Games that run on Windows XP / XP x64 even though they shouldn’t; A compatibility report

Jul 122017

expand/collapse information about running Steam on XP, XP x64 and Vista after 2019-01-31

Edit: Updates below are listed from newest to oldest.

Steam update 2020-12-03: And once again – and this may be final – Steam logins are broken on XP. For the past weeks or maybe even months I haven’t managed to log back in, and neither has anyone else I asked (thanks for confirming this, Nojus2001 and Srandista). Hopefully you’ve made your backups with Steam in offline mode. This marks a decisive moment, as SteamStub DRM removal will no longer make for successful hacking for any games with Steam API DRM support, as you cannot hot-add Steam games in offline mode, at least not to my knowledge. My decision here is to describe (illegal!) Steam API DRM hacks, but not provide you with any software to actually get those done – you’ll have to fetch it by yourself.

Steam update 2020-03-11: Actually, logging into Steam still works at the time of writing. All you need is an updated config\config.vdf. You can edit the file by yourself using a text editor. The updated content server list can be obtained from [here]. A complete installation plus a working config\config.vdf file can also be obtained from [Nojus].

Steam update 2019-07-12: It’s over. The login servers will no longer allow older versions of the CEF to connect to them at all, so either you’ve got your Steam client prepped in offline mode with all your old games, or you’re out. For now, I do not know of any way to log in to Steam on XP/XP x64 anymore. Some games may still work if copied over to XP from a Steam installation on Windows 7 though, so that’d be the truly DRM-free Steam games. For those, a new requirement “Windows 7” has been introduced, noting that you will need Windows 7 for downloading the game, maybe within a virtual machine running on XP or XP x64.

Steam update 2019-02-18: It appears, that some users on the web found a way to re-enable Steam on XP, XP x64 and Vista in online mode. To fix existing, already broken installations, a prepared Steam package can be downloaded from Archive.org: [Link]. This version features a steam.cfg configuration file (right next to Steam.exe) containing the following two lines:

BootStrapperInhibitAll=enable
BootStrappedForceSelfUpdate=disable

This effectively stops the Steam client from self-updating. Additionally to that, a new config\config.vdf configuration file (which contains the list of Steam download servers) is required to re-enable game downloads on those older operating systems. That file has to be downloaded separately, also from Archive.org: [Link]. You can simply replace your existing config\config.vdf with this one, then re-start the Steam client and downloads should be working again.

I would not recommend relying on this solution permanently, but if you’ve missed the opportunity to download your game library to XP or Vista before, you can do so now, and then switch Steam to offline mode and block it on your firewall, just to be on the safe side.

Steam update & Warning 2019-02-14: Alright, I hope you all made your full backups of Steam in offline mode (including all the games) and configured your firewalls properly. For the latest Steam update from 2019-02-01 did indeed break compatibility with Windows XP, XP x64 and Vista. Reason is an offending SetThreadErrorMode() call from SteamUI.dll to kernel32.dll. There may and likely will be additional new dependencies of course, but this one is already a dealbreaker, as we probably don’t want to be messing with the Steam client directly after all. According to Microsofts’ [documentation] this raises the platform dependency to Windows NT 6.1, or in other words Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. And with that, Steam can no longer be installed on any machine from scratch.

So: Take care of the backups you hopefully made, if you’re sitting in the same boat as me.

Steam update & Warning 2019-01-15: It has been found that Steam will not stop updating itself, even when run in offline mode! Luckily the update built on 2018-01-04 and rolled out on 2018-01-08 did not break basic functionality on XP & XP x64. However, since we can’t be sure when the true killswitch will arrive, I’d recommend blocking Steams’ binaries (the .exe files) with an application-oriented personal firewall or stop it from connecting to the internet with a packet-oriented firewall. Currently I would recommend the former as I am not 100% sure as to whether I’ve found all the networks that Steam may try to connect to (yes, even in offline mode). Here’s a superset of the list of the networks it definitely tries to reach upon launch and while running – a superset, because more data is required to make sure which parts of a networks aren’t a part of whatever Steam wants to reach:

13.64.0.1 – 13.107.255.254 (AS#8068 – Microsoft Corporation)
93.184.221.1 – 93.184.221.254 (AS#15133 – MCI Communications Services, Inc. d/b/a Verizon Business)
104.16.0.1 – 104.31.255.254 (AS#13335 – Cloudflare, Inc.)
104.83.4.1 – 104.83.5.254 (AS#20940 – Akamai International B.V.)
104.96.140.1 – 104.96.140.124 (AS#16625 – Akamai Technologies, Inc.)
162.254.192.1 – 162.254.199.254 (AS#32590 – Valve Corporation, these appear to be the update servers, but that remains unconfirmed for now)
172.200.0.1 – 172.216.255.254 (AS#1668 – AOL Transit Data Network)
172.217.22.1 – 172.217.22.254 (AS#15169 – Google LLC)
216.58.192.1 – 216.58.223.254 (AS#15169 – Google LLC)

Note that you cannot rely on the Windows XP firewall here! You’ll need a 3rd party product of some sort that can block outgoing connections as well! One free product that works on XP x86/x64 and Vista x86/x64 would be [Comodo Internet Security] (not the original source, but the files are digitally signed and check out on [VirusTotal]) in its version 10.2.0.6526 or older, but there are surely many others or even betters as well. PS.: Download version 8.2.0.5005, if you want an offline installer – that version can still be updated to 10.2.0.6526 later on! Version 11 no longer works on XP.

Steam update 2019-01-08: Steam does still work on XP/XP x64/Vista with reduced functionality. Game downloading is now broken on XP, but still works on Vista. It is highly recommended, to ~~switch existing Steam installations to Offline Mode~~ and backup the entire Steam folder or even the entire system afterwards. There is no telling as to when a killswitch update may appear on Valves’ servers.

Steam update 2018-08-13: After further investigation it’s pretty clear that all games using SteamStub DRM, Steamworks API DRM or are bound to Steam via other means (like online games without Steam DRM, but which require Steam for their updates to allow you to use the game) will stop working on XP/XP x64/Vista starting with 2019-01-01. A different case are games with no SteamStub DRM and no Steamworks API integration. Those do exist, but are rare. They can just be launched even if Steam hasn’t been started or isn’t even present on the system.

Of course, if a game is protected by SteamStub DRM only, this can be removed with atom0s Steamless. However, that process might be illegal in your country, so being careful is advised.

Aside from that, here you’ll have a neat countdown to the end of Valves’ Steam on Windows XP/XP x64 and Vista:

Remaining life time of Steam on XP/XP x64/Vista:

[ujicountdown id=”Remaining life time of Steam on XP/XP x64/Vista” expire=”2019/01/01 00:01″ hide=”false” url=”” subscr=”” recurring=”” rectype=”second” repeats=””]

Steam warning, 2018-06-13: Valve has [announced], that as of 2019-01-01, they will drop Steam client support for Windows XP and Windows Vista. This will likely shut out all XP, XP x64 & Vista clients from the platform if left unattended. Whether a way can be found to keep an old (or even current) version of the Steam client running on XP & XP x64 for the purpose of launching games on the platform remains to be seen. This article will stay alive for now, but if no way can be found to address the issue, this article ~~will likely stop being updated in 2019~~ may stop being updated after 2019 depending on the situation with other, non-Steam games.

I thought about writing something like this for a while now, so here it is. A list of games that don’t officially work on XP / XP x64, but still do. Either out of the box or by using some slight modifications or by using real binary hacks and stub DLLs. This list is by no means complete, it’s basically just the stuff I’ve stumbled over, or which have been reported by commenters. Some of the games will require slightly more complex solutions, for which individual guides already exist, either here or elsewhere. I won’t describe the procedures again but just link to the corresponding information where necessary instead.

Where known, the game engine used by a title will also be listed, because games using the same engine can sometimes be persuaded to work in the same way.

Since my Anime (and Manga and visual novel) infection has already spread throughout my brain completely while creating fatal degeneration in the process, I had to split this article into four categories, to better suit peoples’ interests – you can consider 2 a subset of 1 though:

Western games
64-bit games officially supported on XP x64
Weird Japanese shit
Visual novels (which by definition are often also weird Japanese shit)

Platform compatibility information was mostly taken from Valve Steam or from GOG, so the operating system requirements specified here might not always match those listed on other websites selling those games.

As stated above, some games may work out of the box while others will require certain conditions to be met. Such requirements are ranked by difficulty, which is shown in color: Easier ones, harder ones, extremely hard ones & illegal ones. Here’s a list of a few common requirements:

Windows 7+, Linux, UNIX or similar; This game needs Windows 7 or newer, or maybe Linux or UNIX or something else for download and/or installation. The game can then be copied over to XP.
Steam version; This game can only be bought on the Valve Steam platform. This does not denote whether the game features any actual DRM.
Special launch condition; Usually something simple, like just having to delete some files to make it work.
HighVersionLie; Requires Microsoft’s “Application Verifier” tool to fake the Windows version to something above XP to evade run-time checks for it. This does not modify any game files, which is why it’s considered an easy fix despite requiring an additional tool.
Trickery; Can be anything, like configuration file modifications, hacks on non-executable binary files, changes in the Windows registry hive, etc.
Old version; Requires an older release of the game to work on XP. Usually means that newer versions are too hard or impossible to hack to make them run.
Stub DLL hack; More tricky, requires binary-hacking some game .exe and/or .dll files with 3rd party tools and supplying the game with 3rd party .dll files, usually – but not always! – open-source ones. Those hacks are typically required to provide the game with some missing Windows API functions.
Binary header hack; Somewhat similar to the above, requires 3rd party tools but usually no additional .dll files. Typically required to just fix the superficial Windows kernel version check or in rare cases the load-time DLL link list in the PE header of the program.
64-bit; This game consists of true x86_64 binaries and will hence only work on XP x64, but not on the 32-bit version of XP.
Steamless hack; This game is not just limited to Steam, but also features SteamStub (but not full-blown, legally “effective” CEG or Steamworks API!) DRM, that needs to be patched out of the game. This requires breaking some packer-based obfuscation. Depending on the country where you live, this might be illegal, please do keep that in mind!
Steam API hack; Significant alterations to the Valve Steam Digital Rights Management implementation. Very likely to be illegal in almost every country. Will be described in the guides, but software for it will not be provided on this website for legal reasons.
Source port; Added on 2022-06-16. This is the hardest category. The game exists in the form of an open-source distribution and has to be retargeted, recompiled and relinked. It may or may not also require refactoring or modification of the source code to make the resulting binary program work on XP.

A compatibility confidence rating is also specified, it has four levels:

Low; Only very brief, superficial tests have been conducted. May also indicate that the near future of the game is very uncertain due to enforced patches as usually common with online games.
Fair; More tests have been done, but still for less than an hour.
High; Several hours of gameplay without serious issues.
Maximum; Complete playthrough without serious issues.

Updates (newest first):

2024-02-07: “Mindustry” has been added
2023-10-03: “UnderRail” has been added.
2023-08-30: “Hero of the Kingdom II” has been added.
2023-06-12: “Horizon Chase Turbo” has been updated.
2022-11-28: “FreeCiV” has been added.
2022-06-20: “Flowers: Le Volume sur Hiver” added and confidence ratings raised for “Flowers: Le Volume sur Automne” & “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly”.
2022-06-16: “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly” has been added.
2021-02-19. “Mini Metro” has been added.
2020-12-03. “Nekopara” Vol.4 has been added.
2020-12.02: “Wanting Wings: Her and her Romance” / きみはね彼女と彼女の恋する１ヶ月 & “The Curse of Kudan” / クダンノフォークロア have been added.
2020-08-21: “Flowers: Le Volume sur Automne” has been added.
2020-03-13: Confidence rating raised for “OshiRabu: Waifus over Husbandos” / “推しのラブより恋のラブ”.
2020-03-11: “OshiRabu: Waifus over Husbandos” / “推しのラブより恋のラブ” has been added.
2020-01-15: “Chuusotsu 1.5th Graduation: The moving Castle” / “ちゅーそつ! 1.5th graduation” has been added.
2019-12-12: “Wasteland 2 Director’s Cut” has been added.
2019-09-18: “Battle Brothers” has been added at the [request] of Josh.
2019-09-11: “Cuphead” revised once more as modern versions no longer support any XP-compatible renderers. Original problem report by [ThyBonesConsumed].
2019-08-28: “Ion Fury” has been added. Thanks fly out to [IntMD] for mentioning it!
2019-08-20: “Dating Life: Miley X Emily” has been added.
2019-07-12: “Monster Girl Island: Prologue” has been added.
2019-06-24: “The Yuri Club” has been added.
2019-06-18: “The Expression Amrilato” has been added.
2019-05-29: “DoraKone” has been added.
2019-04-02: “Lilycle Rainbow Stage!!!” has been added.
2019-01-25: The new “Full Chorus” version of “Kindred Spirits on the Roof” has been added.
2019-01-08: Important: “Into the Breach” revised due to new requirements introduced by GOG library Galaxy.dll bundled with later versions of the game. The changes introduced here will likely have an effect on all newer (late 2018, early 2019) GOG releases, including new versions of existing games! So this may also be relevant to the GOG versions of Cuphead and Oxenfree.
2018-11-22: “Factorio” has been added, thanks to Cosmonate for recommending that game. Also, the Mechwarrior Online rating has been lowered from High to Low due to it being out of working game launchers/updaters very soon (There might be a slightly complicated solution for that, will update in the future).
2018-11-19: “Cuphead” revised again after some hands-on tests. Confidence rating remains low for now, but a guide for making the current GOG version 1.1.4 has been added, as it requires some hacks to work at all. Engine version now specified.
2018-11-15: “Cuphead” confidence rating lowered from fair to low due to occasional random crashes. Several overlooked HTTP:// links on this page changed to protocol-agnostic // to make sure there is no mixed content when using HTTPS:// for this page.
2018-11-12: “Cuphead” has been added, thanks fly out to [ThyBonesConsumed] for testing the game on XP!
2018-11-06: “Into the Breach” confidence rating raised from fair to maximum.
2018-10-16: “Doki Doki Literature Club!” has been added, thanks to [ThyBonesConsumed], who reported the title. Text layout fixed for Flowers and Horizon Chase Turbo entries.
2018-10-12: “Into the Breach” has been added.
2018-09-25: Confidence ratings raised for “Sisterly Bliss ~Don’t let Mom find out~” / “つい・ゆり～おかあさんにはナイショだよ～” and “Ne no Kami” part 2.
2018-09-11: “Sisterly Bliss ~Don’t let Mom find out~” / “つい・ゆり～おかあさんにはナイショだよ～” has been added.
2018-09-04: “Horizon Chase Turbo” has been added.
2018-08-31: “Nekopara Extra” has been added. The Flowers titles have been consolidated into one entry.
2018-08-17: “Flowers: Le Volume sur Été” has been added. The ratings for the following games have been raised: “Chuusotsu – 1st Graduation: Time after Time”, “War of the Human Tanks”, and “Stellaris”.
2018-06-05: “War of the Human Tanks – Limited Operations” has been added and “Mechwarrior Online” has been revised.
2018-04-27: “Bud Spencer & Terence Hill – Slaps and Beans” has been added.
2018-01-29: “Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs” (thanks to [Humble] giving it away for free for a short time) and “WEED” have been added.
2018-01-17: “Deep Space Waifu” incl. the “Academy” DLC has been added.
2018-01-16: “The Red Solstice” has been added, thanks to [Humble] giving the game away for free for some time. Yay!
2018-01-12: “Deep Space Waifu: Flat Justice” has been added.
2017-12-21: “Oxenfree” and “SeaBed” have been added. Thanks to [GOG] for giving Oxenfree away for free for some time!
2017-12-01: “The Bureau: XCOM Declassified” has been added, thanks to [Humble] giving the game away for free for some time. Thank you, Humble!
2017-09-11: “Gal*Gun: Double Peace” / “ぎゃる☆がんだぶるぴーす” has been added.
2017-09-05: “Ne no Kami” part 2 and “The last Birdling” have been added. Ren’Py version number added for “Fatal Twelve”.

Ok, let’s start:

1. Western Games

Here’s the normal stuff:

1a. Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

Claims :	Windows Vista
Developer & Engine:	The Chinese Room; HPL Engine 2
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64.
Compatibility confidence:	High; Only brief tests were carried out, but confidence is still high based on experiences with the original Amnesia game, which was based on the same engine.
Genre:	Survival Horror
Synopsis:	See [Steam].
Notes:	A successor to the original “Amnesia: The Dark Descent”. If we are to believe the user reviews, it doesn’t quite live up to the first part though.

1b. Battle Brothers

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Overhype Studios; Custom C++ engine
Requirements:	Stub DLL hack and the GOG version of the game; Missing cryptographic and kernel API functionality. Requires DrakoPensulo’s XP hack. A full article showing how to fix the game for XP can be found [here].
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests carried out, no playthroughs
Genre:	Turn-based tactical game
Synopsis:	Battle Brothers is set in a low-fantasy version of medieval Germany, where the player controls a small band of mercenaries.
Notes:	An XP hack was requested for this game by [Josh].

1c. Bud Spencer & Terence Hill – Slaps and Beans

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Buddy Productions GmbH; Unity Engine 5.6.5f1
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests carried out, no playthroughs
Genre:	Slap’Em Up
Synopsis:	It’s classic Bud Spencer & Terence Hill: Lots of slaps, beans and fun!
Notes:	And here comes another successful Kickstarter project! Even though the final version of this game was released in April 2018, it’s still based on a slightly older version of the Unity engine, which still features the classic version numbers. As such, it still comes in a 32-bit flavor and thus works on regular, 32-bit XP as well. This title will likely be especially well-received in German-speaking parts of the world, as the German “comedy dubs” of the earlier movies created a massive Bud & Terence following amongst people in Germany & Austria, etc. The Game was even developed in Germany, but still comes in three languages: English, German and Italian – of course! Also, because the project managed to reach the second-to-last stretch goal, we’re even blessed with some of the (expensive to license) original music from the movies for its soundtrack!

1d. Bureau: XCOM Declassified, The

Claims:	Windows Vista SP2
Developer & Engine:	Irrational Games, 2K Games; Unreal Engine 3
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests carried out, no playthroughs
Genre:	Tactical shooter
Synopsis:	See [Wikipedia].
Notes:	Interestingly, this title wasn’t developed by Firaxis like the new “Enemy Unknown” or its sequel “Enemy Within” (see below). As such, they didn’t copy Firaxis’ mistake of using file I/O API calls only present on Vista+. So no hacks are required.

1e. Cuphead

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Studio MDHR; Unity Engine 5.6.2
Requirements:	Stub DLL Hack and an old version; Missing Win32 API / kernel API function calls and missing crypto library, requires DrakoPensulos’ XP hack: [Link to full article about hacking the game to run on XP]. Note that the last version known to be hackable for XP support is the GOG version 1.1.4. Newer versions (like 1.2.2, 1.2.4, etc.) are based on Unity 2017.4.9f1 or newer and only support the Direct3D 11 renderer with no OpenGL fallback compiled into the game. This has been reported by [ThyBonesConsumed].
Compatibility confidence:	Low; Basic compatibility has at first been demonstrated by [ThyBonesConsumed]. Update 2018-11-15: A random crash has been [reported] just today, so I’ve lowered the confidence rating for now. Update 2018-11-19: my own tests of GOG version 1.1.4 have shown, that the game is pretty broken on XP. To work on the old OS, it now requires a hack similar to that for Into the Breach. Confidence rating will have to remain low for now, as there are still too many uncertainties regarding this title; It will require more testing to be raised. Update 2019-09-11: New versions only support Direct3D 11. So only older versions are hackable for XP support. The confidence rating remains unchanged. Update 2023-10-03: In addition to the Direct3D 11 requirement, current versions are 64-bit as well, so it got even less compatible than it already is.
Genre:	Jump’n Run
Synopsis:	See [Website]
Notes:	It’s a Jump’n Run or “Run’n Gun” game featuring high-fps cartoon-style graphics, which are reminiscent of Disney’s older cartoons from the interwar period, so like from the 1930s. Also, it’s focused on boss battles. I suggest you take a look at it on [Youtube] because you really have to see that thing in motion! Easily the best cartoon-style graphics I’ve ever seen in a game! It’s available on GOG too, so there is a DRM-free option.

1f. Dishonored

Claims:	Windows Vista
Developer & Engine:	Arkane Studios; Unreal Engine 3
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; Several playthroughs on XP completed, likely no more development
Genre:	First Person Rogue (Steampunk setting)
Synopsis:	See [Wikipedia]
Notes:	It’s a dark, very much steampunk, interesting parallel world setting. Features a world that changes subtly based on the characters’ actions. The sequel will no longer work on XP. Runs fine even with mid-range hardware from around 2015 or so.

1g. Factorio

Claims:	Windows Vista (“Minimum” system requirements), Windows 7 (“Recommended” system requirements)
Developer & Engine:	Wube Software; Custom C++ engine
Requirements:	64-Bit, Stub DLL Hack and Binary header hack; No dice on 32-bit XP systems, and it requires my 64-bit port of Oleg Ovcharenkos’ XP fix to handle some modern function calls and fix the PE header of the game binary Here’s a [link] to the full guide for hacking it to make it work on XP x64.
Compatibility confidence:	High; Played for several hours without a single glitch
Genre:	Building game, Real-time strategy
Synopsis:	See [home page]; It’s essentially an industry or industrial logistics simulator on an alien world that you just happened to crash-land on.
Notes:	This game saw the first successful application of my 64-bit port of Oleg’s Stellaris XP fix. At the time of writing, Factorio is still in its early access phase and remains under heavy development, so its future on XP x64 is uncertain. The developers intend to maintain an OpenGL 3.x renderer though – in addition to an upcoming Direct3D 11 one, which will replace the current Direct3D 9.0c renderer. So due to the OpenGL option, the game might continue to be hackable for XP x64 compatibility from the API side of things. We’ll see how it goes in the coming years.

1h. FreeCiV

Claims:	No OS requirement specified
Developer & Engine:	FreeCiV project; Custom C/C++ engine
Requirements:	Trickery and an old version; Needs a 2.x branch release, e.g. 2.6.7 and a Microsoft dbghelp.dll file from the Debugging Tools for Windows. Here’s a [link] to the full guide for hacking it to make it work on XP & XP x64.
Compatibility confidence:	High; Only brief tests carried out by myself, but confirmed by other users (Srandista, log65536) to work.
Genre:	Turn-based strategy
Synopsis:	See the game’s [wiki]; It’s a re-imagination of the classic Civilization games by Sid Meier but in free and open-source form.
Notes:	Very easy to fix. All it needs is a drop-in DLL that can be obtained from Microsoft and legally redistributed on the web.

1i. Hero of the Kingdom II

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Lonely Troops; Custom engine
Requirements:	None; Both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions run out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only very brief tests have been conducted, but the age of the engine and the low likelihood of breaking changes make it relatively probable that it’ll just keep working on XP
Genre:	RPG
Synopsis:	You and your sister had finally found a safe haven in a small fishing village. But more troubles came soon after that. The threat of an unstoppable crew of pirates spread its shadow over the entire kingdom. Your beloved sister was kidnapped by the pirates and taken far away to lands unknown. You have no choice but to embark on a journey to save her. You must be brave. You will travel to the end of the world, helping people, fulfilling quests, learning valuable skills, and finding hundreds of useful items.
Notes:	Not much yet, as I have only briefly tested the game. It seems the successor, “Hero of the Kingdom III” is sharing the same engine and that may apply to several more titles from the same developers, but those remain untested as of 2023-08-30. Development of a new, more portable engine (think mobiles) has [been announced] on 2022-08-23.

1j. Horizon Chase Turbo

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Aquiris Game Studio; Unity Engine 2018 (formerly 5.6.5)
Requirements:	Old version and Windows7+; The newer Unity engine won’t run, as has been mentioned by user Srandista on IRC. An older version based on Unity 5.6.5 is required, see [this SteamDB entry] from 2018-06-25. ~~See [this article] to learn how to downgrade games on Steam to specific older versions~~. Requires [DepotDownloader] running on a more modern version of Windows to download older versions of Steam games. Then, bundle a steam_appid.txt text file containing nothing but the AppID number `389140` with the game for deployment on XP / XP x64. This works because this game features no Steam DRM.
Compatibility confidence:	High; Multiple races completed, runs on a well-known engine
Genre:	Racing game
Synopsis:	See the [developers’ press kit]. A simple, very retro racing game that reminds me of stuff I may or may not have played on my Commodore 64 and on a childhood friend’s Amiga 500. It does feature 3D graphics, but its looks and game mechanics are very, very simple. It is a pretty fast game though, so it’ll keep you on your toes! Supports up to a 4-way split screen for multiplayer. Like in ye olden days™.
Notes:	It’s actually pretty fun!

1k. Ion Fury

Claims:	Windows 7 64-bit
Developer & Engine:	voidpoint; Build / eDuke32 engine
Requirements:	64-bit & stub DLL hack; Comes as a true 64-bit binary with a missing Win32 API / kernel API function call. Needs a full engine replacement to make it work on 32-bit XP. This essentially means feeding the Ion Fury data files to a 32-bit build of eDuke32. [Link to the full article about making the game run on XP x64]. For 32-bit, please check out the corresponding [Vogons thread] instead.
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests were carried out, no full playthroughs.
Genre:	First-person shooter
Synopsis:	See [Wikipedia]; It’s basically one bombshell of a girl fighting against an army or cult of cybernetically enhanced soldiers in a 90’s style first-person shooter.
Notes:	Distributed by 3DRealms, who were responsible for the original Build engine and Duke Nuk’em 3D. That engine has been licensed to other studios as well, and several games were developed using it, like Redneck Rampage or Blood. eDuke32 is a modern, open-source port of the Build engine that runs on multiple operating systems and modern hardware, including 3D accelerators. It uses OpenGL for hardware-accelerated 3D. This game was added after a mention by [IntMD].

1l. Into the Breach

Claims:	Windows 7 (GOG), Windows Vista (Steam)
Developer & Engine:	Subset Games; Custom in-house engine
Requirements:	Multiple stub DLL hacks; Missing Win32 API / kernel API function calls and missing crypto library, requires parts of DrakoPensulos’ XP hack and a revised 2019 version of Oleg Ovcharenkos’ Stellaris fix: [Link to full, updated article about hacking the game to run on XP].
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; 50+ hours of gameplay and many playthroughs on XP x64 plus brief tests by Oleg Ovcharenko on XP 32-bit. Not a single hiccup.
Genre:	Tactical game
Synopsis:	Aliens are overrunning Earth, or have long overrun Earth, and we’re fighting them with huge mechs across multiple time loops (think of the movie “Live.Die.Repeat. – Edge of Tomorrow” with Tom Cruise), going back in time and trying again each and every time we fail pushing the invaders off of the desolate place that Earth has now turned into.
Notes:	Made by the same guys who came up with “FTL: Faster than Light”, which was awesome, and this little indie title is equally great! Renders its graphics with OpenGL 2.1. Update 2019-01-08: The required fix has been changed to deal with new requirements introduced by changes in GOGs’ Galaxy.dll.

1m. Legend of Korra

Claims:	Windows Vista
Developer & Engine:	PlatinumGames; In-house PlatinumGames Engine
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests carried out, no playthroughs
Genre:	Beat ’em up
Synopsis:	See [Wikipedia].
Notes:	It may look Anime-ish at first, but is actually a US-made game.

1n. Life is strange

Claims:	Windows Vista
Developer & Engine:	Dotnod Entertainment; Unreal Engine 3
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests carried out, no playthroughs
Genre:	Graphic adventure
Synopsis:	See [Wikipedia].
Notes:	It’s an episodic series, and I’ve only covered the first part.

1o. Master of Orion

Claims:	Windows 7 64-bit
Developer & Engine:	NGD Studios; Unity Engine 5.2
Requirements:	64-bit; Will work on XP x64, but not on XP 32-bit, as it’s a true 64-bit binary.
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests carried out, no playthroughs
Genre:	4X strategy
Synopsis:	Not much to say here, it’s once again a turn-based game about conquering the galaxy.
Notes:	This is about the 2016 version; A classic returns, well, at least almost. Requires fairly powerful hardware.

1p. Mechwarrior Online

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Piranha Games; CryEngine 2.5 – 3
Requirements:	64-bit; Steam version and a special launch condition; The regular game launcher won’t work. 64-bit at least since the “Solaris 7” release of the game. Also: MWOClient.exe in the games’ Bin64\ subfolder needs to be launched from outside of Steam, otherwise it won’t start up at all. Requires a Windows 7 for downloading.
Compatibility confidence:	Low; Played for hundreds of hours without issues, but its launcher is no longer XP compatible, it being a .Net 4.5.2 application. Now, in late 2018, you can still rely on Steam to launch it, but since Steam will die on XP on 2019-01-01, players will be left without an option to launch and keep the game up to date, which it needs to be allowed to talk to the game servers. Might require a Windows 7 VM running on an XP x64 machine to update the games’ files, which would be a major hassle. This is why the confidence rating was demoted from High all the way to Low. The VM solution will be verified once the time comes.
Genre:	Tactical combat simulator
Synopsis:	At the beginning of the clan invasion, the player – whether on the side of one of the Inner Sphere Houses or any of the Clans – is thrown into Battletech warfare.
Notes:	Their latest game launcher, which is now built with .Net 4.5.2 no longer works on XP. So now, the only way is via the Steam platform. Until their single-player title comes out, this is the latest and greatest from the Battletech universe, and it sticks to the canon rather strictly as well. Requires very powerful hardware even on XP, especially on the GPU side of things. You better use top-end stuff. Note that it does automatically launch the 64-bit version when on XP x64. Update 2018-05-02: Somewhere around the “Solaris 7” release of the game, the 32-bit version had been dropped entirely, so it only works on XP x64 and probably Server 2003 x64. I assume that Direct3D 9.0 renderer support is likely the next thing to go down the drain, which would break XP x64 support as well. I’ll keep you updated on that of course. Also, since that time, the game can’t be launched via the Steam interface anymore, you have to click on the games’ .exe directly.

1q. Mindustry

Claims:	Windows 7 according to Steam
Developer & Engine:	Anuke; Custom engine
Requirements:	Binary header hack for the 32-bit version or a special launch condition; You can run this with a pre-installed Java runtime environment in version 1.8. This works for both 32-bit Windows XP and 64-bit XP x64 and for both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the game. See the article about it [here].
Compatibility confidence:	High; Only brief tests have been carried out, but the confidence is high because it’s Java.
Genre:	Tower defense with logistical elements
Synopsis:	See [itch.io], where you can also get the game.
Notes:	This is a fully free and open-source game, which is always welcome. Also runs on smartphones, Linux, *BSD and macOS. Not quite for me, but Steam reviews are “overwhelmingly positive”, so if you’re interested in this genre, just give it a try before you buy!

1r. Mini Metro

Claims:	Windows XP (but this isn’t true for the latest version anymore)
Developer & Engine:	Dinosaur Polo Club; Unity Engine (multiple versions)
Requirements:	Steam version with beta program participation; Only “beta” (actually unmaintained, older) branches work on XP. Those are accessible only via the Steam version, but are DRM-free after installation, so it can be launched from outside of Steam. May require a modern Windows version for purchasing & downloading. A quick guide showing you what you need to do to bring the game to XP can be found [here].
Compatibility confidence:	High; I’ve tested it only briefly, but given existing experience with the game engine and the fact that those older versions had originally supported XP officially, it’s quite likely those beta branches will work without issues.
Genre:	Puzzle strategy
Synopsis:	Build a metro and transport people around between stations.
Notes:	A fun little game which you can also play in small, brief sessions. Thanks fly out to Srandista for telling me about Mini Metro on XP.

1s. OpenTyrian & OpenTyrian2000

Claims:	Windows 7 according to GOG
Developer & Engine:	Originally Epic Megagames, now free software development teams
Requirements:	Binary Header Hack or Source Port; The latter is described [here], including complete builds of the games for you to download.
Compatibility confidence:	High; Has been tested for hours with no issues.
Genre:	Shoot’em Up
Synopsis:	And you thought being a Terraforming Engineer would be a quiet life compared to being a Space Marine? Blasting rocks to make way for new settlements on Tyrian seemed like a quiet life, but your long-time Huzundra friend is now dead – bless his lizard hide. Murdered! And obviously Microsol, the Terraforming company wants you dead too!
Notes:	It’s my all-time favourite shoot’em up on PC!

1t. Oxenfree

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Night School Studio; Unity Engine 5.3.6.19923
Requirements:	GOG version without Galaxy or Steam version and a special launch condition; GOG Galaxy won’t work, so you need to download the regular Oxenfree from them. Steam version unconfirmed/untested. Requires renaming or removal of the files dxgi.dll and/or d3d9.dll. See the [full article] about making it work.
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests were carried out, no playthroughs.
Genre:	Mystery adventure
Synopsis:	See [Wikipedia].
Notes:	As said, I haven’t tested the Steam version, but my confidence in the modification working on the Steam version as well is pretty high, as the rest of the game should be the same. The GOG version even comes with Steam API libraries for some reason… The 64-bit version works on XP x64.

1u. Red Solstice, The

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Ironward; TRSEngine
Requirements:	Binary header hack; Platform target needs to be adjusted from NT 6.0 to 5.1 for several files and a stub DLL hack; Missing Win32 API / kernel API function call, requires UncleVasyas’ (Oleg Ovcharenkos’) XP hack. See the [full article] about making it work.
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests were carried out, no playthroughs.
Genre:	Isometric tactical RPG
Synopsis:	See [Kickstarter].
Notes:	It’s an OpenGL ES 2.0 game, which kind of sets it apart from most I’d say. I have never seen a Windows game being based on an OpenGL ES API, as those rather made for mobile devices using Android or iOS etc. before.

1v. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly (v1.5.1)

Claims:	No OS requirement specified; Looks like Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Fan-made; X-Ray engine
Requirements:	Source port; 64-bit; Needs significant build system & source code modifications, including Discord integration removal. Retarget to 32-bit unsuccessful. [Link].
Compatibility confidence:	High; Some hours of gameplay testing [contributed] by user Ergo with no issues reported. Source port created by me [on request] from the same user Ergo. Requires the player status update feature to the game’s Discord channel to be removed, as the Discord library doesn’t work on any XP. Also requires retargeting the entire solution to a new platform toolset on top of some more source code mods for DXGI/D3D10.x/D3D11.x error reporting functionality removal. Only the Direct3D 9.0 renderer works and attempts to port this to 32-bit all failed so far, so the backported version will only run on XP x64 as real 64-bit code.
Genre:	Dystopian survival shooter with some RPG elements
Synopsis:	See [developer website]
Notes:	Requires pretty beefy hardware to run at high-quality settings and resolutions with FSAA enabled. For high resolutions and transparency supersampling anti-aliasing, I recommend the fastest XP-compatible GPU you can get your hands on if you want to play this backport.

1w. Stellaris (also applies to Europa Universalis 4, Hearts of Iron 4 and Crusader Kings 2)

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Paradox Development Studio; In-house Clausewitz Engine
Requirements:	Stub DLL hack; Missing Win32 API / kernel API function calls, requires UncleVasyas’ (Oleg Ovcharenkos’) XP hack: [Link].
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Upgraded from Low, after brief tests with new versions of Olegs’ hack have been tested with Stellaris v2.1. Still no real game sessions yet though. (Previous description: Haven’t tested this myself at all, as I do not yet own the game. Given users’ reports and when looking at the results when using Olegs’ patch on other games, version 1.x will very likely work just fine. Version 2.0+ remains completely untested yet though. Oleg Ovcharenko is yet to reply to my inquiry regarding the latest versions of the game and the state of his patches for it.)
Genre:	4X strategy (Stellaris)
Synopsis:	See [Wikipedia] (Stellaris).
Notes:	May buy this in the future. Requires very powerful hardware, even on XP. Better get ready to use the fastest stuff XP / XP x64 can support in terms of CPU and GPU.

1x. UnderRail

Claims:	Windows 7 (GOG), Windows XP SP3 (Steam)
Developer & Engine:	Stygian Software; Custom C# + .Net 4.0 Engine
Requirements:	None; Works on XP systems out-of-the-box.
Compatibility confidence:	High; Only brief tests have been completed, but the confidence rating is high nonetheless, since some reasonably official sources claim XP support.
Genre:	Post-apocalyptic top-down RPG
Synopsis:	See the [developer website].
Notes:	It’s not often that we see games such as this one use a custom engine so that part’s pretty cool. It might not be possible to play UnderRail on XP with Steam anymore, but luckily, an offline installer is available when you buy it on GOG.

1y. Wasteland 2 Director’s Cut

Claims:	Windows Vista or Windows 7 (GOG), Windows XP 64-bit (Steam)
Developer & Engine:	inXile Entertainment; Unity Engine 5.2.2p2
Requirements:	64-bit; Will work on XP x64, but not on XP 32-bit, as it’s a true 64-bit binary.
Compatibility confidence:	High; Only brief tests have been completed, but this is a very well-known game engine, so I’m pretty confident.
Genre:	Post-apocalyptic top-down RPG
Synopsis:	See the [developer website].
Notes:	This is one classic post-apocalyptic role-playing game and successor to the 80’s “Wasteland”, where you guide your squad through the severed land. Think “Fallout 1”. Or maybe “The Fall”, only much better from what I can see.

1z. XCOM: Enemy Unknown (also applies to XCOM: Enemy Within)

Claims:	Windows Vista / Windows 7 (GOG), Windows XP 64-bit (Steam)
Developer & Engine:	Firaxis Games; Unreal Engine 3
Requirements:	Stub DLL hack; Missing file I/O function calls that are available via Microsoft’s backported fileextd.dll. Required hacks by KawaiiSara (32-bit) and ScavengerSpb (64-bit) described [here] for XCOM: Enemy Unknown and [here] for XCOM: Enemy Within.
Compatibility confidence:	High; No full playthroughs, but played for several hours
Genre:	Strategy
Synopsis:	See the [Wikipedia].
Notes:	This was one of the early binary hacks for Games on XP. This is mostly just because the developer didn’t care about properly including fileextd.h, as well as linking against and deploying fileextd.dll. Requires fairly current hardware.

2. 64-bit Games officially supported on XP x64

This is a special category for games that do support Windows XP – either only in its 64-bit incarnation or with a specific port supporting the 64-bit version of the OS officially. Because of this, the “compatibility confidence” rating is being omitted.

2a. Cities Skylines

Claims:	Windows XP x64 Edition
Developer & Engine:	Colossal Order; Unity Engine 5.x
Requirements:	64-bit
Genre:	Construction & Management Simulation
Synopsis:	Build a huge freaking city, what else?
Notes:	Requires powerful hardware, no matter which OS you’re using. Better prepare a fast multi-core CPU and a lot of RAM, like 8GB+.

2b. X-Plane 10

Claims:	Windows XP or Windows XP x64 Edition
Developer & Engine:	Laminar Research; In-house X-Plane 10 engine
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Genre:	Flight simulator
Synopsis:	Fly planes. Huh.
Notes:	Depending on what you’re doing this might require a ton of CPU horsepower and 4GB+ of RAM. The sequel will no longer work on XP / XP x64 due to requiring a more modern Direct3D API.

3. Weird Japanese shit

Well, Japanese stuff is… different. Sometimes in good ways. Sometimes in bad ways. And sometimes in weird ways. Let’s go:

3a. A magical high-school girl / 魔法の女子高生

Claims:	Windows XP / XP x64 (So why is this game listed here? See below, it’s basically a reversed case…)
Developer & Engine:	illuCalab; Unity Engine 5.4
Requirements:	None; Is partially broken out of the box on XP & XP x64 though.
Compatibility confidence:	Low; Played for many hours and it works, but audio is broken and will likely remain in this state.
Genre:	ARPG, somewhat rouge-like
Synopsis:	See [Steam].
Notes:	This is an oddball. It actually specifies Windows XP, but its audio component is built with .Net 4.5, which is not available on XP / XP x64. It still works, but without sound. If you still want to play this on XP, I’d suggest you prepare a good music playlist to run in the background. You’ll have to make the “swooosh”, “zap” and “booom” sounds by yourself though. It’s actually a pretty intelligent game, where spellcrafting works via some AI code that interprets the spell names you type in when creating a new one. Fun fact: Naming a spell “Nagasaki” creates a fire bomb-type spell. Talk about political correctness, heh…

3b. Crush Crush

Claims:	Windows 7 SP1
Developer & Engine:	Sad Panda Studios; Unity Engine 5.4.1
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests carried out, no playthroughs
Genre:	Clicker, Yuri
Synopsis:	See [Steam].
Notes:	It’s probably as bad as its logo suggests. While being a clicker you’re supposed to be able to flirt with or date girls, no idea. I only picked this up because it’s supposed to contain Yuri content (Girls Love). I might never really play this, but at least it’s free, so you have nothing to lose.

3c. Deep Space Waifu + Academy DLC & Deep Space Waifu: Flat Justice

Claims:	Windows 7 (Interestingly, the requirement for the DLC is “XP”)
Developer & Engine:	Neko Climax Studios; Unity Engine 5.6.2f1
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; Playthroughs completed without any issues whatsoever.
Genre:	Topscroller Shoot ’em up
Synopsis:	See Steam[Deep Space Waifu][Academy DLC][Flat Justice].
Notes:	It’s seriously more “Strip ’em up” than “Shoot ’em up”, but who cares, the lewdness is fun! Secret hint: There is a “patch”… (…)

3d. Gal*Gun: Double Peace / ぎゃる☆がんだぶるぴーす

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Inti Creates; Unreal Engine 3
Requirements:	64-bit; Will work on XP x64, but not on XP 32-bit, as it’s a true 64-bit binary.
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests carried out, no playthroughs
Genre:	Bishōjo rail shooter
Synopsis:	See [Steam].
Notes:	Bought this on Steam on a -75% sale (taking the risk that it might not work), because it looked like some perverted fun. I might never play it though, as it really needs a gamepad, and I suck with those. Well, I do still have my 3dfx/Interact Hammerhead FX, so maybe I’ll try someday. This game seems to work on XP x64 only by accident: It uses the Unreal Engine 3 but is compiled for 64-bit. Clearly, it was never originally intended to ever work on the OS and was likely never tested on XP x64 either.

3e. Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1, 2 & 3 V Generation / 超次次元ゲイムネプテューヌRe;Birth1, 2 & 3 V Generation

Claims:	Windows 7 64-bit
Developer & Engine:	Idea Factory, Compile Heart & Felistella; Sony PhyreEngine
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	High; Played for quite a while without issues, no complete playthroughs though.
Genre:	JRPG
Synopsis:	See [Wikipedia].
Notes:	Runs with OpenGL 3.3 if modern Direct3D isn’t present, which allows the 3D renderer to work on XP. All the other components are fine with DirectX 9.0c. The later Neptunia versions (basically all of which are asking for Direct3D 11) dropped support for OpenGL, so any version asking for D3D11 should no longer work on XP.

3f. Monster Girl Island: Prologue

Claims:	Windows 10
Developer & Engine:	Redamz; Unity Engine 5.6.6
Requirements:	64-bit and a special launch condition; Is a true 64-bit build and will only work on XP x64. Additionally, the VR audio library AudioPluginDearVR.dll in the games’ subfolder MGI_Data\Plugins\ needs to be removed or renamed, or the game will crash on the loading screens. Also, you might want to get the itch.io version. Running the Steam version is possible, but for that, you’ll need a modern Windows installation too, so you can run Steam and download the game. After that, you can just copy the game over to XP x64, and it’ll run outside of the Steam context without any problems.
Compatibility confidence:	Low; Only very brief tests were carried out, so this needs more time to raise the confidence rating (if I can stand the game, that is)
Genre:	3D Eroge
Synopsis:	See the developers’ [website] on itch.io. It’s a weird and lewd porn game, so 18+.
Notes:	Not actually Japanese, but close enough. Seems quite perverse to me, at least partly. Well, if you happen to have some monster girl fetish, I’m pretty sure this game will please because there is a… pretty wide variety of options, shall we say, and some of them are quite… um… “special”. The [Monster Musume] kind of special. Note that this isn’t the final release though, which is also why it’s free I guess. According to the developer, the prologue should cover about ⅓ of the final game, content-wise. Ah yes, and kudos to Redamz for not including any DRM, even on Steam!

3g. Valkyria Chronicles / 戦場のヴァルキュリア -Gallian Chronicles-

Claims:	Windows Vista
Developer & Engine:	SEGA; CANVAS Engine
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests carried out, no playthroughs
Genre:	Strategy RPG
Synopsis:	See [Wikipedia].
Notes:	I should really play this! It seems to be a somewhat WW1/WW2ish game and looks pretty good.

3h. War of the Human Tanks – Limited Operations

Claims:	Windows Vista
Developer & Engine:	Alice-Soft / アリスソフト; SactEngine 1.0
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; Upgraded from Fair, now that a full playthrough has been completed without any problems.
Genre:	Tactical game
Synopsis:	See [Steam].
Notes:	This is the third and final installment of the series and the only one that didn’t have Windows XP in its list of supported operating systems. It works fine out of the box, however, just like the first and second (“ALTeR”) parts.

3i. WEED

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	CUTE ANIME GIRLS; Unity Engine 2017.2.0.4644257
Requirements:	64-Bit; Will work on XP x64, but not on XP 32-bit, as it’s a true 64-bit binary.
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests carried out, no playthroughs
Genre:	Match 3
Synopsis:	See [Steam].
Notes:	This is the first Unity Engine game covered that doesn’t come with a normal engine version number. The Unity Engine guys seem to have abandoned the old scheme with 5.6.2 for versioning based on years (and months?). Anyway, this version of Unity has [deprecated] 32-bit support on x86, so despite its simplicity and small size, WEED requires a 64-bit operating system – not that it would make any sense. I assume we will be seeing more Unity Engine titles that fail to work on 32-bit XP, but may still run on XP x64 in the future. It’s based on OpenGL 2.0 by the way, not on Direct3D. Also, this is likely not of Japanese origin, but I couldn’t quite find out where the developers come from. Could be Russia, since besides Facebook, they can also be found on the Russian [VK.com].

4. Visual Novels

Like “graphical novels”, these are crossovers between books and games, somewhat like those multi-branching adventure books for kids you might or might not know. VNs usually tend to require a fair amount of Japanophilia on behalf of the player/reader, at least sometimes. Most are distinctly Asian after all. There are two rough categories: 1.) Typical Visual Novels with a branching decision tree that allows the player to reach different story paths and endings and 2.) Kinetic Novels, that do not allow the player to make any choices, but instead focus on telling a single story as well as possible.

As all of them fall into a single genre (visual novel), the “Genre” part will be replaced with “Subgenre”, like “drama” or “Comedy” or something similar.

Let’s go:

4aa. ChuSingura46+1 S / 忠臣蔵46+1

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	inra; Unity Engine 5.4
Requirements:	64-bit; Will work on XP x64, but not on XP 32-bit, as it’s a true 64-bit binary.
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only the first part has been tested, and only very briefly.
Subgenre:	No idea. There are tons of Samurai girls, and that’s all I know.
Synopsis:	See [Steam].
Notes:	As said, only the initial free-to-play part has been tested, so I don’t know about chapters 2-5.

4ab. Chuusotsu – 1st Graduation: Time after Time / ちゅーそつ! 1st graduation

Claims:	Windows Vista
Developer & Engine:	Studio Beast; TVP(KiriKiri) 2.32.2.426 + TJS 2.4.28
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; Full playthrough and some scenes have been replayed multiple times as well. Upgraded from Fair, former description: The game hasn’t been released at the time of writing, but brief tests have been done running the demo without problems so far. The release is expected some time in Q4 2017.
Subgenre:	Cute Slice of Life, Sterile Dystopia with social commentary (afaik)
Synopsis:	See [Kickstarter]
Notes:	I actually backed this. I like this kind of “no personal freedom” kind of sci-fi setups, where certain individuals struggle with their lack of free choice or expression of opinion. This title might be a lot less serious though, I simply don’t know yet.

4ac. Chuusotsu – 1.5th Graduation: The moving Castle / ちゅーそつ! 1.5th graduation

Claims:	Windows Vista
Developer & Engine:	Studio Beast; TVP(KiriKiri) 2.32.2.426 + TJS 2.4.28
Requirements:	Steam Version and with it, a Windows 7 or newer for downloading; Runs out of the box and without Steam on XP & XP x64 after copying the files over from a newer Windows, so it’s DRM-free.
Compatibility confidence:	High; Only brief tests have been conducted, but it’s based on the exact same engine version as Chuusotsu 1st Graduation: Time after Time, which is where the confidence rating comes from.
Subgenre:	Cute Slice of Life, Sterile Dystopia with social commentary
Synopsis:	See [Kickstarter]
Notes:	This is a side story that backers of the original in a high enough tier will get for free. It appears that this time around it’s going to be distributed via Steam only, so you can’t easily buy or download it from itch.io. If this situation ever changes, this entry will be updated accordingly to lower the requirements spec.

4ad. Curse of Kudan, The / クダンノフォークロア

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	SukeraSparo; BURIKO General Interpreter / Ethornell v1.659, compat. 1.72
Requirements:	Stub DLL hacks, significant Binary header hacks and some file-based Trickery. Requires unlocking, removing & replacing a file during the running installation process, function replacement and DLL import descriptor table modifications. Overall pretty nasty to hack. For a full guide on how to make it work on XP, [see here].
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests have been conducted, but I’ve already tackled this engine once before, so I’m somewhat confident that it’ll work.
Subgenre:	Yuri; Mystery thriller with supernatural elements.
Synopsis:	See [MangaGamer]
Notes:	I’m not yet sure about how serious and dramatic “The Curse of Kudan” really is, but I’m guessing it’s gonna be a mix of slice-of-life with some more serious moments. As this is a branching VN, I think it’s probably going to have bad ends too. Will update this once I’ve completed it.

4ae. Dating Life: Miley X Emily

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Dharker Studio; Ren’Py Engine 7.2.0 (Python 2.7)
Requirements:	Steam Version and with it, a Windows 7 for downloading; Runs out of the box and without Steam on XP & XP x64 after copying the files over from Windows 7, so it’s DRM-free.
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; This VN is based on a Ren’Py engine version that specifically supports XP and is well known to work on the OS. Due to this, it gets a maximum rating right from the start.
Subgenre:	Yuri; Dating Sim
Synopsis:	See [Steam]
Notes:	Yet another Dharker Studio release, so probably run-of-the-mill Ecchi with some pornographic content. Ah yes, the latter actually requires you to buy a DLC on Steam for 1.59€ to get the adult content. Due to this, you may also play this in its more wholesome (and slightly cheaper) base version, if desired.

4af. Doki Doki Literature Club!

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Team Salvato; Ren’Py Engine 6.99.12.4 (Python 2.7)
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; Reported to be compatible by [ThyBonesConsumed] and briefly tested by myself. This VN is based on a Ren’Py engine version that specifically supports XP. Due to all this, it gets a maximum rating right from the start.
Subgenre:	Dating Sim, Psycho horror
Synopsis:	See [developer website]
Notes:	Seems cute and light-hearted on the surface, but there is supposedly something more sinister waiting for the player in this game.

4ag. DoraKone

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Apple Cider; Ren’Py Engine 7.2.0 (Python 2.7)
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; One complete playthrough without any issues plus a very well-known game engine.
Subgenre:	Mobile augmented reality gaming, Yuri
Synopsis:	See [developer website]
Notes:	Found this on Steam by pure accident. But fear not, the visual novel is DRM-free even on Steam, as are all Ren’Py games I’ve seen so far, and you can also get it on itch.io. Also: It’s free! And I swear to god, visually this is the best free VN that I’ve ever seen. It easily rivals many commercial titles! It may be short if you play just one route, but then there are 13 possible endings and three cute girls to befriend (or romance). The dragon-collecting and battling mobile game backstory is not too shabby, and the characters are pretty diverse and interesting. Oh, and have I mentioned the gorgeous visuals? My main girls’ cuteness is just killing me, I tell ya… A must for fans of Yuri / girls love!

4ah. Expression Amrilato, The / ことのはアムリラート

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	SukeraSparo; Ren’Py Engine 7.3.0 (Python 2.7)
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; Played for several hours, and the engine version is known to support Windows XP.
Subgenre:	Lost in translation, Yuri
Synopsis:	See [official website]
Notes:	A pretty interesting Yuri VN in which our main character sees the world transform around herself, with the result that she then stands in a town very much resembling the one she was just in, but still different. The most problematic change is the language – as she finds herself unable to communicate with anyone. A chance encounter with a girl who can speak just bits and pieces of Japanese brings her into the adventure of getting to know that world and its language. So, this is a learning game, with the fictional in-game language named “Juliamo” being based on the real artificial language Esperanto. You’ll be learning quite a bit of Esperanto playreading this. Can be challenging, but I can already tell that it’s really well-made in that regard. Also: Yuri. Never a bad thing.

4ai. Fatal Twelve / フェイタルトゥウェルブ

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Aiueo Kompany & Sekai Project; Ren’Py Engine 6.99.12.4 (Python 2.7)
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; Upgraded from fair when only the demo had been played. Meanwhile, a full playthrough has been completed with almost all endings reached and several parts replayed.
Subgenre:	Mystery, supernatural, Yuri
Synopsis:	See [Kickstarter].
Notes:	I saw its graphical style, and I knew I had to back this. It looks rather well made, visually at least. Should contain lots of Yuri elements, which is always a reason for buying pretty much anything!

4aj. Flowers 1-4: Le Volume sur Printemps, Le Volume sur Été, Le volume sur Automne & Le Volume sur Hiver

Claims:	Windows Vista (Vol.1 & Vol.2 Steam/Installer warning), Windows 7 (Vol.2 & Vol.3 box/DVD/Mangagamer specifications as well as Vol,4 Steam specifications)
Developer & Engine:	Innocent Grey; unknown engine
Requirements:	None for volumes 1-3; They run out of the box on XP & XP x64. Special launch condition for volume 4: Requires the renaming or removal of the incompatible library d3d9.dll bundled with the game to force it to use XP’s own Direct3D 9.0c renderer library.
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum for Vol.1-3, High for Vol.4; Full Vol.1, Vol.2 & Vol.3 playthroughs completed, several parts replayed. Only brief tests for Vol.4, but as it’s based on the exact same technology, I’m pretty confident it should work fine with what minimal changes are required to make it run.
Subgenre:	Yuri Drama, Slice of Life
Synopsis:	Vol.1: Our protagonist Suoh – who suffers from pretty intense social anxiety – changes schools, right into a classy Christian, private all-girls school. The story follows her finding her first friends (and more than that) as well as her opening up to the people around her. Vol.2: This part focuses on Suohs’ disabled schoolmate Erika, who is well-known for her cynical character and her black humor. She gets to know a new Girl at school, and an odd friendship might just develop there. In the meantime, we have Suoh struggling with her own issues after what happened just shortly before. Vol.3: Now it’s time for the Senpais – Yuzuriha & Nerine, plus first years Ringo & Ichigo, although the pairing doesn’t appear to be so simple… Yuzuriha appears to be the main character and at the center of things for this part, but I’ll need to play more to make sure. If Ringo & Ichigo is really a possibility here (and it very much looks like it), then we’re in for some incestuous relationships as well, but we’ll see. Vol.4: The climax of Flowers, featuring closure for the very first Girls Love story told by the series.
Notes:	No explicit stuff, so this is on the softer side of Girls Love. It does feature drama as well. Note that these are longer VNs, where each of the four parts is supposed to represent a season – spring, summer, autumn and winter, both in actual time of the year as well as the maturation of the characters. Rather lengthy, expect ~20 hours per title.

4ak. Kindred Spirits on the Roof & Kindred Spirits on the Roof Full Chorus / 屋上の百合霊さん

Claims:	Windows Vista (Original version) / Windows 7 (Full Chorus version)
Developer & Engine:	Liar-soft; Codex RScript Engine (Original version) / Ren’Py 7.1.3 (Full Chorus version)
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum for the original version; Full playthrough completed. High for the Full Chorus version due to it being based on a well-known engine.
Subgenre:	Yuri, Slice of Life
Synopsis:	Happens that for some reason our protagonist (a girl, like all characters here) is sensitive to the supernatural and hence manages to make contact with the two ghosts on the roof of the school. Those happen to have watched many a bad outcome when it comes to romances at the school, unable to intervene for decades. Now that they can talk to a living person for the first time, they’ve picked you to become their “tool” to “get those girls together”.
Notes:	Does feature sex scenes, but they’re rare and not overly explicit. It’s a longer Yuri VN, and despite having a few steamy moments, I’d still call this one “soft and sweet”. Gives you a good 20 hours of girls getting closer to girls! Update 2019-01-25: The fully voiced “Full Chorus” version has now been released with a cheap upgrade patch available for those who already own the original game. This also comes with a complete engine switch from RScript to Ren’Py.

4al. The last Birdling

Claims:	Windows XP, but also DirectX 10 (Huh?! How’s that gonna work?)
Developer & Engine:	InvertMouse; Ren’Py Engine 6.99.12.3 (Python 2.7)
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; Upgraded from fair, when only brief tests had been conducted. Full playthrough completed with multiple endings tested in the meantime.
Subgenre:	Fantasy
Synopsis:	A story of two members of opposing races of which one is about to become extinct, who become friends against all odds, and then have to hide/defend their friendship (love?) without enraging their respective peoples.
Notes:	This is not actually Japanese, the developer is an Australian who’s lived in Hong Kong. ~~I’m not sure if this is Yuri, but probably not, Yuri friendship at best?~~ I do like stories, where people who’re supposed to hate each other due to their upbringing become friends instead, and then start to defend that friendship. Should be interesting even without Yuri. The game doesn’t actually use any DirectX 10 resources, it renders to OpenGL and makes use of some DirectX 9.0c libraries. Update after full playthrough: Please be aware, that this is far from fluffy. As a matter of fact, it is or can be quite a tragic drama. Brace yourselves, for this VN is not going to go easy on you. I expected some hardships given the setting, but it can be far more harsh than what I would’ve expected.

4am. Lilycle Rainbow Stage!!!

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Particle; 2XT Primula Adventure Engine 4.4.1.3
Requirements:	HighVersionLie; Requires the user to fake the operating system version for the “Kantan” installer of the game using Microsoft’s Application Verifier tool. A full guide about making it work on XP can be found [here].
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests completed, no playthroughs.
Subgenre:	Yuri
Synopsis:	Tamaki wants to keep watching over Yuno, Saeka has a crush on said Yuno while suddenly being enraptured by Tamaki and so on and so forth. So: Lots of fluffy Girls’ love.
Notes:	I haven’t played this yet, but I probably will soon. I assume that we’ll get more pairings out of this visual novel than just the main two (Tamaki × Yuno, Saeka × Yuno & Saeka × Tamaki I guess). Likely lots of goodness for Yuri fans. I will update this game as soon as I’ve completed at least one playthrough, given that there aren’t any more technical issues after fixing the installer.

4an. Ne no Kami: The two Princess Knights of Kyoto / ねのかみ京の都とふたりの姫騎士

Claims:	Windows 7 / Windows Vista in the Readme file, noting that “XP may work, but it’s untested”
Developer & Engine:	Kuro Irodoru Yimiji; Artemis Engine w. m-kz / iMel
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; 1½ playthroughs completed for part 1, both the censored and uncensored versions have been extensively tested. Full playthrough for part 2.
Subgenre:	Yuri, Supernatural
Synopsis:	Our girl – despite being the long-time love interest of a rather well-endowed certain someone who will become really important in this story – is being abducted by her own friend to become a wielder of ancient, divine powers that are meant to be used to battle forces once again threatening to invade the Earth from some demonic realm.
Notes:	This game knows how to smear the borders between good and evil. The more you learn, the less clear it becomes which side is really in the right and which isn’t. I like that way of world-building and story development. This game does feature one explicit scene, which I found to be rather annoying. You can still play the censored version though. The sequel should be nearly completed now, it had to be delayed due to the unfortunate death of one of the lead voice actresses. Update: Part 2 has been released! Seems we might even see a third one?

4ao. Nekopara / ネコぱら

Claims:	Windows Vista (Vol.0-3), Windows 7 (Extra, Vol.4)
Developer & Engine(s)	NEKO WORKs; TVP(KiriKiri) Z v1.2.0.3 Engine for Vol.0-2, 4 & Extra, Ares CatSystem2 v2.32.2.426 Engine for Vol.3
Requirements:	.exe unpack and binary header hack for the patches of Vol.1-2, Vol.3 itself needs an additional stub DLL hack on top of that, which is based on Oleg Ovcharenkos’ work for Stellaris, etc. When running the Steam version, Vol.3 also needs a Steamless hack to decrypt/unpack the SteamStub DRM so the stub DLL hack may be applied. The whole procedure from A to Z is documented [here]. Thanks fly out to Oleg for his help with Vol.3! Nekopara Extra needs a Steamless hack as well, plus a DLL linking binary header hack, which is unique to the Extra volume. The procedure for hacking Nekopara Extra is documented [here]. This new hack was also contributed by Oleg! Nekopara Vol.4 needs a Steamless hack, a Steam API hack and a DLL linking binary header hack for the Steam version, whereas the Denpasoft version can do with the DLL linking binary header hack alone. The entire procedure for making both the Steam and Denpasoft versions fully functional on WinXP is documented [here].
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum for Vol.0-2, High for Vol.3 and Fair for Nekopara Extra and Vol.4; No complete playthroughs through Vol.3 yet, but a lot of shorter test runs. Plus “I just have a good feeling about this” for some undefined reason. Extra and Vol.4 have only seen about an hour of gameplay, plus it requires unique hacks, so a complete playthrough will be required to raise the confidence rating.
Subgenre:	Harem, dating simulator, Eroge
Synopsis:	Tons of catgirls working in your bakery. Catgirls in heat (this turns into something very, VERY explicit, if you happen to have the uncensored version). Other than that, just cute catgirls that you can pet and play around with. Also: Minor character development. Note that Vol.0 and the Extra volume are all-ages titles.
Notes:	Those games will defile you. If you’re new to this stuff, it may redefine your understanding of how perverted Japanese shit can really be. Unless you play the pure, censored version or just the all-ages parts (heh, yeah right)…

4ap. Neko-nin exHeart / 猫忍えくすはーと

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Whirlpool; YU-RIS Engine
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; Complete playthrough without hiccups
Subgenre:	Supernatural
Synopsis:	There were once powerful catgirl ninjas (don’t switch your brain on please, you really don’t need that piece of equipment here) serving their human masters, but no more. It seems nobody needs their personal kitty ninjas these days. Nevertheless, two of them just show up one day declaring they would serve you (heh, right) as their new master, while you weren’t even aware catgirls existed. Or ninjas. Or ninja catgirls.
Notes:	It ain’t great, but it’s cute, even if rather short. Bought this out of frustration during a time when Oleg Ovcharenko hadn’t yet helped me with hacking Nekopara Vol.3.

4aq. Nurse Love Addiction / 白衣性愛情依存症

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Kogado Studio; TyranoScript Engine (not sure if true, but binary analysis does seem to suggest it)
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; Complete playthrough without any issues
Subgenre:	Yuri, Drama
Synopsis:	Dragging her long-time friend along with her, our protagonist decides to become a nurse, hence entering a nursing school. But will she be ready for what she got herself into?
Notes:	Don’t rush into this one thinking you’re going to get sweet, fluffy Yuri. This game looks like it, but it turns out to be quite dramatic and depending on how you approach the setting, it may hit you rather hard. Better keep that in mind, this VN is not as light-hearted or superficial as it may look on the surface. Easily goes on for 10+ hours as well.

4ar. OshiRabu: Waifus over Husbandos / 推しのラブより恋のラブ

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	SukeraSomero; BURIKO General Interpreter / Ethornell v1.656.3, compat. 1.72
Requirements:	Stub DLL hack and a binary header hack; Requires Oleg Ovcharenko’s Stellaris fix, which will do both for you. A full guide to making the game work on XP & XP x64 can be found [here]. Note that it also requires the 32-bit version of the Microsoft VisualC++ 2010 redistributable, which you can get [here], if you don’t already have it installed.
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; One full playthrough completed for both the all-ages and the not-so-all-ages versions without any issues in either case
Subgenre:	Yuri
Synopsis:	“—I wanna marry you.” Those simple words set in motion a ♀ yuri ♀ game of cat and mouse! (Copied from the game description)
Notes:	This game is all-ages by default, seemingly no matter where you buy it from. An [adult patch] can be bought on Mangagamer, should you be interested in the more erotic scenes as well. What I can say is that it’s pretty sweet Girls Love, the artwork is decent, and so are the characters. Yuri fans should probably not skip this one! It’s also not too short, so I think it’s worth the price: $20 for the all-ages version of the game plus $5 for the optional adult patch.

4as. Panzermadels

Claims:	Windows Vista
Developer & Engine:	DEVGRU-P; TyranoScript Engine
Requirements:	Special launch condition; Works only when launched outside of Steam (with Steam still running in the background, you just have to click the .exe file directly instead of launching it from within the Steam client application).
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; Multiple complete playthroughs without any problems
Subgenre:	Tank dating simulator (don’t ask…)
Synopsis:	It’s so stupid, why don’t we just skip this?
Notes:	The crown jewel of stupidity. You’re dating girls… who are tanks. I mean, in this game you can get court-martialed for “doing sexual stuff with military equipment”. It’s still plenty of fun though, maybe because of it being so stupid. Just drink a beer or three while playing this and it’ll be fine! Ah, by the way: This is not actually Japanese-made, the developers originate from the UK I believe. Also, this game was only meant as a short joke anyway.

4at. Planetarian ~The Reverie of a little Planet~ / Planetarian ～ちいさなほしのゆめ～

Claims:	Windows Vista
Developer & Engine:	Visual Art’s & Key; RealLive Engine
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; Complete playthrough without problems
Subgenre:	Postapocalyptic drama, Kinetic Novel
Synopsis:	It’d be on the lengthy side, so see the [Wikipedia] instead.
Notes:	I have not yet tested the newer “HD” version on Steam, which claims Windows 7, but only the regular version. The HD version will be tested in the future. This is simply one of the best VNs I have ever played, despite its age and respectively lower visual quality. Its dark, hopeless and yet intriguing postapocalyptic world just draws you into this 2 character piece like few other VNs manage. Prepare your tissues however, this is a drama after all. Thumbs up for a VN that manages to do so much world-building in such a short time (you’ll complete this in 3-5 hours). Update: …as soon as there is a version with English or German text. Currently, it’s Chinese only.

4au. SeaBed

Claims:	Windows Vista
Developer & Engine:	Paleontology; TVP2(KiriKiri) Engine 2.32.2.426
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests completed, no playthroughs
Subgenre:	Yuri, Drama
Synopsis:	See [Steam].
Notes:	A Yuri Novel probably more deep than the average. Deals with more serious things like memory loss and people having grown apart as well.

4av. Season of 12 Colors / 十二色的季节

Claims:	Windows 7 SP1
Developer & Engine:	Juziban; BK Engine
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests completed, no playthroughs
Subgenre:	Unsure, but not a drama? Seems to feature a slow, soft narrative… So maybe Iyashikei (“Healing” genre).
Synopsis:	See [Steam].
Notes:	Rather untouched yet, I might play this in the not-so-near future, whenever I need something soothing to the mind.

4aw. Sisterly Bliss ~Don’t let Mom fund out~ / つい・ゆり～おかあさんにはナイショだよ～

Claims:	Windows 7 (Mangagamer [announcement]) / Windows Vista (Mangagamer [shop])
Developer & Engine:	eye★phon; Ren’Py Engine 7.0.0.196 (Python 2.7)
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Maximum; Full playthrough including all endings has been completed. On top of that, this version of the Ren’Py Engine is still officially supported on Windows XP despite having been released in June 2018.
Subgenre:	Yuri, Siscon
Synopsis:	See [Mangagamer].
Notes:	No DRM. Pretty gorgeous art with nice, pastel colors. A word of warning: This is an 18+ title with a rather controversial setting (incest, girls love), so please stay away if you don’t want those. Another word of warning: Beware of the bad endings. They are really tragic and sad.

4ax. Steins;Gate

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	5pb. Games & Nitroplus; Infinity Engine
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only brief tests completed, no playthroughs
Subgenre:	Drama, time travel
Synopsis:	See [Wikipedia].
Notes:	Only the original DVD version has been tested, but not the Steam “HD” version. I haven’t really played this much yet, but it’s supposed to be one of the best visual novels ever. Remember how great the Anime was? It’s based on this game.

4ay. VA-11 HALL-A (“Valhalla”)

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Sukeban Games; GameMaker C++ Engine
Requirements:	Special launch condition; Requires the renaming or removal of the GameMaker engine component library GMResource.dll in the games’ root folder to execute without fatal errors. Works for all versions (original, Steam & GOG).
Compatibility confidence:	Low; Only a few tests have been completed, some basic gameplay, file I/O etc. The game still reproducibly crashes upon exit because something goes wrong with its use of Direct3D, which is by no means critical but gives me a bad feeling about this. Really needs a playthrough to raise confidence.
Subgenre:	Cyberpunk Dystopia, Yuri, Kinetic Novel
Synopsis:	You’re a bartender girl in a dystopian cyberpunk world, taking good care of your patrons while listening to the stories they have to tell while drinking.
Notes:	XP compatibility for this VN [was requested by Konstantin] in the comment section of the Nekopara Vol.3 hack. Well, barkeepers are cool, always wanted to play one in a game, because usually, you only meet them, but they’re never the stories’ protagonists. This title is supposed to have several Yuri characters as well, including yourself. I’m unsure how much drama there is though… Also: The game suggests you “get a drink and a few snacks” and chill out while reading/playing this – nice!

4az. Wanting Wings: Her and her Romance / きみはね彼女と彼女の恋する１ヶ月

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	BaseSon Light; Ren’Py 7.3.5.606
Requirements:	Windows 7+, Linux+Wine or FreeBSD UNIX+Wine; Requires a different OS for the installer to work. If a Windows 7 license or newer cannot or shall not be obtained, Wine on Linux or FreeBSD UNIX also works. After installation, the game can be copied to XP and run from there without any further modifications. A full guide to making it work on XP can be found [here].
Compatibility confidence:	Fair; Only a few tests have been completed, some basic gameplay, file I/O etc. Confidence is still somewhat high because Ren’Py is a very well-known engine that rarely makes any trouble on Windows XP. Naturally, confidence may rise once I get to playread & complete this title.
Subgenre:	Yuri; Dating sim
Synopsis:	See [MangaGamer].
Notes:	Appears to be just some funny and lewd dating sim within the Yuri genre, probably light-hearted and maybe slightly perverted. I will see once I get to actually playread it.

4ba. Yuri Club, The

Claims:	Windows 7
Developer & Engine:	Sun Kissed Games; Ren’Py 7.2.2
Requirements:	None; Runs out of the box on XP & XP x64
Compatibility confidence:	High; Tried just a quick launch of the game, haven’t really played yet. Still gets a high confidence rating due to its engine being known for its XP compatibility.
Subgenre:	Yuri
Synopsis:	Yuri-girls-club-at-high-school setting. The school actually forbids its students to engage in romantic relationships, however. This will probably be the main obstacle to overcome for our girls.
Notes:	Girls love / Yuri again. This time the developer is from the West though, so I’m looking forward to how genuine this will (or won’t) be in terms of classical Japanese tropes. It’s done in an Anime style after all, so they’re clearly targeting Anime & Manga Yuri fans. I may update the notes and its confidence rating once I’ve actually played it.

That’s it for now, but there might be more to come!

Games that run on Windows XP / XP x64 even though they shouldn’t; A compatibility report © 2017 by The GAT at XIN.at is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

58 Responses to “Games that run on Windows XP / XP x64 even though they shouldn’t; A compatibility report”

Jack D. says:

February 22, 2024 at 23:29

Thanx a lot for your effort even if I’ll finally upgrade to W7 soon – after all the drawbacks are too annoying.
I also don’t mind the response times. I’m from an era where 90 % of you job consists of staring on a progress bar.
Greetings from Vienna

Reply
- thrawn says:
  
  February 23, 2024 at 12:12
  
  Hi Jack,
  
  You’re welcome! Although I would still like to be a (much!) better C++ hacker than I am (Hint: I am not at all). I’m thinking I could backport so many more games if I were… but damn, that language is pretty crazy hard.
  
  About the era you’re from: I can relate, I started in 1992 with a C64 and in 1995 with my first PC.
  
  Also, greetings fly back to you from Styria!
  
  Reply
dandelion says:

November 29, 2023 at 19:41

I played Life is Strange as it came out on my 2009 custom build (Core2Duo/GTX8800), absolutely 0 problems throughout 60 hours of playtime. I had no idea it wasn’t even officially compatible. Same for Oxenfree. I used the computer until Dec 2016.

Blurry screenshot from my high school tumblr blog dated Nov. 2015

Attachment:

Reply
- thrawn says:
  
  November 30, 2023 at 08:58
  
  Hi dandelion,
  
  I must say I have no idea whether those two actually still work, as I don’t keep checking for compatibility throughout the lifetimes of those games.
  
  The Unity 3D engine they’re using is constantly evolving and has gotten harder and harder to fix so it runs on XP / XP x64. Explicit support for that old platform has been removed by now, not just by Unity, but also by the newer Microsoft VisualStudio releases (VS 2017 still supports targeting XP, VS 2019 and 2022 do not). If the developers kept updating their engine to the latest versions, those games might very well be broken on XP by now.
  
  Reply
Lorna says:

October 8, 2023 at 23:42

I have been trying to use free MediBang Paint Pro on Windows XP 32-bit and have applied Ѕtellaris as you explained. (Without it, the program says, “MediBangPaintPro.exe is not a valid Win32 application.”) After patching, version 28 〘http://medibangpaint.com/static/installer/MediBangPaintPro/MediBangPaintProSetup-28.4-32bit.exe〙 says, “MediBangPaintPro.exe – Unable To Locate Component” ➪ “This application has failed to start because MFReadWrite.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.” Earlier versions — like 15 〘http://207.38.89.161/2018/1/PhotoEditing/MediBangPaintProSetup-15.0-32bit.exe〙 — say, “MediBangPaintPro.exe – Entry Point Not Found” ➪ “The procedure entry point QueryFullProcessImageNameW could not be located in the dynamic link library zеrnel32.dll.” Ѕo… is there any way to make these MediBang Paint Pros work correctly without massive system patching?‎

Reply
- thrawn says:
  
  October 9, 2023 at 11:53
  
  Hello Lorna,
  
  MFReadWrite.dll is a part of the Microsoft Media Foundation framework, also known as Windows Media Foundation or WMF. WMF was meant to replace DirectShow and Video for Windows for media playback from Windows Vista onwards. I currently have no means to port WMF to Windows XP, so version 28 won’t fly unless somebody else makes that happen or you rely on the One-Core-API, which applies system-wide patches however.
  
  The missing QueryFullProcessImageNameW() in version 15 is a different story however! It’s a rather simple function that should return the Unicode file system path of the binary (the full path of the .exe file of a given process). Oleg already ported the ANSI version (QueryFullProcessImageNameA()) for me, so it was easy to re-implement the Unicode version by wrapping it around GetModuleFileNameExW() instead of GetModuleFileNameExA().
  
  This is the added code block in the kernel32 wrapper:
```
// Added by M. Lackner based on O. Ovcharenko's ANSI version of the function
extern "C" BOOL WINAPI QueryFullProcessImageNameW(HANDLE hProcess, DWORD dwFlags, LPWSTR lpExeName, PDWORD lpdwSize)
{
  DWORD result = GetModuleFileNameExW(hProcess, NULL, lpExeName, *lpdwSize);
  return result;
}
```
  The program needs to be patched with that newer, updated version of the Stellaris fix. Here’s the files:
  - Stellaris Fix for MediBang Paint Pro v15.x
  - Stellaris Fix for MediBang Paint Pro v15.x (source code)
  I tested it on both Windows XP Professional x64 SP2 and 32-bit Windows XP Professional SP3 successfully, here’s a screenshot of it working on XP x64:
  
  MediBang Paint Pro v15 running on XP x64 (click to enlarge)
  
  I have only briefly tested the program, but web access via HTTPS checks out and it can load and save image files, haven’t tried anything else so far.
  
  Please try to uninstall and reinstall MediBang Paint Pro, then reapply the patch using that new patcher, it should work now!
  
  Hope this helps!
  Reply
  - Lorna says:
    
    October 15, 2023 at 18:21
    
    It has now worked ! ジ
    
    Attachment:
    
    Reply
    - thrawn says:
      
      October 16, 2023 at 08:38
      
      Excellent, thanks for reporting back!
      
      Reply
MilkChan says:

August 23, 2022 at 02:03

Hi, can you test CAPCOM game? It’s like some Resident Evil games are running on XP, you only need to crack.

Reply
- thrawn says:
  
  August 23, 2022 at 14:48
  
  Hi MilkChan,
  
  Do you have any specific game(s) in mind? They’ve released a whole lot[0-D][E-L][M][N-R][S][T-Z] after all.
  
  I would also like to stay away from DRM-breaking cracks as much as possible, as it is dangerous to advertise such things on this site & server, and I personally am not fond of cracking games anyway, even if nobody other than game company shareholders likes DRM and copy protection…
  
  My funds are dwindling as well, so it would be nice if I could buy the games in question for real cheap somewhere, maybe on GOG.
  
  But first, please let me know which titles you would like to have tested!
  
  Reply
  - MilkChan says:
    
    August 24, 2022 at 04:37
    
    Resident Evil 5
    resident evil remaster form year 2015 (It’s XP compatible, but I didn’t have time to test it.)
    Ultra Street Fighter IV
    
    Attachment:
    
    Reply
    - thrawn says:
      
      August 24, 2022 at 09:29
      
      Hey MilkChan,
      
      Guess I’d need to hook my Steam installation back up under XP x64. Supposedly still doable, but didn’t work for me. Might need to re-try.
      
      The games you mentioned are a bit too expensive to buy just for testing though; About 68€ in total for all three. I’d need to wait for a (significant) discount, as I don’t own any one of them yet.
      
      Reply
IntMD says:

August 26, 2019 at 18:59

Regarding the Steam update-status of 2019-07-12 and the problem with logging on, according to the guy who uploaded the ‘steam_201901’ archived build on Internet Archive (spaztron64), he has recently tried the build + config.vdf patch on Windows Server 2003 x64 and it worked fine, but there are problems with logging in first try. You have to “kickstart” it until it connects successfully to the logon servers. It might take 3 times, but it might take way more. The person also updated the certificates using heinoganda’s Cert_Updater, just in case.

tl;dr logging on first try isn’t enough, for best results use https://archive.org/details/steam_201901 + config.vdf patch + heinoganda’s Cert_Updater, to make sure certs aren’t outdated.

picrel shows his successful attempt at logging on

Attachment:

Reply
- thrawn says:
  
  August 27, 2019 at 09:44
  
  I’m already using Steam_201901 with an updated config.vdf, so the issue might indeed be the certificates? Google Chrome usually uses the Windows Certificate Store plus Windows SSL, so it’s likely that Steams’ Chromium Embedded Framework will do the same. Hm, I never thought about that… I thought the SSL version would just be too old, but it didn’t occur to me that it might be the certs instead.
  
  I’ll give it a shot in my test VM as soon as I’ve got the time! Thanks for letting me know!
  
  Reply
IntMD says:

August 26, 2019 at 18:21

You might want to consider adding Ion Fury to the list. Although the official system requirements imply that the minimum OS (and its bitness) supported is Windows 7 x64, the unmodified game engine that it uses (Ion Fury runs on a modified EDuke32 engine) officialy supports the 32-bit version of XP (haven’t tested nor seen anybody testing the game on Pro x64 Edition, and also the 32-bit build was tested), and unofficially also Windows 2000 (with BlackWingCat’s Extended Kernel v30b [also called as v3.0b]) and Windows 98SE (with jumper’s KernelEx 4.5.2016.17 + .22 addon; needs more work to make it work).

However, to ensure full experience of using ion fury’s datafiles, the engine binary needs to be recompiled with the FURY=1 flag. Although this specific build will work on Win2k and Win98SE, it won’t work for Windows XP due to the good ol’ GetTickCount64 API call, which can obviously be mitigated by UncleVasya’s “EU4_WinXP_fix” and seems to fix the problem.

As of how the rendering works, the OpenGL one seems to have problems (according to reports in Vogons), but software rendering seems to work flawlessly. I recommend checking out the thread in Vogons regarding this game: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=779160#p779160 (read from this point)

(For some reason when submitting this comment it tells me that there’s a duplicate comment, although I don’t see any. However had there been dupes, it wasn’t on purpose and may be freely deleted)

Reply
- thrawn says:
  
  August 27, 2019 at 09:07
  
  Hello IntMD,
  
  Thanks for letting me know! I was interested in Ion Fury anyway, so I just bought it from 3DRealms a few minutes ago and began working on the binary. It’s as you say; The only thing standing in the way of XP x64 users seems to be GetTickCount64(), which my 64-bit port of UncleVasyas’ Stellaris Fix can handle. With that, it should be possible to play the 64-bit version of the game on XP x64 just fine.
  
  Or at least, it starts up now. I can’t test full functionality yet, as I’ve been doing this remotely via RDP+SSH, so no 3D and no real tests possible yet. Will try the game for real when I get back home!
  
  Some people on the 3dfx retro forum Voodooalert.de that I’m frequenting have been complaining about Ion Fury not being able to run on actual retro platforms just recently… Guess I’ll be able to bring them some good news now.
  
  As soon as my tests are completed, I will add Ion Fury to the list! That is, if everything works out.
  
  Oh, and about your troubles with posting here: My apologies! This web site is based on heavy, modern web software from 2019, and is running on an ancient quad Pentium Pro server from 1995-1997. Guess I should’ve picked different software for this or do everything in static HTML… I’ve done everything to optimize the speed, but interactive usage (like when posting comments) will unfortunately have to keep being painfully slow. That’s likely why this happened to you. Sometimes it can take up to 10 minutes or even more for a comment to go through…
  
  I know it’s horrible… I have deep respect for people who comment here not only once, but even twice and more often than that. You people have reached some serious level of pain resistance! 8)
  
  Reply
- thrawn says:
  
  August 28, 2019 at 13:30
  
  Hello again IntMD,
  
  I managed to confirm that the game is working after redirecting the GetTickCount64() call. No eDuke32 engine replacement required for XP x64 users. It’s been added to the list, and I’ve replied in the Vogons thread! I wrote up a small article describing the fix for Ion Fury for XP x64, it can be found [here].
  
  Thanks!
  
  Reply
ThyBonesConsumed says:

March 9, 2019 at 23:41

It’s me again. Sega released a beta patch for Sonic Mania yesterday that removes Denuvo (which means there’s a better chance you could get it working on XP with some tweaks). In case you have trouble editing the .exe, you could use the .exe for the Steam version of Sonic CD as a reference (since it also uses the Retro Engine and is compatible with XP).

Reply
- ThyBonesConsumed says:
  
  March 12, 2019 at 18:54
  
  UPDATE: Sega just released the Denuvo-free update for Sonic Mania today.
  
  Reply
  - ThyBonesConsumed says:
    
    April 23, 2019 at 09:25
    
    It’s me again. If you’re willing to make a Windows XP patch for Sonic Mania, email me.
    
    Reply
    - thrawn says:
      
      April 28, 2019 at 00:16
      
      Hello,
      
      You’ll receive an eMail to the address you specified when posting here, within the next few minutes.
      
      Reply
    - thrawn says:
      
      September 6, 2019 at 11:01
      
      Hello again,
      
      I’ve completed my preliminary analysis of Sonic Mania and Sonic Mania Plus. The older base game simply works out-of-the-box on XP, nothing to do there.
      
      The “Plus” version is a bit more tricky. In its first release, it relies on the following functions I cannot reimplement due to lack of skill: QueryFullProcessImageNameW() from the kernel API and SHGetKnownFolderPath() from shell32.dll. So while I cannot fix that, we can make it work by installing the v1.06.0503 update you provided me with!
      
      v1.06.0503 also relies on certain Vista+ functionality, but easily fixable parts, such as our good old friends GetTickCount64() and InitializeCriticalSectionEx(). In essence, just pipe it through Oleg Ovcharenkos’ Stellaris WinXP fix in its original 32-bit version using the following script xp_SonicMania-v1.06.0503.bat from within the Stellaris fix folder:
      
      @ECHO OFF rundll32.exe zernel32.dll,PatchFile SonicMania.exe
      
      Then copy the following files back to the game folder as usual: SonicMania.exe, z3d9.dll, zdvapi32.dll, zernel32.dll and zs2_32.dll.
      
      This fixes it:
      
      Sonic Mania Plus running on Windows XP (click to enlarge)
      
      I’m still reluctant to add it to the list or write a full article about it though, as this currently relies purely on a cracked version (Steam API crack…). Given the issues with Steam on XP I’m not sure if Sonic Mania Plus can be legally obtained and installed on XP these days. So that’s a bit tricky right there… I’d like to add only legit games with corresponding guides.
      
      The SteamStub thing was already stretching things a bit, but I can probably just consider it an ineffective protection mechanism, legally speaking. Not so easy for Steam API I fear. But with this knowledge, you should be able to patch up your local copy to make it run on XP. Using Olegs’ hack has been described in many of my game compatibility articles, it’s quite easy.
      Reply
      - Ronan says:
        
        August 20, 2021 at 10:15
        
        Hello, I have done the procedure using the DLLs from the Patch for Stellaris, but then I threw a “xinput_1_9.dll” error. I fixed it by downloading the corresponding file. However, it shows me the following error: “The Procedure Entry Point _except_handler4_common Could not be located in the dynamic Link Library msvcrt.dll”. How do I fix it? (Sorry my bad english)
        
        Attachment:
        
        Reply
        
        thrawn says:
        
        August 20, 2021 at 13:39
        
        Hello Ronan,
        
        _except_handler4_common is an internal exception handler function in the common C library, so one that catches an error and reacts to it. My short answer: I don’t know what’s wrong here.
        
        Long answer: It’s hard to tell remotely without proper analysis using [Dependency Walker]. In the easiest case you’re just missing a corresponding Visual C/C++ runtime library.
        
        Try installing all Microsoft 32-bit C/C++ redistributables, as we don’t know which one might be the missing one. You can get them all e.g. from [here]. When done, try running the game.
        
        If that doesn’t help, check whether you have the same version of the game that I used. If not, then patch it accordingly and retry once more.
        
        Still no luck? Then there’s no easy way that I can think of. I would need your exact game installer / files to inspect them myself. If it’s the exact same version there should be no differences, but who knows… Your missing XInput DLL seems fishy too. Assuming that was a typo and you meant the file xinput9_1_0.dll, then it’s a part of the DirectX 9.0 runtime sitting in %WINDIR%\system32\… You should not need to download that from anywhere…
        
        If you can’t get it to work and if you’d like to have me try, please comment again and provide a valid eMail address. I will then contact you to obtain your game files for inspection and maybe patching.
        
        Reply
ThyBonesConsumed says:

January 17, 2019 at 11:40

I decided to try and run Senran Kagura Bon Appétit! – Full Course on XP x86 since the system requirements seem to suggest that it requires at least DX9 and judging by the RAM requirements, the game’s .exe might be 32-bit. Turns out, I might be wrong. If you wanna try it for yourself on XP x64, you can find it on IGG (in case you’re having more problems with Steam).

Attachment:

Reply
- thrawn says:
  
  January 17, 2019 at 14:01
  
  That error tells us, that the PE header of the game binary is built for something newer than NT 5.1 (XP). In this case it’s NT 6.0 (Vista). After fixing that part, the game throws an NtCreateFile() I/O error however. This is not a regular I/O error at all, and it should never be shown to an end user, as this is kernel-level functionality. The regular Win32 API equivalents for this would be CreateFileA() (ASCII) and CreateFileW() (Unicode). Whenever NtCreateFile() fails, it’s likely that something quite different is amiss.
  
  So I went ahead and inspected the game further, which lead me to believe that the system requirements on Steam are misleading, or actually just plain wrong.
  
  I looked at the games’ import table with CFF Explorer, which shows an import of d3d11.dll with no d3d9.dll to be seen in the list. After that, I ran it through a dependency walk doing a profiling run, and the game died almost instantly when trying to import that DLL. It doesn’t even look for a Direct3D 9.0 library, which leads me to believe that this is a pure Direct3D 11 game after all.
  
  As far as I can see, this can sadly not be fixed for XP compatibility.
  
  Reply
ThyBonesConsumed says:

January 3, 2019 at 10:04

It’s me again. Chuchel (v1.0.0, GOG version) works on XP out of the box. I only briefly tested it, but it seems to run just fine.

Reply
- ThyBonesConsumed says:
  
  January 3, 2019 at 10:40
  
  Forgot about the screenshot.
  
  Reply
  - ThyBonesConsumed says:
    
    January 3, 2019 at 11:31
    
    Here:
    
    Reply
    - ThyBonesConsumed says:
      
      January 3, 2019 at 12:51
      
      This site just doesn’t want me to upload images:
      
      Attachment:
      
      Reply
  - ThyBonesConsumed says:
    
    January 3, 2019 at 12:22
    
    Seems like the site doesn’t want to upload images.
    
    Reply
    - ThyBonesConsumed says:
      
      January 3, 2019 at 13:20
      
      Sorry for all the spam, uploading an image to this site has been a pain in the ass lately.
      
      Reply
      - thrawn says:
        
        January 3, 2019 at 15:42
        
        Heh, what do you mean by “lately”? It’s been bad since the day the feature’s been introduced.
        
        Everything on this page is a pain in the ass. The fact that you can even view this page alone is a product of elaborate multi-stage server-side caching systems, otherwise just running the site would be impossible.
        
        The reason for that is, that I (unfortunately) picked very heavy web software for the weblog, while my server system is a vintage IBM PC Server 704 8650-4M0 designed in 1995 and built and brought online in 1996. This machine is equipped with four 200MHz 1M Pentium Pro processors, 16×128MiB = 2GiB of 66MHz fast-page mode DRAM and a SCSI storage subsystem. All of it is ancient. You can get more information about the machine [here] or even more info [here], should you be interested.
        
        I consider it a miracle that people even do come back after trying to write a comment once. I respect you guys for that, as I’d thought that people don’t have that amount of patience and perseverance anymore these days.
        
        As the sites’ and servers’ administrator I simply require that trait. Sometimes I can eat an entire pizza before an article is published after hitting that “submit” button. And that is not an exaggeration… I’m actually planning on making that machine reach an operational age of 30 years at the least, so all that pain is here to stay.
        
        I guess I should just switch to simpler software, but migrating all the stuff is hard – and I wouldn’t even know what to migrate to. The software people call “light-weight” these days is often not light-weight at all. You’d notice that only when running it on seriously outdated, slow hardware.
        
        My apologies for all that! I’ll add Chuchel to the list a bit later!
        
        Reply
        
        ThyBonesConsumed says:
        
        January 4, 2019 at 02:48
        
        Apology accepted. I always knew the site was slow. What I meant by “lately” is that the last time I uploaded an image, it would let me do it without a problem but this time, it took a lot longer than usual to post a comment and when it reloads the page, the image for some reason wouldn’t upload (the image I posted was only around 2MB).
        
        Reply
        
        thrawn says:
        
        January 4, 2019 at 16:14
        
        Hmm… Performance does vary depending on the server load and other factors. It’s especially bad while a search engine crawler indexes the page and starts loading uncached content. Sometimes, the site can also be under attack by bots trying to get into the admin interface, which also bogs things down.
        
        From the user perspective, all that can be done is keeping the resolution of images as low as feasible. The software does auto-create several scaled down versions of any image you upload. The higher the original resolution, the more in-betweens there’ll be. In case of your [Chuchel screenshot] it created versions for six additional resolutions (which costs time): [60×60], [96×96], [150×84], [400×225], [680×383] and [768×432].
        
        Of course, you wouldn’t wanna downscale Windows screenshots usually, given that that turns out somewhat ugly and harms readability. As it stands, I fear I cannot make this any faster as it is right now.
        
        Ah, right! I have one more question! Is this also a.. *cough* “unofficial” version without Galaxy.dll? Because if yes, I would need to prepare a hack after all, as modern Galaxy.dll libraries tend to not work on XP anymore, usually breaking official GOG releases on XP no matter which game it is.
        
        Reply
        
        ThyBonesConsumed says:
        
        January 5, 2019 at 00:47
        
        It is. Also, I’m not sure if the original version had galaxy.dll to begin with and I don’t know when GOG started implementing the DLL in games without GOG Galaxy.
        
        Reply
ThyBonesConsumed says:

November 27, 2018 at 07:21

I don’t know if you accept total conversions/unofficial ports, but, I tried out the Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories PC total conversion for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and every time I click on new game, I get a black screen followed by an error message (see image below). A user on the GTA Forums also experienced this issue on Windows XP and another user said that it was due to the way the .asi files were compiled (See here: https://gtaforums.com/topic/887066-liberty-city-stories-pc/?page=77&tab=comments#comment-1070529986 ).

Attachment:

Reply
- thrawn says:
  
  November 27, 2018 at 16:16
  
  Hmm, those .asi files are actually just binary programs, seemingly much like a DLL. Those files and some DLLs are clearly targeting NT 6.0, and a quick PE header rewrite didn’t fix the game at all. So i did a profiling run in dependency walker, which unveiled a massive amount of library calls that XP cannot satisfy. Most are going to the kernel API (kernel32.dll), as usual.
  
  Even the bundled d3d8.dll and dinput8.dll are calling tons of functions from the kernel API that don’t exist on XP.
  
  From what I can see in my analysis, the following files mean serious trouble: d3d8.dll, ddraw.dll, dinput8.dll, Mss32.DLL, mss\audio_samples.asi, mss\eASIer.asi, mss\frontend.asi, mss\GTAVC_widescreen_fix.asi, mss\III.VC.SA.LimitAdjuster.asi, mss\PedSpeech.asi, mss\SilentPatchVC.asi, mss\skygfx.asi, mss\Stats.asi, mss\Trails.asi and mss\vbdec.asi.
  
  Those libraries and ASI script mod files are calling a variety of kernel32 functions including those required for fibers (modern, light-weight threads). I’m not sure I can fix this with the hacks available to me. I can try, but this isn’t looking good at all. Seems to be compiled with a mix of a v120 platform toolset (instead of v120_xp), and also v140 instead of v140_xp, so maybe Visual Studio 2015 with mixed toolsets for each project?
  
  I think the best thing would be to get our hands on the source code and try to compile this by ourselves (probably not possible?) or ask the developer to change the platform toolset for his project files / the VS solution to v120_xp or v140_xp and recompile the entire solution as such…
  
  Funny enough, the .asi files seem like a mix from several sources?! Some of them look fine even, like Mp3dec.asi and seem to be compiled with a much older toolset targeting NT 4.0. Could this have been compiled by several people and then just thrown together at the end?
  
  Reply
  - ThyBonesConsumed says:
    
    November 28, 2018 at 04:05
    
    Looks like LCS PC is a no-go then. You could probably get the Vice City Stories PC Edition total conversion to work on XP since it doesn’t seem to rely on .asi files. I can’t get it to work because of the 0xC0000005 minidump error after the intro video that a lot of people got when trying to play it (which happens even on modern Windows OSes) and I tried a few different methods to fix the problem (such as turning on DEP for all programs except for the game itself), but none of them worked and I ended up getting the exact same error, but at a different address.
    
    Link to total conversion: https://gtaforums.com/topic/439980-vice-city-stories-pc-edition/
    
    Attachment:
    GTA-VCS-PC-Edition-DMP-files-and-screenshots.zip
    
    Reply
ThyBonesConsumed says:

October 16, 2018 at 03:34

Doki Doki Literature Club! unofficially supports XP, but the version of Ren’Py officially supports it. I’ve played a bit of the Sayori route, but so far so good.

Also, about Steam ending support for XP, you can use SmartSteamEmu (a program that emulates the Steam client and DRM). Last time I checked, it’s a 32-bit program that requires the x86 version of the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 runtime, so it should just work on XP.

Attachment:

Reply
- thrawn says:
  
  October 16, 2018 at 13:56
  
  Hello ThyBonesConsumed,
  
  Thank you for reporting Doki Doki Literature Club! I’ve downloaded it from itch.io and tested it briefly, and it seems to work fine. Given the engine version and your report, I’ve decided to add it to the list starting with a maximum compatibility rating!
  
  Seems that there’s something pretty dark waiting in that VN… Guess I’ll pay a few bucks for it on itch.io, if I like it.
  
  About Steam: Thanks for the hint with SmartSteamEmu, I wasn’t aware of such a tool existing! I’ll keep it in mind. For now I was planning to get a few more games on Steam (last one I want releases on 2018-12-25, “Heart of the Woods”) and then just switch Steam into offline mode permanently to prevent it from committing suicide. If that doesn’t work, I guess I’ll try out SmartSteamEmu.
  
  Reply
  - ThyBonesConsumed says:
    
    October 17, 2018 at 04:29
    
    There’s a couple more games that may or may not work on XP:
    
    1. Cuphead (uses a version of Unity that works on XP + someone got it to run on a modded Windows 2000 install using BWC’s extended kernel + AppComp.cmd)
    
    2. Sonic Mania (original version (not sure about Plus), does not run since it requires around five API functions that aren’t present in XP (or at least the x86 version, one of those functions is related to Denuvo), might run if the game’s executable or libraries are modified, just use the CPY cracked version just in case)
    
    Reply
    - thrawn says:
      
      October 17, 2018 at 09:14
      
      Both do cost money though. I guess I could buy & refund on Steam for the testing process in the hope that there will be no punishment. Cuphead looks pretty stunning by the way, artistically… And they even do real hand-drawn cel animation, amazing.
      
      Reply
      - ThyBonesConumed says:
        
        November 10, 2018 at 01:31
        
        It’s me again. I got Cuphead running on Windows XP 32-bit.
        
        Attachment:
        
        Reply
        
        thrawn says:
        
        November 10, 2018 at 14:12
        
        Hi,
        
        Thanks for reporting back!
        
        Did you have to do anything specific to get it to run, or does it just work out-of-the-box?
        
        Reply
        
        ThyBonesConsumed says:
        
        November 10, 2018 at 22:29
        
        It just works out of the box. No issues AFAIK (I only played through the first level). Another thing worth noting is that I used the GOG version of the game.
        
        Reply
        
        thrawn says:
        
        November 11, 2018 at 13:46
        
        Alright, that’s enough information! I don’t have much time now, but I guess I’ll add it to the list tomorrow.
        
        Thank you!
        
        Reply
        
        thrawn says:
        
        November 12, 2018 at 10:58
        
        And done, Cuphead has been added to the list!
        
        Reply
        
        ThyBonesConsumed says:
        
        November 15, 2018 at 11:57
        
        I did some further testing of Cuphead a couple of days ago and while I was playing the Treetop Trouble level, the game crashed (don’t remember what the error message said exactly). When I tried the level again, it didn’t crash that time, so the game might crash at random.
        
        Reply
        
        thrawn says:
        
        November 15, 2018 at 15:30
        
        Alright, I’ve edited the page to reflect that, lowering the confidence rating in the process. Crashes are never good…
        
        I guess it doesn’t crash on modern systems? Anyway, if you are willing to continue with testing it, and you’re encountering a crash again, please do take a screenshot of the error message. I might be able to figure out what’s causing it, depending on the error.
        
        Thank you!
        
        Reply
        
        ThyBonesConsumed says:
        
        November 16, 2018 at 04:50
        
        Alright, I managed to get the game to crash again (it took me minutes to do). I uploaded a .zip archive containing a screenshot of the error message + the crash log.
        
        Attachment:
        Cuphead-crash-log-screenshot-2018-11-12_214418.zip
        
        Reply
        
        thrawn says:
        
        November 16, 2018 at 13:59
        
        I see… At first it looked like a memory or paged pool allocation problem to me (And to Oleg Ovcharenko, see below), but it could very well be just software related. A very similar case has been reported for the game “Project Highrise”, see [here]. That guy solved it by reinstalling his operating system. The issue was never clearly identified afterwards unfortunately.
        
        Also, after consulting with Oleg, he pointed out that the issue might have occurred due to a NullReferenceException seen in output_log.txt.
        
        I guess I’ll have to check out the game myself after all.
        
        Reply
        
        thrawn says:
        
        November 19, 2018 at 09:14
        
        Hello again,
        
        I’ll have to re-evaluate this game. I wonder how you even managed to get it to work, because Cuphead has dependencies very much similar to [Into the Breach], just that it fails more silently. It shouldn’t even be operable on XP out-of-the-box!
        
        In more detail, the game requires modern cryptographic functions, which is why it needs a backported brypt.dll. On top of that, Galaxy.dll (and with it GalaxyCSharpGlue.dll and GalaxyPeer.dll) call the kernel API function QueryFullProcessImageNameA(), which doesn’t exist on XP, so we need Drako Pensulos’ GOG hack here.
        
        In my case, I tested the GOG non-Galaxy version of the game, release v1.1.4. Maybe older releases behave differently? But if not, the game should launch, but show only black static to you forever, so the game intro never starts up. This has been tested on three independent XP machines (XP 32-bit and XP x64 by myself, and XP 32-bit by Oleg Ovcharenko) with identical results.
        
        Since that’s what it looks like, I’ll have to change the entry completely. I’m at a loss as to why it even works at all in your case.
        
        Edit: Alright, I’ve written a new article describing of what I had to do to make the game work on XP, [see here]. As you can see, there was a bit of hacking involved. Maybe you could tell me what version of the game you have? In the meantime, I’ll update the list above.
        
        Reply
        
        ThyBonesConsumed says:
        
        November 20, 2018 at 01:48
        
        I pirated it, so it’s possible that I might have an older version.
        
        Reply
        
        ThyBonesConsumed says:
        
        November 20, 2018 at 05:53
        
        Also, I don’t have GOG Galaxy or a .dll associated with it installed.
        
        Reply
        
        thrawn says:
        
        November 20, 2018 at 08:16
        
        Ah I see… Hm, usually all GOG games come with some Galaxy DLLs, even if it’s the non-Galaxy version of the game, they still get linked in. I assume that the cracker removed them and fixed/cracked the game in a way that would make it run on XP. Because the Unity Engine version itself is XP compatible, so I guess it was just the GOG libraries that made it unplayable for me at first.
        
        Anyway, getting it from GOG and hacking its libraries is still preferable, given that Steam will stop supporting XP starting with 2019-01-01. So it’s either GOG or piracy after that (for those games which still can support the platform technically).
        
        Thanks for your input! And please consider buying the game if you intend to keep playing.
        
        Reply
Sjaak Trekhaak says:

August 2, 2017 at 23:56

Hey, dosbox runs on XP x64, so there are a lot of worthwhile games to play. (Lotus 3, Quarantine, Roadwarrior)

If you update the RenPy engine, Bernd und das Rätsel um Unteralterbach runs on XP x64 :-p

I could never get Grezzo2 to run properly on XP, but that game is just a mess, so just play it somewhere else. That doom mod is great. I mean, it is so incredibly retarded and the weapons are so crazy, it just makes me laugh a lot.

Reply
- thrawn says:
  
  August 3, 2017 at 07:55
  
  Morning!
  
  @DosBox: I was thinking more like the other way around. But DosBox isn’t specific to XP, I’ve even got it running on Debian Linux on a Chinese 龙芯2F processor (MIPS architecture). It’s super-slow with no x86 style virtualization tech, but it shows that this is the kind of software that runs even on a toaster… Listing all the stuff it supports here would be insane of course, so let me refer to the official [game compatibility list]. I still use it for Master of Orion 2 btw., here’s a screenshot from that 龙芯/Loongson/MIPS experiment:
  
  (Click to enlarge)
  
  @Ren’Py: I wish there was an easier way to run just every Ren’Py game on every OS. E.g. I managed to make a few run on FreeBSD UNIX using the native port of the engine. Other by using the Linux version + Linuxulator / linux.ko + CentOS 6 userland. But some games come with everything wrapped in Windows binaries and some are very dependent on the exact (bundled) versions of Python and Ren’Py. A mess, if you ask me. With that engine, those games could be so much more portable! If only they tried a bit harder…
  
  @Grezzo2: Not sure if you’re already doing that or not, but you could try to run the WAD with the [Doomsday Engine]. Not only does it allow for high resolutions, texture filtering and other stuff using OpenGL and Direct3D, it’s also very much compatible with about every system (XP x64 as well, but also UNIX, Linux, MacOS X, …). Could be an option, if you’d still want to try it. And Grezzo2 looks pretty fun actually.
  
  Reply

58 Responses to “Games that run on Windows XP / XP x64 even though they shouldn’t; A compatibility report”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply