Vista 64 incompatibility

[J T]

I'm running Vista 64 home premium. This has been good for the most part, but some of my games are incompatible. I bought FarCry and it won't install. It gives me the following message: "Run setup32.exe on 32 bit Windows, or run setup64.exe on 64 bit Windows.".

On other games, I have switched the compatibility of the installer or executable file to Windows XP or 2000, or switched to the option to "Run as Administrator" and those games then worked. FarCry still gives me the same message though and there is no "setup64.exe" file on the disc. I'm totally confuzzled about this. I'd like to be able to play this game since I paid for it. Anyone have ideas on how to fix this?

The only thing I've heard so far has been to install it on XP, then copy paste the files over and add some patches. That sounds complicated and risky and I don't have an XP machine except on my work computer, where I'm not sure I would have enough memory.


Another possibly related issue I'm having is that Doom 3's demo won't install through Steam. I've tried similar problem solving, but no dice.

[Mozgus]

If I remember right, FarCry got 64 bit support as a patch long after retail release.

Anyway, practically every 32 bit PC game will work on 64 bit windows with a little work. I just google when a specific game has problems, which are very few of mine.

My bigger issue has proven to be with 16 bit command prompt apps I still use for certain things. 32bit OS can also run 16, but 64bit OS can't. I just got my XP-32/WIN7-64 dualboot setup finished though, so I'm good.

[Ziggy]

Why not just run a virtual PC with a 32 bit OS on top of your 64 OS? I was surprised at how well Microsoft's Virtual PC works.

Right now I have an XP/Vista dual boot setup, but they're both 32 bit. I chickened out getting a 64 bit Vista when I built this PC, but I'm really regretting it now (I have 6 gigs of RAM). My plan was to just get 32 bit Vista and wait until Windows 7 comes out and get the 64 bit version. I guess I'm still gonna do that but I'm not sure if I'm still gonna have a dual boot setup. I might just install Windows 7 then run Vista in a virtual PC.

[Mozgus]

Why not just run a virtual PC with a 32 bit OS on top of your 64 OS? I was surprised at how well Microsoft's Virtual PC works.

Right now I have an XP/Vista dual boot setup, but they're both 32 bit. I chickened out getting a 64 bit Vista when I built this PC, but I'm really regretting it now (I have 6 gigs of RAM). My plan was to just get 32 bit Vista and wait until Windows 7 comes out and get the 64 bit version. I guess I'm still gonna do that but I'm not sure if I'm still gonna have a dual boot setup. I might just install Windows 7 then run Vista in a virtual PC.

Well I did try Windows XP Mode in Windows 7. It didn't work. It didn't allow me to run any of my troublesome apps. Its not a substitute for a true XP install.

[Ziggy]

I have the older version that doesn't have this "XP Mode," I'm not exactly sure what it is. Is it suppose to be any different than just using XP compatibility mode? I just create a virtual hard drive then install XP to it. Runs just like XP does. I can't even call it a substitute, because it IS a true XP install.

I have Win 2k, XP and Win 7 beta installed in a virtual PC and they all work great. That program for HDAdvance (HD dump or whatever it's called) doesn't run in Vista, no matter what fixes I tried, but runs great in my virtual XP.

[Mozgus]

I have the older version that doesn't have this "XP Mode," I'm not exactly sure what it is. Is it suppose to be any different than just using XP compatibility mode? I just create a virtual hard drive then install XP to it. Runs just like XP does. I can't even call it a substitute, because it IS a true XP install.

I have Win 2k, XP and Win 7 beta installed in a virtual PC and they all work great. That program for HDAdvance (HD dump or whatever it's called) doesn't run in Vista, no matter what fixes I tried, but runs great in my virtual XP.

googleit

[Ziggy]

I already have, I went to the Microsoft Virtual PC homepage...

Key features

Microsoft has added several new features to Windows Virtual PC to make it easy to use and to help you run many older Windows XP applications in Windows 7.

What is Windows XP Mode?
Windows XP Mode for Windows 7 makes it easy to install and run your Windows XP applications directly from your Windows 7-based PC. It utilizes virtualization technology, such as Windows Virtual PC, to provide a virtual Windows XP environment for Windows 7.

Sounds like compatibility mode to me. A lot different than actually installing XP in a virtual PC.

[Mozgus]

I already have, I went to the Microsoft Virtual PC homepage...

Key features

Microsoft has added several new features to Windows Virtual PC to make it easy to use and to help you run many older Windows XP applications in Windows 7.

What is Windows XP Mode?
Windows XP Mode for Windows 7 makes it easy to install and run your Windows XP applications directly from your Windows 7-based PC. It utilizes virtualization technology, such as Windows Virtual PC, to provide a virtual Windows XP environment for Windows 7.

Sounds like compatibility mode to me. A lot different than actually installing XP in a virtual PC.

Your google fu is poor. It IS XP in a virtual environment. That's exactly what it is. Christ.

[Ziggy]

There's no need to bring religion into this.

[sneth]

you have two things working against you. vista and 64 bit.

you are running as admin, so that is step one.
step two is disabling the UAC

32 bit apps are not guaranteed to work on a 64bit platform. There are AMD 64 patches for farcry, and i'd assume the same for Intel.

I quick google looks like there are tons of options.

I don't see why XP would need to run as compatibility mode if windows7 keeps the same file system.