^ can confirm that FlatOut works perfectly.

I think you've put my mind at ease about going with Windows 7 64-bit. Thank you, this somewhat newbie PC gamer greatly appreciates your help. :) In fact, i'd like to thank everyone in this thread.

Go away, old-Windows-versions-fanboiz! :D

every time you click on some tile in metro interface a lightbulb dies in an orphanage while the orphans are studying so they can build a batter life for themselves! It's that bad! :P

Hahhaha. :D

Don't even get me started on how MS redesigned the XBOX 360 Dashboard interface using the "metro" look. The horror, oh the horror...

BetaMan!!! woohooooooo ;)

Get Windows 7 64-bit and install Oracle VM there. It supposedly can use real hardware (processor and graphics) on a Win2000+ guest system. So install Windows XP there with the integration addons and hope it works.

Or just make a dual boot system.

your processor must support hardware virtualisation. If it's an amd chip from the last 5ish years your good to go if it's intel you'll have to go look it up they have some really weird specs for which chips have it and which don't

Baldur's Gate can get !! as well - I'm running it without problems on Windows 7.

If an older Windows game doesn't run on 7, I'd try using XP under VirtualBox. XP Mode has but two advantages over other VM solutions:

1) It comes with an XP license (pre-installed).
2) For the applications you install in the VM, you get shortcuts in your host's start menu, so you can launch the applications without manually launching the VM first.

As for cons, well... unlike VirtualBox (which is free) and VMWare Workstation (paid), XP Mode has NO 3D acceleration whatsoever (the other two mentioned products do, at least partially), and it lacks one feature that I find almost essential - snapshots that let you roll back to an earlier state of the VM.

Two things:

- 64bit Windows versions (be it XP, Vista or Win7) can't run 16-bit Windows applications. This means that installing or patching of many early 32bit Win9x games fail in 64bit Windows because the installer, or the patching program, is 16bit.

But, this does not concern GOG games because their installers are by default made 64bit friendly, I think. Also for many other games, you can find instructions how to install the game manually, or user made replacement installers.

- For other compatibility issues with Win9x games (outside GOG at least), my experience is that usually those games that have problems in Win7 64bit, have similar problems also in WinXP 32bit. These include all kinds of video codec problems, but other problems too. So for these the only option really is to play the on real Win9x machine, go figure.


I agree with others that it doesn't make much sense to install XP on a new PC, at least as a primary OS. Apart from those 16-bit installers, game compatibility of Win7 64bit seems pretty much the same to WinXP 32bit.

If I needed a VM, what would I need besides the VM itself? Would I need an install disc of Windows XP or would the XP Mode that comes with 7 do? Would I even be able to use an XP install disc that's a non boxed retail version? (i.e. came with my PC from the manufacturer)

XP Mode (Windows 7 Professional and up) already comes with a key so you don't need anything else.

If you want to make a VM with something else (like Oracle Virtualbox or VMWare) you'll need your own copy of the OS you want to use. As for using an OEM copy, it shouldn't legally activate, but most likely will.

Yeah, I did some forum searches on OEM install discs. Some said they could activate them fine on another PC, others said they couldn't. Good to have that question and confusion cleared up.