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Jul - Computers and Technology - This isn't entertaining. New poll - New thread - New reply
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Rick
M'Lord, there's a knife in your head!
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Posted on 04-09-12 04:29:37 PM Link | Quote
So, now that I have Windows 7 and a 64-bit system, I'm totally unable to play the Windows Entertainment Pack stuff.

I still very much want to play them though, but I'm not really sure what the easiest way to go about that would be. Trying to change the compatibility when I go under the file's properties doesn't work.

I did a Google search a bit and found another way to do it was run a Virtual Machine and a copy of another OS, but that seems like a lot of work to do just to play one thing. Are there any other options I might have to play the old games?

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dotUser
From the Grave
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Posted on 04-09-12 06:18:32 PM Link | Quote
There's no rebuilt versions on the net to grab or more modern equivalents?

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Bagel

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without music life would Bb
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Posted on 04-09-12 07:06:36 PM Link | Quote
If you've got Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate, you can install XP Mode, and then convert that to a VMWare Player machine, but yeah. No more 16-bit subsystem in 64-bit Windows. :/

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Rachel Mae

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Posted on 04-09-12 07:23:32 PM Link | Quote
Download VMware Player and install Windows XP. It's not difficult at all, and in fact does a pretty good job of helping you out along the way.

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paulguy

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Posted on 04-09-12 08:02:37 PM Link | Quote
Paulguy's Post configuration
You can also install windows 3.11 in dosbox if you want that authenticity. Also, most of these games if not all of them have been rewritten in some way or another.

They do run pretty much perfectly in wine in 64bit, if you can find vbrun100.dll.

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GuyPerfect
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Posted on 04-10-12 07:24:51 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Bagel
If you've got Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate, you can install XP Mode, and then convert that to a VMWare Player machine, but yeah. No more 16-bit subsystem in 64-bit Windows. :/


XP Mode works for a lot of the older Windows games, fortunately, but it doesn't support Direct3D. I ran into this problem just recently with Lemmings Revolution--there's virtually NO way to get it to run properly under Windows 7.

I ended up using a Linux partition running Wine. At least the games that don't work in Widows 7 aren't lost to the clutches of time.
Rick
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Posted on 04-11-12 12:23:50 AM Link | Quote
I suppose that I could use VMWare, but wouldn't installing a clean copy of Windows XP take up a lot of space, much less would I have to make a partition just for it? I've never done that sort of a thing before.

Running Windows 3.11 on DOSBox sounds like a good option since I already have that, but where would I get such a thing, and is that particularly easy to do?

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paulguy

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Posted on 04-11-12 01:40:41 AM Link | Quote
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The games that are basically dead to everything are those that used direct3d retained mode. Which I believe is like opengl immediate mode. You'll know the game if it need D3DRM.DLL. Doesn't run in windows newer than 98 (and might not even work if you updated direct3d) and wine has no supportt dfor d3drm.

Also windows 3.11 on dosbox is very simple nowadays. There are probably guides. I don't know where you can get windows 3.11, but if you want it, I have it, and we can probably arrange something.

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Rick
M'Lord, there's a knife in your head!
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Posted on 04-11-12 03:57:05 AM Link | Quote
The funny thing is that I could play the Windows Entertainment Pack games right all the way up to Vista, and then Windows 7 hits and bam! Can't play it anymore.

I wouldn't mind a copy of that Windows either. Send me a PM sometime, maybe you can guide me through it or some such? I don't wanna go screwing up anything.

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paulguy

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Posted on 04-11-12 05:42:13 AM (last edited by paulguy at 04-11-12 06:06 AM) Link | Quote
Paulguy's Post configuration
It would have the same problem in 64 bit Vista. However, you likely had 32 bit Vista in the past, and 16 bit programs still worked.

Here's a guide: http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=9405

I have noticed that dosbox seems to lack the stability required to make Windows 3.x gaming terribly useful, though modern VMs will probably lack stuff like joystick/gamepad or MIDI support. You can probably try yourself and see how it comes out, but DOSBox kept crashing or freezing on me when just messing with windows, but it could just be related to other problems. I did have trouble getting sound to work, as well. I could get MIDI out through an emulated MIDI port to a soft synth running on here, but no digital audio. Your best bet will probably be something like running Windows 3.x applications in Windows 98 in a VM, so you'll at least get software MIDI support, and you might be able to use USB gamepads through the VM's USB support in Windows 98.

Of course for Windows Entertainment Pack, this shouldn't be necessary. They'd probably work just fine in Windows XP. Mostly just for the sake of nostalgia I guess, but then why else would one play the original versions of these games? :p

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Bagel

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Posted on 04-11-12 03:05:27 PM (last edited by Bagel at 04-11-12 12:06 PM) Link | Quote
The way VMWare works is that it runs from an image instead of an actual disk.

Normally, Windows XP Mode, converted to a VMWare Player machine (because as a Virtual PC machine it's next to useless because of some forced limitations) takes up less than 4GB. You can just run XP in a window (or fullscreen it, or a hybrid mode where XP windows show up as normal ones.) VMWare gives you some "tools" to install inside of the virtual machine that give it video acceleration, mouse support so that you don't have to hit a key to swap between the VM and your own desktop, and a virtual network so that you can send files to and from the VM as well as get it onto the Internet. There are also virtual USB drivers so that you can use USB devices in the virtual machine, provided that it's running an OS that supports them.

You could also grab Windows 9x to run in VMWare instead if you want really good compatibility with old games; they run just fine. The only issue I've had is that you can't run the virtual machine at a color depth less than 32-bit, so for anything that requires a setting of 256 colors, you may be better off running it via DOSbox.

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GuyPerfect
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Posted on 04-11-12 10:02:18 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by paulguy
You'll know the game if it need D3DRM.DLL. Doesn't run in windows newer than 98 (and might not even work if you updated direct3d) and wine has no supportt dfor d3drm.


Lemmings Revolution loads that and it works fine in Wine and XP, though a couple of the icons show the wrong colors... It might be juuuust compatible enough to cause problems. I'll have to look into it.
paulguy

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Posted on 04-12-12 01:26:49 AM Link | Quote
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I see. I remember having a hell of a time running lego island. Most I could get was sound but no video, after getting DLLs and messing with stuff. It's possible lemmings revolution might only use it for certain things or something, where lego island seemed to use it exclusively, but I couldn't get past the main menu so, I dunno.

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dotUser
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Posted on 04-12-12 01:35:09 AM Link | Quote
I miss my old lego games.

One day I'll have to set up a VM on my desktop and install Windows ME to play them. I especially liked the city building one.

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Jul - Computers and Technology - This isn't entertaining. New poll - New thread - New reply


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