Steam for retro/vintage computers

[andromaccus]

Hello, I am sure that I am not the only one that has one old computer with Windows XP or another old system that can't handle any new modern version of Windows, let alone any modern hardware, but that works just fine for older PC titles. I would like to suggest some official version of Steam that would run in the currently unsupported OS like Win XP (or any before Win 10). I think it would be a great idea, I have bought many old games and I wish I could play them on my ancient PC without having to get them from "somewhere else", but without being able to install Steam, its impossible. I am sorry for my broken english, thanks.

[Komarimaru]

Between Dosbox and other DOS emulators, and a 16 bit translation layer I posted around a year ago to even play Windows 3.1 era games, generally little to no reason to ever need a retro machine that's connected and online. I personally keep mine offline full time.

[Haruspex]

Origineel geplaatst door andros:

Any DOS game(without haveing to use Dos Box)

Do you restrict yourself to only open cans without the use of a can opener? Last I checked DOS hasn't been a component of Windows since 95/98/ME. DOS Box is a very good tool that lets you run those games anyway on modern hardware, so why limit yourself? I say this as someone who has a period-accurate mid-90s gaming PC set up right now for nostalgia reasons. (Completely offline of course.) Just recently I installed the nglide wrapper[www.zeus-software.com], which lets you run games designed for the old Voodoo 3d accelerators on modern systems, in order to play some "Descent Freespace".
https://store.steampowered.com/app/273600/Descent_FreeSpace__The_Great_War/

Needing to tweak things or use third party tools to run older PC games on newer PCs has been a thing since the 80s. Certain early PC games had speeds tied to the CPU, so trying to run them on your fancy new 486 resulted in the game moving so fast that it was unplayable. You had to use a 3rd party tool to artificially slow your CPU down (like MoSlo) to play these games at the correct speed. Alternatively you could manipulate physical jumpers on your motherboard to downclock your CPU, but who wants to do that every time you want to play "Digger"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0yQfyJlqdA

If you're looking for a more authentic experience on your old PC, well, you wouldn't want some Internet client to download your stuff anyway. You want to fight with disks and ini files and autoexec.bat files and you want to wrestle with IRQ slots. That's how we did it back in the day.

[andromaccus]

Origineel geplaatst door Nx Machina:

Origineel geplaatst door andros:

Any DOS game(without haveing to use Dos Box), Jane's Fleet Command, Rome TW, Max Payne, Manhunt, are the ones that comes to mind. All those work, but not greatly. I had to do a lot of stuff to get Fleet Command to work for instance. Rome runs with low fps even on super modern hardware. And even if they worked flawlessly, the point is that we need Steam for older systems anyways.

Dosbox allows you to run them on modern versions of windows, because those games require dos. Problem solved.

Windows 10 has a very good backwards compatibilty layer for older windows versions, so again i ask which games do not run on modern versions of windows?

The point is that I dont want to use DosBox, I want to run them natively. This post is about Steam for retro computers, not running old games on modern systems. I know I can run any game I want on my current Win 11 pc, but that's not the point.

[Start_Running]

Origineel geplaatst door andros:

Origineel geplaatst door Nx Machina:

Dosbox allows you to run them on modern versions of windows, because those games require dos. Problem solved.

Windows 10 has a very good backwards compatibilty layer for older windows versions, so again i ask which games do not run on modern versions of windows?

The point is that I dont want to use DosBox, I want to run them natively.

Well the good news is that most games that use dosbox have already had all copy protection removed so you can just copy the installed files to the does computer and run it.
But yeah there's not gonna be a Steam for Dos client m8. Just no.

And DOsbox is as good as natively running on dos. SInce it literally uses the same code as dos as far as the game is concerned. Dosbox is essentially a DOs Virtual Machine.

Origineel geplaatst door andros:

This post is about Steam for retro computers, not running old games on modern systems. I know I can run any game I want on my current Win 11 pc, but that's not the point.

And what business sense woyuld that make. to have steam running on outdated insecure hardware and allowing such a client to connect to the steam servers and thusly have EVERYONE'S data put at risk.

Yeah no m8.

[andromaccus]

Origineel geplaatst door Start_Running:

Origineel geplaatst door andros:

The point is that I dont want to use DosBox, I want to run them natively.

Well the good news is that most games that use dosbox have already had all copy protection removed so you can just copy the installed files to the does computer and run it.
But yeah there's not gonna be a Steam for Dos client m8. Just no.

And DOsbox is as good as natively running on dos. SInce it literally uses the same code as dos as far as the game is concerned. Dosbox is essentially a DOs Virtual Machine.

Origineel geplaatst door andros:

This post is about Steam for retro computers, not running old games on modern systems. I know I can run any game I want on my current Win 11 pc, but that's not the point.

And what business sense woyuld that make. to have steam running on outdated insecure hardware and allowing such a client to connect to the steam servers and thusly have EVERYONE'S data put at risk.

Yeah no m8.

You're not wrong. But I just thought it could be a good idea.

[xBCxRangers]

Heaven forbid, Valve or Mr Newell will do anything nice for its loyal fanbase that does not or cannot spend a grand on a new computer to play retro games.

Would letting us play offline and keep our games, be so wrong? How are we hurting anybody? Smh.

[Satoru]

Just install windows 11 and all your 'vintage' games will work fine

[Haruspex]

Origineel geplaatst door MrNewell123:

Heaven forbid, Valve or Mr Newell will do anything nice for its loyal fanbase that does not or cannot spend a grand on a new computer to play retro games.

Would letting us play offline and keep our games, be so wrong? How are we hurting anybody? Smh.

Read the previous posts in this thread and you'll find that other people have already addressed this. There's no DRM built into those kinds of old games. Just copy the files over to your ancient PC and play them.

[andromaccus]

Origineel geplaatst door MrNewell123:

Heaven forbid, Valve or Mr Newell will do anything nice for its loyal fanbase that does not or cannot spend a grand on a new computer to play retro games.

Would letting us play offline and keep our games, be so wrong? How are we hurting anybody? Smh.

Exactly. Actually, the only thing that makes Steam not work on older OS like Win 7 is something that has to do with Google or Chrome, that ofc Steam uses, that is not designed for older systems. If we coud get just an alternate way to run Steam, maybe a dll, plugin or whatever (idk im not a programmer) that comes already built-in every Steam update, that would be the way to do this. Not even some parallel program that requires high maintenance. Just some compatibility.

[Komarimaru]

It's not feasible to make a client for older operating systems. Valve would be liable for any issues with such a service, not sure what's so hard to understand about this. Even EA dropped their legacy client due to legal reasons, since they'd be on the hook for supporting older crap.

[xBCxRangers]

Origineel geplaatst door Komarimaru:

It's not feasible to make a client for older operating systems. Valve would be liable for any issues with such a service, not sure what's so hard to understand about this. Even EA dropped their legacy client due to legal reasons, since they'd be on the hook for supporting older crap.

Dude after you said that i signed onto EA, here on Win 7, and booted up MOH Allied Assault, and it works.

And so idk what it is, legacy clients, or whatever, EA is letting us play our games.

[Komarimaru]

Origineel geplaatst door MrNewell123:

Origineel geplaatst door Komarimaru:

It's not feasible to make a client for older operating systems. Valve would be liable for any issues with such a service, not sure what's so hard to understand about this. Even EA dropped their legacy client due to legal reasons, since they'd be on the hook for supporting older crap.

Dude after you said that i signed onto EA, here on Win 7, and booted up MOH Allied Assault, and it works.

And so idk what it is, legacy clients, or whatever, EA is letting us play our games.

EA's legacy client was for Windows XP. Windows 7 isn't fully blocked yet. This thread isn't about crap 7 users.

7 is not retro, it's outdated. No one cares about 7.

[Start_Running]

Origineel geplaatst door andros:

You're not wrong. But I just thought it could be a good idea.

This is a remove the front and rear windscreen on a car to reduce wind resistance kind of idea. O.e one that accomplishes nothing that can't already be done, while exposing everyone to more risk.

Origineel geplaatst door MrNewell123:

Heaven forbid, Valve or Mr Newell will do anything nice for its loyal fanbase that does not or cannot spend a grand on a new computer to play retro games.

Would letting us play offline and keep our games, be so wrong? How are we hurting anybody? Smh.

Exposing the entire player base's data to hacks due to needing to leave lowsecurity backdoors for retro clients is not a nice thing last I checked. It's Opening a window ina hurricane for some fresh air.

Origineel geplaatst door Komarimaru:

Origineel geplaatst door MrNewell123:

Dude after you said that i signed onto EA, here on Win 7, and booted up MOH Allied Assault, and it works.

And so idk what it is, legacy clients, or whatever, EA is letting us play our games.

EA's legacy client was for Windows XP. Windows 7 isn't fully blocked yet. This thread isn't about crap 7 users.

7 is not retro, it's outdated. No one cares about 7.

It still works though. Still using it here.

[Ionut Catalin Frasineanu]

RIP Windows XP...

[Start_Running]

Origineel geplaatst door Ionut Catalin Frasineanu:

RIP Windows XP...

LOng Live Windows 7