can just download XP Mode from Microsft. If you do not have pro, you can try Bochs, Virtual Box or VMPlayer, but you will also need a copy of an earlier version of Windows to install into them. XP Mode comes with XP already installed. For retro gamers, XP Mode is probably the best reason to get Win7 Pro over home.

I will try this and thanks. How do I download this from Microsoft. Please I am a dummy when it comes to doing something like this.

Carla, before you go that route, try one more thing. I've gotten that message on a couple of games, but when I did the actual installation in XP compatibility mode, they worked. Vampire Redemption was the one that worked for me last night after I got the same message.

Put the CD in the drive, but don't let it install from there. Go to Computer, then right click on the drive and select Open. Find the setup or .exe file and right click on it. Select Troubleshoot Compatibility. Let it run and then choose Recommended Settings. It will tell you to open the program first. So go ahead and click on the setup or .exe file and see if it will run. You can use the cool Snap feature in Win 7 to have both windows open side by side. If it will install in XP compatibility mode, you should be OK. If it won't, you will probably have to go the route Collector suggested.

Mom emailed my PC-savvy nephew yesterday telling him that I need a "stronger laptop" (Mom doesn't really know that much about computers. She only uses it to play solitaire, check something online (sometimes) and for email; she knows nothing about PC hardware, software, etc) and we're waiting for Tim to get back to us on that.

In case I get a laptop (because in my thread I was thinking about buying a desktop PC and a new netbook), but Mom and Tim might decide to get me a laptop instead b/c 1-to buy 2 computers would cost us that much more money, 2-Mom might not allow me to buy 2 computers in 1 month, 3-a new laptop would be like combining the desktop PC and a netbook into 1 computer, and that laptop has win 7 on it have anyone tried the

Thief series,
the Rhems,
CSI series,
Law & Order series,
MS Flight Stimulater X Deluxe,
the Auras (incl. Sacred Rings)

and other XP adventure games on Win 7 Home (which a lot of people might have, and I might get in this new laptop)?

Just want to be prepared in case.

EDIT - It's nice to know that TLJ, Dark Fall series, the Auras, Echo, RTMI, Secret Files 1 & 2, Syberia 1 & 2, MOS, Overclocked, Perry Rhodan, Amerzone, Barrow Hill, Black Mirror, Sinking Island (which I have in my XP collection) run ok in Win 7 64 bit.

Draclvr,
I did what you said and the game installed and plays. I only used the first disc (there are two) so I am wondering if it will make any difference to the game play?

Really appreciate yours and collectors help.

Dragon thanks also.

Now I will try this with Safecracker.

I am playing Myst Masterpiece Edition on my Windows 7 home premium. So far I have completed two worlds. Game is fairly stable with a few hangups. The main problem is no video from the blue and red books when pages are added.

I am so glad to hear that, Duststorm. I have had no luck at all with getting Myst Masterpiece Edition to play. It seems to install just fine, but when the game starts, there is no video. I have my old XP hard drive in this computer, so I need to boot up to that drive and install and see if I get the same result. In that case, my video card would be the culprit.

What video card do you have?

That sounds like a QuickTime version issue.

I am not sure that this is a legitimate example of Myst being played on Windows 7. Any place in the game where there should be video movement it does not occur. When I first tried to download the game it didn't seem to be sucessful. Later I was going to try again and when I clicked on install it put me to the opening page that gave the option to play, uninstall, and so forth.I chose play and the game opened.When I checked through the control panel the option to uninstall a game, Myst was there but it did not show any computer usage. I am wondering if somehow the game is playing right off the disk without being downloaded on the hard drive?? My Video card is Nvidia Geforce GTX 260M 1 GB

"Download" usually refers to getting a game off the Internet. So I thought you were referring to the downloadable version of the game that came from gog.com. If you install a game off a CD, please use the word "install" to avoid confusing people.

The CD version of Myst is over ten years old, and was made when hard drives were much smaller. The install folder is very small and the game plays mainly from the CD. That's normal.

Considering the age of the game, you should probably reduce your graphics acceleration. See if you have Nvidia Control Panel listed when you right-click the desktop. If you do, you may find acceleration settings in there. Also the version of QuickTime that came with the game may not work completely in Windows 7.

That helps... When you said download, I also assumed you had downloaded the game.

OK. I got it to install and run. I had to uninstall my current Quicktime. Installed the game in XP SP2 mode and installed the 4.1 (I think) version of Quicktime. I then went to the "play" icon in the Red Orb game folder and right clicked to select Troubleshoot Compatibility. The only compatibility mode that I got to work was Win 95. But I moved everywhere around the first area in the game. All the video played in the book etc. One glitch was when I moved the books to get to the elevator. The sound stuttered for about 15 seconds and then the game picked up again. I was able to use the elevator and come back down. When I moved the books again, the game stuttered and then recovered as before. I saved the compatibility settings so now when I restarted the game a few times, I didn't have to go through any of the other steps. I didn't make any changes to my GTX 260.

So, I've gotten the game to install and play, but I have to live with the older version of quicktime if I leave it on. I guess, if I were going to do a full playthrough, I could live with that and then uninstall the game and reinstall the new Quicktime again.

So, after some hoops to jump through, I would call it a somewhat qualified success. If you try it, Duststorm, let us know if this works for you too.

Back to my drywall taping!

Don't know if anyone else will have this problem or not but I tried my Sacred 2 on my Windows 7 64 bit and it installed fine and runs fine. However when I tried to patch it, my mouse froze on the opening scene. I could do nothing but uninstall and install the game again. I found no help on the Ascaron forums and it seems to play all right without any patches.

I have a question. Has anyone tried Darkside of the Moon or Discworld Noir on windows 7 ?
Thanks for any response.

Cathy

Sorry, Cathy1, I don't have either game.

Oldman, is that a critical patch for Sacred 2 or can you play the game without it? I mean play on any system without the patch...

The patches fix several things about the game and I remember when it first came out a lot of people needed the patches. (there are about 5 all in all) but, so far I've played about an hour and haven't had any problems without the patches. Ascaron didn't really do to good a job with their patches as the latest 1.43 doesn't patch everything up to date. If you start from scratch and install the patches you have to install each patch individually as they came out.

It's also possible that someone else could get the patches to install but there are a few people that had similar complaints on the Ascaron boards but I couldn't find a fix. The suggustions were all about checking mouse driver and checking different mouses etc.

It could be a 64 bit thing but I have no idea. In fact I don't really understand the difference between 32 bit and 64 bit.

Thank you so much for the info. Greatly appreciated. Have a great day and mine can go on..lol..

Thanks for posting this! Good to know as I may be replacing my old system soon. The one I have my eye on has Windows 7 and I wondered about if any older games would play at all.

Well, our list isn't long, but we're working on it. The only way to find out if our old games work is to give them a try. Win 7 compatibility mode has worked quite well for several games - both for installing and playing. What's nice is "if" it works, it allows you to save the settings and the next time you play the game you don't have to fiddle with it anymore.

I bought one of the "combos" that has 3 SH games: The Secret of the Silver Earring, The awaken and the Mystery of the Mummy, the first two play perfectly in Windows 7, the last one flickers even when played in a compatible mode. The game however plays well in another PC I have with Windows XP.

mcc, before I add this to the first post, did you try installing in compatibility mode, not just playing? It doesn't sound like it will make any difference, but I just want to cover all the bases.

Windows 7 32bit, Dell 6400, ATI x1400 and Carol Reed Remedy won't give me any sound. I've tried various compatiblility modes and the patch from the MDNA website. I noticed that you refer to some fiddling with code that was done to make the first three compatible with win 7. Could you elaborate further.

Thanks...

Jim

Jim, the developer worked with the code to get the sound to work on Win 7. The games I tested for him had already been tweaked. I would suggest contacting them to see if they can help you out.

I'm not sure if the patch to fix sound problems in Vista is the same they used for Win 7. Whatever they did for Win 7 works in my 64-bit. Mikael is a member here and you can PM him through his profile.

Hi everyone; does anyone know if the three Delaware St.John games work on win 7? These are not the download games.

Judith, I dan't have any of the Delaware St. John games. Maybe someone else will have given them a try.

I just finished Myst 3 Exile on my Windows 7 Home premium 64bit. I installed it off the original cds.I had no problems. Compatibility-Windows Xp-640-480 screen resolution--256 colors.

Draclvr,

I just tried to play in compatible mode, I didn't realize I could also install it that way, I'll uninstall it and try again for you to know.

Yesterday evening I installed Fallout 3 with all it's DLC's (GOTY version) and it plays just fine

Nice! I'll add it...

o.k. I played all three Delaware St. John games. They all played perfectly on win 7 64 bit. The only glitch, if you could call it that, was with the second one, I had to restart the comp. before clicking on the game, otherwise I just got a black screen. Judy

Did you have to do that each time you started the game or just the first time? Since I haven't played these games, would they be considered older or newer games... yeah, I know there is no real definition! I'm kind of using a rough guideline of games released in the last 1 to 2 years as newer games.

Hi Draclvr; the first two were 2005,& the third was 2007. Yes, I had to restart the comp. each time with the second one only. If I was on the net or playing mahjong before getting into this game I would get a black screen if I didn't restart it, but it was no biggie.

Draclvr, I could not install the SH Mystery of the Mommy in Compatible Mode, just to play in that mode and that doesn't solve the problem. This is the "combo" CD, it may be different with the game sold separately.

OK, mcc. I'll add that one to the list of no-goes.

Venus,

Thank you so much! Win 7 cocked a snook at Grim Fandango and refused to install it. Virtual XP installed it all right - and went nuts. The windowed version would start in the upper left hand corner of the screen but as soon as the initial cut scene was over, Manny would step out of the background in full screen mode!

Since I'm not all that computer savvy, I didn't know what the heck to do until I saw your mention of using a launcher. You better believe, my eyes lit up and I went googling. This being my first post, I don't know if I should add this but I found the launcher here: http://quick.mixnmojo.com/grim-fandango-setup. So far, it seems to have done the trick and since Grim Fandango is still my favorite PC game, I am grinning from ear to ear.

Many, many thanks for that comment of yours!

Hi, traveler, and welcome to Gameboomers! This is the perfect place to post this comment as I'm trying to compile Win 7 and gaming into one place. I remember when Vista was released, gamers were having a such a hard time. Gameboomers did have a post with games that seemed to work with Vista and it was a huge help to many people.

Hi traveler; welcome to Gameboomers. Thanks for the link to the launcher. When I saw it, I decided to download the game & try it out. It works like a charm. Thanks again. Judy

Draclvr,
Should there be an asterisk or something on the front page by the Grim Fandango listing, so that people know there MIGHT be an extra step needed to get it running?

traveler,
"cocked a snook"? Maybe I should know what that means since I'm running Win 7!

Yes, there should, Mary. I've been painting for 3 days and just haven't gotten around to it. But thanks for the reminder! I want to try to do an install on my 64-bit too - I just haven't had time.

I'm not sure what "cocked a snook" means either, but whatever it is, I like it!

Thanks for the welcome, Draclvr! Maybe I should mention that my computer is running Win 7 Professional in case that makes a difference as to how tolerant of older games the OS is.

Judy, I did have a problem with the audio after I installed Grim with the launcher. Looking at the game files, I didn't see the update so I added that, then took the extra step of making it compatible with Win98 (probably should have chosen Win95, but...). I see the game icon has the little shield that informs me I'm running it as Administrator. Windows did make a snarky comment afterward to the effect that the game wasn't compatible with 7 but it's working fine.

If you haven't played Grim before, you're in for a treat. Believe it or not, those odd looking characters become real to you and you hate for the game to end.

"cocked a snook"? Maybe I should know what that means since I'm running Win 7!"

Mary, If you'd like to try cocking a snook, put your thumb to your nose, waggle all your fingers at the object of your disdain and, for good measure, stick out your tongue. *g* When I was a kid, it was also known as the five-finger salute. That was (cough) a short while back.

Thanks again for the welcome, guys. I'm really glad to have found you.

Has anyone been able to play Still Life on Windows 7 64-bit? I get a black screen on start-up and nothing more. Playing in compatability mode does not help.

Hi, Bru27. I don't have this one, but maybe someone else has tried it.

I really need to get this thread updated with some of the entries above.

I have an HP Pavillion with 291 GB of free memory and Windows 7 that is about 6 months old. I can't get Mass Effect 2 to start. Not computer savvy at all. Tried stopping my virus protection. Nothing works. Tried to go on EA's website and everytime I go to their Customer Support page, my computer throws a fit, says there is a problem with the page and closes it.
Very frustrated.
Andrea

Hi Bru27, you can play Still Life in nt4 compatability mode.

Judith, is NT4 one of the options in the compatibility list?

Andrea, can you tell us what happens when you try to start Mass Effect 2?

Also, it would help to know a couple of things about your computer as Mass Effect 2 requires a dual core processor at 1.8 Ghtz as a minimum. What video card or chip do you have? There is a list of video cards/chips that will not support this game.

Thanks Judith, the game is running on NT4.

Great, Bru. I'll add it to the list.

Just finished playing Hardy Boys the hidden theft on win 7 64 bit. Plays perfect.

Tried last night to install Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island, but NO go.

Don't think it likes my win7 Pro 64-bit
Did all possible things to get it to work:

- Installed with Admin rights (also the shortcut after)
- Installed with and without AntiVirus etc.
- All Compatibilty settings.
- Latest (working) NVidia graphics driver.
- Changing Country settings (suggested in their forum)
- Downloaded and tried their alternativ Game Launcher (also suggested in their forum)

Guess I have to install on my XP unless someone here have a magic fix

I've added more games that run in Win 7 to my list on page 13 here.

You've been a busy girl, Becky! Misslilo, I'll add that as a no-go to the list.

Curiously, I had no problems installing Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island on Win 7, 64 bit, but I was working with a downloaded review copy.

I had no problems with Ghost Pirates on my Win 7 64 bit either, and I have the disk version. Sorry you've been having such trouble, misslilo.

I'll change the entry for this game then.

Wait wait - I got it to work too

Seems it doesn't like Stardocks Windows Blinds - as soon as I unloaded it, the game worked!!!

What in the heck is Stardocks Windows Blinds???

It's EyeCandy

From the link misslilo provided:



Err, why would someone want to mimic the look and feel of a different OS? (Just curious.)

Could be they have XP, but like the look of Vista and this is a way of getting it

Actually, there is a quite sizable community that loves to fiddle with the look and feel of their OS. WindowBlinds compared with a program like Samurize can give your desktop a complete makeover. I used to be pretty into it about 8 years ago, but no matter how hard you try, the people who originally designed the functionality of Windows seem to be better at it

Glad you got the game to work, misslilo!!

3-16 today. Age of Mythology installed smooth. Started playing the tutorial but really don't have the patience for this game. Maybe tomorrow. Played great, no quirks.
Game needs a product code that's on the cardboard disc thing.

Titan Quest installed great, all 5 discs however couldn't play because it needs virtual memory installed, whatever that means. A code is required that's on the back of the instruction manual.

Thanks, Yankee Clipper. I'll wait to see if you play a bit more in Age of Mythology, but it sounds promising. And I'll wait to post anything on Titan Quest too until we know if it plays OK.

Added Peter Hewitt's new Magnet Revisited to the list of games playing well.

Hi; well I tried Martin Mystere on win7 64bit. It installed, but would not play. Just got black screen. Tried all the compatabilities, but no go.

Thanks, judith... did you try doing the actual install in compatibility mode? I've had one or two that worked after I did that.

I just tried to install in xp2; xp3; 2000 & nt4. Also downloaded virtools & nothing worked. It's a no go for Win 7.

OK, just want to cover all the bases! I'll add it to the "no way" list. Thanks, judith.

Just finished playing myst 4 revelation on win 7 64 bit. played perfect after downloading the two patches. I must be a masochist to replay this, that chair with the three sliders makes me shudder.

I agree with you about being a masochist! I think I banished the chair puzzle from my brain!

I'll add it to the list.

Hi Draclvr; Well, I installed Myst 5. It installed just fine, but when I clicked on the game icon I got an error message about 14 stack files. I went to ubi web site & then to the myst 5 forums & found a patch that replaces a file. you can find the patch here:

http://cho.cyan.com/patches/Myst5InitFiles.zip

The game now runs perfect, although I only played for about an hour. If I run into any difficulties I'll let you know.

You're a busy girl, judith!

Hi, my name is Judy & I'm a gameaholic.

Hi!

Playing Simon the Sorcerer (1993) and Myst Masterpiece on Windows 7 32bit. Both games downloaded from GOG and both play perfectly.

Mary

Great, Mary! I'll add Simon the Soucerer, but will wait a bit on Myst Masterpiece. I downloaded RealMyst from GOG, but it won't play on my 64-bit. I'm doing a little trouble-shooting before I post on it though. I will try to get the Myst games all in one place, if possible.

I also downloaded RealMyst from GOG. Didn't work well at all. Black screen, real s l o w mouse movement even during black screen.

Oh, that breaks my heart. I was so looking forward to replaying that particular Myst game on my new computer; I have 64-bit also.

Mary, I did get my Myst Masterpiece edition running. It took quite a bit of tweaking, but it worked. Look under the heading "Games that didn't work or needed lots of tweaking" or some such in my list in this thread. Don't remember what I called it now!

I was talking about RealMyst; that's not in the Masterpiece edition, or is it? I know I bought my RealMyst as a stand alone game.

I don't think so. But if you give it a try, let us know if it works for you. Mine was the download from GOG which has the full 360 degree movement.

I dug out my RealMyst--not much luck yet. A question first: how do I stop Windows from asking my permission for a program to make changes to my computer?

So far, it says that the game installed, but when I try to run it, I get a black screen for a few seconds and then it crashes. The error messge I get is "A game critical file (win_init.dat) is missing . You need to reinstall the game."

I haven't tried that step yet; I've got to make dinner and will try to reinstall later, unless you've got other ideas for me.

Update: I found out how to shut down the "permission" requests, but that didn't help any.
I uninstalled the game and then reinstalled the game and tried all different kinds of compatibility modes and the game did the same thing each time: goes to black screen for an instant and then crashes.

Just an update on Sacred 2. I got the expansion also and couldn't get it running on my 64 bit Windows 7. But with much frustration and a lot of help from some great folks at a website called Dark Matters I was able to tweak the game and it now runs great. If anyone else ventures into the game on win 7 and wishes help I can either help or point them in the right direction. I probably won't read this thread that much so if anyone wants my help feel free to email or PM me.

Draclvr,
I looked over your installation tweaks for Myst Masterpiece. If you uninstall the QuickTime that is on the machine now to reinstall an older version, will that screw up other things you do on the computer? (I assume you can find the older versions by googling for it?)

I'm sure it might affect certain things that require a newer version of QuickTime. I uninstalled the new version and then let the game install it's preferred version of QuickTime. After you play the game, you would need to go back and reinstall the new QuickTime. I just did it the other day. But in the meantime, I didn't have any issues with anything.

Hi; does anyone know if Black Dahlia will install & run on Win 7 64 bit.? Enquiring minds want to know? Judy

Judith, check out Hamer's post just down a couple. He says he found a patch which allows the game to run on Vista and Win 7. If you try it out, let me know how it works.

I'll try it out later on this afternoon, & I sure will let you know. Hope it works, I love this game. Thanks Judy

I did a search for Pandora's Box in glitches but didn't find anything so here I am. I am running Win 7 64 bit and it won't install. The only patch is for people with Pentium 3 processors and I don't think this applies to me. I checked the Microsoft site and there's nothing there either. Anyone got it to run on this OS? Let me know what I need to do if you did. Thanks!

Debra, have you tired to do the actual installation in XP mode? I've had success with several games which refused to install normally, but worked just fine when I used the Troubleshoot Compatibility option.

hi all; regarding my Black Dahlia win 7 64 bit install, I used the no CD patch then installed the v1.10 patch, then went into the game folder. There are three files, the BD game icon, the BDdv patch & BD patch Videos. I went into compatibility mode on all three & under settings I ticked "run in 256 color" & run in "640 x 480". Now the game plays perfectly. Judy

I'm glad to hear that you got it working, judith! Black Dahlia was one of my favorites, although very difficult puzzles. Are you finding all the patches you used online?

I haven't had any luck at all with the older games I'm trying to get going:RealMyst, Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within, Morpheus. Actually, I think they're all 32-bit games and won't even start installing: I get a message that I need a 64-bit version of the game--like that's ever going to happen!
Or maybe I just don't know how to "tweak" the settings correctly.

Mary, I've gotten that same message for several games I've tried to install. When that happens, try installing in XP compatibility mode.

Right click on the CD/DVD drive that indicates the game CD is in the drive. Select Open. Find the setup file and right click on it. Select Troubleshoot Compatibility. From there follow the prompts. I even got Dracula Resurrection to install and play that way. That one wouldn't even play on my old XP drive!

I will give that a try Drac and let you know how it works.

I tried and it still gives me compatibility issues. I may try and put the Pentium 3 patch on just to see what happens.

OK I got it to work by going into the properties and setting it to WinXP, run as administrator and dowloading the Patch 1.0 that fixes Pentium 3 problems. Hope that helps others and thanks for the help and suggestions. I appreciate it.

Excellent, Debra. Another one to add to the list. One of these days I'll alphabetize it!

I agree with you Cissy. I played it years ago and really enjoyed it. By the way, what version do you have?

Thanks,
FJT

Yoomurjak's Ring runs on Win 7!

Sweet!

Sherlock Holmes the Awakened runs perfectly with the vista patch on win 7 64 bit. Judy

hi all,

I just wanted to let you know that I've started pulling out my older games too. So far, Darkness Within in pursuit of Loath Nolder ran perfectly all the way through BUT Egypt II Heliopolis wouldn't even install, even after trying all modes in compatibility.

Ikonius, is your OS 32-bit or 64-bit Win 7?

64-bit

Thanks. I need to update the first post, but have been running pretty hard the last couple of days.

no worries. This post is very much appreciated.

Has anyone tried replaying The Longest Journey (the first) and Jack Keane? Neither of them seem to work on my 64-bit win 7, even in 98 and XP modes. I still get an "incompatible program" window that pops up. Hoping someone found a workaround

As for Jack Keane, the installer gets past the infamous shared files block, but still won't run, even in XP mode. HEEEELP! I feel I'm losing my mind, not to mention some still very playable games here arrrgh!

Ikonis, I also have Win 7 64 bit, and it took me quite a while to get The Longest Journey to work. What finally worked for me was disabling 3D acceleration in the options menu that pops up before you start the game and then downloading the patch. You need to disable the acceleration first, as once the patch is applied, you no longer have that option. (I also turned the shadows off once I started playing, as the dotted shadows - caused by disabling the acceleration - were a distraction for me. This may not be an issue for you though, as everyone is different.)

As for Jack Keane, that game works fine for me, so I'm afraid I don't have any suggestions. Hopefully someone else will have a suggestion for it.

ok will try that for TLJ. Did you have to choose a specific compatibility mode or did you stick to default?

EDIT: I succeeded in installing the game in win98 compatibility mode, but for some reason I could not force it to install it on C(x86). Will try again and let you know.

Try it in compatibility mode for NT 4.0. I had to double check as it's been a while since I set it up, but at looks as though that is what mine is set for.

EDIT: I just remembered, I should have asked you which version of TLJ you have. The information I have given you applies to the 2 disk version. Do you have the 2 or the 4 disk version?

ok will do. I had to uninstall it anyway as it was giving me a "parameter is incorrect" error message when I clicked new game. I wonder if it's because I mistakenly installed the 1.61 patch to C x86?

EDIT: Sorry, by the way, I seem to have a leftover Tages driver on my drive somewhere. Windows keeps prompting me that it has to disable it. Oddly enough, when I try to look for it, I can't locate it.

EDIT2: OK. I've reinstalled the game in the proper place (C x86) I then unchecked 3D acceleration BEFORE installing the patch like you recommended. Now the game runs, but I still get a "parameter is incorrect" error message on a regular basis (4 times during the opening sequence alone). Is there anything else you recommend? And I have the 2-disk version)

Did you try looking for it with the search box? In downloads? I don't have any experience with Tages, so I'm not really sure.

Yes, the "parameter is incorrect" message could be related to the patch being installed to C x86, though that is where my game is located. If you follow the instructions, the patch should automatically be applied to the game itself. This may be a silly/obvious question, but did you run the patch application, or did you just put it in your x86 folder?

EDIT: Sorry, just read your second edit. Did you try it in NT 4.0 compatibility mode? I never got the error messages you've mentioned, but I did get serious lagging in the opening scenes before I did all of these things combined - disabling 3D acceleration, patch, compatibility mode. (Also, are you running the game as administrator? Not sure if this would be a factor, though, as generally speaking, the computer refuses to play the game at all if you are not. It may be a possibility, though.)

EDIT 2: You may also want to make sure that anti-aliasing is disabled. This may cause problems as well.

success!

I uninstalled and reinstalled the game in a newly created TLJ folder this time and installed the patch in same folder (3D acceleration disable beforehand per your recommendation) . I also set compatibility to NT 4.0 like you suggested and everything now runs smoothly.

It'll be a real treat to replay this game and Dreamfall again. I had forgotten how incredible the quality of the game was! By the way, do you know if they ever developed anything else to follow Dreamfall (the downloadable episodes)?

Thanks again for your input!

So happy to hear it worked for you! Enjoy the game! I agree, I think it is an outstanding game, one of the best I've played.

Unfortunately, I haven't heard any news about Dreamfall Chapters. Currently, the creator is working on an RPG called The Secret World. Once he finishes this, hopefully he will begin working on the chapters again. It will probably be quite a while, though.

ok venus. thanks for the news. BTW, the game is still running smoothly

So far The Whispered World is running just fine in Win 7, 64 bit (I'm running the downloaded version). I'll add it to my list, along with Hamlet and Sam & Max The Devil's Playhouse.

You're welcome, ikonius. So glad everything is working for you now!

Glad to hear about The Whispered World, Becky. Can't wait for that one. I'm pre-ordering the disk version.

has anyone tried the 4 disk version for the longest journey? Will it work also in NT4? Judy

I bought an Laptop with WIN 7 Home Pre, and I can't tell the difference between it and my last Lap with WIN VISTA, I can play the old two version of FAR CRY! the only problem I have is the Webcam and internet video flickers! I tried everything, might have to send it back to the factory!

P.S kind of wish I bought an desktop com, at least I can play games on my XBOX 360, but I havn't send many adventure games for the XBOX!

Hi All,
To all the Divine Divinity Fans, I may have missed it, if anyone else has tried Divine Divinity on Windows 7, 64 bit, but it's playing great, no tweaking at all. Played the catacombs yesterday and now on my way to Rivertown.
It's an older game but one of my favorites.
Kay

No, you didn't miss it, Kayc! I just haven't added it to the list yet. I downloaded the GOG versions about a week ago and both played perfectly for me also in my 64-bit Win 7. I will be updating the thread later tonight. Do you have the GOG version or the CD version?

Hi Draclvr, I have the CD version. I was so happy that it installed and played with no tweaking.
Next, I will try the old Might and Magic games. I don't think they will play though.
Thanks for all your hard work.
Kay

Thanks, Kayc... I'll add it to the first post. Let us know about the Might and Magic games - you never know!

I've been playing Tex Murphy: The Pandora Directive, downloaded from Good Old Games, on Win 7 64 bit. It's playing just fine, except that the audio in the opening video sequence stuttered a bit the first time. After playing into the game, I replayed the opening video, the audio was fine the second time, with no stuttering. Strange, but there it is!

I've also been playing Riven, downloaded from Good Old Games. This plays well except that the "Ctrl/S" command for saving the game doesn't seem to work. Instead, I've been using "Alt/S" to bring up the menu and saving that way.

I'll update my list on Page 13 of this thread.

Oh, and I had problems with Azada downloaded from Big Fish on my system -- the first Big Fish game with a problem. It played veeeery slowly and the cursor seemed to be hampered by some sort of dead weight.

Just finished playing Rhiannon on win 7 64 bit. plays perfectly. I guess no one has the answer to the question I posted earlier about TLJ with 4 cd's? Judy

I hoped someone would respond, judith, but I guess not. I HAD the 4 CD version and was going to give it a spin, but found that the first CD was cracked.

Hi Draclvr; I only had one game that broke on me. The way I acted, you'd think I lost a little puppy. LOL. Oh well, I'll give it a whirl in the next week or so, too many other things going on right now. Getting ready to go to B.C. in a couple of weeks for my granddaughters graduation.

Well, I tried Safecracker 2006 & it was a no go for me. Tried playing compatability xp3 & xp2. I even tried to install it in xp2. The problem was the video was all jumpy & wavy. Maybe someone else will have better luck. Judy

Well, this was a nice surprise. Schizm (the 5 cd version) works perfect on win 7 64bit. I'm half way through replaying it, & not a glitch. Judy

That is a nice surprise...

I've played Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage on Win 7 64 bit -- no problem after installing the NVIDIA PhysX drivers from the NVIDIA website.

Thanks, Becky!

I noticed a thread over in the ***GOG forum*** listing which of their games are currently working in Windows 7. They aren't specifically adventure games.

I'm off to check that out, Jenny. I thought for sure Real Myst would work, but it didn't... Thanks.

If you play Total Annihilation with Win7 you will probably get the 'inverted colors syndrome'
The fix is quite easy.
1st.
Make a completely black desktop .jpg (wallpaper)with MS Paint.
2nd.
Add it to your desktop background slideshow.
3rd.
Before playing, uncheck all slideshow pics except the black one
4th
Go kill with your k-bots and tanks.
5th.
After game re-enable your slideshow pics

Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone installs and runs without a hitch on Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.

I think it was released around 2001.

Edit: I've finished the game completely. No issues whatsoever.

Thanks, Templeton. I've edited the first post.

Hi All,

My first post on the forum and I thought I'd add to this growing and very informative list. I've had to use some of the suggestions shown throughout the thread and forum on how to get games running in Windows 7 so I though I would add my experiences on trying to get older games running too.

Just to give you all a bit of info on my system, I'm using Win7 Pro x64 running on an Intel i7 920, with an nVidia GTS250 graphics card and the latest nVidia drivers (258.something I think).

Right here goes:-

I've just played and completed Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (or "Morder ..." as it's shown in my start menu) without any problems whatsoever.

I've also installed and run but not played the other two AG games, "And Then There Were None" and "Evil Under The Sun" neither of which appeared to give any indication that there may be problems in the future. Oh, and they were in full screen too.

I've installed and run Belief & Betrayal, but it has to be run in compatibility mode using the WinXP SP3 setting and disabling visual themes or at least that's what I've found.

Black Mirror II seems to run ok without any adjustments so far, but then I haven't played it all the way through yet on this machine.

Art of Murder: FBI Confidential, AoM Cards of Destiny and AoM Hunt for the Puppeteer all run (so far) without any incident as does both Chronicles of Mystery games. All these are from City Interactive.

Dark Fall - Lost Souls runs ok but I had to disable visual themes to get it to work properly.

For Dracula 3: Path of the Dragon I have to run it in WinXP SP3 mode with visual themes and desktop composition disabled in order for it to run correctly. I also have to use the fullscreen/windowed trick as well. The same applies to Nostradamus - The Last Prophecy, Return to Mysterious Island 2, Cleopatra - A Queen's Destiny and Destination Treasure Island. The exceptions to these are Journey to the Moon (Voyage) and Return to Mysterious Island (the first game) both of which will play in fullscreen without the need to play in any other compatibility mode etc or with any other tweaks. I have to note that all these games come from the Kheops Studio.

That'll do to be going on with, but once I've installed and run my other games I'll let you all know how I got on.

Toodle-pip.

Welcome to Gameboomers, cas1701! You've landed in one of the best gaming websites on the web. And thank you for your input on this thread. As time allows, I'm trying to get everything on the first page, but for now, I'm going to add a reference to your post here on page 24.

Hope to see more of you in the other forum subjects!

I'm about a third of the way through Mysterious Journey 2 & so far it's playing perfectly on win 7 64 bit.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets runs on Windows 7 Professional 64-bit edition no problem.

I've completed the game now, no real issues to speak of.

Hello Chaps & Chapesses,

Just finished Agatha Christie's Evil Under The Sun with nary a problem.



And Drac, thank you for the kind welcome. Although, when I'm not logged into the forum I see 24 pages for this thread, however when I am it only shows 18, any ideas?

Off to play something else now and see whether it causes any difficulties, although I've not yet decided what to play.

Toodle-pip.

Hi All,

Five more games I've installed, run, not yet fully played, but seem to be working well on Windows 7. They are, Runaway, Runaway 2 - The Dream of the Turtle, Runaway 3 - A Twist of Fate, Syberia and Syberia 2. None of them appear, so far, to need any tweaks, twists or adjustments of any kind. Just keeping my fingers crossed, in case the dreaded gemlins attack.

My apologies if these games have been listed already.

Toodle-pip.
Cas

Edit -
P.S. I don't know whether any of you have come across this, but I installed Darkness Within -In Pursuit of Loath Nolder for my wife (I'm not into the spooky ones), but once I had installed it I found that it needed to run in Win XP SP3 compatibility mode with visual themes disabled too. Whenever she starts it the screen goes blank. However, if the Start button is pressed on the keyboard to go back to the desktop, and the icon for the game is clicked onto on the taskbar immediately afterwards, the game returns in all it's glory. Anyone have any thoughts on that little snarly?

Toodles again.

Boy, this is getting confusing what with Win7 32-bit, 64-bit and Pro versions. It appears that a lot of the older games will play on Pro, but not the other versions of Win7.

Draclvr, I give you all the credit in the world trying to keep some order to all of this!

Not exactly, Mary! My 64-bit Win 7 is Home Premium. Pro shouldn't make any difference in game-play issues. I'm mentioning it if someone else is using the Pro version just for information only, as I started the thread using my specs. The real difference will come with 32-bit and 64-bit. For instance, I could play Shivers I on my 32-bit Win 7, but not my 64-bit.

And, cas, try clicking on the last number of pages you have showing and see if there are more after that. If there aren't, I'm not sure why only 18 are showing up for you.

Aha! That makes sense since I tried to install some of the older games and didn't have much success.
Maybe I was thinking of Virtual PC. Is that the program that isn't available except for Win 7 Pro or Ultimte and helps run some of the older games?

XP Mode is only available on Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate. Virtual PC works on XP and Vista as well as Windows 7. Virtual PC 2004 works works on Windows 2000 and XP (and I think Vista as well, though it may not be "officially" supported).

I thought Virtual PC only worked on Win Pro and Ultimate. Could you please provide me with a link for free Virtual PC where it would work with Win 7 Home 64-bit? Or is that not a free program?

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

Jenny and All,

I found that if I tried to install a game into the XP mode virtual machine, the activation software (Metaboli I think) detected it and wouldn't allow the activation to take place. I must admit I only tried it with the one game and didn't bother after that. Do you think it would make any difference by installing MS Virtual PC 2007 and trying once more?

Toodle-pip.
Cas.

Hi All,

Here's the remainder of the games I've installed, run, but as yet not played on my machine. And as a little reminder I've got an i7 920 core processor running Windows 7 Pro x64 (i.e. 64 bit) with an nVidia GTS250 based graphics card.

All these games either run without any changes being needed to be made or with the odd little tweak here and there to get them going. Where there are any adjustments I'll indicate what they are alongside the game.

Sherlock Holmes The Mystery of the Mummy (Game 1) runs perfectly as does Sherlock Holmes The Secret of the Silver Earring (Game 2).

Sherlock Holmes The Awakened Remastered Edition (Game 3-ish) runs without any need for compatibility mode and in full screen but the graphics are somewhat jerky and not fluid as I've seen them before (Note to self, try to sort this out). This is also the case with Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper (Game 5). I have the original version of Sherlock Holmes 3 on Steam and will install it to see if there is any difference between the two, in terms of playability etc. and let you know the result.

CSI: Deadly Intent runs without the need for any changes. Although there is no Start Menu group for this game unlike all the other games, but appears in the "Games" group that's put in by Windows for its games.

Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder needs to be run in Win XP SP3 mode with visual themes disabled and I have found that it's a bit quirky too. See my earlier post above.

And all these run without the need for any changes:-
Darkness Within 2
Atlantis 2
Atlantis 3
Atlantis Evolution (4)
The Secrets of Atlantis (5)
Egypt 2
Egypt 3
Keepsake
Culpa Innata - Uncut (i.e. The UK version)

And lastly, two spookies! Rhiannon and The Lost Crown - A Ghost Hunting Adventure both run without anything being needed to be done to them.

As I said above, I also use Steam for some games and managed to get Safecracker: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure to run in a window by editing the config.ini file as suggested earlier in this thread. In my case the location is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Safecracker 2"; just in case anyone doesn't know where their Steam files are located.

If anyone can help me with any of these games I'd be most grateful as no matter what I do they bluster, blather and generally make a damned nuisance of themselves by not running no matter what I try. They are:-

Black Mirror
Dracula Origin
Post Mortem
Still Life
Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventures
Dark Fall - The Journal (because my wife loves the spookies)
Dark Fall 2 - Lights Out (ditto)
Sherlock Holmes versus Arsene Lupin (Nemesis)
The Secrets of Da Vinci

Well that's all my games and if my experience has helped then I'm a happy man, because this forum has helped me. And as they say, one good turn etc.

Toodle-pip chaps & chapesses,
Cas.

P.S. with a couple of exceptions (e.g. RTMI 1) all my games are the download versions from various well known sites such as the one on the left above.

mj2c,
I've been to that page before; as soon as I enter Win 7 home premium 64-bit in the information, it won't let me go any further. It says I'm not eligible to download Windows XP Mode. I don't see any way to get to Virtual PC.

Mary, you cannot run XP mode in Win 7 Home Premium. It is only available for Pro and above. Even if you have Pro or above, XP mode will not be better for games as it does not support 3D. It is meant to run business applications, not games.

Mary,
XP mode and Virtual PC are not the same thing. You can download Virtual PC 2007 from
http://www.oldversion.com/download_Virtual_PC_2007.html

Filehippo also has it
http://www.filehippo.com/download_virtual_pc/


I doubt any game that is new enough to use online activation would work in XP mode. XP mode does not support 3D graphics acceleration and most current games require it (except for some free games that have very low requirements).


I don't know about activating, but you have the same problem with the lack of 3D graphics acceleration in Virtual PC as in XP Mode.

That's correct - however, I did see that Ben Armstrong (The Virtual PC Guy) posted a blurb about running Windows Virtual PC on the Home versions of Windows 7.

Installing Windows Virtual PC on Windows 7 Home Editions

Jenny,

Thanks for the reply, I honestly hadn't thought about the graphics situation. Oh well, we live and learn.

Toodle-pip
Cas.

Hi All,

Just another quick update. I have just installed, run but not yet played Secret Files: Tunguska and Secret Files 2: Puritas Cordis without the need for any changes in compatibility etc. or as far as I can see, any problems either.

Cheers one and all,
Cas.

Okay, I think I've got it now. I'm running Win7 Home Premium 64-bit and Virtual PC was recommended to me when I had problems with a game (of course, now I've forgotten which game I was talking about) but the Microsoft site let me to believe that it was not compatible with my machine.

Thanks Inland, for clarifying that matter for me.

Hi All,

You may remember from earlier in this thread that I said was having problems with a couple of games, particularly Dracula: Origin in that when I started a new game I would just get a blank screen. Well I think I've found a solution.

Dracula: Origin along with quite a few other games use the PhysX drivers; nVidia released a new set of drivers on 11th August for Windows 7 64-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit, Windows XP 64-bit, Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows Vista. Get them at http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx-9.10.0513-driver.html they certainly worked for me.

Toodle-pip
Cas.

As noted above in my last post I installed the latest PhysX drivers and have now fully completed Dracula: Origin without any problems. Get them while they're hot.

Toodle-pip,
Cas.

Just a quick note that although my initial attempts to install the retail disk version of The Whispered Word on a 64-bit Windows 7 system locked up repeatedly, once I updated my ATI HD5570 drivers to the 8/25/10 version the game loads and plays fine.

That's great, Jenna. I'll add your comments to the first page.

Hi Drac. I had no issues installing and running Alter Ego on my Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. This is my new ASUS G73 gaming laptop...so it's pretty "suped up." However, Windows 7 in and of itself is not an issue with this game.

Great, JK. I'll add it to the list.

Mata Hari : when i started the game,i got message: 'could not initialize directx adapter:invalid call'.anybody help ?
Mobo :asus p5kpl am se
procie :intel core 2 duo 2.99 Ghz
Ram :1 GB
Video card :onboard intel gma 3100 256MB (shared)
os :window 7 ultimate

Hi, borzoe. I'm going to guess your GMA 3100 is the problem. That is a very weak video chip and may not be able to run the game. Let me check on the game requirements for you and you may have to post your issue as a separate post here in the Glitches forum to get some help.

EDIT: The game requires a minimum of a GeForce FX 5700 or better. You should definitely post your question as a separate subject here in the Glitches forum. I don't know enough about these on-board video chips to help you out, but Jenny100 or InlandAZ should be able to give you more info.

Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban plays on Windows 7 64-bit edition with no problems.

Played though the entire game without incident.

It had listed Windows 98 and ME in it's system requirements, along with XP and 2000.

Sweet!

I bought Medal of Honor Airborne, I had not realized but it doesn't support 64-bit that my W7 has, I am installing it in an old XP. I don't know if it works in W7 32-bit. It does support Vista 32-bit.

Before I add it to the "no play" list, can you tell me if you tried any of the compatibility options in Win 7?

I didn't but in the Read Me it says it doesn't support 64-bit, I don't thing you can use that kind of compatibility, can I?

If it says that in the Read Me, then it probably won't work. But you could always give it a try and see what happens. Games that were created in 16-bit definitely won't work. For instance Shivers 2 plays just fine, but Shiver 1 doesn't because Shivers 1 is a 16-bit game.

I'll try it this afternoon and let you know.

I know how to play in Compatibility but not how to install that way, even the installation itself doesn't start, it ask for the code and later it stops.

To install in compatibility mode, you navigate to the disk, right click on the installation file, select Troubleshoot Compatibility and follow the promts.

I'm not holding my breath!

Draclvr,

I found Troubleshooting Compatibility, it ask in which PC worked, I put XP since it works without any problem, but the installation collapse the same way. I assume it should work in W7-32bit.

Thanks for your time.

Thanks Draclvr for all the info, but I am still having a problem with Dracula: Resurrection. It seems to start ok but then as soon as it gets to the opening scence it starts to get choppy. When I finally enter the game (having to skip over everything by using the spacebar) I can move around but as soon as I go to open a door, it locks up (until I hit the spacebar again, which just makes me skip the scene anyway) Please help.... growing more and more frustrated!

Hello, luckeeme1299 and welcome to Gameboomers! Since this sounds like an issue that might be best sorted out in a thread of its own, why don't you start a new subject here in the Glitches forum, so we can start gettting you going in this game.