Virtualization for older games. Still no go?

[Pulsar_t]

Well I was about to try Microsoft's XP Mode but after doing some reading it's apparently little more than a repackaged VirtualPC solution, which means squat for accelerated video graphics. There's a ridiculous amount of games that no longer work properly under Vista/Seven, so I've been wondering whether virtualisation could be viable, because dual-booting can prove cumbersome.

[Shogun]

I remember hearing Microsoft touting how you'd be able to run XP from within Windows 7 but I haven't heard of anyone doing it. So thats all it is? A virtualPC module? Thats kind of weak. I've only dual booted with Ubuntu which was easy because it installs a prompt when you start up. It was a bit of work to get rid of the prompt after I uninstalled it though. I didn't know VirtualPC's performance was so bad that even older games wouldn't run well.

[Erik_Twice]

I don't think I quite get your question but I find that most games will run on a modern computer that has Dosbox.

The problem is the grey area between early Pentiums and the mainstream use of such since Dosbox doesn't reach there and there are compatibility issues for newer post 98 Windows.

[emwearz]

At both uni and on my home PC I use Oracle VM VirtualBox.

[Ziggy]

I remember hearing Microsoft touting how you'd be able to run XP from within Windows 7 but I haven't heard of anyone doing it. So thats all it is? A virtualPC module? Thats kind of weak. I've only dual booted with Ubuntu which was easy because it installs a prompt when you start up. It was a bit of work to get rid of the prompt after I uninstalled it though. I didn't know VirtualPC's performance was so bad that even older games wouldn't run well.

I use XP Mode, in fact it's running right now. Before XP Mode came out, I had my own XP install in Microsoft's Virtual PC. It's great, I love it. Though it's really not made for gaming. There's a lot of stupid little programs, mostly unofficial, that I run in XP Mode. Things like SNES Tool and other ROM utilities that don't work in Vista/7 work great in XP Mode. I used it to run HDL Dumb and dump games to my PS2 (before I could run HDL Dumb in 7). I have run some older games in it before, but nothing crazy. I'm talking Pertium II era games.

[Shogun]

I use XP Mode, in fact it's running right now. Before XP Mode came out, I had my own XP install in Microsoft's Virtual PC. It's great, I love it. Though it's really not made for gaming. There's a lot of stupid little programs, mostly unofficial, that I run in XP Mode. Things like SNES Tool and other ROM utilities that don't work in Vista/7 work great in XP Mode. I used it to run HDL Dumb and dump games to my PS2 (before I could run HDL Dumb in 7). I have run some older games in it before, but nothing crazy. I'm talking Pertium II era games.

Can you point me in a direction to get this going in my install of Windows 7? Is it just an add on you download? I come across applications that won't run in 64 bit all the time. Maybe they would have a bit more of a chance running in XP?

[Ziggy]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtua ... fault.aspx

Get XP Mode AND Virtual PC.

[Pulsar_t]

At both uni and on my home PC I use Oracle VM VirtualBox.

It does seem both Virtualbox and Workstation 7 support Direct3D under XP and greater. Can peripherals such as gamepads be shared as well?

[Pulsar_t]

well it seems that if the game depends on direct3d version 7 or earlier VirtualBox will not support it because wine3d is version 8+9 only. workstation isnt free so i guess it's best to just dual-boot XP and seven.