Getting older games to work

NutWrench · 03-15-2013, 12:41 PM

It's starting to feel like the DOS days again. Got any tips for making older games run better? By "older" I'm talking from around 2001 to 2008. I've got a couple:

Far Cry (the original)
Far Cry came out in 2004, at about the same time that dual-core Pentiums began to appear. As as result, the game is not designed to recognize a multi-core environment or play nice in it. You can get rid of game stuttering by starting the task manager after you start the game and setting the Affinity to a single core under the Processes tab. This will help in other games, too.

Oblivion
A lot of older games don't recognize or take advantage of two or more graphics cards. Fortunately, you can set up custom game profiles in your cards control panel. A custom profile that disables Crossfire fixed a really annoying flickering issue I had with this game.

enjoy!

KO Gilligan · 03-15-2013, 04:27 PM

XP

- Seems like I remember that if you load XP first, it'll help you automatically help you set-up Win7 install as a boot option later. Reason I mention it is that if you already have 7 I think you need to use a boot loader or something.

I really don't go for VM, I'd rather reboot for everything to work well. I've fussed with VM and emulators for older games, but not what you are talking about

Damien_Azreal · 03-16-2013, 06:47 AM

I haven't had any issues getting FarCry to run. Played it just a few months back without problem.
The only actual "effort" I had to put into it was getting it to play in widescreen.

KO Gilligan · 03-16-2013, 07:46 AM

If you do go with XP, there is a few things that are a little awkward getting the OS going for the first time. Depending on which Disk you start from, you have different levels of updates to cover. A few things I can remember is updating to SP3 is best done with the network professional update disk... get the .iso from MS before you start your journey. You can get XP pre-SP1 origianl boxed release to load on a new system, and every version after, but getting drivers to work pre-sp2 is good humor..... Just get the network up first and eventually update to SP3 and I remember the .net framework stuff was a little hassle.

An irritating thing that happens is that the original home page that loads in IE for MSN will simply bomb and close the page before you can do anything. Fortunately, the page that opens when you access windows update from computer properties is not that page, and it loads fine... from there you can reset your home page to google or something and start pecking away at the updates.

Anyway, after a combination of nearly a couple hundred updates, and the SP3 disk, XP runs rock solid in a fast system... You probably remember that things can get messed up, and it doesn't self maintenance well, so a good plan of action is to put it on it's own HD and image it 100% once you get the updated system going.

03-16-2013, 06:47 AM	#3
Damien_Azreal Super Moderator	Re: Getting older games to work I haven't had any issues getting FarCry to run. Played it just a few months back without problem. The only actual "effort" I had to put into it was getting it to play in widescreen. __________________ Monolith Fanboy since 1997 Upcoming Anticipated Games: Doom, Shadow Warrior 2, Mafia III, DisHonored 2, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

03-15-2013, 12:41 PM	#1
NutWrench	Getting older games to work It's starting to feel like the DOS days again. Got any tips for making older games run better? By "older" I'm talking from around 2001 to 2008. I've got a couple: Far Cry (the original) Far Cry came out in 2004, at about the same time that dual-core Pentiums began to appear. As as result, the game is not designed to recognize a multi-core environment or play nice in it. You can get rid of game stuttering by starting the task manager after you start the game and setting the Affinity to a single core under the Processes tab. This will help in other games, too. Oblivion A lot of older games don't recognize or take advantage of two or more graphics cards. Fortunately, you can set up custom game profiles in your cards control panel. A custom profile that disables Crossfire fixed a really annoying flickering issue I had with this game. enjoy! __________________ "If by chance some day you're not feeling well and you should remember some silly thing I've said or done and it brings back a smile to your face or a chuckle to your heart, then my purpose as your clown has been fulfilled."

03-15-2013, 04:27 PM	#2
KO Gilligan	Re: Getting older games to work XP - Seems like I remember that if you load XP first, it'll help you automatically help you set-up Win7 install as a boot option later. Reason I mention it is that if you already have 7 I think you need to use a boot loader or something. I really don't go for VM, I'd rather reboot for everything to work well. I've fussed with VM and emulators for older games, but not what you are talking about Last edited by KO Gilligan; 03-15-2013 at 04:32 PM.

03-16-2013, 07:46 AM	#4
KO Gilligan	Re: Getting older games to work If you do go with XP, there is a few things that are a little awkward getting the OS going for the first time. Depending on which Disk you start from, you have different levels of updates to cover. A few things I can remember is updating to SP3 is best done with the network professional update disk... get the .iso from MS before you start your journey. You can get XP pre-SP1 origianl boxed release to load on a new system, and every version after, but getting drivers to work pre-sp2 is good humor..... Just get the network up first and eventually update to SP3 and I remember the .net framework stuff was a little hassle. An irritating thing that happens is that the original home page that loads in IE for MSN will simply bomb and close the page before you can do anything. Fortunately, the page that opens when you access windows update from computer properties is not that page, and it loads fine... from there you can reset your home page to google or something and start pecking away at the updates. Anyway, after a combination of nearly a couple hundred updates, and the SP3 disk, XP runs rock solid in a fast system... You probably remember that things can get messed up, and it doesn't self maintenance well, so a good plan of action is to put it on it's own HD and image it 100% once you get the updated system going.