First post, by BEEN_Nath_58
- Rank
- l33t
What is this?
This is a list of RETAIL games released for Microsoft Windows 95 until Microsoft Windows XP(pre DX9) that work under Microsoft Windows 7 and later operating systems. This list only includes retail releases, not releases by Steam or GOG. The games listed uses OpenGL 2.0 and earlier, DirectX 8 and earlier, other older APIs, and utilising the IA-32 architecture. This list doesn't guarantee every game will work under the mentioned operating system as many factors are decided by compatibility of the hardware and the drivers.
You can access the spreadsheet by clicking here.
Colour codes with a rating are used to determine a playability level, note that the description below is for the view of explanation and comparison between them and they don't depict the state of the game:
(S) Green = Perfect, every required component works.
(A) Cyan = Certain unimportant features don't work correctly. Game may crash sometimes at some specific spots.
(B) Yellow = Important features like CD audio or in game cutscenes, things required at the perspective of the gameplay, don't work. Certain glitches may be observed as well.
(C) Orange = Major game issues that can render the game unplayable. Broken graphics, broken audio, broken save function, etc. that hamper your ability to play the game at any extent.
(D) Red = Game doesn't launch at all.
Can I post my games?
A few rules that you need to follow before entering anything in the spreadsheet:
- The games should be limited to using wrappers/emulators, installing shims, modifying DLLs or executable file or configuration file for problematic code or setting, or changing manipulating system features like disabling DEP.
- Games may need to use the official update patches and no-CD.
- The default Direct3D, DirectDraw, WinMM, Glide, DirectSound emulation wrappers should be used from the "TESTING SOFTWARE" section. If you use a different wrapper for the same, for example, if you use dgVoodoo2 for Glide, it is required to be mentioned.
- For graphics, check if the rendering is correct: check if the graphics load up fine, check for texture bugs or graphical effects issues, etc.
- For sound, check if the sound works properly. Currently I am not adding EAX or A3D qualifications since they are at a pretty primitive state for quality and compatibility.
- For CD audio, it is recommended to check and compare with the behaviour in a period correct operating system.
- Certain problems exist in the games and not in the system. Certain issues for instance: broken FOV or Z-buffer on certain video modes, are game engine problems. Therefore, it isn't appropriate to add up such games as there are plentiful games working in this kind.
- Entry should be made under the qualification that it runs on a Microsoft Windows Vista PC or later
MY TESTING HARDWARE
The games should be more compatible according to the list by me with the following hardware configuration:
OS- Microsoft Windows 10 19H2 and later/Windows 11
CPU- AMD Ryzen 5 1600
GPU- nVIDIA GTX 1050Ti
Sound card- Realtek HD Audio
GPU driver- After 400.x
Audio driver- After June 2019 (6.x)
TESTING SOFTWARE(Default)
CD image emulation - DAEMON Tools Lite or something that recognises CD audio
CD audio emulation - DxWnd
Glide emulation - nGlide v2.10 or later
DirectDraw/Direct3D emulation - dgVoodoo v2.61 and later, DDrawCompat, DirectDraw Compatibility Tool, WineD3D, DxWnd
RRedline emulation - RReady
DirectSound emulation - DSOAL, IndirectSound
Other tool - DxWnd
Additional Information
- Some games have problems when pausing/playing CD Audio. Use the 'CDAudio proxy' or 'DxWnd' wrapper to play the audio from the PC storage disk. Extract the files from the CD in formats like '.ogg', '.flac' and rename all the files, the first music ALWAYS starting with 'track02', followed by 'track03', 'track04'. Put the files in a folder 'Music' besides the MAIN executable file. If the game has multiple CDs, then put the tracks of the first CD in 'Music' directory, second CD in 'Music02' directory, third CD in 'Music03 directory', n'th CD in 'Musicnn' directory. A more detailed information is available in the official documentation of DxWnd.
- Some games have bad shims applied to them and refuse to launch or run properly. In that case, rename the game executable(s).
- Applications utilising Microsoft Direct3D Mono (Ramp) device won't render correctly on any Windows version after and including Windows 10 1809. Read more about a possible solution here.
- On Windows 11 22H2 and later, EmulateHeap doesn't work fine. In that case, using an alternative is mandatory.
- Certain games don't run due to interference from DEP. Disable DEP in both Windows and BIOS and try running the game again.
- dgVoodoo2 emulates the old APIs in D3D11/D3D12 so performance may be bad on old/weak hardware. Under such cases, using a different wrapper is advisable.
- Some games use Indeo. Check the guides to enable or disable them.
- Some games use QuickTime. Later, I should be uploading extracted versions of QuickTime which will allow it to be used locally in a game without needing to install it.
- Games may refuse to run due to other miscellaneous reasons. Depending on the severity of the factor, it can get added to the spreadsheet or a general "to-check-out" list. For example, it is not wise to add a note for a game in the spreadsheet which didn't run because "a laptop pre-installed application was running"; however it is quite useful to know if a game refuses to run when having a lot of RAM.
Again, at last, it is important to note that one man's path to success may not be reproducible by the other man. What works for one user may not work for the other user. So whenever you find a problem, do report it, whenever you find a generic solution, do report it.
previously known as Discrete_BOB_058
