Im having trouble getting older games to work. some will work but those that dont either A start up then crash or b wont load at all when you click on the exe file. Ive tried compatibility mode and that hasnt worked. i also tried dosbox but umm i couldent figure it out DOS was before my computer time. any other ideas?

Sometimes using the maximum memory settings isn't enough! Sometimes you need to create custom AUTOEXEC and CONFIG files for the game to use. Luckily in XP this isn't too hard at all. Here's how:


Open up Windows Explorer, and go to the C:\WINDOWS\System32 folder.
Find the files "AUTOEXEC.NT" and "CONFIG.NT". Copy those files to the same folder where the game's files are stored. (ex. if you were trying to get DOOM working, and DOOM was installed in C:\DOOM, you'd copy the files to C:\DOOM!)
Find the game's executable file (the file you run, usually {somename}.exe) using Windows Explorer. Right click on the file, and choose "Properties".
Click the "Program" tab. Click the "Advanced" button. Enter the full paths to the AUTOEXEC.NT and CONFIG.NT files you just copied. (ex. C:\DOOM\AUTOEXEC.BAT ...)
Also check the "Comaptible Timer Emulation" box, although it rarely helps anything.
Now you can edit the AUTOEXEC.NT and CONFIG.NT files to add whatever specific settings the game needs to run. (Consult the game's manual if you have it.) If you don't know what settings to add, try adding the line "emm=ram" (without the quotes) somewhere after the line "dos=high,umb".
Click "Apply" and then click "OK" to close the dialog box(es) when you're done editing.
This should take care of any memory problems you're having, and by checking the "Compatible Timer Emulation" box, it may also fix speed problems. (ie the game runs too fast ... or too slow!)


There are a couple of other tweaks you can do to make games run and/or make them run more smoothly:

Find the game's executable file (the file you run, usually {somename}.exe) using Windows Explorer. Right click on the file, and choose "Properties".
Click the "Program" tab, and check the "Maximized" checkbox in the Run box.
Click the "Screen" tab, and click on the "Full-screen" radio button.
Click the "Misc" tab, and turn the "Allow screensaver" option off. Put the mouse in "Exclusive mode".
Click the "Compatibility" tab, and check the box beside "Run in compatibility mode", and choose "Windows 95" in the dropbox. (Although this doesn't seem to do anything, it's worth a shot.) Check the three other boxes: "Run in 256 colors" (most DOS games don't use more than that), "Run in 640x480 screen resolution" (unless you know that the game uses a higher resolution), and "Disable visual themes".
Click "Apply" and then click "OK" to close the box.