Post by Elliot Kane on Apr 2, 2010 12:46:12 GMT
This is basically a list of games I've gotten to work on Windows 7 - and those I haven't. I figure this list may be useful to some of you. Obviously, add your own games to the list, if you like. This could be useful for everyone, in time. I'm not including really recent games that should be compatible anyway.
My new system has the 64 bit version of Win 7, which in theory should make it less compatible but so far has seemingly made no difference. And yes, I have tried the compatibility program with the games that don't work. In some cases the problem is most likely not the game, but the copy protection.
As an added aside, I haven't had time to test all of these games extensively, of course. This is a list of games that will run rather than a list of games that function with utter perfection at all points.
Will add to the list as I go...
Working games
The Witcher - needs the patch that removes all copy protection, then works beautifully and with no problems.
Titan Quest - works fine as is.
Overlord - works fine as is.
The Movies - works fine as is, but needs setup run manually.
Sins Of A Solar Empire - works fine.
Warriors Orochi - works fine.
Tomb Raider: Legend - works fine, as do all the later versions.
Tomb Raider 2, 3, Last Revelation and Chronicles may all be enabled to work perfectly with a program created by the wonderful people at www.tombraiderchronicles.com which updates the compatibility to Vista, which is close enough to work. (As they appear to not like direct linking, however, I can't link to the file).
Jade Empire SE - works as long as you put it into compatibility mode for XP SP3 AND bypass the configuration utility by launching the program in the main folder directly rather than from the game menu.
The Bard's Tale - works with comparability mode set to XP service pack 2. Complains at the lack of something or other during setup, but you can ignore that!
Enclave - works fine.
Red Alert 2 & Yuri's Revenge are both fine.
Torment works. One of the main things I care about, sorted! ;D
Dawn Of War 1 series is fine. Not a huge surprise, I'm sure
SpellForce 2 - an 'incidental effect' of the latest patch removes the copy protection system that stops he game from working. Some 'incidental', huh? ;D
GUN works fine.
Final Fantasy 8 - works perfectly. Better than it did under XP, in fact...
Sea Dogs - works fine.
Side Meier's Pirates - I think combat runs a bit faster than it should, but I don't mind that. Beyond a few speed issues though, seems fine.
Kohan and the expansion, Battles Oh Ahriman, are fine.
Kohan 2: Kings Of War is fine.
Kult: Heretic Kingdoms - despite being a more recent game, needs a whole host of things done to it in order to work. It works under 98/ME compatibility mode, with visual themes, desktop composition
and display scaling ALL disabled! Nightmare!
PREY is fine.
Broken Sword 1 & 2 (At least from the 'Trilogy' pack) are fine.
Freedom Force works.
Heroes of Might & Magic 4 is fine.
Storm Of Zehir works perfectly, which I am assuming extends to the whole of the Neverwinter Nights 2 stuff, as the are all fully integrated with each other.
Dungeon Keeper can be made to work with the aid of DOSBOX.
Port Royale 2 - works fine, though scrolling speed is a little fast in towns. Doesn't really hurt the playability of the game, though.
Evil Genius - works fine.
Stronghold works, as does Stronghold Crusader Extreme.
Stronghold 2 sort of works (Though oddly I got a few time outs on the disk detection to start with. This ceased for no reason). The game, however, is really bright and everything shines unnaturally when set to the highest graphics settings. Ironically, it's fine when running on medium graphic settings.
Desperados - works fine.
The Black Mirror works fine, though it did get into a fight with my anti-virus program, which was weird.
Drakensang is fine. I figured Allrik might want to know that one
No-one Lives Forever 2 works perfectly on Win 2000 compatibility mode.
Seal Of Evil - autorun does not function, but setup can be run from the CD. Game works perfectly once installed.
Battle Mages - works perfectly.
Battle Realms - old game that has a bit of a problem, but I suspect playing with compatibility will smooth things out. Playable.
Conan - works, by Crom!
Sacred (& Underworld) - I have the Gold Edition, which works fine.
Not working games
SpellForce 1 - Looks like StarForce copy protection is to blame, though I'm certainly not absolving JoWood who need to get a patch out to remove it so that the game works. Pretty old game now, so there's simply no reason not to, and the more so as they have already removed it from the far more recent SpellForce 2.
Deathtrap Dungeon - very old game. Will install, but not run. Appears to be a CD format problem.
Tomb Raider - 1 may be installed with the use of the original disk and a program from TRchroncom. I have yet to get it fully working yet, though.
Age Of Pirates: Caribbean Tales - gone from incredibly buggy with multiple CTDs to won't even install because of the StarForce DRM. As the game is no longer being supported the chance of a corrective patch is about zero. Hugely annoying, as I was hoping to actually play this some day. Oh, well.
Chaos Gate - very old game that oh-so-nearly runs, yet not quite. A shame, but no worse than it was on XP, so expected.
Desperados 2 - this would appear to be a SecuROM issue. Wonder how often I'll be writing that... On the bright side, I wasn't that interested in the game anyway.
Broken Sword 3 & 4 do not work. 3 appears to be a copy protection issue.
Freedom Force vrs The Third Reich will not work. This is definitely a DRM issue, the culprit being StarForce, apparently.
Tortuga: Two Treasures. Another copy protection issue, would you believe? I felt sorry for Ascaron when they went under. Now, not so much...
Tortuga: Pirates Of The New World - tries to install unsigned drivers, so Win 7 stops it doing so. this means it will not run. Unsure if this is a copy protection issue or something else. Ascaron game, so no chance of an update.
Heroes Chronicles, a set of adventures that use the Heroes of Might & Magic 3 engine, won't load, sadly. I've only tried Clash Of The Dragons, but as they are all identical, if one works they all should and vice versa. With 3DO long gone, this is unlikely to be fixed.
Knights Of Honor - has compatibility issues I have not yet managed to resolve. Complains about kernel problems on some but not all compatibility systems. NOT DRM at fault, for once, as it uses none.
Dungeon Siege & Legends Of Aranna - according to Win 7 has "known compatibility issues" that have not yet been dealt with - which is absolutely bloody disgusting as the game is a Microsoft Games release! Won't run, of course.
Theocracy: trying to install from the menu gives you an error message. Trying to install using setup.exe on the disk gives you the same message, but Win 7 then asks if you want to reinstall with recommended settings. Hit yes and it will install. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a way to make it run, which is a shame.
***
End note: all solutions to problems are taken from official forums where they exist. I'm really not THAT much of a whiz! ;D
I must admit, I'm pretty impressed at the number of games that will actually work on Win 7. I'd expected more casualties than this!
I'll continue to update the list, but possibly not for a while as I'm starting to feel like, ya know, actually PLAYING something! ;D
My new system has the 64 bit version of Win 7, which in theory should make it less compatible but so far has seemingly made no difference. And yes, I have tried the compatibility program with the games that don't work. In some cases the problem is most likely not the game, but the copy protection.
As an added aside, I haven't had time to test all of these games extensively, of course. This is a list of games that will run rather than a list of games that function with utter perfection at all points.
Will add to the list as I go...
Working games
The Witcher - needs the patch that removes all copy protection, then works beautifully and with no problems.
Titan Quest - works fine as is.
Overlord - works fine as is.
The Movies - works fine as is, but needs setup run manually.
Sins Of A Solar Empire - works fine.
Warriors Orochi - works fine.
Tomb Raider: Legend - works fine, as do all the later versions.
Tomb Raider 2, 3, Last Revelation and Chronicles may all be enabled to work perfectly with a program created by the wonderful people at www.tombraiderchronicles.com which updates the compatibility to Vista, which is close enough to work. (As they appear to not like direct linking, however, I can't link to the file).
Jade Empire SE - works as long as you put it into compatibility mode for XP SP3 AND bypass the configuration utility by launching the program in the main folder directly rather than from the game menu.
The Bard's Tale - works with comparability mode set to XP service pack 2. Complains at the lack of something or other during setup, but you can ignore that!
Enclave - works fine.
Red Alert 2 & Yuri's Revenge are both fine.
Torment works. One of the main things I care about, sorted! ;D
Dawn Of War 1 series is fine. Not a huge surprise, I'm sure
SpellForce 2 - an 'incidental effect' of the latest patch removes the copy protection system that stops he game from working. Some 'incidental', huh? ;D
GUN works fine.
Final Fantasy 8 - works perfectly. Better than it did under XP, in fact...
Sea Dogs - works fine.
Side Meier's Pirates - I think combat runs a bit faster than it should, but I don't mind that. Beyond a few speed issues though, seems fine.
Kohan and the expansion, Battles Oh Ahriman, are fine.
Kohan 2: Kings Of War is fine.
Kult: Heretic Kingdoms - despite being a more recent game, needs a whole host of things done to it in order to work. It works under 98/ME compatibility mode, with visual themes, desktop composition
and display scaling ALL disabled! Nightmare!
PREY is fine.
Broken Sword 1 & 2 (At least from the 'Trilogy' pack) are fine.
Freedom Force works.
Heroes of Might & Magic 4 is fine.
Storm Of Zehir works perfectly, which I am assuming extends to the whole of the Neverwinter Nights 2 stuff, as the are all fully integrated with each other.
Dungeon Keeper can be made to work with the aid of DOSBOX.
Port Royale 2 - works fine, though scrolling speed is a little fast in towns. Doesn't really hurt the playability of the game, though.
Evil Genius - works fine.
Stronghold works, as does Stronghold Crusader Extreme.
Stronghold 2 sort of works (Though oddly I got a few time outs on the disk detection to start with. This ceased for no reason). The game, however, is really bright and everything shines unnaturally when set to the highest graphics settings. Ironically, it's fine when running on medium graphic settings.
Desperados - works fine.
The Black Mirror works fine, though it did get into a fight with my anti-virus program, which was weird.
Drakensang is fine. I figured Allrik might want to know that one
No-one Lives Forever 2 works perfectly on Win 2000 compatibility mode.
Seal Of Evil - autorun does not function, but setup can be run from the CD. Game works perfectly once installed.
Battle Mages - works perfectly.
Battle Realms - old game that has a bit of a problem, but I suspect playing with compatibility will smooth things out. Playable.
Conan - works, by Crom!
Sacred (& Underworld) - I have the Gold Edition, which works fine.
Not working games
SpellForce 1 - Looks like StarForce copy protection is to blame, though I'm certainly not absolving JoWood who need to get a patch out to remove it so that the game works. Pretty old game now, so there's simply no reason not to, and the more so as they have already removed it from the far more recent SpellForce 2.
Deathtrap Dungeon - very old game. Will install, but not run. Appears to be a CD format problem.
Tomb Raider - 1 may be installed with the use of the original disk and a program from TRchroncom. I have yet to get it fully working yet, though.
Age Of Pirates: Caribbean Tales - gone from incredibly buggy with multiple CTDs to won't even install because of the StarForce DRM. As the game is no longer being supported the chance of a corrective patch is about zero. Hugely annoying, as I was hoping to actually play this some day. Oh, well.
Chaos Gate - very old game that oh-so-nearly runs, yet not quite. A shame, but no worse than it was on XP, so expected.
Desperados 2 - this would appear to be a SecuROM issue. Wonder how often I'll be writing that... On the bright side, I wasn't that interested in the game anyway.
Broken Sword 3 & 4 do not work. 3 appears to be a copy protection issue.
Freedom Force vrs The Third Reich will not work. This is definitely a DRM issue, the culprit being StarForce, apparently.
Tortuga: Two Treasures. Another copy protection issue, would you believe? I felt sorry for Ascaron when they went under. Now, not so much...
Tortuga: Pirates Of The New World - tries to install unsigned drivers, so Win 7 stops it doing so. this means it will not run. Unsure if this is a copy protection issue or something else. Ascaron game, so no chance of an update.
Heroes Chronicles, a set of adventures that use the Heroes of Might & Magic 3 engine, won't load, sadly. I've only tried Clash Of The Dragons, but as they are all identical, if one works they all should and vice versa. With 3DO long gone, this is unlikely to be fixed.
Knights Of Honor - has compatibility issues I have not yet managed to resolve. Complains about kernel problems on some but not all compatibility systems. NOT DRM at fault, for once, as it uses none.
Dungeon Siege & Legends Of Aranna - according to Win 7 has "known compatibility issues" that have not yet been dealt with - which is absolutely bloody disgusting as the game is a Microsoft Games release! Won't run, of course.
Theocracy: trying to install from the menu gives you an error message. Trying to install using setup.exe on the disk gives you the same message, but Win 7 then asks if you want to reinstall with recommended settings. Hit yes and it will install. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a way to make it run, which is a shame.
***
End note: all solutions to problems are taken from official forums where they exist. I'm really not THAT much of a whiz! ;D
I must admit, I'm pretty impressed at the number of games that will actually work on Win 7. I'd expected more casualties than this!
I'll continue to update the list, but possibly not for a while as I'm starting to feel like, ya know, actually PLAYING something! ;D
)
) was Diablo 2 patch 1.09d and mod Fury Within! 
