old games are very slow

[Zaref]

hello everybody
i have win 8 64X running very well but with a very annoying problem
i really enjoy playing old strategy games like RA2 and stronghold crusader
they work properly *in case of RA2 only yuri's revernge work but the main game doesn't* but htey are much slower than what i used to
i tried increasing game speed in stronghold crusader but it's still slower than how it was when i was running windows XP

 

[CountMike]

Did you try Compatibility settings for those programs ?
Some older games might be 16 bit and that definitely will not run on 64 bit windows.

 

[Zaref]

they work but loading is very slow 'takes about 30 sec'

 

[madmax1100]

I first want to ask if these are Direct X 9 or lower games?

 

[Zaref]

those are the games "stronghold crusader" "stronghold2"

 

[madmax1100]

Stronghold crusader uses DirectX7. Windows8 newest version of directx is 11.2 if i recall correctly.
This version emulates older versions of Direct x exactly like Windows7 , except.... it appears the screwed it up.
Windows8 compatibility is pretty strong, and that is why the game works, (Looks like a cool game too) but I am having the same issue with MANY MANY MANY games that can work on anything from Windows95 to Windows7.

Microsoft created directx to be backwards compatible, so DON'T allow the NAYSAYERS and Blowhards to blow off your old game with , "Why should microsoft support and old game", when the fact is, they have.

There is ALOT of troubleshooting to get the games to work at speed. Some people have found success by disabling hyper v.

However my understanding is that some of this is caused by METRO.

Here is a few other options that may work.

"Hello!

Apparently DirectDraw games don't run to well on Windows 8.
I recently wanted to play a Desperados an old isometric tactics game. But it ran like 10% the speed it's supposed to. So it was unplayable.
There are some alternative ddraw stuff out there. Actually one works somewhat: with wine3d-s ddraw.dll. "


The direct Draw is emulated in directx 11.2 is emulated.... so its very slow..


now, I have the same issue with my game posted in another thread.
It uses and older version of Directx and runs at 10% speed.

However there is ONE person who has it working at 80% speed, making it playable.

So there is hope.

Microsoft needs to fix the backwards compability of directx, the reason for having directx was to maintain backwards compability, vs each developer creating their own solutions.


Also, try all the solutions people offer regarding compability settings, and such.

Some of the old game forums have found patches or fixes themselves for the older games.

 

[johnsmith45jock]

Hmmm...

Windows 8.1 compatibility for Stronghold Crusader Extreme version 1

 

[madmax1100]

LOL, BIG HMMM>>>>>

Perhaps they consider it compatible if it works, not if it works at a playable framerate...

I see the feedback is 0 for 13 regarding it working...

 

[oneeyed]

A solution which works for me on some old games is direct x emulation via linux wine... Sounds weird relying on linux to have a working windows but here is how it works...

Wine provides its directx wrapper component free, and you can download precompiled windows builds at : WineD3D builds for win32
As said on its page, all direct x calls are redirected to open gl, so this isn't emulation per se and can be very fast depending on your graphics card/drivers.
Download wind3d.exe. Don't execute it directly, extract it with an utility like 7-zip or similar.
In the extracted folder or subfolders, look for the files : ddraw.dll, libwine.dll and wined3d.dll (if they are not present, try downloading an older build, not the latest)
Copy them to whatever old game folder you want and try the game again.

 

[madmax1100]

That solution has appeared in other threads and forums, I am glad to see these alternative solutions working.

 

[dskiller]

I tried those solutions for Blood 2 and it wont run or still runs slow. around 2fps-15fps.

 

[Zaref]

for me the game is playable but it works with about half to 2/3 of the original speed

 

[avada]

A solution which works for me on some old games is direct x emulation via linux wine... Sounds weird relying on linux to have a working windows but here is how it works...

Wine provides its directx wrapper component free, and you can download precompiled windows builds at : WineD3D builds for win32
As said on its page, all direct x calls are redirected to open gl, so this isn't emulation per se and can be very fast depending on your graphics card/drivers.
Download wind3d.exe. Don't execute it directly, extract it with an utility like 7-zip or similar.
In the extracted folder or subfolders, look for the files : ddraw.dll, libwine.dll and wined3d.dll (if they are not present, try downloading an older build, not the latest)
Copy them to whatever old game folder you want and try the game again.

Unfortunately that's not maintained and has bugs. I could play through desperados, but it was messy. I had a broken user interface and invisible dynamic objects. Like a train.

 

[avada]

Stronghold crusader uses DirectX7. Windows8 newest version of directx is 11.2 if i recall correctly.
This version emulates older versions of Direct x exactly like Windows7 , except.... it appears the screwed it up.

It was already emulated in 7? Surprising because I didn't have such crappy performance and compatibility issues with seven.

 

[Zaref]

i noticed a strange thing lately
i installed the HD patch for stronghold crusader to increase the resolution so it fits my 1366*768 screen then the game became slower
stronghold crusader extreme -without the HD patch- is running very smooth and fast just like it should be but in 1024*768

 

[Sammy388]

What about an old game like Q-Bert or Frogger 2: Swampy's revenge? I loved those games as a kid and was thinking of buying them again but I'm afraid they won't work on my computer or be too slow (similar to what you're experiencing). I have win 8 64X too.

 

[Allison]

I'm about to uninstall Neverwinter Nights 2 on my laptop and try reinstalling the base game only because the updater program's broken which you need for vital patches to help the game run. It was the first game which literally couldn't run without turning on DirectDraw on 8.1 and on my desktop, the game can be played fast after a system restart... sometimes I feel like I'm kicking the operating system repeatedly to make games run. Try playing after a restart, it can occasionally help with an old game.

 

[avada]

I'm about to uninstall Neverwinter Nights 2 on my laptop and try reinstalling the base game only because the updater program's broken which you need for vital patches to help the game run. It was the first game which literally couldn't run without turning on DirectDraw on 8.1 and on my desktop, the game can be played fast after a system restart... sometimes I feel like I'm kicking the operating system repeatedly to make games run. Try playing after a restart, it can occasionally help with an old game.

What does "turning on DirectDraw on 8.1 and on my desktop" mean?

 

[Allison]

As in the first time I ran the game on my laptop which has 8.1, it automatically activated DirectDraw to let me play it at all. On my desktop with Windows 8, the compatibility issue of lagging on a system which many times over can play the game is resolved by playing it when you start the computer and solving lagging by restarting the entire machine.

 

[CountMike]

Direct Draw is part of DirectX that deals with 2D.