Which way to go?

Nomadsa

Nomadsa

New member
I am a gamer so I have a P4 desktop at home that I only use for playing pc games. Now my problem is that my gaming is effected by hardware and software compatibility issues. For the purpose of playing games and to ensure that performance stays a priority nothing additional is loaded but the necessary software. The problem, which OS is the best for playing pc games?
Previously installed was win xp, games such as Railroad Tycoon 3, Hitman 2, Morrowind ….3 and Civilization 3 ect continuously crass during game play. Most of these games are said to be compatible with win xp why then the reoccurring errors and hang-ups, could it be..

1st compatibility between OS and the game manufacturer
2nd compatibility between OS and hardware manufacturer
3rd compatibility between different game manufacturers

One thing is for certain when I went to the store to buy the OS, Hardware, games every item said compatible with win xp. Nothing was said, make sure that you are connected with the internet because you may have to download service packs, patch files and so on.

So due to the high performance hardware recommended by game manufacturers and compatibility issues with hardware and OS; 98se and Me, not an option

Currently running win 2000 but loosing out on older games which is not compatible with NT.


What is next?
 
L

LTR12101B

1
If you want great compatibility with everything, then I'd say you have to consider dual-booting, either with the capabilities of Windows (eg. Dual boot Win98SE and WinXP), or by using a partition manager with boot manager - or removable tray hard disks.
They are only JUST beginning to drop support of Win98SE/ME (eg. the next Intel chipset) - I'm surprised to find much that isn't supported - YET!

If you have games old enough to be DOS, I'd also suggest a real DOS boot option as well, rather than the fraught task of persuading them to run under Windows.

It may also be worth running several partitions, and keeping an "all patches but no installs" backup to flush them over with when they get too messy ... they just don't seem to care about harmful leftovers from uninstalls, or about throwing incompatible versions of DLL files all over the place.


PS. May be worth looking at the power and cooling, and perhaps the quality of the RAM - most games are better than any memory tester at seeking out weaknesses - actually, running several hours of RAM tests would be a good move.
 
weboneando

weboneando

1
Even when you got a dedicated PC for gaming in some cases getting a game to run is a very complicated task, knowing this I wouldn´t blame on XP right away for not running your games first check that your hardware is not overheating, things like a heatsink not installed properly on your proc or bad air flow inside the pc case can present serious problems also like LTR12101B said ram and psu could make things unstable, once checked all your hardware then go for soft updates like SP1 for XP and latest drivers for all your devices including directx and chipset drivers.

For DOS games there is "glidos" wich gives support for running some DOS games within WinXP, more info in here:
http://www.glidos.net/

In some cases there are games that once installed might prevent other games to run but that is very strange to happen this days.

Also checking the web site of the game could get you to important tips to solve compatibility issues.
 
L

LTR12101B

1
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