New project brings strong Linux compatibility to more classic Windows games

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/11/new-project-brings-strong-linux-compatibility-to-more-classic-windows-games/

211 points · 14 comments · view on lemmy.world

14 Comments

MrSoup@lemmy.zip · 56 pts · 301d

It's D7VK

morto@piefed.social · 48 pts · 301d (5 replies)

Soon, Linux will have better compatibility with older windows programs than Windows itself.

TeddE@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 301d (3 replies)

Soon? Let's talk DOSBox

BurgerBaron@piefed.social · 13 pts · 301d (2 replies)

For early Windows DirectX 1 - 6 there's 86Box.

refalo@programming.dev · 7 pts · 301d (1 reply)

dgVoodoo2 has worked fine for me for years for DX7 and earlier on wine. lutris already supports it natively.

Or if a VM is needed, qemu+softgpu has been much faster for me than pcem/86box.

BurgerBaron@piefed.social · 2 pts · 300d

Bookmarking softgpu that's a great link, thanks.

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 10 pts · 300d

Already does.

fascicle@leminal.space · 4 pts · 301d (6 replies)

What can I use to play kingdom under fire a war of heroes I think it was on windows xp

cm0002@futurology.today · 7 pts · 301d (5 replies)

Looks like it's supported on proton, silver

https://www.protondb.com/app/1315200

So install it through steam and it should be playable

fascicle@leminal.space · 1 pts · 301d (4 replies)

Yeah but the steam one seems kind of sketch reading the reviews

cm0002@futurology.today · 5 pts · 301d

Ah then what you want is probably umu launcher

Then you can run whatever you want under proton, though this isnt "officially" supported so you might have an odd glitch or 2. But if it runs on steam proton fine enough, it shouldn't be much different

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 300d (2 replies)

You don't need to buy it on Steam to launch it through Steam

fascicle@leminal.space · 1 pts · 300d (1 reply)

OK I didnt know you could run older games from windows xp through steam I'll try to figure it out, I was watching a video last night about using lutris and how to mount the iso from archive.org

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 300d

Go to your Steam library, and on the bottom left, click the "+" and then click "add non-steam game" browse to the exe and add it. Then go to the game in your library, hit the gear and go to properties. Go to compatibility, and you should be able to choose your desired Proton version from the drop down. Then launch the game through Steam.

This is from memory so it might not be exact, but it's close.