GOG’s promise is a classic that installs and runs on a modern PC without tinkering — and most of the time it delivers. But GOG’s patches solve compatibility, not display preferences. A GOG release can run perfectly and still lock you into exclusive fullscreen, stretch a 640×480 picture across a 27-inch monitor, or play its…
Project IGI 2: Covert Strike (2003, Innerloop Studios) sent David Jones back into the field for a second round of open-ended stealth missions, on a DirectX 8.1-era engine that modern Windows greets with suspicion — up to and including the classic error that the game “requires DirectX 8.1 or greater”, reported by players on systems…
Princess Maker 3 (Gainax) is the raising simulation in which you guide a young girl’s upbringing — lessons, jobs, encounters — toward one of many futures. Its original Windows release was a Japanese Windows 95 program (PM3WIN.EXE) that was never officially published in English, which is why its DxWnd saga is equal parts locale problem…
The Carmageddon games — the original (1997) and Carmageddon 2: Carpocalypse Now (1998), both from Stainless Software — practically invented vehicular mayhem, and both predate everything modern Windows takes for granted. Carmageddon 2 in particular got a full investigation from DxWnd’s developer ghotik in the project’s forum, down to registry entries and which executable actually…
Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999, DMA Design, published by Rockstar) is the last of the top-down GTAs: one city, three districts, and a respect system that lets you play rival gangs against each other. Its DxWnd story, documented across several threads in the project’s forum, has one rule that decides everything: DxWnd must hook the…
Need for Speed: High Stakes (1999, Electronic Arts — sold as Road Challenge in some regions) closed out the classic NFS era with a career mode, car damage that actually cost you money, and every track from NFS III thrown in. Getting it to run in a window on Windows 10 or 11 has a…
Disciples: Sacred Lands (1999, Strategy First) is the dark-fantasy turn-based strategy game that built its reputation on hand-painted artwork, RPG-style unit progression and four warring factions. The copy most players own today is the Gold edition sold on GOG — and that specific edition has a specific DxWnd problem, diagnosed by DxWnd’s developer ghotik himself…
Sid Meier’s SimGolf (2002, Firaxis and Maxis) lets you design a golf resort hole by hole, staff it, price it — and then grab a club and play your own course with a golfer whose moods and skills you shape along the way. It is also one of the games DxWnd’s developer has personally spent…
