it seems likely seeing as there's a Windows XP Mode in the more expensive versions of Windows 7 in order for people to run older apps, especially stubborn ones that needs .net 1.1

But as we move on, virtualization technology gets better so it's possible that we won't need a retro XP box for gaming

I don't know if that will happen because most games released for Windows XP generally run just fine on Windows 7. In comparison, a ton of games released for Win9x will not work under Windows XP (not without a lot of hassle anyway!).

I think it's more of a problem of legacy directx support rather than xp itself (of course there are exceptions). With gpu acceleration, virtualization is much harder...

To be honest, I feel like that day is already here. I have a couple of XP dedicated machines as is, and I have a lot of games that need Xp specifically that will not run in Vista or Win 7 well, or at all. Some of these issues stem from crappy copy protection like Starforce on Bet on Soldier, or games like Act of War just having multiple issues in general, etc. There are other issues out there due to modern drivers and modern hardware not supporting certain rendering modes and methods anymore too. This ends up being a issue with titles like Crimson Skies.

GOG may one day get around to re-releasing some of these problem titles in a working manner for Win 7, etc, but as is, I HAVE to have a legacy XP machine, its a must. And even if GOG did do so, I own my originals, and those are the copies I want to play, not digital downloads.

sgt76 wrote:

When do you think XP will become (if ever) a legacy system for gaming much like how we discuss Win98, etc here?

Probably when the majority of new software ends up not being able to run under XP. Seems to me that time is a long way off yet. (Even 64-bit software seems to be limited to highly specialized programs currently.)

My hope is that hardware virtualization for graphics card will eventually be commonplace on regular motherboards (instead of being exclusive to ultra-high-end server or workstation mainboards as it is right now)

The technology is called VT-d (for intel) and AMD-Vi (for AMD). It needs support from the mainboard chipset, the mainboard BIOS and also the graphics card.

The performance problems would be completely eliminated if you could simply buy another graphics card and run Windows XP under a virtual machine with 3D graphics at full speed.

Regards.

My main system is XP and there are a few games that I could run when they were released but can't now. I think they might require a certain video driver version or possibily it might have been broken by a Windows Update.

Would you elaborate on which specific games don't work anymore on your XP system?

I think XP will.

XP has some unique features (like being able to slipstream it), has very good driver support and is a great OS overall.
I know I will be using XP a lot in the future

ProfessorProfessorson

you know crimson skies has been fixed

Not for me it hasn't, even with the csfix2 fix. I still have not been able to get it to work right on my main Crossfire Win 7 system, which blows because I have a saitek x52 pro or whatever that I was hoping to use with it on that system. Ive read they fixed some issues on Nvidia platforms, but my sli system is running on a smaller monitor then what I would like to run that game on. Eventually I need to just run the saitek on my main XP machine with the game, just haven't had the time to do so after putting that rig together.

TheMAN wrote:

it seems likely seeing as there's a Windows XP Mode in the more expensive versions of Windows 7 in order for people to run older apps, especially stubborn ones that needs .net 1.1

But as we move on, virtualization technology gets better so it's possible that we won't need a retro XP box for gaming

XP Mode sucks, because it works like a terminal server - graphics reduced to 16-bit looks awful.

pianoman72 wrote:

Would you elaborate on which specific games don't work anymore on your XP system?

Here's a recent one.
Unable to run Clive Barker's Jericho

Supposedly you can configure Virtual PC for Windows 7 to not use Remote Desktop (and use higher colors). I don't use that POS so I can't tell you how. It's probably on the Virtual PC guy website tho.

What I think would be awesome for running incompatible Win9x/WinXP games on Win7 is if there were some equivalent to the Linux program "Wine" that would emulate some of the older API calls and whatever else, while still allowing a good degree of native execution (in other words, it would be almost nothing like virtualization 🤣).

Leolo wrote:

My hope is that hardware virtualization for graphics card will eventually be commonplace on regular motherboards (instead of being exclusive to ultra-high-end server or workstation mainboards as it is right now)

The technology is called VT-d (for intel) and AMD-Vi (for AMD). It needs support from the mainboard chipset, the mainboard BIOS and also the graphics card.

The performance problems would be completely eliminated if you could simply buy another graphics card and run Windows XP under a virtual machine with 3D graphics at full speed.

I agree, backwards-compatible 3D acceleration is probably going to be at least as great a consideration as OS compatibility in the future.

How's that Voodoo 1 emulation coming along?