I wanted to start this type of thread so we may be able to provide a master list of games that work correctly with Vista. Since I started it, there has been an extensive article released commenting much more on games that work with Vista than I ever could. Feel free to check for you game there first, then come here to see what our members have said.
Extremetech Vista Games article.
Originally, I wanted to also make a list of what correctly showed in the Vista Games menu, but I recently figured out how to manually enter info, so this is a moot issue now. If it doesn't show up correctly, just edit it. The following link will show you how:
How to manually edit the Vista Games menu.
Obviously, most games released from here on out should work perfectly fine. However, it's the games of the past that may need some work to get running, or maybe we'll save you some time in trying to install a game when we've already determined there's nothing that could be done.
Here are screen shots of the Vista sections we will be working with:
Please note that everything is 32-bit unless otherwise noted.
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GAME FUNCTIONALITY
Battlefield 2 - WORKS!!
[/list][*]Doom Machine quote - "i played oblivion with lots of mods flawlessly, its a tad faster than xp but not much"[/list]
Far Cry - WORKS!!
Extremetech Vista Games article.
Originally, I wanted to also make a list of what correctly showed in the Vista Games menu, but I recently figured out how to manually enter info, so this is a moot issue now. If it doesn't show up correctly, just edit it. The following link will show you how:
How to manually edit the Vista Games menu.
Obviously, most games released from here on out should work perfectly fine. However, it's the games of the past that may need some work to get running, or maybe we'll save you some time in trying to install a game when we've already determined there's nothing that could be done.
Here are screen shots of the Vista sections we will be working with:
- Games Menu - This can be accessed by clicking on the Games link in the start menu.
- Compatibility Options - This can be accessed by right-clicking the game executable in explorer mode, and clicking on the Compatibility tab. Chances are great that the only two options you'll use are the Compatibility Mode and Privledge Level options, unless it's a very old game (6+ years).
- Full name of the game, and eventually whether it worked or not.
- Tell me if it's an expansion to another game (I don't always know!).
- List patch version if possible, or list as retail version if not patched.
- Does everything show up correctly in the Games menu (i.e. game name, box art, release date, publisher/developer, genre, and ESRB rating)? If not, what is not listed correctly?
- Did you need to use any compatibility options to get the game to run correctly?
- Finally, list any anomalies you ran into, such as issues with graphics, sound, or controls. If you were able to fix these issues, tell us how.
- You may include the video card you are using along with driver version if you so wish.
Please note that everything is 32-bit unless otherwise noted.
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GAME FUNCTIONALITY
Battlefield 2 - WORKS!!
- Patched to 1.41.
- No reported problems, runs natively under Vista.
- Run the game with administrator rights under compatibility mode or else you will receive PB permissions while joining a server.
- Patched to 2.08.
- Really bad video issues using MS installed generic nvidia driver. Upgrading to WHQL nvidia drivers (from nvidia website) fixed all the problems.
- This is a Games for Windows title, therefore there should be absolutely no problems.
[/list][*]Doom Machine quote - "i played oblivion with lots of mods flawlessly, its a tad faster than xp but not much"[/list]
Far Cry - WORKS!!
- Patched to 1.4.
- Had issues with no mouse control while in-game (worked in menu, though). I went into the control options, and even though I had changed nothing, I hit the button to reset them to the defaults. This fixed my issue. This is a known issue with patch 1.4.
- Upgrade to ATI 7.1 if experiencing frame rate issues on ATI cards.
- Had major framerate issues with Garry's Mod 10, but update to nVidia's Forceware 100.59 solved the issue.
- Patched to the latest build.
- No reported issues.
- No issues reported.
- hamltnh reports problems of the game crashing to the desktop. Compatibility modes have been tried, but do not work.
- MUST select XP SP2 compatibility mode to work!
- Patched to v3369.
- Received graphics anomaly when switching resolution for the first time. A few restarts of the game proves all is well with the new resolution setting.
- No reported problems.