Question about supported operating systems with various Steam games

[Gavindale Marchovia]

I came across a game that looks great, but when I took a peek at the minimum requirements for it, the operating system listing says, "Supported OS: Windows® 2000/XP (only)" - does this mean that any Windows operating system beyond 2000/XP is not supported? I am glad I noticed this on the store page, my PC is Windows 11, I would hate to purchase a game and then in retrospect not be able to play it. Can someone shed some light on all of this? Any and all help is appreciated!!

[Obsessive Power]

The game you're referring to would be a good start.

You can always try searching for the game on https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Home

They don't have full records for all games, many of the big ones are on there including any compatibility issues with newer operating systems and modern hardware.

[_I_]

11 can run most games for xp
look at the games forum to see if there are any compatibility problems

[Gavindale Marchovia]

Thanks for your help!! I took a peek at the discussions for the games in question, there is talk about compatibility issue with Windows 7 and 8, but nothing for Windows 11 - which I will be using. I also took a peek at the link that "Obsessive Power" recommended, but could not find what I am looking for. Just as a heads up, I am referring to the Prince of Persia franchise.

[nullable]

Origineel geplaatst door Gavindale Marchovia:

Thanks for your help!! I took a peek at the discussions for the games in question, there is talk about compatibility issue with Windows 7 and 8, but nothing for Windows 11 - which I will be using. I also took a peek at the link that "Obsessive Power" recommended, but could not find what I am looking for. Just as a heads up, I am referring to the Prince of Persia franchise.

Well the older the game is the fewer people will be playing it on today's modern systems. And chances are a lot of those posts discussing Windows 7/8 compatibility are I dunno pretty old right? I wouldn't expect Windows 11 to be more compatible. I would expect Windows 11 to have similar issues at a minimum. Sometimes that's the challenge with old games.

That being said, you can get most old games, even though with fickle or difficult compatibility issues. It just depends on how determined you are and how many hoops you're willing to jump through.

If people have gotten it working on Windows 11 there's some discussion or guide somewhere, not necessarily on Steam. And if not best you can do is try the Win7/8 fixes first.

But possible too that some games will just be really dodgy on modern systems no matter what, and even with fixes stability is a fragile thing. Which probably means, save often.

A lot of games released twenty years ago, ages before Windows 7/8 obviously won't officially support an OS released afterward. After all how could they test for that? And a lot of twenty year old games ain't getting any updates even if modern games are often supported for years. There was a lot different about the industry. But that's PC gaming, amazing power and flexibility and a game library spanning multiple decades, the asterisk is it's not all plug and play. There's no guarantees, and the limits are your resourcefulness.

[Gavindale Marchovia]

Thanks!! I found the Prince of Persia franchise on Steam, and with the accumulative discount, I would be saving over $60. And I loved every game that I played!!

And I agree with you, some of these games go way back, and that means there could be issues with the communication between my Windows 11 operating system and the requirements/limitations for these games. That does happen with older games.

I would hate to purchase this seven-pack bundle off of Steam and have many or most not running on my operating system. That is a waste of money, even though the older games in the bundle are less than $2.

I do have a couple of these games already on my PS2 and PS3, but I would have to go and hook those consoles up on my Smart TV to play them. It would be overly convenient to just have them all on Steam - the higher quality of life setup. Again, most of the bundle are less than $2 each, I am debating what I should do at this point. What do you guys think?

[nullable]

Do your research... if you can't be bothered to find resources where people have the games working on modern systems I don't think you really care as much as you think.

You're gonna have to decide for yourself on that one, or how put out you might be if the oldest games are difficult to get running. So you may need to manage your expectations about how you'll feel if the oldest game won't run, but the rest will.

Also keep in mind there's a refund system too. Just make sure you understand the policy, going over two hours of play time makes getting a refund more difficult.

Ultimately there's some risk with playing old games. You can either live with that risk or you can't. And you can either be willing to do some work to get old games working or you aren't. But I'm old school, where twenty-five years ago sometimes you had to be resourceful because a lot of things about PC gaming weren't as nice as they are now... so I have a different perspective than someone who's just hoping all the need to do is install it or hit Windows Visa compatibility or whatever.

And you may find through research the games don't really have too much of a problem really. Or the same fixes for Windows 7 work on Windows 11. You can either guess and gamble or, do your research...