Good games that run on Windows XP?

[Aswald]

Just pointing out that "Abandonware" isn't an official designation, its something websites made up to justify essentially the PC equivalent of rom downloads. So yeah its a means of playing games but we probably shouldn't give people the impression its legal.

One reason I ask about Windows XP specifically BTW is because I already have a separate comp that does a lot of older Win98 and DOS games (and Dosbox runs on anything really), I was wondering if there was anything on XP specifically that made it worthwhile.

I have found a few--Doom 3 (not the BFG Edition tho--that requires later hardware. Original Doom 3 will run fine tho), the later Myst games, freeware puzzler Hex-a-hop, the freeware ports of the Marathon trilogy (they're supposed to run on Windows 98 but in my experience they refused to).... I've also gotten a lot of mileage out of my XP desktop as a video-watching machine.

I don't think that's the case with what I found. Some of the links directed me to sites like GOG Games, so whatever site I was on was likely legit. Since many games were created by companies that no longer exist and were never bought up (including the rights to the games), many of them are in fact in a Limbo- abandoned.

Funny thing- there are two Mobile versions of DosBox-type software that run on my crummy Windows CE Sylvania netbook (with a whopping 50MB available...offline...): pckDOS and PocketDOS. The former is overall superior to the latter except for its inability to properly display CGA games like "Wizardry" and "Shadowgate." You get a jumble that looks like two small screens next to each other. PocketDOS handles them, but sound is inferior or non-existent.

Still, you do get the following (with a little help from SCUMMVM CE v1.3.1): Wizardry 1-3, Ultima (1 only), Shadowgate, Secret of Monkey Island 1 & 2 (play very well), Discworld (very well), Bubble Bobble, Arkanoid, Lemmings games (cursor is clumsy and sound effects only), Dreamweb, Darkseed, Sam and Max Hit the Road, Legend of Kyrandia 1-3, Blackjack!, Hold `Em Pocker, Crimson Crown, Sid Meier's Civilization, Dino Park Builder (sound effects only), Inherit the Earth (both versions), LOOM (both versions), among others. Remember this was a pitiful little netbook so even if sound lags a bit or is lacking at times this was an amazing leap in its game playing abilities.

DOSBox 0.74 runs almost as well on the 2001 Sony XP VAIO as it does on the far more formidable 2012 ASUS. Thus a vast collection of MS-DOS games run on just about anything out there since most people here are probably not into tinkering with antique computers as I am.

There is also SCUMMVM. It allows one to play games on systems those games were never intended for. The actual game files must be available for it to work so it's not a pirate program. It has gotten a number of games to work just fine on the netbook, albeit only in 320h x 240v mode. I also needed the GAPI application to get it and pckDOS running. But what a difference it made.


Truth be told, even now that netbook is quite useful. It has good multimedia players (240p being the practical limit though), SoftMaker CE gives it document abilities nearly equal to modern Office (plus PDF-making ability AND the ability to handle things like Apache OpenOffice documents), pretty good art and photo programs, browsers like Opera Mini 5 give it decent regular browsing abilities, a good Hex Editor, Foxit PDF Reader, an alarm clock application, and a few others. It's the weakest of my gadgets but still surprisingly handy. Now that its game collection has been so greatly improved it's well worth keeping.

[Edmond Dantes]

I don't think that's the case with what I found. Some of the links directed me to sites like GOG Games, so whatever site I was on was likely legit. Since many games were created by companies that no longer exist and were never bought up (including the rights to the games), many of them are in fact in a Limbo- abandoned.

Just pointing out that abandonware is not a proper legal term. Granted yeah companies that don't exist anymore are unlikely to care if you download their games, and honestly I'm no legal eagle.... but just, yeah, don't get blindsided if someone with legal authority contradicts you on this.

I've seen weird cases where a page will link to GOG.... but then still offer the game for download for free. Like, seems like a bit of a conflict of interest there.

Funny thing- there are two Mobile versions of DosBox-type software that run on my crummy Windows CE Sylvania netbook (with a whopping 50MB available...offline...): pckDOS and PocketDOS. The former is overall superior to the latter except for its inability to properly display CGA games like "Wizardry" and "Shadowgate." You get a jumble that looks like two small screens next to each other. PocketDOS handles them, but sound is inferior or non-existent.

That sounds perfect for Wizardry, which didn't have sound anyway.

Did you ever see my post about Wizardry with my "Tales from Wizardry" stories? I really should do something similar soon.

[buteau57]

GTA Vice City and San Andreas are all you need in a computer with XP. In addition Unreal Tournament, KOTOR, Battlefield 2 are the great games which I used to love playing on my previous PC. I've stuck with an XP recently, we came to Montenegro 2 weeks ago to visit my uncle and find a property for sale in Montenegro. He has this very old computer, you can only play GTA Vice City on it. Anyway it's always fun to play this game.

[Canija]

GTA Vice City and San Andreas are all you need in a computer with XP. In addition Unreal Tournament, KOTOR, Battlefield 2 are the great games which I used to love playing on my previous PC. I've stuck with an XP recently, we came to Spain 2 weeks ago to visit my uncle and found that some time soon local property would go down in price according to different articles. Hope to live next to him in a year or two

Are you sure that XP runs these games? Even Microsoft Office is too hard for this OS.

[Highwind Dragoon]

The ENTIRE (1-3) Empire earth Series. (Available on GoG.com)

[Aswald]

No, the site I went to didn't do both- for some games just a link leading to those other sites. The button even said "Buy It Here." "Might and Magic" was one such game.

Is it possible the cases you saw actually involved just a free demo version? But I get what you're saying.

Yes, Wizardry did too have sound- a little "puht" here and there. Truly awesome soundtrack...but trust me, in 1981 that game was THE BEST. Funny thing...it still is great. Curiously enough the Wizardry games alone are shown with RED, blue, black and white rather than purple. This is not the case for any of the others.

Currently that netbook can reasonably play 50 such DOS games nicely enough, but is incapable of playing others (e.g. Q*Bert and Crimson Crown). However, its gaming abilties have been increased many times over now, all thanks to the GAPI app that lets those other three apps run.

I am trying to contact the CORE Player programmers to find out if it can be made to skip video frames by default. Tests with converters indicate that if so the netbook can play 360p and even 480p videos reasonably well; imagine what this technique can do for the 2001 Sony VAIO (480p already) or even the 2012 ASUS!

What I'm doing is to try and show that older hardware need not become obsolete. Puppy Linux, installed as one of a Dual Operating System, has made that old Sony into a viable and 100% safe online device thanks to Opera Mini 8, which is sandboxed. There are other abilities too. Considering what that underpowered feeble netbook can actually do, more recent devices- which are overpowered for mundane things, as is the 2001 Sony- should be useful for a long time. That way they don't end up in those horrible landfills, which you see in Third World countries. Considering the rotten economy this will help everyone.