Thief 2: The Windows XP Age

ID:18553
 
Sep 5 2006, 3:14 am (Edited on Jul 5 2007, 6:20 pm)
The Thief series was not designed to run under Windows XP. This much is clear.

However, it can run under Windows XP. If you're lucky and the wind is blowing in the right direction.

So with that optimistic thought in mind, I proceeded to install the game. I inserted the CD and typed in E:\setup.exe -lgntforce as instructed by the Thief Technical FAQ (the -lgntforce option disables the "feature" that causes Thief to go "I'm running on Windows NT, ABORT ABORT ABORT").

And the installer doesn't come up. Okay, the FAQ says it could take up to an hour to appear. That's fine. I'll do some web browsing in the meantime.

So I waited.

And waited.

Six hours later and the installer hasn't appeared yet. Task manager says that setup.exe is running, but it sure as heck isn't doing much!

Obviously we need a new strategy:

1. Insert CD.
2. Extract game files; copy to hard drive.
3. Run thief2.exe. Hope.

So I start it up and it crashes. Humph. Maybe it's missing a file, or maybe the clueless reseller that packaged it up slapped some braindead copy protection on it. Who knows.

Ah well, never mind. Plan C is flawless!

1. Download VMware Server (all ~100 MB of it)
2. Install Windows 98 using an old (unused) CD.
3. Install Thief 2.

On paper it's the same amount of steps as Plan B, but it takes me a few more hours! I don't mind too much, because I haven't played with VMware before and it's kind of fun, in an incredibly nerdy kind of way.

Okay, VMware is running, Windows 98 is installed, I've installed the VMware Toolkit so that I have a decent emulated SVGA display, and Thief 2 is installed. Hooray! Now I can finally play Thief 2 again!

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Error
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Your video card is not compatible with Thief 2.
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$!&$#^!*%.

I just... want... to play... my game. How hard can it be?

Don't make me install Windows 98 over the top of my Linux partition! I'm warning you, I'll do it if I have to! I'm a man on the edge!

Update: Turns out Thief 2 runs just fine on Wine under Linux. Take that, VMware! The only problem is that it has the "double cursor bug" - the window manager's cursor gets displayed in the middle of the screen the whole time. I guess someone should file a bug report...
Sep 5 2006, 3:22 am
Doom 3 installs just fine
Sep 5 2006, 3:23 am
Thief 2 doesn't have software renderers? Deus Ex 1 had software renderers, and didn't Thief 2 come out sometime around then?
Sep 5 2006, 5:04 am
Odd, I could've swore the last time we played Thief 2, it ran fine on Windows XP. O_o

Maybe I should check this after noon.
Sep 5 2006, 5:48 am
I had Thief 2 on an XP machine. I think you just have to run the installer in compatibility mode or something. Mine came in a dual package with Dues Ex and Thief II. Both worked fine.
Sep 5 2006, 6:37 am
Garret > you
Sep 5 2006, 10:52 am
Couldn't you just run it in compatibility mode? I've had games with the 'This game cannot run on Windows NT' message work fine in Win98 compatibility mode.
Sep 5 2006, 6:46 pm
Yes, I tried compatibility mode. Didn't help.
Sep 5 2006, 6:47 pm
Thief 2 doesn't have software renderers?

It uses Direct3D. Direct3D does have software renderers, but it's still refusing to work. I think the problem is that D3D doesn't work with the emulated video card.