windows 8 warning for old games.

[Arachno 1D]

Microsoft provide a free XP Virtual Box emulator

http://lifehacker.com/5965889/how-to-run-windows-xp-for-free-in-windows-8

[+therealDamien Subscriber¹]

emulators have sound lag...makes it even worse

 

 

 

nobody like shooting guns in video games and getting delayed sound.

 

 

 

this month. I been booting into both systems and testing and benching.

 

 

found out Deadlight lags in windows 8.

[Ve7878]

Does anyone know if this issue is now resolved in 8.1u1?

[Polarman]

Some older games have issues with 64 bit OS let alone Windows 8.

[MikeChipshop Member]

Support for these games should be created by the developers not by MS. If your 10+ year old game doesn't work, don't cry at the modern OS, i'm all for ditching archaic bloat.

To the OP, if you really want to play these games, i suggest you grab a copy of an older os and use that, you'll pick any of the older ones up for a pittance. 

[+therealDamien Subscriber¹]

I ended up buying an older machine on ebay to play my old games.

 

I upgraded my vid card in my main gaming rig to a nvidia 780 to increase performance for newer games. and now some of my older games dont detect the card properly and wont give any resolutions other then 680x480.

 

 

the older machine handles the old games wonderfully. im just lucky my monitor has a vga and hdmi connection. so I can connect the old computer to the vga and my newer machine to the hdmi.

 

I just have separate keyboard and mouse. 

 

also it would be hard to get dev to fix games when they is no longer around.

[gameboy1977]

one game called Ghostbuster video game doesn't work on latest of Windows 8.1. I am still waiting for MS will fix it, so I can play it.  I played that Ghostbuster video game on the old laptop last year, and it was so slowest.

[vcfan]

Actually, with workarounds, bleem! could indeed run on NT (as far back as NT 4 Workstation, which didn't even have rudimentary DirectX support until the controversial - for other reasons - Service Pack 4).

im sure it can. it would require emulation of win9x specific apis, and would involve a lot of trapping of exceptions.

[Ve7878]

Technet Thread

MSDN Thread

 

I've posted this on Technet. Seem to be getting the standard answers at the moment but I really think that the relevant people at Microsoft should be made aware of this.

[Ve7878]

Microsoft Answers - DirectDraw Emulation Is Broken In Windows 8/8.1 - This is now the third place I've been asked to post this, perhaps eventually it might get to the right people at Microsoft.

[spaceelf]

You're not likely to see MS put any work towards DirectDraw ever again. 

Microsoft DirectDraw has been deprecated. Deprecated components of Microsoft DirectX 9.0 for Managed Code are considered obsolete. While these components are still supported in this release of DirectX 9.0 for Managed Code, they may be removed in the future. When writing new applications, you should avoid using these deprecated components. When modifying existing applications, you are strongly encouraged to remove any dependency on these components.

[Ve7878]

That's been the case since Vista and probably before. It just seems odd that it works more reliably in Vista & 7 than it does in 8. It really does seem as if something has unintentionally been changed to prevent the games from running at the correct speed. It's pitiful that some of those games work smoother using WINE in Linux than they do on Windows which has DirectX built in which is supposed to be fully backwards compatible. It's understandable that it won't be updated anymore but something which has been in place since Vista should be working. If not then why allow DirectX9 & old games to run at all? Why not just display the compatibilty popup that the application is not compatible.

[Eric Veteran]

Please don't bump this anymore if there's nothing new to add. They're not going to rewrite DirectX and revive DirectDraw for a few 10 year old games.

[Brad Bodnaruk]

Just grab a copy of XP and throw it in a VM, pretty much any dated game would run fine with the VM's display driver.

okay, how do you setup, use or make work a VM anyways. You need a course to figure that out I think. Everybody says to do this, but where do you start?

[ShadowMajestic]

okay, how do you setup, use or make work a VM anyways. You need a course to figure that out I think. Everybody says to do this, but where do you start?

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id-1853121/setting-virtual-windows-machine-virtualbox.html

I use it for older games and it works great for those that don't want to work on Windows 8 (most games I still play still work or have newer/updated versions (GOG.com for example))

[Draconian Guppy]

Microsoft provide a free XP Virtual Box emulator

http://lifehacker.com/5965889/how-to-run-windows-xp-for-free-in-windows-8

 

 

Please don't bump this anymore if there's nothing new to add. They're not going to rewrite DirectX and revive DirectDraw for a few 10 year old games.

Well the above post was useful for me!

okay, how do you setup, use or make work a VM anyways. You need a course to figure that out I think. Everybody says to do this, but where do you start?

[Ve7878]

I know this is an old thread but it's still relevant (Also it's linked to similar threads on the web) as this is still not fixed in both Windows 8.1 & Windows 10.

 

For those interested there are a few feedback items on this now for Win10:

 

https://windows.uservoice.com/forums/265757-windows-feature-suggestions/suggestions/6608422-fix-the-frame-rate-issue-that-has-been-in-since-wi

https://windows.uservoice.com/forums/265757-windows-feature-suggestions/suggestions/6537188-support-older-games-better

 

It would be nice if Microsoft would say something along the lines of "This isn't going to be fixed" though if it isn't in Windows 10 then I guess we can assume it won't be. So it'll be dualboot/different PC as usual. VMware is not an option as it too is only capable of DirectX9 and doesn't work with the older versions properly.

 

I've also seen suggestions of contacting Gabe via twitter to report this issue, which could be useful if enough people do it.

[+therealDamien Subscriber¹]

 

 

 

 

there is progress being made.

 

dgvoodoo 2

 

when setup correctly it can help run older games on windows 8 and up.

 

http://dege.freeweb.hu/

 

have not done must testing but one game I test with. works great.

 

another is using wine for windows. it buggy sometimes but it works with some games.

 

I found this command and conquer mod that uses the wine files for windows and its great. they also tell you how to get the files to work on other command and conquer games.

 

http://www.moddb.com/mods/twisted-insurrection

 

http://www.twistedinsurrection.net/

 

just have to remember to change game speed testing or the game A.I beats you in almost 2 minutes. lol

 

it took a while but we are making headway towards making legacy games run.

[Ve7878]

It's goot that solutions are being looked at. The compiled WineD3D stuff appears to be very old though and just seems to cause glitches in a lot of the games. It's a lot better to run Linux it's self and run these games through the latest version of WINE, though this isn't a solution to the problem and a lot of users are going to want to stick with Windows.

 

It's still a good idea to keep reporting feedback in Windows 10 and posting on Gabe's twitter page. It would be good even if they confirmed that they're not going to do anything to fix it because at least then it gives some confirmation. It's quite frustrating that a lot of Windows 10's feedback is about superficial stuff rather than fixing issues such as this.

[Ve7878]

It's worth listing any DirectDraw games you are having issues with on either this Uservoice thread:

 

https://windows.uservoice.com/forums/265757-windows-feature-suggestions/suggestions/6608422-fix-the-frame-rate-issue-that-has-been-in-since-wi

 

Or this Microsoft Answers Thread:

 

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-gaming/some-games-run-very-slow-on-windows-8-like/00bfab44-bfff-48bf-9ea3-cb34fb889ea1?page=3

 

Microsoft are looking into this now and progress has been made in the latest Windows 10 build, some of the games are now running at full speed and others are running in various compatibilty states as they're being worked on.

[Ve7878]

Just to update this thread.

 

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_games/huge-issue-with-gaming-on-windows-10/ccf402b7-d111-40ac-a6ad-817a80b5b55a?rtAction=1443122946545

 

All discussion for this kind of issue is in the thread above. Kevin C from Microsoft is still following up reported issues. There have been improvements in some games in Windows 10 so progress is being made. If you experience any issues with older games running slower than they should then keep reporting because they do seem to be listening. Obviously there is the new issue of SecuROM & Safedisc support being removed but that is up to the game devs, not Microsoft to fix.