3 ms·
While it is incredible how far these compatibility layers have come, I've been working a lot with getting old games running on modern Windows and I'm continuous
by pathartl 3y ago
While it is incredible how far these compatibility layers have come, I've been working a lot with getting old games running on modern Windows and I'm continuously impressed at how few barriers there are. The amount of backwards compatibility built into the platform is staggering.
I would like to also shout out other projects like dgVoodoo, dxWnd, IPXWrapper, and the massive amount of work that's gone into sites like WSGF and PCGamingWiki. I've yet to run into a game I can't get working (and I've been going into some pretty obscure stuff) and the amount of work put into preservation is heartwarming to say the least.
- smoldesu 3y agoThe Wine/DXVK stack has been fantastic for older games too. Skifree, Windows Solitaire, Space Cadet Pinball and Desktop Destroyer all work fine on non-native systems, which is probably one of the prerequisites for world peace. Kudos to everyone for keeping our boomer shooters and pointless timewasters working on modern machines!
- crtified 3y agoOn the topic of compatibility of old games, it's worth noting that Linux's wine is also very good when it comes to running old Windows software and games. In a retro gaming group I frequent, we sometimes find that our chosen old Windows game-of-the-month offers a better default experience under wine. Not to suggest that one or other platform is superior overall in that respect, but it's sufficiently close that either is capable of nudging a nose in front at least some of the time.
- pathartl 3y agoAbsolutely. Reimplementation of some of the oldest Windows APIs really is a strength of WINE and sort of makes me want WINE on Windows :P
- jbaber 3y agoMy son played a CD ROM game from like 1998 by my just ripping to an ISO and mounting on Win 10. The print button in the game even printed to our modern printer.