Anyone know how to make a 1997 cd rom game work on a new computer?

[t_time]

Anyone know how to make a 1997 cd rom game work on a new computer?

[WindAtMyBack]

What game is it? What OS does the game require. What OS are you using?
It's a good idea to do a search for your specific game. There are probably forums for the game with threads about how to get it to run on a modern OS.

Other's have mentioned gog.com. It tends to sell old games very cheap. Even if you already own the game, it can save a lot of hassle to pay a few dollars for a GOG game. They specialize in making old games work on modern computers. I think GOG is still running the anniversary sale on old games. GOG sells digital downloads, but unlike Steam it does not require a key. Once you download the game, it's yours. You can run it on any computer or even sell it.

Other's have also mentioned dosbox. That is an option if the game runs on dos. It can be a little tricky getting it to run right, but it's worth it if you like the game. Plus, once you get it working you can use dosbox for other games with some minor tweaks. The hardware part of it will be the same for all old games (and other software). But the particular game might need some software tweaking.

If you happen to be running Windows 7, there is something called XP Mode. This is free from Microsoft and is a full licensed version of XP that will run within Windows 7. A lot of older games will run on XP mode.

Compatibility mode. When you run compatibility mode, made sure you do it BEFORE you install the game. It's not always necessary, but sometimes it makes a difference. Don't let the CD use Autorun. To do this, hold the shift key when you insert the CD. Then use Explorer to look at the CD and find either the setup or install program. Right click install/setup and go into properties, then set compatibility mode to Windows 95. If you know the resolution of the game, it might help to set the resolution and number of colors in compatibility mode also. Then try installed the game.

Bottom line is that it can be a pain to get old software working. There is usually some trial and error involved and requires a lot of patience. Sometimes it's easy, but usually it's not. This is why buying from GOG is worth the money.

Also, if you have a widescreen display, the game may not look right since it was made for the old aspect ratio. Again, GOG might deal with this. There may also be some mods available that will make the game look right with a wide screen.

[t_time]

I'm still reading through this but it's for my talk with me barbie cd rom. I have a gaming laptop. It might make it more difficult.
Thanks for going into so much detail!

[NamerOfStars]

Almost certainly. There are two categories of problem to deal with: hardware and software. We'll start with the latter.

-What operating system does the game run on, and which does the modern computer use? If it's a Windows game, you're looking at 95 (or 98, in theory, but there's very little practical difference), or possibly DOS. Emulating 95 is kinda tricky, but still readily doable; emulating DOS is VERY easy, thanks to a wonderful tool called DOSBox. If it's using whatever version of MacOS they had back then, I may not be able to help you- my knowledge of that is MUCH less.

-What's the game? Although it's not particularly likely, there ARE a few that will still run natively on "modern" equipment, and some need very little finagling to make work.

On the hardware front:

-Does the computer in question have a CD drive? A lot of newer ones don't. That's not a guarantee of failure; putting one in is actually pretty simple, and there are external USB-powered CD drives available.

-For matter, do you have the disc? If it's just a specific game you're looking for, finding a physical copy might be tricky, but the folks over at GOG. com very likely have a copy- their whole stick was originally selling old games that were hard to find and harder to make work. They've since expanded into modern stuff (the name originally stood for "good old games"), but you can very likely find not only a digital copy, but help with the game itself there. But that's in-game; there's likely not the same assistance in getting your own copy running.

-Depending on the game, getting the clock speed right might be tricky; 1997 saw the introduction of the Pentium 2, whose first variant had a whopping speed of 233 mHz; a modern entry-level CPU is going to have two or four cores, each of which is doing easily fifteen times that. That's not the end of world; it's just a matter of tweaking a number a few times, but it can be kind of tiresome.

[Aerissa_Jade]

Depends, what game? If you have it from Steam, they get it to work for you.

What OS was it ran on? that would be... windows 3.1 I think, but I don't know, that was before my time.

Could try a emulator or VM if you can find one, or if that was still DOS, then try DOS box. I'm not sure when windows came out.

[Anonymous]

Assuming you are talking about windows; If you right click the program and goto properties and then compatibility you can select an older operating system.

This might work, otherwise you would need an emulator which is a 'virtual machine' a software version of the old computer hardware.

Here is an article about it:

https://www.online-tech-tips.com/gaming/how-to-play-windows-95-games-on-windows-10/

Presumably you have checked to make sure you even have a cd rom drive, most computers no longer even use them.

But again you can still get around this assuming you have access to a computer which does have a cd rom drive by making an 'image' of the cd rom, an '. iso' file which would then be 'mounted' into a virtual cd rom drive much like the emulator. To do this you would require a program like daemon tools lite which you can find for free online.

[bowenw]

Once the CD is in the drive you should be able to view its contents in File Explorer. Try to find a file that ends in. exe and double click it. You may have to unhide file extensions to see the. exe.

[NathanDavis]

not sure... but will probably need an emulator

or whatever it ran on, it is about compatibility now

[exitseven]

Do you need an external CD=ROM drive?

[t_time]

Yah I probably will

[exitseven]

get this one

[XLBBC4White]

If it's PC go to compatibility settings and chose Win95 or Win98

[Brando10222]

Try searching on YouTube

[jshm2]

Use dosbox