Trying to install a game that uses a 16bit installer on a 64bit system

[Userremoved]

Windows 7 64bit is giving me a headache (again):
I wanted to play one of my old games from but the problem is the installer (not the game itself) uses an old 16bit installer. I tried XP mode (yes I have Pro), Virtual box (I enabled 2D and 3D acceleration) and compatibility mode (did not work). Is there a work around?

 

[Userremoved]

Any ideas?

 

[Herr_Koos]

Which game? There is no generic fix, you may have to google for an answer.

 

[Userremoved]

An old game called Legoland.

 

[gamerk316]

16-bit .exe files are NOT supported under Win64, period. Your only option is a Virtual PC.

You *might* be able to install the game on another PC, copy the files over, and manually create the necessary registry entries; if the game is 32 bit, this could work. But other then that, your out of luck.

 

[Userremoved]

Oh well the game itself is 32 bit but the installer is the darn problem XP mod (virtual machine) was total crap

 

[isamuelson]

Don't use XP mode. It doesn't allow 3d acceleration. Instead, get either VirtualBox from Oracle/Sun or get VMPlayer. Both are free, but you will need to have a copy of XP/Win95/98/Vista to install the OS. I've used VMPlayer with a 32-bit copy of XP to run games like the first Diablo and Bladerunner with no major issues at all.

 

[Userremoved]

Don't use XP mode. It doesn't allow 3d acceleration. Instead, get either VirtualBox from Oracle/Sun or get VMPlayer. Both are free, but you will need to have a copy of XP/Win95/98/Vista to install the OS. I've used VMPlayer with a 32-bit copy of XP to run games like the first Diablo and Bladerunner with no major issues at all.

Ive tried Virtual Box too.

 

[gamerk316]

Dosbox only works with DOS, win95 era .exe's will not run.

If the games that old, XP mode should be sufficent; games didn't really need GPU acceleration until the late 90's..

 

[JDFan]

Have you tried unpacking the install files using Universal Extractor

 

[Userremoved]

Have you tried unpacking the install files using Universal Extractor

Eh cool but how do I use it?

 

[Userremoved]

Dosbox only works with DOS, win95 era .exe's will not run.

If the games that old, XP mode should be sufficent; games didn't really need GPU acceleration until the late 90's..

Again I tried XP mode and it froze.

 

[isamuelson]

Again I tried XP mode and it froze.

I'd say you're only recourse then is to dual-boot.

 

[JDFan]

Eh cool but how do I use it?

Download and install -- run the program on the exe file and it will unpack the files from the archive - then try installing the program using the extracted files - this should get you past the problem with the installer package ( I know it worked on the Oblivion DLC content that had the same type of installer issues due to the DRM scheme used for the downloads)

 

[toddie]

I can only get into the same game (Legoland from 1999/2000) and whenever i want to the playing part it just shows an error and i exits out of the game... I REALLY wanna play this game, so many childhood memories. If anyone can help, then please do

 

[Pherule]

Wow, necrobump, toddie?

Anyway, since the topic is apparently alive again, I might as well ask:

I've used VMPlayer with a 32-bit copy of XP to run games like the first Diablo and Bladerunner with no major issues at all.

If I were to run Windows 8 Pro, 64-bit, would it run Diablo 1 natively?
If not, why not? As far as I know, Diablo 1 is 32-bit, and 64-bit Windows operating systems are supposed to be backwards compatible with 32-bit software.

 

[JDFan]

Wow, necrobump, toddie?

Anyway, since the topic is apparently alive again, I might as well ask:


If I were to run Windows 8 Pro, 64-bit, would it run Diablo 1 natively?
If not, why not? As far as I know, Diablo 1 is 32-bit, and 64-bit Windows operating systems are supposed to be backwards compatible with 32-bit software.

THe problem you run into is that many 16 bit games used 8 bit installation programs -- and 64 bit versions no longer support 8 bit programs -- so in many cases the game would play BUT you can not install the game (kind of a catch 22 situation) - Also many of the older games run in DOS mode which MS has stopped supporting so you need third party support (ie. Dosbox) - in order to get them installed you have to go through other steps (like running them in a virtual XP environment).

That said - I have Diablo I installed and running on my Win7 64 bit machine (it's been a long while since I installed it so do not remember exactly what was required - but it does run natively without the use of Dosbox or a virtual machine) - so it does work ( I use an iso image of the original disk mounted in Daemon when launching (since my original disk is put away for storage to avoid scratches) - If the image is not mounted the game fails to launch and tells you to insert the disk but once the image is mounted the game launches and runs fine - so I would think it is also possible to use under win 8 Pro but may take some work to get set up the first time !

 

[HEXiT]

almost rite.
windows 64bit doesnt handle 16 bit installers. there are no 8 bit installers windows has always been a 16bit gui based o.s since version 1.01 released in 1985.
the rest of it i have no problem with...
op all you can do to try and get the game to work is run it on a virtual 32bit o.s or a real 32bit o.s its best if you try and find an old copy of windows 98se and install it on a separate partition or drive. best you install it on an 8gig max old ide drive if you have 1 floating about. failing that then virtual machine with 32bit xp again with a 10 gig partition set aside for it.