64 bit PC OS and old games?

[Galaril]

I am buying a new laptop and it will be a 64 bit vista OS.I am wondering if older games like Rise of Nations/ Age of Myhtology work on it or not? I could not find any site that lists compatibiltiy to for 64 bit vista only 32 bit.

[Lonnie]

I haven't seen any issues running older games on Vista 64. It has been pretty stable for me. I haven't tried the two you have listed, but I could try RoN if you want me to. I have installed Diablo II and Warcraft 3 and neither of those show any ill effects. It looks like most new computers are coming with 64 bit OSs now.

[Atocep]

Why get a 64 bit os? You will not see much difference in speed if you stay with 32 bit os. Not many apps or games will be 64 bit.

Because 64 bit operating systems are the future and if you have 4gb of RAM or more installed the OS will actually use it. As more and more people are building/buying machines with 4gb of ram or more 64 bit systems are becoming more commonplace. Pretty much everything released now is compatible with 64 bit systems and 32 bit systems will likely be maxing out their 3.2gb-ish RAM within the next couple years when it comes to high end gaming.

[Galaril]

Why get a 64 bit os? You will not see much difference in speed if you stay with 32 bit os. Not many apps or games will be 64 bit.

Why? Because in the near future apps will be 64 bit based apps for he most part.

[Galaril]

I haven't seen any issues running older games on Vista 64. It has been pretty stable for me. I haven't tried the two you have listed, but I could try RoN if you want me to. I have installed Diablo II and Warcraft 3 and neither of those show any ill effects. It looks like most new computers are coming with 64 bit OSs now.

Thanks I had heard some people say they could not run older Age of Empires games and thought geez how about some of favs like RON.

[Coder]

About a year and a half ago I built a new computer and without actually reading up on things, I installed Vista 32-bit Home Premium.. It's been a mess ever since.. slow, tedious, old games have been messing with me etc etc..

Yesterday I downloaded Windows 7 64-bit Professional from MSDN and it's as if I have a new computer.

Without a single piece of a hardware being changed, this "new" computer is at least 4-5 times faster doing the simple things.

Not to mention my old games (especially Majesty from 1999) is running perfectly.

[Qrusher14242]

I have Windows 7 64-bit installed and some older games wont run. Like Grim Fandango, Escape from Monkey Island, Triple Play 2000(lol just wanted to try it out). They just say their not compatible with the 64 bit operating system. Most games run, but its just a few that i cant get the Setup to run.

[Galaril]

I have Windows 7 64-bit installed and some older games wont run. Like Grim Fandango, Escape from Monkey Island, Triple Play 2000(lol just wanted to try it out). They just say their not compatible with the 64 bit operating system. Most games run, but its just a few that i cant get the Setup to run.

Did those games work on the 64 bit Vista OS or did you not upgrade from that?

[Qrusher14242]

i dont think i ever tried them in Vista, but they used to work in xp 32-bit. I think its the fact they are 16-bit is the problem. Some guy made new installers for Grim Fandango and Escape from Monkey Island so i got them to work finally.

[Buccaneer]

Thanks for this info. I am finally getting around to building a new PC and I deciding whether to go with 4gb or 8gb RAM, which will force the 32-bit vs. 64-bit decision. Would the opinions to go with 64-bit still makes sense, even though I do run older games?

I am also deciding whether to go with a faster AMD X2 or a more expensive X4. What would you do?

[Groundhog]

I have 6GB of ram and 32bit windows 7, which is a bit of a waste. :)

[cartman]

There is also the option of installing VMWare or Virtual PC and creating a 32 bit (or even old DOS 16 bit) guest OS to play the older games.

[Matthean]

Thanks for this info. I am finally getting around to building a new PC and I deciding whether to go with 4gb or 8gb RAM, which will force the 32-bit vs. 64-bit decision. Would the opinions to go with 64-bit still makes sense, even though I do run older games?

The deal breaker is 3GB vs. 4GB. If you are already looking at 4GB, go 64 bit. I have Win7 64, and so far everything runs smooth for games. I even run what are considered older games, but I don't try to run really old games either. Previous PC was about 5 years old, and I only got the new one in the past couple of months.

[AgustusM]

There is also the option of installing VMWare or Virtual PC and creating a 32 bit (or even old DOS 16 bit) guest OS to play the older games.

this would be my recommendation as well.

[Router Help]

I like Virtual Box, but these virtual machine options require you to have a legal license of Windows XP.

Windows 7 64- bit does come with a free Windows XP 32 Mode that requires no extra license: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx