Vista Compatibility List

This page is here as a list of games that are compatible with Windows Vista.

If a game is unknown for a certain architecture being lightgray for x86 or x64 it is presumed to be cross compatible between x86/x64 as Vista is coded nearly identical on both but with some changes where as XP x86/x64 was a different code base (confirm) for each system which introduced many problems into normal games and applications.

Feel free to edit this page and update the list as you please.

Starforce

Starforce is a copy protection driver that when games written specifically for XP are run on Vista, they will usually refuse to work or will BSOD the OS

It is recommended to update starforce with a version for Vista which is version 5.5 or higher, The latest version is available for download here

Note: Some older games won't run or may bsod (rending your system in need of a full re-install) your Vista system, even when you have the latest starforce driver installed, as some older games try to install there own starforce version regardless if you have a updated version installed.

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Try to keep your Drivers and DirectX install up to date as the latest Drivers and DirectX can sometimes fix some older compatibility problems.

Latest DirectX Distributable - Always up to date

Game List

Colour	Description
	Untested
	Working
	Mostly working
	Lots of problems
	Doesn't run

Game	x86	x64	Game Explorer	Notes
Age of Mythology			Yes
Age of Empires III			Yes	Works, including both expansions.
Alpha Prime			No	Works if you use Alchemy or else the 5.1 sound doesn't work well as in missing ALL voice on movies etc
America's Army				If you click 'Run Program as Administrator' under 'compatibility'
American McGee's Alice			Yes
Armed Assaut			No	Game runs great with Vista x64 if updated to the 1.14 version
Assassin's Creed			Yes
Audio Surf			Yes
Battlefield 1942			Yes
Battlefield 2			Yes
Battlefield 2142				Crashes on titan mode when changing level, but can be fixed.
Battlefield Vietnam			Yes	Works fine with x64 although it cannot use EAX and must use Miles 2D sound, although the sound works fine.
Battlestar Galactica			No
Bioshock			Yes
Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30
Call of Duty 2			Yes
Call of Duty 4			Yes	Stereo mix must be disabled (or enabled, can someone confirm one way or another?) or game crashes on opening.
Call of Duty: World at War			Yes	sound quality must be set to 24bit 48,000hz in control panel, anything else results in a crash on open
Carmageddon 3			Yes	Only runs in software rendering mode.
City Life 2008				Some graphic corruption and screen size probs
Civilization IV			Yes
Cold War			Yes
Colin McRae Rally 2.0			Yes
Company of Heroes
Command & Conquer Generals			No
Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour			No
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars			Yes
Colin McRae: DiRT			No
Counter Strike: Source
Crysis			Yes
Crysis Warhead			Yes
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic				Resource hog; crashes when closed - runs very well with 4GB ram on 64 bit
Darwina
Day of Defeat: Source			Yes	shows retail box in Game Explorer
Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition			Yes
Diablo 2			Yes
Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction			Yes
Drakan			Yes	Works ok but frequent crashes
Dungeon Keeper 2				Reported unplayable with graphical glitches on Nvidia in 64bit with the screen covered in moving greyness.
Dungeon Runners				fully working x64.
Dungeon Siege 2			Yes
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.			Yes	x64 works fine with 1.5 patch
EVE Online			Yes
Everquest II			Yes
Evil Genius
Fable: TLC			No	Works fine on Vista 64 with SP1 installed, there was an early compatibility patch for Vista that is required to get this working however this was an early Vista patch so it should work on all versions post SP1.
Falcon 4.0: Allied Force			No	ATI users will have to disable Catalyst A.I in the 3D settings of the CCC, even then the menus might have problems refreshing. Also enabling XP compatibility is strongly advised. If the movies crash the game; rename them and replace them with text files.
Fallout				Works fine except the occasional black screen which seems to be just a failing to refresh. As soon as you move the cursor the main view returns and mousing over the controls down the bottom forces it to redraw where the mouse is. Still very playable!
Fallout 3			Yes
Farcry				Works with 1.3 patch with HDR disabled
Farcry 2			Yes
F.E.A.R
F.E.A.R Combat
Frontlines: Fuel of War			Yes
Garry's Mod				Works on Windows 7
Gears of War			Yes
Ghost Recon - Advanced Warfighter
Ghost Recon - Advanced Warfighter 2			Yes
Gothic 3				I find this strange to work perfect on 64bit and not run on 32 bit please test and add proper notes
Grand Theft Auto			Yes
Grand Theft Auto 2			No	only tested the 'updated' version available for download from Rockstar
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas				Original version without patch
GTR 2
Guild Wars			Yes	Game Explorer adds links in to all 3 games
Half life 2			Yes	Game Explorer adds many links to all most installed Steam games and doubles some up
Half life 2 Episode 1			Yes
Half life 2 Episode 2			Yes
Halo: Combat Evolved
Hidden and Dangerous 2			No	Tested with the 1.12 patch with HD.exe and Sabre Squadron.exe
Hitman: Blood Money			Yes
Indigo Prophecy			Yes	Works fine on Vista x64.
In the groove 2			No
Infernal			No	No 5.1 Audio due to Direct Audio and will never be fixed
Lineage II -CT1 Hellbound-			Yes
Lock On: Modern Air Combat			Yes	Lots of crashes in game occurs on clicking 'Top Gun' training and random in game also joystick goes completely dead.
Lord of the Rings Online			No	Disables Aero whilst playing in windowed mode
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition			Yes
Mafia			Yes
Medieval 2 Total War			Yes
Men of Valour			Yes
Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance			No	Works only if you run it in Creative/Universial Alchemy. Uses 100% cpu while running but runs fine.
Morrowind + Tribunal + Bloodmoon			Yes	Use a updated binkw32.dll file from a recent game to get to work even still the bink video's show some corruption
NecroVisoN			No
Need For Speed: Carbon				Proper notes please
Need For Speed: Most Wanted			No
Neverwinter Nights 2			Yes	Use the latest update to resolve several issues
No One Lives Forever 2			Yes	it appeared twice in Game Explorer for me. works fine though
Oblivion - Shivering Isle			Yes	Bethsoft standard crashes - save often
Operation Flashpoint			Yes
Overlord			No
Phantasy Star Universe			No
Project Snowblind
Pure
Quake 2
Quake 3 Arena				Works fine, except it won't save settings. Think its a UAC problem.//confirming with UAC off settings save fine, no other game issues to note.
Quake 4				Works fine with the latest patch
Race 06/07 - The WTCC Game
Racedriver: GRID			Yes
Raiden 3				Graphic corruption on player's ship and some backgrounds / no fix is advaliable
Railroad Tycoon 3				Fresh install and patches before 105 work. Patch 105 crashes just as main menu appears.
Rainbow 6 Raven Shield			Yes
Rainbow 6 Vegas			Yes
Rainbow 6 Vegas 2			Yes
Return to Castle Wolfenstein			Yes	Single player with x64 crashes or has massive slowdowns when outdoors. MP still works fine.
rFactor
Rise And Fall: Civilizations At War			Yes	No CD Patch works fine
Rise of Legends
RoboBlitz
RollerCoaster Tycoon			Yes	Latest Patches applied
Sam and Max: Season 1			No
Scarface			No	(ATI) Latest Drivers needed.(finally no graphic corruption)/(Nvidia rumors still corrupted) Game is buggy anyway like extremely slow mouse
Scrapland			Yes	Starforce issues. Update Starforce or use a NOCD
Sid Meier's Pirates!			Yes
Silverfall			No
Sim City 4			Yes
Sins of a Solar Empire			Yes
Sniper: Act of Victory			No
Snoopy vs. The Red Baron			No
Soldiers Of Fortune			Yes	Runs great for an old game.
Soldiers Of Fortune II: Gold Edition				Game runs flawless on 32 and 64bit.
Soldiers: Heroes of world war II				Install patch 1.28, then SolVistaPatch. Run in 98/ME compatability mode
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory				No-CD required to disable Starforce
Splinter Cell: Double Agent			Yes	Works fine with 1.02 although the game itself is still buggy as it was with WinXP
S.T.A.L.K.E.R: SoC			No	High resource usage compared to XP
S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky			No
Starcraft			Yes
Starship Troopers 2005
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
Stepmania			No
Stranglehold			Yes
Supreme Commander			No	On Vista x64 SP1 and latest patch - crashes when closed also ATI duel monitors ALT-TAB results in gray screens
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance			No
Swat 4
System Shock 2
Team Fortress 2			No
Test Drive: Unlimited			No
The Matrix - Path of Neo			Yes
The Operative: No One Lives Forever			No Idea	Only tried in 64bit and won't even run the installer
The Secrets of Atlantis			No
The Ship
The Witcher			Yes
Time Shift			Yes
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne			Yes
Tomb Raider Legends			Yes	No 5.1 Audio as this is due to the actual sound card
Total Annihilation				Game runs fine but multi-player will never run as DirectPlay has been disabled due to security flaw
Trackmania Nations Forever				Forever version replaces/updates standard Nations which had starforce issues on Vista
Trackmania Sunrise Extreme				Starforce issues, was tested from running direct with a installed version
Trackmania United Forever				Forever updates United to bring cross compatability with nations multiplayer
Two Worlds			No
Unreal Tournament			Yes	Anthology edition reported working - please retest on x86
Unreal Tournament 2004			Yes
Unreal Tournament 3			Yes
URU Ages beyond Myst / D'ni / Path of the Shell			Yes	Run in XP compatibility and don't use Alchemy
Urban Terror 4.1			Yes	Lagged A bit but probably due to onboard graphics
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
Virtual Pool 3			No
Warcraft III			Yes
World in Conflict			Yes
World of Warcraft AKA "The Plague"			Yes	For NVidia cards, use drivers 162.22 and later
X-Plane 9			No	SLI & Crossfire may decrease performance