chrismeyer6 wrote on 2023-01-09, 14:06:

Sim copter, streets sim city, and the other sim city 2000 based Maxis games work perfectly on my son's socket A Athlon system perfectly. What are the specs of your XP system your CPU might be to fast or something along those lines.

The Dell Optiplex was a 760. It's a Linux machine now which Mom has and uses. The Dell Latitude is a Intel 2 Core Duo with a IntelGMX intergrated something or another chip whatever was stock I can't remember off the top of my head. I had a HUGE sinus infection this fall and finally got medicine early January to clear the crap out so feel better but couldn't respond while on medicine. I was out of it and towards the end the you-know-what part since the medicine stays in your system for some time.

eddman wrote on 2023-01-10, 11:46:

Older games having issues on Windows XP on modern hardware or in a VM, doesn't automatically mean it's an OS issue.

A lot of reasons could be the cause; hardware incompatibility, driver issues, or even game bugs that do not affect 9x but manifest on XP. Although XP does genuinely have issues with certain older games, unless you've tested yours on period correct (or known compatible) hardware, you cannot state for certain that XP is at fault.

Thanks for stating the facts instead of ridiculing me like on Launchbox forums or others. Don't go there for help unless you and them have the same mindset that's all I'll say on that publicly at least.

Mister98XPee wrote on 2023-01-23, 05:41:

I have on both a Dell Optiplex 760 and on my Dell Latitude 820 laptop the same problems persist.

Those are much newer, 2006+ models. Maybe the games actually have issues with XP, or could it be that the much faster and newer systems are breaking them.

Mister98XPee wrote on 2023-01-23, 05:50:

Thanks for stating the facts instead of ridiculing me like on Launchbox forums or others. Don't go there for help unless you and them have the same mindset that's all I'll say on that publicly at least.

It mainly boils down to what a user posts. On the PCem forum you were posting about VMWare and archive.org, yet these topics had no place there.

I agree that XP in a VM is a poor substitute for definitive testing. If it doesn't work there for some reason, you would have to confirm that on real hardware first, otherwise there's no way to know.

Mister98XPee wrote on 2023-01-23, 05:44:

A lot of people avoided XP until SP3 because of the bugs it had then XP actually had a decent future but still really wasn't the OS for the old 9X games but great for period games.

It was SP2 that was flocked to. SP3 was gaslit as a buggy mess because it's pirate kryptonite (Windows Genuine Advantage)

ntvdm was always terrible.

Added Delta Force and Delta Force 2, both games (retail version) work fine on Windows 7 64-bit. Speed is also stable. Everything is smooth and perfectly playable. I really enjoy playing both games with Belkin Nostromo N52, which still works on Windows 7 64-bit.

Belkin Nostromo N52 (left) and Nostromo N50 (right).

He really didn't notice me?

Added iM1A2 Abrams (retail). I filled the spreadsheet entry according to this. The game is colored cyan, basically it plays fine, only too fast that you need to use a slowdown utility.

EDIT: corrected to cyan.

Steady... steady...

BOOOM! There it goes.

I bought a Nostromo N52 back on the day and I didn't like it at all. I recall the keys required a greater force to actuate than I was comfortable with in that orientation. I believe it's just a membrane with plastic caps sliding along a plastic column. There are no switches and it's just the two plastic surfaces rubbing against each other. Maybe it could be improved with some graphite powder, but I can't think of anything else to do.

I don't know if the actuation force would improve or worsen by breaking it in. Specifically, whether the plastic rubbing on plastic, which I think is mildly abrasive, creates micro plastic dust that acts as its own lubricant or if this somehow makes it worse. I never used the device in practice, and ended up throwing it out or giving it away.

Added Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest (retail). The game installs and runs flawlessly out of the box, I don't even have to use Compatibility Settings.

No compatibility settings needed.

You can also use FRAPS to make screenshots.

The good old NWC logo.

Exploring the map.

But here's the catch: depending on what's shown on the screen, FRAPS doesn't always work. Also, sometimes you get the frame rate counter along with your captured screen. And sometimes, all you get is a blank screen with frame rate counter.

Hey, what is that little yellow number at the lower left of the sceen?

.............

Red Book CD audio is fine though. I'm actually using CD image (as I always do), and all I need to to is to put the HOMM I CD image in the first CD drive letter of my virtual drives, and it works.

Had to photograph my computer screen because FRAPS doesn't always work, but I got CD audio indeed.

And I remember playing HOMM I on an actual Windows 95 PC, whose CD drive was physically connected to the sound card. I always failed to get CD audio working with HOMM I, so that the game always insists to use low quality audio. I also remember trying to play it on an early Windows XP laptop, somewhere in 2002, and CD audio didn't work either. Yet, CD audio works out of the box on my Windows 7 64-bit PC, as it does on a recent XP system of mine.

Why?

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-01-30, 07:51:

I bought a Nostromo N52 back on the day and I didn't like it at all. I recall the keys required a greater force to actuate than I was comfortable with in that orientation. I believe it's just a membrane with plastic caps sliding along a plastic column. There are no switches and it's just the two plastic surfaces rubbing against each other. Maybe it could be improved with some graphite powder, but I can't think of anything else to do.

I don't know if the actuation force would improve or worsen by breaking it in. Specifically, whether the plastic rubbing on plastic, which I think is mildly abrasive, creates micro plastic dust that acts as its own lubricant or if this somehow makes it worse. I never used the device in practice, and ended up throwing it out or giving it away.

Never experienced the problem you described. Indeed, it takes somewhat greater force to actuate the key, but it is barely noticeable, and it doesn't lessen with time and/or usage. Yes, there's nothing special with N52's keypresses, but nothing exactly bad either. As long as keypresses are concerned, the N52 feels like your ordinary keyboard.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2023-02-01, 07:49:

Red Book CD audio is fine though. I'm actually using CD image (as I always do), and all I need to to is to put the HOMM I CD image in the first CD drive letter of my virtual drives, and it works.

I noticed you put "No" against "CD audio using WinMM?". What method does the game utilise for redbook audio? Isn't the audio contained in the music track of the CD (and accessible by Windows Media Player when CD is browsed)? That is actually WinMM (until there was something else Win uses and I never encountered).

When you say the Red Book CD audio is fine, do you mean the music repeats/forwards to next track correctly? Plays the correct track in the correct order and level? Repeats the particular music according to the situation? In my experience, these were the most basic and common red book audio problems. If I had any game untested for this, I would just keep the space blank (but putting YES in the "Cd audio through Winmm" column so that I remember to test it)

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2023-02-01, 12:48:

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2023-02-01, 07:49:

Red Book CD audio is fine though. I'm actually using CD image (as I always do), and all I need to to is to put the HOMM I CD image in the first CD drive letter of my virtual drives, and it works.

I noticed you put "No" against "CD audio using WinMM?". What method does the game utilise for redbook audio? Isn't the audio contained in the music track of the CD (and accessible by Windows Media Player when CD is browsed)? That is actually WinMM (until there was something else Win uses and I never encountered).

Ah yes, my mistake. I should haven't typed No. Corrected.

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2023-02-01, 12:48:

When you say the Red Book CD audio is fine, do you mean the music repeats/forwards to next track correctly? Plays the correct track in the correct order and level? Repeats the particular music according to the situation? In my experience, these were the most basic and common red book audio problems. If I had any game untested for this, I would just keep the space blank (but putting YES in the "Cd audio through Winmm" column so that I remember to test it)

Heroes of Might and Magic plays the correct track in the correct situation, as it is supposed to do in Windows 95. For example, when the player goes to the castle menu, the game will play the correct CD track for that particular castle (either Knight, Sorceress, Barbarian, or Warlock). When the player leaves the castle and go to the game world, the game will play the correct CD track for the game world (again, CD track depends on terrain's type). In shorts, the CD audio plays as it is supposed to play.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2023-02-01, 07:49:

Hey, what is that little yellow number at the lower left of the sceen?

That appears when you have Fraps running, nowadays an archaic recording programme.
You should consider swapping over to OBS, it too can take .png screenshots.

BardBun wrote on 2023-02-01, 22:08:

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2023-02-01, 07:49:

Hey, what is that little yellow number at the lower left of the sceen?

That appears when you have Fraps running, nowadays an archaic recording programme.
You should consider swapping over to OBS, it too can take .png screenshots.

I knew, it was a sarcastic caption. The point is that frame rate counter isn't supposed to show on the captured image.

I have been testing a game named Princess Maker 3. The issue with the game is it hangs if the character voice setting is enabled.

Since I am not aware of any such issue, I wondered if anyone reading it has any idea on what's happening. The game is fine on Win9x and the issue starts at least since WinXP

Added marker and tests for games using RRedline

leileilol wrote on 2023-01-23, 17:41:

Mister98XPee wrote on 2023-01-23, 05:44:

A lot of people avoided XP until SP3 because of the bugs it had then XP actually had a decent future but still really wasn't the OS for the old 9X games but great for period games.

It was SP2 that was flocked to. SP3 was gaslit as a buggy mess because it's pirate kryptonite (Windows Genuine Advantage)

ntvdm was always terrible.

SP3's WGA was cracked within hours of it going final, it was getting it working with Windows Update that took a few days. But the crack was released and works to this day.

Just noticed the spreadsheet didn't have edit access to others 🤦

Changed it now

I added another Magenta marker for games that don't run on Windows 11 (22H2+) due to a EmulateHeap issue