Issues with running a lot of older games.

[Draggar]

Until now I thought it was just a compatibility issue since a lot of the games are DOS based but I just tried to install IceWind Dale onto my computer and the autorun would kick on, I'd click install, the hourglass would appear for about 30 seconds then disappear - as if I did nothing.

I reinstalled Windows XP on this machine (using the restore from Dell w/ XP Home since I didn't want to reset the BIOS to put XP Pro on it). What is getting me is that I am 99% sure I had this game on the PC before (same XP Home OS).

As far as I know I have al the correct drivers (no ! or ? in the device manager) including the upgraded video card I opted for (Del can't track my order so I can't find exactly which one I got but the DM says "Vision Tek Radeon X1300 Series" (plus a secondary - driver date 10/28/2008 version 8.552.0.0 - is there a way to verify that this is the video card I actually have w/o opening up the case?).

Edit: According to tell it shipped with a "Module, Card, Graphic, MRMGA10, Capacitor" - I'm going to assume that is different than what the DM says... Too bad I can't track down that invoice on Dell's site?

If there is an issue - I'm thinking it's the video card since that is the only factor that has changed form the initial configuration (and different from the restore system).

[Ferrit]

Yes just download Everest.
http://majorgeeks.com/download4181.html
Any one of the 4 links will get it.
Install it and open it then look on the leftside.
If your driver for that video card is 10/28/2008 you are very out of date.
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...7&lang=English

Now whether that will allow you to run these games is another story.

[Draggar]

Thanx - that is a handy little tool, I think I'll download it to my work PC tomorrow.

It confirmed the card as being the X1300 - latest driver (directly from VisionTek) is dated 12-5-08 so it is not that out of date.

(But I am downloading it now)

Edit: It seems that VisionTek doesn't have anything updated to what I had but your link had something newer (Feb 09ish). I downloaded that and the DM is confirming that it is updated. Now let's see if one of these older games will work now.

Edit: Still not installing. Hmmm
(And I do have more than enough space on the primary HDD - 120+ GB of space is free so that isn't an issue - 2GB of RAM..

This is odd...

Edit: (again) I see Setup.exe in the task manager (from the installer) but it stays at around 3,480K being used w/ 00% of the CPU. It seems to be running but not doing anything.

Edit: (Yet again): I looke dup some screenshots and yes, I was playing this game on this system before the reinstall. I have Civ 3 Conquests running fine on the machine, so it isn't all games. Maybe later on I'll try some other similar games (Black Isle - like Baulder's Gate 1 & 2) and see if it an issue with their games or not.

The ONLY difference I can think of is that I am now running on XP SP 3 - I might have been on SP 2 before.

[Ferrit]

Well I cannot imagine its SP3 that stops the install.
If it was me I would use msconfig and remove everything in there and do a clean boot then try the install.

As a side note, manufacturers seldom have the most updated drivers.
If its ATI based thats wheree I go and the same for Nvida.

Ah and yes Everest is a handy tool. Thats the old free version.
It stumbles on new stuff though.

[CCT]

I wanted to play Crystal Key and was messing around getting Nowhere in XP. Than hit a site said to ONLY make the setting to 640x480, no other changes and voila'.

[Draggar]

Tried 640X480 and it set my screen to that resolution then gave the same exact results.

Even at Windows 90/ME compatibility mode.

Edit: As a test I grabbed the Fallout Trilogy (Fallout 1, 2, & Tactics) and it seems to be installing just fine so I'm seriously thinking it is a compatibility issue - chances are it's with SP3.

[Draggar]

I've done some Googling and it seems that there is this issue, but its spotty - XP SP3 not allowing people to play older games. Looks like I'm going to have to dig to find some answers.