VxKex, maybe?

Edit: Never mind. In the past, there was Lieversn and win32lie.
Re: Emulation on MS Windows 3.1x ?

I once attached debugger to setup.exe of Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 and modified the values returned by GetVersionEx (actually by whatever was called in ntdll.dll) in memory so it would install on Vista (only 7 was supported officially). Unless the program is weird, it's probably easier to modify the target program in question.

But honestly, unless you really love (re)programming, you don't want to torture yourself with old out-of-support Windows versions.

UCyborg wrote on 2025-11-15, 19:26:

But honestly, unless you really love (re)programming, you don't want to torture yourself with old out-of-support Windows versions.

*Checks website address*

Nope, still on Vogons.

What on odd thing to post here.

UCyborg wrote on 2025-11-15, 19:26:

I once attached debugger to setup.exe of Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 and modified the values returned by GetVersionEx (actually by whatever was called in ntdll.dll) in memory so it would install on Vista (only 7 was supported officially). Unless the program is weird, it's probably easier to modify the target program in question.

But honestly, unless you really love (re)programming, you don't want to torture yourself with old out-of-support Windows versions.

That's what I'm trying to do with CFFExplorer but I guess I haven't found the right place or variable. VXKex NEXT crashes the game upon launching, so it's still not compatible. I've managed to get around with it on .msi files using Orca, but it's not for .EXEs.

elszgensa wrote on 2025-11-15, 20:29:

*Checks website address*

Nope, still on Vogons.

What on odd thing to post here.

Yes, it stands for Very Old Games On New Systems. New software on old systems is a different matter.

@filipetolhuizen
Perhaps someone could give you a hint if you post what exactly are you trying to run.

UCyborg wrote on 2025-11-15, 22:55:

Yes, it stands for Very Old Games On New Systems. New software on old systems is a different matter. […]
Show full quote

elszgensa wrote on 2025-11-15, 20:29:

*Checks website address*

Nope, still on Vogons.

What on odd thing to post here.

Yes, it stands for Very Old Games On New Systems. New software on old systems is a different matter.

@filipetolhuizen
Perhaps someone could give you a hint if you post what exactly are you trying to run.

Ok, sorry about that. It's Delores: A Thimbleweed Park Mini-Adventure.
It requires Windows 10 and DX12 but the DX12 part I might've solved. I got the Windows7 DX12 libraries released by Microsoft and I got a DX12 compatible card (GTX1660), but now I only need to solve the OS detection part. I know I might face other problems, but I'll only be sure if I can solve this one first.

D3D12 on Windows 7 has to be used in specific way, it doesn't work exactly like D3D12 on Windows 10 from what I've read.

https://github.com/microsoft/DirectX-Specs/bl … /D3D12onWin7.md

UCyborg wrote on 2025-11-16, 01:05:

D3D12 on Windows 7 has to be used in specific way, it doesn't work exactly like D3D12 on Windows 10 from what I've read.

https://github.com/microsoft/DirectX-Specs/bl … /D3D12onWin7.md

Ok like I said before, I might've solved that one, but I can't be sure unless I can get around the OS detection part. I believe that can be done using CFF Explorer but I'm not sure what exactly to change, as everything I tried changing didn't make a difference.

One thing you can do with CFF Explorer is go to 'Optional Header' and check MajorOperatingSystemVersion, MinorOperatingSystemVersion, MajorSubsystemVersion, MinorSubsystemVersion. In some cases Windows will refuse to run the program if these values are higher than the OS version.

On Windows 2000 we have things like nnn4nt5 and fcwin2k to bypass some of these kill switches, but I don't know what works on other Windows versions.

Beyond that, you can always try opening the program with OllyDbg or x64dbg and manually locating the kill switch to patch it.

bakemono wrote on 2025-11-16, 15:27:

One thing you can do with CFF Explorer is go to 'Optional Header' and check MajorOperatingSystemVersion, MinorOperatingSystemVersion, MajorSubsystemVersion, MinorSubsystemVersion. In some cases Windows will refuse to run the program if these values are higher than the OS version.

On Windows 2000 we have things like nnn4nt5 and fcwin2k to bypass some of these kill switches, but I don't know what works on other Windows versions.

Beyond that, you can always try opening the program with OllyDbg or x64dbg and manually locating the kill switch to patch it.

All the values in these variables under Optional Headers were 0 in their minimal.
OllyDbg doesn't seem to support x64 .exes
x64dbg finds this breakpoint:

After that:

As the unsupported Windows version dialog appears.

Probably not of much help, but some time ago I found a blog of someone who catalogues ways of running various games below stated system requirements, with a focus on WinXP:
http://wp.xin.at/archives/4212

I never tried any recipes from that list myself though.

MrFlibble wrote on 2025-11-16, 19:38:

Probably not of much help, but some time ago I found a blog of someone who catalogues ways of running various games below stated system requirements, with a focus on WinXP:
http://wp.xin.at/archives/4212

I never tried any recipes from that list myself though.

This page has a lot of useful information I've never seen before. The software provided for converting the .exe doesn't support x64 executables so I tried Application Verifier which provides a HighVersionLie shim, but it seems OS detection on Delores lies somewhere else than MajorSubsystemVersion & MinorSubsystemVersion, as it still complains about not being on Windows 10 with the shim enabled along with propper OS parameters filled in.