Games for a terrible laptop?

edited August 2017 in Video Games
I'm looking for any games to play on a laptop that is absolutely terrible. The specs are as follows:
*Intel Core (Not 2) Duo 1.66GHz, model T2300, 667MHz FSB if it means anything. 32Bit.
*1536 MB of RAM
*80 GB SATA I (1.5GB/s) Hard drive
*1280x800 Screen (TFT)
*Windows XP SP3
*Lenovo/IBM (It's branded both) Thinkpad Z61m (It's badged "Windows Vista Capable," although from experience I have come to the conclusion that it isn't very capable of running Windows Vista, but I think that that is the same for any other computer on this here planet Earth.)
[I didn't want to bother with BB code lists.]
I've seen Minecraft 1.3.1 (Yes, Minecraft) play on it at an astounding 8 FPS at the lowest settings, but it handles Unreal Tournament 2004 decently with any settings changed in any way. Any help is helpful, I'm tired of playing Spider Solitaire when I am bored.

Comments

  • eli573 wrote:
    I'm looking for any games to play on a laptop that is absolutely terrible. The specs are as follows:
    *Intel Core (Not 2) Duo 1.66GHz, model T2300, 667MHz FSB if it means anything. 32Bit.
    *1536 MB of RAM
    *80 GB SATA I (1.5GB/s) Hard drive
    *1280x800 Screen (TFT)
    *Windows XP SP3
    *Lenovo/IBM (It's branded both) Thinkpad Z61m (It's badged "Windows Vista Capable," although from experience I have come to the conclusion that it isn't very capable of running Windows Vista, but I think that that is the same for any other computer on this here planet Earth.)
    [I didn't want to bother with BB code lists.]
    I've seen Minecraft 1.3.1 (Yes, Minecraft) play on it at an astounding 8 FPS at the lowest settings, but it handles Unreal Tournament 2004 decently with any settings changed in any way. Any help is helpful, I'm tired of playing Spider Solitaire when I am bored.

    this laptop is a socket M, so you could upgrade it to a core 2 duo if you wanted to , put a t7600 in it , which is the fastest processor available, and is modernly decent enough.
  • Diablo II-Lord of Destruction
    Grand Theft Auto-San Andreas
    Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing

    Also, see my thread about console emulation, just a little ways down in this forum.

    Wow, this topic made me realize almost all of my games are done on Win95 VMs. Aside from Minecraft, The Sims 3, GTA-SA, and my emulators, I don't run any games on my host OS anymore. :D

    If you can get a VM going, here's another list
    Microsoft Return of/Revenge of Arcade
    Chessmaster 3000
    The Sims 1
    DX-Ball
    Microsoft Fury3
    Diablo I/Hellfire (use COMMAND.TXT file to unlock two hidden characters and some other extra crap in Hellfire. Google for the commands)
    DOOM95 (I would still recommend using the DOS port even on a Win95 VM, especially if using VPC2k7 like me)
  • eli573 wrote:
    I'm looking for any games to play on a laptop that is absolutely terrible. The specs are as follows:
    *Intel Core (Not 2) Duo 1.66GHz, model T2300, 667MHz FSB if it means anything. 32Bit.
    *1536 MB of RAM
    *80 GB SATA I (1.5GB/s) Hard drive
    *1280x800 Screen (TFT)
    *Windows XP SP3
    *Lenovo/IBM (It's branded both) Thinkpad Z61m (It's badged "Windows Vista Capable," although from experience I have come to the conclusion that it isn't very capable of running Windows Vista, but I think that that is the same for any other computer on this here planet Earth.)
    [I didn't want to bother with BB code lists.]
    I've seen Minecraft 1.3.1 (Yes, Minecraft) play on it at an astounding 8 FPS at the lowest settings, but it handles Unreal Tournament 2004 decently with any settings changed in any way. Any help is helpful, I'm tired of playing Spider Solitaire when I am bored.

    this laptop is a socket M, so you could upgrade it to a core 2 duo if you wanted to , put a t7600 in it , which is the fastest processor available, and is modernly decent enough.
    Might not do that anytime soon, but I will keep a T7600 in mind.
    BigCJ wrote:
    Diablo II-Lord of Destruction
    Grand Theft Auto-San Andreas
    Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing

    Also, see my thread about console emulation, just a little ways down in this forum.

    Wow, this topic made me realize almost all of my games are done on Win95 VMs. Aside from Minecraft, The Sims 3, GTA-SA, and my emulators, I don't run any games on my host OS anymore. :D

    If you can get a VM going, here's another list
    Microsoft Return of/Revenge of Arcade
    Chessmaster 3000
    The Sims 1
    DX-Ball
    Microsoft Fury3
    Diablo I/Hellfire
    DOOM95 (I would still recommend using the DOS port even on a Win95 VM, especially if using VPC2k7 like me)
    GTA SA runs, eh-- , but GTA III and Vice City run fine from experience, so that's an option. I've never played Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing, but I'll consider it as well. Never played any of the Diablo games, but they have been recommended to me many times, and I might mess with one of the Diablo games to pass the time. Some of the games that you said run on a 95VM should run fine for me, because I've got an older OS. But if I did need a VM, I've got VBOX 5 and VPC 2K4. (I'm stuck with 2K4 because is runs a bit better on older hardware and it's support for Windows 95. [I remember VPC2K7 didn't natively support running 95 as a guest.]) I'll see if Sims 2 will run, as it is the sort of limbo between The Sims 1, which I wouldn't use because of fixed stuck with fixed camera angles, and The Sims 3, which is the best thing ever (that always uses over 1GB of RAM just so a single sim-person can graze the refrigerator.) I guess I'll see if I come across maybe a PSX emulator. I've seen a PSX emulator that works on computers older than the PS1 itself, ("Bleem!" the one emulator that directly competed with a console. Just-- Why?) so this should be an interesting field. Thank you for the suggestions.
  • The Diablo games are wonderful, try them! I never played The Sims 2, just 1 and 3. Vice City is pretty good.

    ePSXe is the premier PS1 emulator. Should work with what you've got, but I'd check the requirements anyway.

    Lastly, when it comes to Big Rigs, do yourself a huge favor and just... don't. Suggesting it was a terrible joke. The game is a flaming pile of shit that never made it out of the BETA phase. I like it because hit detection is non-existent, you can never lose, you can leave the map by driving in one direction far enough, you can go infinitely fast by going in reverse, and the screen it shows when you finish a race is hilarious. What really gets me is that they had the unmitigated gall to box up that piece of crap and sell it on store shelves like a finished product. Shameless. My Rating: -17/10

    EDIT1: Watch this video about Big Rigs and decide for yourself. It really does the "game" justice.

    Sorry about the ranting. I'll find some more good stuff for you.

    EDIT2: Yeah, going by the ePSXe manual, your computer can handle it.

    Win95 works fine in VPC2k7, just like how VPC2k7 isn't supposed to install on 7 Home Premium. It all works like it's supposed to. I recommended the DOS port of DOOM because DOOM95 uses MIDI for sound, and VPC's MIDI emulation is pure garbage.

    EDIT3: Okay, final edit, because it's the middle of the night and I'm getting off soon. Emulators to try are NEStopia for NES/FDS, ZMZ for SNES, Nostalgia for Intellivision, Genecyst for Genesis, VisualBoyAdvance for GB/GBC, and Stella for Atari 2600.

    Most of these are mainstream, but ZMZ was an obscure little gem I found after a long search. You take the cool GUI and features of ZSNES, add the accuracy of Snes9x and boom! ZMZ was born. Some people reported crackling sound with ZMZ, but I had no such problem. Good luck with your continuing search for excellent games.
  • BigCJ wrote:

    Lastly, when it comes to Big Rigs, do yourself a huge favor and just... don't. Suggesting it was a terrible joke. The game is a flaming pile of shit that never made it out of the BETA phase. I like it because hit detection is non-existent, you can never lose, you can leave the map by driving in one direction far enough, you can go infinitely fast by going in reverse, and the screen it shows when you finish a race is hilarious. What really gets me is that they had the unmitigated gall to box up that piece of crap and sell it on store shelves like a finished product. Shameless. My Rating: -17/10
    Thanks for clearing that up, I was actually going to try that to play it to. I wasn't familiar with it, so I thought you were serious.
  • Depends on what type of game you like, but anything after 2004/5 wouldn't be recommended due to the frequency and RAM.

    If you like RTS, you should run Command & Conquer games up to and including Generals Zero Hour nicely (the titles up to Tiberian Sun Firestorm are officially freeware, check 'em out on CnCNet), the first two Age of Empires games and Age of Mythology, StarCraft I, WarCraft I-III, both Dungeon Keepers, and pretty much everything 2D.

    If you like FPS, and UT2004 runs as you say, you could try Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Quake I-III, UT99, Call of Duty 1, Half-Life 1 (you'd need 256 MB RAM for Half-Life 2).

    As for simulation games, SimCtiy up to and including 4, RollerCoaster Tycoon 1/2 (RCT3 is more RAM-extensive on XP and not well optimized), the original Zoo Tycoon...

    Oh, and Diablo II shouldn't run with any problems either.
  • Depends on what type of game you like, but anything after 2004/5 wouldn't be recommended due to the frequency and RAM.

    If you like RTS, you should run Command & Conquer games up to and including Generals Zero Hour nicely (the titles up to Tiberian Sun Firestorm are officially freeware, check 'em out on CnCNet), the first two Age of Empires games and Age of Mythology, StarCraft I, WarCraft I-III, both Dungeon Keepers, and pretty much everything 2D.

    If you like FPS, and UT2004 runs as you say, you could try Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Quake I-III, UT99, Call of Duty 1, Half-Life 1 (you'd need 256 MB RAM for Half-Life 2).

    As for simulation games, SimCtiy up to and including 4, RollerCoaster Tycoon 1/2 (RCT3 is more RAM-extensive on XP and not well optimized), the original Zoo Tycoon...

    Oh, and Diablo II shouldn't run with any problems either.
    Thank you for the suggestions. I remember that AoE III ran on a P4 desktop with 1536MB of ram as well-- what is it with me and not-standard amounts of ram. Anyway, yes, it did run well on an older P4 (1.7Ghz) with some settings changed, and taking into account that P4s are the worst CPU ever and the performance was more like a P3 750MHz, and that I probably won't run AoE III anyway. So, on paper, AoE I to II should run well.

    For an occasional FPS play, and UT2K4 runs okay, UT(99) should run perfectly on my computer considering the fact that-- well, it will run on hardware that will run Windows NT3.51. NT3.51 is still a part of Windows 3.X, which is 25 years old-- we get the point.

    I also played Simcity Classic for Windows on the P4, so it should definitely run on my laptop-- as well as any IBM PC compatible i286 or higher. (I tend to stay away from the newer Simcity games, by newer, I mean 2000+. I never really liked 2000 and I lost interest in getting any newer releases.) I remember messing around on RollerCoaster Tycoon with absolutely no intention whatsoever, I'll have to dig up my copy of it. Thank you for these suggestions, or a portion of these just brought ideas to mind, but still, thank you.
  • You could try a sim called The Movies. As the title implies, it's about running your own film studio, building it from the ground up and keeping the actor/director/producer talent happy. There is also a movie editor so you can influence how the films are made a bit more once you've got past the learning curve. A Special Effects expansion is also available but by no means essential.

    Like most good sims, it's insanely addictive and there is also quite a bit of humour thrown in. A retail copy of the game is available for peanuts, the game was released in 2005 so should run on your system without too much trouble (I currently run it on Linux Mint through Wine and PlayOnLinux).
  • eli573 wrote:
    I remember that AoE III ran on a P4 desktop with 1536MB of ram as well-- what is it with me and not-standard amounts of ram.
    Must be one of those games that found 128 MB RAM to be insufficient, but 256 MB RAM even a bit on the comfortable side? ;)
    eli573 wrote:
    I also played Simcity Classic for Windows on the P4, so it should definitely run on my laptop-- as well as any IBM PC compatible i286 or higher. (I tend to stay away from the newer Simcity games, by newer, I mean 2000+. I never really liked 2000 and I lost interest in getting any newer releases.)
    Didn't play much of these, but 3000 and 4 had major improvements over 2000, IMO.
  • Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing is a joke game btw LOL.
    I would say RollerCoaster Tycoon 1/2 or maybe 3 on the low settings.
  • BigCJ wrote:

    Lastly, when it comes to Big Rigs, do yourself a huge favor and just... don't. Suggesting it was a terrible joke. The game is a flaming pile of shit that never made it out of the BETA phase. I like it because hit detection is non-existent, you can never lose, you can leave the map by driving in one direction far enough, you can go infinitely fast by going in reverse, and the screen it shows when you finish a race is hilarious. What really gets me is that they had the unmitigated gall to box up that piece of crap and sell it on store shelves like a finished product. Shameless. My Rating: -17/10

    EDIT1: Watch this video about Big Rigs and decide for yourself. It really does the "game" justice.
    Lol. The Big rigs game suggestion was a joke probably. I hope.
    BigCJ wrote:
    EDIT3: Okay, final edit, because it's the middle of the night and I'm getting off soon. Emulators to try are NEStopia for NES/FDS, ZMZ for SNES, Nostalgia for Intellivision, Genecyst for Genesis, VisualBoyAdvance for GB/GBC, and Stella for Atari 2600.
    Or just get Bizhawk for all of them... But I don't really know how much computer power that requires.
  • Half Life 1 and Counter Strike 1.6 will definitely work on your laptop. Half Life 2 may work but it's a bit of a stretch if you're using Intel GMA graphic.
  • I'd go with the older Blizzard games, someone already mentioned Diablo 2. You can also try Warcraft 2 & 3 and Starcraft if you like RTS games.

  • @eli573 said:
    I'm looking for any games to play on a laptop that is absolutely terrible. The specs are as follows:
    *Intel Core (Not 2) Duo 1.66GHz, model T2300, 667MHz FSB if it means anything. 32Bit.
    *1536 MB of RAM
    *80 GB SATA I (1.5GB/s) Hard drive
    *1280x800 Screen (TFT)
    *Windows XP SP3
    *Lenovo/IBM (It's branded both) Thinkpad Z61m (It's badged "Windows Vista Capable," although from experience I have come to the conclusion that it isn't very capable of running Windows Vista, but I think that that is the same for any other computer on this here planet Earth.)
    [I didn't want to bother with BB code lists.]
    I've seen Minecraft 1.3.1 (Yes, Minecraft) play on it at an astounding 8 FPS at the lowest settings, but it handles Unreal Tournament 2004 decently with any settings changed in any way. Any help is helpful, I'm tired of playing Spider Solitaire when I am bored.

    Actually, many computers can run Windows Vista. If you upgrade yours to 2 or more GB of RAM, it will run Windows Vista fairly well, but only the 32-bit version unless you upgrade the CPU to a Core 2 Duo which is 64-bit capable.

    However, don't run Vista. Vista is nice, but Windows 7 can do all the same things on the same hardware, so if you upgrade it to 2GB of more of RAM, it will run fine plus it can run x64 if you upgrade to a C2D.

    If you want to play games on it, you're limited by the processor and graphics card.

    If it is an Intel GMA (950) integrated GPU, you'll be limited to 90s-era 3D games and more basic 2D games contemporary to the laptop (2006).

    If it is a dedicated GPU, you can run contemporary 3D (2006) and more recent indie, 2D, games.

    You can check the GPU with "dxdiag.exe".

    If you don't upgrade to a Core 2 Duo, many recent games won't load because they require x64. However, you'd still be better off with older games and emulators of systems like the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 64. They'll give you lots of fun. :)

  • Rigs of Rods, if your into cars

  • Also try upgrading to Windows 7, trust me. I got to run on a Celron and 1.25 GB of ram preety smoothly

  • P4 Prescott IS actually 64 bit capable, but it runs XP 64 bit, no Vista 64 bit, since Vista is just too much for the P4 and worse in 64 bit

  • @SistemaRayoXP said:
    P4 Prescott IS actually 64 bit capable, but it runs XP 64 bit, no Vista 64 bit, since Vista is just too much for the P4 and worse in 64 bit

    Have you tried 7? Vista does have performance issues. Also for the love of god please, just like @OldNewComputers said, upgrade to a Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad. Also upgrade to a SSD (try to aim to 128GB or higher for more speed) and a RAM upgrade. If you do that then it can run Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 10 no problem.

  • For the love of God do you think am I wealthy? I have (Difficulty) a P4. And 7 has a high footprint in my machine, but this is because I have 1GB of RAM, which I will upgrade later (If do I have the money)

  • @SistemaRayoXP said:
    For the love of God do you think am I wealthy? I have (Difficulty) a P4. And 7 has a high footprint in my machine, but this is because I have 1GB of RAM, which I will upgrade later (If do I have the money)

    Sorry, I meant to add that you can pick up a Core 2 Duo for like $10 on eBay.

  • edited April 2018

    Not where I live, even a cheap (And old) Windows XP laptop is sold at 100$ US dollars. And yes, I'd love a Core Duo in my motherboard, but the firmware doesn't supports it. So unless I make a custom BIOS update where I update the code to support it, I will never have a Core Duo in this motherboard

    Any way the thing is about the OP, and not about me, so let's leave my situation as Offtopic

  • Doom is a pretty good classic...lots of mods you can add from the community as well

    Other games:
    Quake
    Half-life
    GTA: VC/SA
    Age of Empires II

    Theres my favourites :)

  • I am sure that most WinWorld users are mature enough to play games with a higher level of violence, vulgarity and sexual content.

    But if you can't or won't run GTA, you can always play the Microsoft Entertainment Pack games like Chip's Challenge, SkiFree and Tetris. They will work on any 32-bit version of Windows NT. I think the same applies to Microsoft Pinball Arcade, which should run fine on every x86 laptop made after 1999. :)

    Both titles are on WinWorld.

  • Original topic is a little old, but what the heck.

    Planetfall, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Bureaucracy, or any other Infocom game :P

    I see DOOM mentioned, but the newer Skulltag/Zandronum port should work OK on this caliber of machine.

    If you don't mind having all your time sucked up, there is Civilization III.

  • Sorry for bumping this thread...
    My all time favorite Commodore 64's emulator fit any PC.
    So why not installing one and cheering with C64 games & music (SID)?
    ;)
    I can personally provide my collection as PC files...

  • DOSBox opens up a ton of DOS games, Stella for Linux opens up about 500 classic Atari 2600 games. I run them both on a system with a 2004 vintage Celeron and 1.25 Gigs RAM.

  • You could also try these NES and SNES emulators! You can also download roms on wowroms.com to download the games and run the zip file on the emulator.
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