Games problems.......

[jonnie comet]

Hi computer wizards

Does anyone know why my sons computer games, which ran perfectly on our old computer (running Win98 ) will not run on our new computer ( running Winxp )? When I try to instal one of his games I get a message headed

16 BIT WINDOWS SUBSYSTEM

It then goes on to say

The system file is not suitable for viewing MS-DOS and windows applications.

Newish games run perfectly on the new computer. Do I need a patch to run old games on Windows XP?

Thanks for any help you can offer

Cheers

 

[markyp]

Here's a fix that MAY work.... right click on the program file he wants to use (use windows explorer to find it). Select "properties" Then select the "Compatability" tab. Check the box that says "Run this program in compatability mode for..." and select "windows 98" from the drop down.

Good luck.

Cheers,

Mark

 

[jonnie comet]

Markyp...Thanks for the tip, but I am still getting nowhere. This thing just does not like older games.

Thanks anyway.

 

[Fanum]

Have you tried running them from a dos prompt or are you trying to launch them from within windows???

 

[pragmatix]

Have you tried running them from a dos prompt or are you trying to launch them from within windows???

AFAIAA you cant get dos from XP.

Pete A

 

[Fanum]

 

[pragmatix]

Thanks Fanum, thats just sorted a few thing for me.

Pete A

 

[Fanum]

Always a pleasure

 

[Aidan1150]

Fanum, would an emulator help Jonnie to run the game?

I'm not into games at all myself, but have read a little about them. I would have thought that running it in compatability mode would have done the trick, but there you go.

Sorry to hijack the thread.

 

[Fanum]

Compatability mode SHOULD sort it out- that's what it was designed for.......but it may well need a bit more tweaking.

Things like graphics settings and sound can screw it all up.

What we really need to know is what games you're trying to run Johnie.......

go on, give us a clue

 

[jonnie comet]

O.K.

The games I have tried so far are, Star Wars Rogue Squadron, and Worms. I have not tried to launch them in dos, I have just tried to launch them as I did in '98, i.e. bung the game in the drive and double click. I did try the compatibily mode, but it didn't make any difference. The new ( ish ) games, GP 500, and World Superbike, work fine. This is slowly but surely giving me a good excuse to buy some new games...........for my son of course..........

Thanks again

 

[Fanum]

Star wars rogue squadron is unlikey to run because of incompatabilities with anything after Direct -x 8.

You could try disabling your graphics card (is it a Radeon family one btw?) and running it in default mode, but that won't work if it requires any 3-d acceleration.

I don't think it's possible to roll back Direct-x and if it were, it wouldn't be a sensible thing to attempt imo.

Worms you should be fine with.......I've had it runing on XP and XP pro......though I think i did d/load a version from somewhere so it may well not have been the original.

Do a quick search for 'retro worms' or something similar...I'm sure you'll find a free version after all this time.

HTH

 

[cookie]

I don't think it's possible to roll back Direct-x and if it were, it wouldn't be a sensible thing to attempt imo.

AAMOI there is a prog somewhere that lets you do just that, i've used it.
i agree it's not a sensible option though. seemed very risky at the time, but it did work. a while back now, maybe it was on W98?

 

[Tobers]

Some games check the clock speed on your PC to adjust themselves to run at the right speed. However, newer PCs are so much faster than ones several years old, that the games cant handle the answer to the "how fast are you" question, and instead of thinking the PC is 3.2Ghz, will think it is 32Mhz or something similarly stupid.

As a result, they think they cant run so abort themselves. Had this numerous times with Fifa Soccer (cant remember the year) and such like when trying to run on a new PC.

Not sure if this is the same problem as you are encountering, but could be a reson.

Buy new games instead. Particularly Half Life 2 and then you get Counter Strike Source free with it (fab online terrorist/counter-terrorist shooting thing).

 

[jonnie comet]

Well, as ever, a whole heap of interesting, and enlightening answers. Thank you very much for all your advice......what on earth did I do before I found this site ?

Cheers