336
"The Steam client is now 64-bit. [...] Systems running 32-bit versions of Windows will continue receiving updates to the 32-bit Steam client until January 1, 2026." (steamcommunity.com)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
66 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 0 points 11 months ago (10 children)

Sucks for retro systems. Without the steam client you can't install, for example, Zanzarrah, which is pretty hard to get running on a modern PC, but runs flawlessly on a XP machine. What to do? Download illegal copies?

Steam should maintain at least legacy systems or make the installer available for download.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 10 child comments
    •
  • [–] 24 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    This is one of the things I really like about using steam with Linux. For some of the old windows games I’ve tried they actually run better under proton than on modern windows. It helps you can easily swap to other compatibility tools like proton GE or Luxtorpeda.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago

    Interesting. My experience differed quite a lot, for example Gabriel Knight 3 was almost impossible to get running, and when it finally worked it was lagging as hell.Gabriel Knight 2 had it's aspect ratios all over the place, it often switched to stretched after a cut scene, I found no fix for it online. The other one I tried was Realms of the Haunting, and it worked great until I reached the tower. From this point on it crashed every few minutes.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 10 points 11 months ago

    It's not illegal if you've bought it.

    Does it use steamworks drm? You could download it on a new PC and move it over if not.

    It probably still works in a VM on under compatibility layers like Linux with Wine/proton/whatever, too.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 6 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    I feel like this is a good argument for drm-free games and stores like GOG. Not that you as a consumer can always choose that, as many games don’t offer that option, but for the ones that do, there’s less barriers towards playing it in the future or in environments where it’s not originally intended.

    There is steamcmd, an official command-line tool— I’ve only used it for game servers, and I don’t know if it includes the Steam runtime/resources, but I know it lets you download games.

    You could look at Goldberg Emulator too. I know it’s used often for piracy, but idk about its legality on its own.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago

    Since you mentioned GOG, another relevant thing about them is their game preservation initiatives. Games that get the Good Old Game stamp from them get some engineering effort to be packaged in a runnable way.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent