Some software is less fortunate than others. There are a lot of games that eventually stop being supported by the developers and, unless that developer’s name begins with “N” and ends in “tendo”, copyright violations are no longer monitored. This is when software enters the realm of Abandonware. Fire up that antivirus software, this can get messy!

Maybe the antivirus comment is an overstatement but it never hurts to be too careful. Sites such as myabandonware.com make it pretty safe to look around for stuff like this. A solid Antivirus software can have your back but its better to never take that chance in the first place. Abandon ware is not an Emulator, it is the original software. You may need other files to get this stuff running. If you are ever in doubt about whether a website is safe, there are plenty of forums and sub-Reddits out there to tell you whats what. Now that the precautions are out of the way, let’s see what Abandonware has to offer.

Overall there is an insane variety of games that are available. A lot of games are very old, going back to the Apple 2, Commodore 64, and older. But there is also a lot of newer games such as The Sims, Need for Speed, and The Simpsons – Hit and Run. The last one has a notable cult-following with an active modding community. Even the first two Fallout games were Abandonware until very recently. While there are plenty of options, how do you get them running?

Work, lots of work is what it takes to get these games to run. As I said earlier, these are not Emulators. These games have to be installed properly, and in some cases registered (sort of). Emulators are way easier to get running, but tend to suffer in performance. You can get around some work by emulating the console version of a game, but its never the same.

What you need to get most Abandonware running is two things; Daemon Tools, and something for .Zip files. An unregistered copy of WinRAR fits the theme of what we’re doing but anything will do. Daemon Tools is a program for making digital disk drives. This is for installing the “disks” that contain the game files. (As a side note; Daemon Tools also comes with an antivirus software that is allegedly very good, but difficult to set up. You can opt-out of the antivirus in the installer.)

Using your .Zip program and Daemon tools you can install Abandonware games almost as if they are brand new. After they are installed, is the matter of “registration.” This can be done by tweaking game files yourself since nothing is restricted in these games. Or you can just grab a “No CD Exe” file online. These aren’t hard to find and simply get tossed into the game files. This new file is your new launcher button for your game of choice. But the game is not ready yet!

Finally, you need to run compatibility settings. You can find this by right-clicking on the game launcher and clicking “Troubleshoot compatibility.” Just select the OS the game originally was released on and it should run. If it doesn’t run then simply keep trying versions until you get the right one.

Overall getting Abandonware running is that easy! I’m kidding obviously, getting this stuff running is pretty involved. Everything I have written so far has been simplified to a degree. But if you are willing to put in the work, Abandonware offers a free way to experience old games that run just as well if not better than when they were new.

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