amd Old Games, Modern Hardware

[CyrodiilWarrior]

Hi,

 

I use a modern-day Windows 11 PC and struggle running old school games. Modern-day AMD graphics cards seem to have difficulties when it comes to old school games. That's GOG versions, and CD-ROM/ISO.

 

I've headed to PCGamingWiki, watched YouTube tutorials, and searched on Google, without much luck. I like to play old school games for single player campaigns.

 

Specs:

• X570 AORUS Master --- AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core
• Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (24 GB)

Game difficulties:

• Empires: Dawn of the Modern World (2003)
• No Man's Land: Fight for Your Rights! (2003)
• America: No Peace Beyond the Line (2001)
• Joint Task Force (2006) --- runs bug lag and slow
• Warrior Kings (2002)
• etc

Long back, I removed AMD graphics drivers, including the AMD Adrenalin Software Utility and reinstalled 'drivers only'. This hasn't fixed the issue.

 

Any solutions? Or will it not work with AMD?

[OddOod]

Welcome to the forums!
Honestly, that era of games seems to struggle on any modern hardware. But you have a pseriously nice rig, have you considered just running an XP VM?

 

[CyrodiilWarrior]

1 minute ago, OddOod said:

Welcome to the forums!
Honestly, that era of games seems to struggle on any modern hardware. But you have a pseriously nice rig, have you considered just running an XP VM?

 

Thanks for your reply.

So I tried PCem with Windows 98 SE, but that seemed laggy when playing simple games. I'm not sure if that's my predefined settings or the OS is too old. Supposably, PCem is one of the best computer emulators currently. Perhaps, I'll try it with Windows XP. I have no idea of what machine to setup, what settings, where to find any necessary additional files.

[Dedayog]

7 minutes ago, CyrodiilWarrior said:

Thanks for your reply.

So I tried PCem with Windows 98 SE, but that seemed laggy when playing simple games. I'm not sure if that's my predefined settings or the OS is too old. Supposably, PCem is one of the best computer emulators currently. Perhaps, I'll try it with Windows XP. I have no idea of what machine to setup, what settings, where to find any necessary additional files.

Those are XP era games primarily, not 98SE.  So definitely give that a shot.

[jaslion]

34 minutes ago, CyrodiilWarrior said:

like to play old school games for single player campaigns.

I bought a 25 euro core 2 duo used gamin pc for that and well its been great. A LOT of games work proper on mordern hardware but some more niche ones like most listed here only work well on win10 And older and older hardware more to the 2016 era stuff. 

[CyrodiilWarrior]

34 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Those are XP era games primarily, not 98SE.  So definitely give that a shot.

Have you used PCem or any machine emulation? I'm not sure with the setup of a PCem machine, where I should obtain files from, what specs to go for.

[Donut417]

4 hours ago, CyrodiilWarrior said:

try it with Windows XP. I have no idea of what machine to setup, what settings, where to find any necessary additional files.

From some slight reading the experience wont be very good. Seems it requires very fast hardware to even work. It might be easier to just install Virtual box and install XP. 

 

OR see if you can get a gaming PC from the era. 

[CyrodiilWarrior]

9 hours ago, Donut417 said:

From some slight reading the experience wont be very good. Seems it requires very fast hardware to even work. It might be easier to just install Virtual box and install XP. 

 

OR see if you can get a gaming PC from the era. 

 

I guess that would explain why all YouTube PCem tutorials are Windows 98 and DOS, not XP.

 

At home, I have a Windows 11 machine and a Windows XP machine at the same desk. The Windows 11 machine uses DP monitor input, the Windows XP machine uses DVI monitor input. Perhaps I need some kind of KVM USB swapper to use the same keyboard and mouse for the 2 different machines. Possibly the best method. The problems include: audio (headset), USBs, keyboard, mouse.

 

I think because of strong nostalgia and autism, I can't fully move away from old school classics. Some old school games aged terribly though, especially DOS stuff (except Theme Hospital, still works on modern stuff).

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, CyrodiilWarrior said:

Perhaps I need some kind of KVM USB swapper to use the same keyboard and mouse for the 2 different machines. Possibly the best method. The problems include: audio (headset), USBs, keyboard, mouse.

You need a USB Switcher, if you already have two different monitors. As it will be a lot cheaper than KVM's from what I have seen. 

[CyrodiilWarrior]

29 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

You need a USB Switcher, if you already have two different monitors. As it will be a lot cheaper than KVM's from what I have seen. 

So got 1 monitor. DP port for Win11 machine and DVI port for XP machine. I use monitor buttons to switch monitor input.

 

I've just ordered a USB splitter, powered. I will plug my mouse, keyboard, headset, then have a USB spare. Then whenever I press the button, it will switch between XP machine and Win11 machine.

[OddOod]

6 hours ago, Donut417 said:

You need a USB Switcher, if you already have two different monitors. As it will be a lot cheaper than KVM's from what I have seen. 

WAY cheaper. 

[CyrodiilWarrior]

15 hours ago, OddOod said:

WAY cheaper. 

When upgrading hardware over the years, I've kept old hardware (motherboards, graphic cards, etc). These have always been for LAN gaming - Empire Earth (2001) - what has easily run on old computers and laptops.