Downloading games.

[Polarbear]

I want to download some old games I played back in the past.

I've found them on GOG and Steam and I have no doubt there are other places I can go.

Is one better than another? Are there difficulties etc. etc.

I'm presuming when they say it's windows 10 compatible it is and tested, whereas the CD obviously only says XP or whatever was available at the time.

An example, Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri is one I want.

Thanks in advance.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[thx1138]

[MarJay]

GOG is DRM free. Steam isn't. GOG I think tests all it's games on W10, Steam most certainly doesn't.

The issue is actually with DRM and is in a huge proportion of games produced from the early 2000s to just a few years ago. There are two flavours, but I forget what they are called. Both work in a similar way though, and are effectively rootkits, attaching themselves to the very low level dark secret areas of the Windows OS. Microsoft even included this DRM in some of it's own games. Then, when they released W10, they finally closed the rootkit exploit which then consigned a bunch of games to the bargain bin of life.

However, these rootkit DRM's are designed to check the CD or DVD is present... so in many cases if you buy a version with no CD from an online platform such as GOG or Steam, it'll work just fine. However, I've had a bunch of steam games which don't work, and I've read reviews on steam of games which don't work, so make sure you read reviews first.

Personally I've had much better luck with GOG, and I've frustratingly re-bought a few games that I already own on CD or DVD, which is annoying but they only cost a few quid, so I was able to get over my anger at that.
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[defblade]

Another vote for GOG. They tend to bundle stuff up with no DRM and run them under pre-configured DOSbox if necessary; basically the whole thing is usually painless.
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[Polarbear]

Cheers chaps. GOG it is then
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[Ste]

I'd download it from the piratebay.

https://piratebaylive.com/search/Sid%20Alpha%20Centauri/0/99/0

[chris-red]

www.myabandonware.com
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[MarJay]

[Ayrton]

I dont see any reason not to just use torrent sites for old games. The developers are usually either shut down or bought out by someone else anyway so they dont see any benefit. It's also quite common that you will want to download a certain version because it's better (original, steam or GoG) and it just makes it a lot less hassle.

It's also really worth googling each game before you go downloading something. Often theres some community patch or something that can make things better

I occasionally buy some games on GoG when they have flash sales. I own Civ Alpha Centauri and it works fine on Win10.

[MarJay]

[Polarbear]

I'm embarrassed to say I've never understood torrents.

TBH I'd rather pay a few quid for something that works straight away. Not something I have to mess around with or get my son over to get working for me
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[thx1138]

[Polarbear]

I ended up downloading Alpha Centauri from GOG. £4 something. Easy peasy lemon squeezy as my grand daughter says. Painless to set up, works fine. I'm happy.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition