Well, I've bought the computer, but still need to set it up. We'll see how it all goes soon, I suppose.

If you need any help with anything just ask in this thread and I'm sure someone will be able to help.

No. VMware will not run many games; the virtual GPU is grossly inadequate, even if it theoretically supports DX9.

VMWare Server for Windows is miserable to use, and VMWare Workstation is not free.

VirtualBox, which is free, has better support for OpenGL but worse support for DX9.

You could set up Windows XP and 7 to dual boot.

That's what I am doing, running games like Quake III, Midtown Madness and Age of Empires II (even though it works with a tweak on Win7). I tried it for co-op play with myself. But anyway, the 3d support is still experimental (so it might not work for all games).

You people could also try Dosbox...


But a general rule of thumb is that Vista games will run fine on Win7 and almost every XP game.

Within the next year I'm getting a new PC which will probably default with Dual Core. I hear that Win XP does not recognize Dual Core (is this right?). I'm keeping the XP OS and would rather sacrifice functionality of the second core.

I've seen too many Problem Questions in forums for games that I play where Win 7 is pretty much the problem.

It does recognize dual-core processors with a patch, but it handles it completely wrong and doesn't use the full potential; honestly, there's really no reason to stick to XP, especially with a new computer.

Win XP recognizes dual core processors, however not always. It depends which kernel gets installed and installing the dual core kernel pretty much requires a reinstall. For whatever reason MS didn't feel like providing a sane upgrade path.

Got caught by that myself a while back when the install didn't get the detection right.
As long as you use the correct SP, there shouldn't be any patching involved. That being said, it's a really unsophisticated implementation and the performance isn't particularly good.

VMware Player is free. Basically it is the same thing as Workstation.
Like?

(I think this has all been said all ready.)

Win7 64bit works perfectly for me. This laptop came with Vista 64bit installed. I upgraded to Win7. Zero new problems.

Because it's a 64bit operating system if you want to run 16 bit games, you need a 32bit virtual machine. I use XP mode (virtualPC + XP 32 bit). VMware or Virtual box plus XP 32bit would work just as well.

As always, use DOSbox for DOS games.

Sacred 2 actually works slightly better with the addon installed, once you manage to install it. But it doesn't work on Win 7 out of the box due to the installer forcing installation of older software, such as PhysX and OpenAL which you will then need to repair manually.

You may also have to disable some services in order to get the game running without crashing.

There's actually some useful info about this on the Steam forums: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1935042

I purchased my 64-bit Windows 7 PC a little over a year ago. Like you, I was concerned about compatibility issues. Don't be as I have had fewer problems than I have had with previous versions of Windows.

Don't be afraid.

I got a new computer about a year ago with Windows 7 - 64 bit, and almost all games work perfectly. The only game I couldn't get to play was X-Wing Alliance, which is old. And to be honest, I haven't really taken the time to found out if there was a solution.

Some games you have to search a bit on the internet for help, like Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines, but it's not too hard.

For really old games, DosBox is a great solution, and, again, if you look for help on the internet, it isn't that hard. System Shock for instance works great that way.

You're talking a year or two of many random games that I've searched forums for. Not going to remember every single one, especially since Win 7 was the least of my worries.

I just remember that on top of my problems with my ATI HD card the other issues tripping up the same games usually involved having to turn off a core or Win 7 compatibility.

However do a google search for "windows 7" and "game won't start" - you should get some insight as to which titles had problems.

Also, let me just put it this way - I don't have to access a Windows XP compatibility list before I purchase a game that I'm interested in...

http://www.overclock.net/t/546446/windows-7-game-compatibility-list

On top of game pad compatibility I don't want to have worry about OS compatibility as well.


So are there any GOG titles to date that can not be ran in Windows 7?

So your evidence is people jumping to unproven conclusions when their game won't start? Seriously, dude, the vast majority of people have utterly no idea what's wrong when they can't get something to run. They jump to completely uncorroborated conclusions (often based on the uncorroborated conclusions other people reached after they made a pointless Google search like this one), only to eventually learn that their graphics card drivers or something else are literally years out of date.

The same list is posted in "Windows 7 Compatibility" sticky at the top of this forum.
Go check the thread - I'll give you some room - the list was started over a year ago so perhaps the situation is different now if there has been a SP release for Win 7.

Me personally, i was having video card issues and had to keep Googling up various games looking for help. On quite a few occasions during my searches I kept passing up Win 7 questions and concerns.

Now obviously, if someone is looking to play the newest games on PC with full-on PS3 quality graphics they're going to have to have more RAM and more cores leaving Windows 7 the only option.

For myself and my needs, most of the games that I play are pre 2010. Granted I would like to play the new Bionic Commando but I've tested and managed to get two hundred or more different games running on my current OS - i'm not so keen for Commando as to lose compatibility with those other titles...even if only happens to be a dozen of them.

I do have several Steam titles that pretty much won't run on anything short of Win 7 but one, Darksiders, I learned yesterday that I have to unplug my game pad and play with mouse and keyboard which is a bit of a put off. It only cost me $5 anyway so I'm in no particular rush to get to it.