Old games crashing to desktop on launch

[Lord Relvenous]

Hey guys. I've been trying to run some of my older games, but every time I start one, the screen flashes like it's going into the game for a second, and then crashes.

So far I've run into the problem with Lords of Magic, Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Both Lords of Magic and Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries have run fine on this comp before, but I can't remember when exactly they stopped working. I've googled the problem, but found little help. I'm running Windows 7, though I've tried running all the games in compatibility mode.

Has anyone had this problem before, and if so what did you do to fix it? I'm currently running a full scan with Microsoft Security Essentials, but I haven't had any threat warnings from it or Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware.

EDIT: I've also reinstalled all the games, as well as reinstalling Directx 8 and 9. I'm really frustrated by this.

[General Zod]

Have you tried "right-click, run as admin" when launching them?

[Lord Relvenous]

Have you tried "right-click, run as admin" when launching them?

Yes.

[Stark]

I'll assume you've tried the compatibility modes for the old OSs they worked on.

That said, I haven't had Lords of Magic working since Vista (although I haven't tried it on 8, which seems to have better compatibility support than 7). Sometimes shit just doesn't work anymore and you need a fan patch or front end to make it go.

[Enigma]

Do you have XP mode downloaded and installed? If so, try using it.

[atg]

For old games I like to run them in Vmware virtual machine - I use Workstation but you might be able to get this going with the free VMWare Player (if it still available, haven't looked in a while).

[DaveJB]

Do you have XP mode downloaded and installed? If so, try using it.

XP Mode only emulates a basic SVGA graphics card; anything that requires hardware 3D acceleration won't run.

[Lord Relvenous]

That said, I haven't had Lords of Magic working since Vista (although I haven't tried it on 8, which seems to have better compatibility support than 7). Sometimes shit just doesn't work anymore and you need a fan patch or front end to make it go.

What's confusing me is that these games are still available for purchase online, which seems to imply that they would have some way of working on new machines. And what's really confusing me is M4:M deciding to just stop working.

For old games I like to run them in Vmware virtual machine - I use Workstation but you might be able to get this going with the free VMWare Player (if it still available, haven't looked in a while).

It looks like you can still try it for free, so I'll have to give it a shot.

Some additional info: about 3 months ago, my computer locked up and crashed. Upon restarting, it wouldn't load into Windows, and I had to try pretty much every recovery tool I could to get it running, which still didn't work. However, after a day, it was able to get into Windows and slowly stability returned. I feel like the system has been a little sluggish after that. Should I backup my files and reinstall my OS? Would problems with the OS lead to something like this? Unfortunately, I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to more than just basic computer info.

[Lord Relvenous]

So this is where it gets weird.

This last weekend, I brought my computer over to a buddy's house. I noticed the sound of my fan was off, so we cracked the case and took a look inside. The video card fan is wearing out, but still works well enough to keep the GPU under 70 degrees C. We replaced the CPU fan and heatsink. After finishing the maintenance, I started up the computer and was able to get both Lords of Magic and Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries to work. No issues running either game, and I thought the problem was fixed.

After getting home, however, the problem has returned. I did not change any settings, other than switching back to two monitors. I thought that may be the problem, but the problem continued after disabling my secondary monitor.

So now I'm really confused. The problem was fixed for a short time, and now has gone back to being an issue, all without me changing any computer settings. :/

[Enigma]

Make your secondary monitor your primary and don't connect the other and see if it acts up again.

[Lord Relvenous]

Make your secondary monitor your primary and don't connect the other and see if it acts up again.

You sir, are a life-saver. As soon as I did that, the games worked again. How very, very odd. I wonder why dual monitor mode causes the issue. Well, probably no way around it.

Thanks, Enigma!

[Enigma]

No problem. I'm just surprised that you haven't thought of it.

[houser2112]

I'm not sure why swapping primary and secondary would have an effect, but I can certainly see how, given that your GPU fan is flaky, that having to drive two monitors would push it over the edge when driving one would not.

[Enigma]

I'm not sure why swapping primary and secondary would have an effect, but I can certainly see how, given that your GPU fan is flaky, that having to drive two monitors would push it over the edge when driving one would not.

His computer was choking on the primary. Removing that and making the secondary as the only monitor fixed it.

[houser2112]

but the problem continued after disabling my secondary monitor.

I had somehow missed this part. Sorry.