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General discussion (archive)Why are these games XP and Vista only?(31 posts)(31 posts)
(31 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted October 25, 2008
Games should list the operating systems they run under. Your games just say "compatible with:Windows® Vista & Windows® XP.". Some of them are DOS games running under DOSBOX. If so, they should list DOS as an operating system. If you don't, there's no way for someone not running Vista or XP to know that they can extract the files and play the game under a Linux version of DOSBOX. (I hope you did set up the games so that it's possible to extract the files.)
Likewise, anything which runs under Windows 98 should say so. (For instance, does Fallout no longer work under Windows 98?)
Posted October 25, 2008
This is just a guess, but probably because that's the only operating systems they will currently support if you have problems. All the games I bought were also wrapped in an installer created by GOG. That installer might also only work on XP and Vista. I've also successfully run it under wine.
Posted October 25, 2008
The installers work under Win2k, and I have yet to run into problems while playing too.
Posted October 25, 2008
They only support using windows XP and vista because that's what the installer is designed for.
You certainly could use the files under dos, but you'd have to rig em
Posted October 25, 2008
>> Your games just say "compatible with:Windows® Vista & Windows® XP."
Well, you know, you can't blame the devs if these two OSes are used on 90%+ of wordwide PC :-P
GOG.com sells videogames, and usually if you play games on the PC you have at least XP. I have DOS and Windows ME and Vista too, but frankly I don't think it would be of some use to include very old OSes like '98 or whatever apart of XP and Vista.
The games are old and good, the OSes are new, end of the story :-P
Post edited October 25, 2008 by KingofGnG
Posted October 25, 2008
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arromdee: Games should list the operating systems they run under. Your games just say "compatible with:Windows® Vista & Windows® XP.". Some of them are DOS games running under DOSBOX. If so, they should list DOS as an operating system. If you don't, there's no way for someone not running Vista or XP to know that they can extract the files and play the game under a Linux version of DOSBOX. (I hope you did set up the games so that it's possible to extract the files.)
Likewise, anything which runs under Windows 98 should say so. (For instance, does Fallout no longer work under Windows 98?)

Let's take a step into reality, shall we? Why should they take the time to load up every single OS known to man just to see if these games work? And before you go saying, "well I just asked for a couple things", those couple things always turn into into more and more. It's not worth the money (time = money) to grab an older OS, if one is even available, run the game, and then verify that it works.
It's just much simpler to say, "this game works under XP and Vista". Let the community take care of the rest.
Posted October 26, 2008
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Kneo24: Let's take a step into reality, shall we? Why should they take the time to load up every single OS known to man just to see if these games work? And before you go saying, "well I just asked for a couple things", those couple things always turn into into more and more. It's not worth the money (time = money) to grab an older OS, if one is even available, run the game, and then verify that it works.
It's just much simpler to say, "this game works under XP and Vista". Let the community take care of the rest.

Just so. I run the Dosbox games from GOG on Dosbox under Linux, and the Windows games under Windows 2000 and Wine, but I don't expect the devs to offer explicit support for those platforms. And this has been the tradition for Windows games for years, remember the whole "We don't support NT based systems, but it might work" thing?
"Supported systems" has never been about listing every possible setup the app can run under, it's about what you have the time and resources to support.
Just support what you want, don't prevent me from doing it differently if I want to, that's all I ask. And GOG is doing just that.
Post edited October 26, 2008 by phanboy4
Posted October 26, 2008
I think more people using Windows2000 still then Vista.
Windows2000 is 99% XP anyway, the only time something fails to work is normaly when the developers do something stupid. (like requiring the XP theme dll's.).
--
As for in general, they simple should have a mode which preserves the game exactly as the original game was.
So whatever the original release can run on, this can too.
While they shouldnt need to test under every system, it would be nice if they could at least garenty the original compatibility as well as any newly tested stuff.
Also,
They should have a little voting;
eg.
Under the game compatibility;
"95% of players also found this worked on Windows 2000"
"85% of players found this worked in Dosbox under Linux"
etc.
Let the userbase inform other buyers!
Posted October 26, 2008
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Darkflame: I think more people using Windows2000 still then Vista.
Windows2000 is 99% XP anyway, the only time something fails to work is normaly when the developers do something stupid. (like requiring the XP theme dll's.).
--
As for in general, they simple should have a mode which preserves the game exactly as the original game was.
So whatever the original release can run on, this can too.
While they shouldnt need to test under every system, it would be nice if they could at least garenty the original compatibility as well as any newly tested stuff.
Also,
They should have a little voting;
eg.
Under the game compatibility;
"95% of players also found this worked on Windows 2000"
"85% of players found this worked in Dosbox under Linux"
etc.
Let the userbase inform other buyers!

If it works under XP, as you say it will work under Win2k.
If it works under Dosbox in Windows, it's 100% guaranteed to work under Dosbox in Linux, since the internals of Dosbox are the same across ports, that's the whole point of Dosbox.
Under Wine you have about a 60% chance.
Posted October 26, 2008
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Darkflame: I think more people using Windows2000 still then Vista.

I work in a call center for an ISP. There are more people who call in with Win98 than Win2k. And Vista is just behind WinXP.
Posted October 26, 2008
>> While they shouldnt need to test under every system, it would be nice if they could at least garenty the original compatibility as well as any newly tested stuff.
"Original compatibility"? Well, in this case you could always take the games elsewhere in their original package and release, imho. The GOG.com business model would be useless to your needs....
Posted October 26, 2008
Why? Its only a question of having an option NOT to use the new installer.
I don't see how doing less is a problem.
GOG.com's business model is wonderful...we pay for the games, and get a DRM free copy to use thats guarantied to work on 2 modern OS's.
But that doesn't exclude the game working on early OS's if they just provide a download/install option with the old files unaltered. Which would thus have the same compatibility as the original release.
Post edited October 26, 2008 by Darkflame
Posted October 26, 2008
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phanboy4: Why should they take the time to load up every single OS known to man just to see if these games work?

I'm not really even asking if the games work. I just want to know if it's a DOS game or a 98 game.
Some of these games are DOS games that use DOSBOX. Some are not. How can I tell which one is which? Even if I know that the game was originally released for DOS, I have no idea if the one on here is actually just that version in a wrapper or if the game itself has been hacked in some way to work on Windows.
Posted October 26, 2008
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phanboy4: Why should they take the time to load up every single OS known to man just to see if these games work?
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arromdee: I'm not really even asking if the games work. I just want to know if it's a DOS game or a 98 game.
Some of these games are DOS games that use DOSBOX. Some are not. How can I tell which one is which? Even if I know that the game was originally released for DOS, I have no idea if the one on here is actually just that version in a wrapper or if the game itself has been hacked in some way to work on Windows.

I would like to have a "This game uses Dosbox" line somewhere, but a quick check at MobyGames tells me if the game is a DOS game, and for the games that were released on both Windows and DOS, checking these forums usually gives me the info I need.
Posted October 26, 2008
>> GOG.com's business model is wonderful...we pay for the games, and get a DRM free copy to use thats guarantied to work on 2 modern OS's.
But that doesn't exclude the game working on early OS's if they just provide a download/install option with the old files unaltered. Which would thus have the same compatibility as the original release.
This is just the problem: adding compatibility "layers" (be they the original files or whatever) is unfitting to the business model of GOG.com, that is selling old games brand new for XP and Vista with no further complications....
It's a golden rule: a publisher/reseller tell you how are the requirements for the game, then you are on your own if you want to do otherwise.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)Why are these games XP and Vista only?(31 posts)(31 posts)
(31 posts)