8/8.1 crappy old games support any good workarounds?

avada

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Hello!

It seems that old games support is totally butchered on windows 8 and 8.1. They run but slowly.
Desperados was unplayable for example. (I suffered through it with wineD3D and broken UI)
No One Lives Forever is playable but has crappy framerates. Less than 30, which sometimes drops below 20. Which makes it not quite enjoyable....

I was wondering if I could hack some sort of solution. Maybe copy relevant files from older windows versions. 7 and Vista are the closest. These games ran well up until 7. Is it possible? Anyone try something like this?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Ryzen 5 1600
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime B350-PLUS
    Memory
    G.SKILL Trident Z 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3000MHz F4-3000C15D-16GTZB
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 (Asus ENGTS450)
    PSU
    500w FSP
Remember that some old games' frame rate is capped at 20 (more wasn't necessary back then). I remember that this is the case for AOE II for example.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba P50-A-12PBE
    CPU
    i7 4700MQ
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 745M
    Browser
    Waterfox
    Antivirus
    Panda
Unfortunately, it's all fanmade fixes at this point. For example, Neverwinter Nights 2 runs beautifully- as long as you're willing to restart your computer rather than play it after your machine's been on for fourteen hours and so on which I learnt online. Otherwise it lags like I'm trying to run it on the ancient XP computer that went curb side in the last local pickup, HDD-less of course. Look for other gamers and their solutions online as there are a lot of us who are fond of older games and put up with compatibility issues to play them. Most older games were never designed to work on anything with a dual core processor of all things, let alone a quad core or a 64-bit operating system, or even the graphics cards of back in 2008. Fortunately in many cases, there are workarounds.

I have the opposite case in KotOR where I have to enable V-Sync to stop screen tearing. The game, designed to work on far weaker components churns out too many frames per second which is why my next desktop screen is probably going to be 120hz- a far cheaper option than shopping around for a laptop with a same screen refresh rate.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 64-bit/ Windows 8.1 64-bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Desktop: Allison Designs by Austin Computers / Laptop: Toshiba Satellite L50-A006
    CPU
    Intel Core i5- 4590/ Intel Core i5 processor 4200U
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte H97M-D3H/ ?
    Memory
    16 GB Kingston at 1600 Mhz/ 4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 760 OC Windforce (2 GB/256-bit)/ nVIDIA GeForce GT 740M 2GB
    Sound Card
    Onboard Audio'
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AOC 2216Vw 22"/ 15.6" Widescreen HD LED Backlit Display
    Screen Resolution
    1680*1050 / 1366*768
    Hard Drives
    2 TB Western Digital Black Caviar Drive (7200 RPM)/ 750GB (5400rpm) with Toshiba HDD Accelerator
    PSU
    Coolermaster 750W VS Series 80+ Gold Power Supply (Desktop Only)
    Case
    Corsair Carbide SPEC-02 Mid Tower Gaming Case (Desktop Only)
    Cooling
    Two Case 120 mm fans and GPU, CPU, PSU cooled by own fans respectively. (Desktop Only)
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wired Keyboard Desktop 600 (Desktop Only)
    Mouse
    Microsoft Wired Mouse 600/ Toshiba Touchpad and Logitech Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer and Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Norton 360 by Symantec
This may or may not help but open control panel and go to Programs and Features. Now go to Turn Windows features on and off and look for Legacy Components > Direct Play. Enable it and see if it helps.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
This may or may not help but open control panel and go to Programs and Features. Now go to Turn Windows features on and off and look for Legacy Components > Direct Play. Enable it and see if it helps.

it doesnt really help.

I tried to google directplay and only thing I come across is that it is networking in older games.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    thermaltake
    CPU
    intel 2600 4ghz to 4.20ghz
    Motherboard
    gigabyte p67-d3-b3
    Memory
    16gb 1900mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 780 gtx + nvidia 580
    Sound Card
    sound ZxR
    Monitor(s) Displays
    asus hdmi 24inch
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    3x 2tb drivers
    PSU
    850 watts
    Case
    Thermtake V9
    Cooling
    very powerful fans
    Keyboard
    sidewinder x4
    Mouse
    logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    100
    Browser
    chrome,firefox,ie
    Antivirus
    Avira
OK, I figured it couldn't hurt and was worth a try.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Its unfortunate at this time as there is no real reason for older games frame rates to drop. Windows8 was SUPPOSED to have the same compatibility as Windows7 and play games better. Its a glitch in Windows8, and Its unknown at this time if MS intends to fix the compatibility issues or just move on and pretend that they have continued directx compatibility. Considering windows7 has no problems with these games, and Windows8 is often claimed as a better/faster windows7 with a metro interface added, one is currently left to hope that the problem could be a driver issue, or hope for an individual to find/make a patch, or one of the various tricks that work.

Reading some of the help on microsofts support page , leads me to believe the answers are purposely tone deaf.

Lets hope this gets resolved by Windows9 or within another year, a solution by gamers is found.

On another note, I host games on my computers and you can always tell when someone is using Windows8. There is a strange pulse that gets triggered, its like someone trying to play off satelite, but not as extreme, just enough to be annoying and mess up the frame rate. Kinda like what some Older antivirus programs would do that didn't have silent gaming modes or fullscreen modes.

I am sure there is some games that work better on Windows8, people keep telling me its faster, but so far, its been a major disappointment and my one friend has given up and trying other solutions with different OS hoping to have better success with emulation.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows98 to Windows7
Damn you MS!!!
Colin McRae Rally runs lik 10-20 fps (if it doesn't crash). The car setup runs at 1.8 fps... I need like a minute to get past it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Ryzen 5 1600
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime B350-PLUS
    Memory
    G.SKILL Trident Z 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3000MHz F4-3000C15D-16GTZB
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 (Asus ENGTS450)
    PSU
    500w FSP
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