For those in the know, I've got a question relating to old games and my newer (built 2002) computer:

I've got old copies of SimCity Classic and SimCity 2000 lying about--old Windows 3.1/Windows 95-era games. My computer, however,runs on XP. I'm a bit hesitant to install these games right away, as I'd rather be sure they work right away rather than having to install and jump through a bunch of hoops to get them to work before I can play (downloading patches/compatibility programs). I know that XP is generally pretty good with compatibility on a lot of older games, but is there anything I would need to do first to make these old games work like new again?

You need to run it the program in compatibility mode for whatever OS the program was last working properly. Normally this is done by right clicking on the program (and the shortcut) and selecting properties. It should be listed under the compatibility tab (Not 100% sure on this since I am on a Windows Vista OS)

It's similar/same for XP iirc. I've never used it as it never did . .. .. .. ..

SimCity Classic worked with compatability mode, the Windows version.
SimCity 2K didn't need any adjustments.
Both of them ran super-fast though, may want to slow down the CPU.
This is on my XP box, with an AMD Athlon 64 Processor (2.20 GHz) and 992 MB RAM.

Which version of 2k?

SimCity 2000. I have the special edition one with the interviews and stuff.

I have Vista and SimCity 2000 works without any problems.

The only issue I had with SC2k is that it always nags me to switch to a lower color resolution to 256bit color :cringe:.

My only problem is that it runs too fast for me. It's hard to turn on autobudget when it's on the fastest speed and the budget windows keep popping up.

I solved it by moving the budget window really close to the menu and quickly grabbing the menu after closing the window. It's impressive considering I don't have very good hand-eye coordination.

Does the DOS version come with Windows CD version? On my copy of the SC2000 Special Edition it does. Run that one in Dosbox (http://dosbox.com/) and you have no speed issues whatsoever. Plus I think the Dos version is superior, but that might just be me.

Does the DOS version come with Windows CD version? On my copy of the SC2000 Special Edition it does. Run that one in Dosbox (http://dosbox.com/) and you have no speed issues whatsoever. Plus I think the Dos version is superior, but that might just be me.

However, I ran across some issues when running SC2k DOS on Dosbox which revolves around alt-tanning and/or freeing the mouse from bosbox then returning back.SC2k DOS crashes, It always does this for me. Though there are no issues with CivI DOS and Windows 3.1 when I do the same.

Thanks for the feedback. Our copy is the SC2K Special Edition (at home I still have the old 2-floppy Windows edition somewhere), and it works just fine, although it does nag me to change to 256-color mode (I don't think XP even has that option, does it? :lol:), and it does run way too fast at the fastest speed setting. My nuclear power plant melted down while I was running in African Swallow mode; the accompanying fires almost completely leveled my city of 20,000 people before I could do anything about it. :blush:

and it does run way too fast at the fastest speed setting.

I haven't tried it with SC2K yet, does work with other games, but try downloading the The MS DirectShow SDK CPU Grabber from here (http://www.geocities.com/kulhain/) and setting it to maybe 75%. Should slow it down. :)