2 replies to this topic

[EVIL Shenanigans]

...w/ games. So from my collection of games I've come across 4 (Fallout Tactics, Metal Fatigue, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, and Age of Wonders) that simply wont install and i can't figure out why.

Symptoms: Basically i insert the disc into my optical (have one DVD and one DVD-RW...doesn't matter which i use) and usually an autoplay menu will appear. I would then click 'install' and the menu would disapear and I'd hear my optical drive spin the disc for about 10 seconds and my cursor would get the little load icon for the same amount of time, but nothing else would happen...

History: I've had this machine for a while now and when i first had it built I know that all of the above games could run on it. I forget the hardware specs for the most part back then(AMD processor...Asus nforce mobo...Geforce 6800 GT ) and the OS i was using was the same one that i have currently ((Windows XP 32-bit)). Now back in those days I'm honestly not sure if i had SP1 or SP2...but I first noticed this problem around the time of my hardware upgrade when I had been usin SP2 ((currently on SP3)). The real problem is that i can't remember if this was an issue before or after my hardware upgrade...((Current relevant hardware: XFX nforce 790i ultra mobo, Intel Quadcore Q9300 2.5 Ghz proc, OCZ DDR3 2x1gb RAM, EVGA geforce 8800 GTS 640Mb GPU, same optical drives)) ...but somethin tells me this isn't hardware related so I'm not to worried about it. The reason i say this is because it's only four games...I've installed more recent games (WC3, Mercenaries 2, Mass Effect, etc.) as well as much older games (Diablo 1, Fallout 1, etc.) and they all installed fine. Another odd fact is that the games were all released around the same time (1999-2001). I've installed and played other games that were released around that time without issues (for the most part)...but its still odd.

Attempted Fixes (and subsequent failures):
- Explored the CD's, running the individual installation executable. Later tryin Windows Compatibility Mode on certain executables and then later on every executable.
- Tried turning off Windows Security and the virus program i use.
- (For kicks and giggles) Tried copying the CD's contents to my harddrive and then running the install.
- Mentioned my prob to the support staff of my hardware components and on forums devoted to the games (if in existance)...and got no help. Did hear that others have this same problem...but didnt find out anything that i didn't already know.

Two solutions I've though of would be maybe installing the game on another computer and then copying the entire folder onto my comp...another being just bite the bullet and buy a sequel (i.e. HoMM5 isntead of HoMM3...or AoW2 isntead of AoW1). The first i really dont want to have to deal with the bullsh*t...wether or not it works...cuz i honestly don't have a second computer. Yeah, i have a 8gb jump drive and I could use a friends comp or somethin, but like i said...lotta bs. Second 'solution' would work (actually did it with HoMM5...just bought it off Steam) but for games like Fallout Tactics and Metal Fatigue...there really is no solution...

So yeah...ANY help or advice or possible solutions you guys could hook me up with, i'd really appreciate it...

[Scroll_Lock88]

Welcome to old gaming on new operating systems and hardware. For the most part there is a rather long list of games that will never ever run on windows XP. Have a few options here.............


- For those games I would try to download game updates, some updates fix some hardware issues with older hardware but they fix the game so they run on newer hardware.

- Obvious other alternative, is getting a windows 98 machine for this. If you say you cannot possibly acquire one I say you are completely nuts. There is plenty of 20$ win 98 pentium 3 machines floating around craigslist you can acquire. Get a simple KVM switch and voila, you have old gaming support.

- For REALLY old games that run under DOS not WINDOWS, use this: DosBox awesome program works wonders. Some games dont run very well under it but it beats trying to f*ck around with an old computer :D

- Run a virtual installation of windows 98, vmware is a good program to use, has some issues emulating certain hardware but for the most part it works somewhat decently.

[Sniprwulf]

DirectX conflict maybe?

Like scroll said, get an old box if you really want to play them <- easiest fix.