Random issues on your computer with games that should work is hopeless for us to troubleshoot, but I'll throw out some ideas:

Misbehaving HID USB device. You said you disconnected all USB devices. Did that include internal USB devices? Some CPU coolers connect to a USB header on the motherboard and have been known to cause weird random issues.

What is the uptime on your computer? Check Task Manager, if it's more than 3 days (I think) then it can cause problems with old games. Do a proper restart (don't use shut down) and verify after in task manager.

It could be DEP, find DEP settings and make sure it is set to "Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only". That's the default and safest option compatibility wise. If you've set it to the other option and / or have added exceptions then you've followed some bad advice.

Background software; try rebooting with minimal amounts of background software running. Some software can cause weird problems. Programs that show on-screen displays are problematic for some games.

Thank you for your response, let me go one by one:

ZellSF wrote on 2023-04-19, 10:17:

Random issues on your computer with games that should work is hopeless for us to troubleshoot, but I'll throw out some ideas:

Misbehaving HID USB device. You said you disconnected all USB devices. Did that include internal USB devices? Some CPU coolers connect to a USB header on the motherboard and have been known to cause weird random issues.

No such thing exists in my computer.

ZellSF wrote on 2023-04-19, 10:17:

What is the uptime on your computer? Check Task Manager, if it's more than 3 days (I think) then it can cause problems with old games. Do a proper restart (don't use shut down) and verify after in task manager.

My uptime number never goes more than one day, I shut it down every day. Currently it's 18 minutes.

ZellSF wrote on 2023-04-19, 10:17:

It could be DEP, find DEP settings and make sure it is set to "Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only". That's the default and safest option compatibility wise. If you've set it to the other option and / or have added exceptions then you've followed some bad advice.

No, DEP is turned on for essential Windows programs and services only, and I never changed that setting.

ZellSF wrote on 2023-04-19, 10:17:

Background software; try rebooting with minimal amounts of background software running. Some software can cause weird problems. Programs that show on-screen displays are problematic for some games.

The closest thing I can think of is Radeon overlay, but I'm not sure how to get rid of that at all, even deactivating every setting in AMD Adrenalin seems to produce no change.

I'm still fighting with this if anyone has any further ideas.

marianoryu wrote on 2023-04-22, 19:02:

I'm still fighting with this if anyone has any further ideas.

If you were a coder or programmer, you could look into Urban Chaos' source code as it is on github

https://github.com/dizzy2003/MuckyFoot-UrbanChaos

Apart from the others, short of say VirtualBox and a legit copy and activated windows, I say try getting the Star Wars Racer off of gog, maybe that works better than steam releases. The others I haven't played or heard about.

twiz11 wrote on 2023-04-22, 21:22:

If you were a coder or programmer, you could look into Urban Chaos' source code as it is on github

https://github.com/dizzy2003/MuckyFoot-UrbanChaos

Alas, I'm not a programmer. If I were, I probably wouldn't be asking for help. 😜

twiz11 wrote on 2023-04-22, 21:22:

Apart from the others, short of say VirtualBox and a legit copy and activated windows, I say try getting the Star Wars Racer off of gog, maybe that works better than steam releases. The others I haven't played or heard about.

I would rather avoid VirtualBox when I can run games natively. I know for a fact that these games used to work in this computer. The only change that I've done recently was to upgrade an Nvidia 1660 Ti to my current Radeon. I have also tried Star Wars Racer in GOG, and there is no change there either.

You might try one more thing: delete the GPU driver and run games with the Microsoft default driver. See if that changes anything

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2023-04-23, 05:06:

You might try one more thing: delete the GPU driver and run games with the Microsoft default driver. See if that changes anything

I was on the process of doing that now, and still no luck.

marianoryu wrote on 2023-04-23, 12:34:

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2023-04-23, 05:06:

You might try one more thing: delete the GPU driver and run games with the Microsoft default driver. See if that changes anything

I was on the process of doing that now, and still no luck.

I assume you've tried compatibility mode and uninstall and reinstall it and clean out the directory. Hmm have you tried otvdm or something similar to ntvdm

twiz11 wrote on 2023-04-23, 13:10:

marianoryu wrote on 2023-04-23, 12:34:

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2023-04-23, 05:06:

You might try one more thing: delete the GPU driver and run games with the Microsoft default driver. See if that changes anything

I was on the process of doing that now, and still no luck.

I assume you've tried compatibility mode and uninstall and reinstall it and clean out the directory. Hmm have you tried otvdm or something similar to ntvdm

Those won't help in this case. otvdm will only run 16-bit apps and ntvdm won't work under 64-bit Windows (and might not be available in W10 at all).

I don't know what the cause could be, but I'm pretty sure Urban Chaos and Star Wars Racer are supposed to work fine in 10. You could try retail copies.
This is just a wild guess, but try removing some of that 48 gigs of ram.

marianoryu wrote on 2023-04-23, 01:53:

these games used to work in this computer. The only change that I've done recently was to upgrade an Nvidia 1660 Ti to my current Radeon.

That's probably the cause then. Do you still have your 1660?

marianoryu wrote on 2023-04-23, 12:34:

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2023-04-23, 05:06:

You might try one more thing: delete the GPU driver and run games with the Microsoft default driver. See if that changes anything

I was on the process of doing that now, and still no luck.

Unusual suspect. What if the CPU or RAM is doing something? I can't remember anything other than virtualisation, running the VM with all RAM and CPU virtualisation. VMware should have bettet 3D support.

Other than that, this can also be something that Windows Update ruined. About 6.months back, Windows updated rendered my computer useless that even browsers won't open, game had no sound. Reinstalling Windows fixed it then.

marianoryu wrote on 2023-04-23, 12:34:

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2023-04-23, 05:06:

You might try one more thing: delete the GPU driver and run games with the Microsoft default driver. See if that changes anything

I was on the process of doing that now, and still no luck.

if all else fails run Linux with wine or winetricks but that's a last resort