The team from the digital PC game storeGOGhas started a new initiative to preserve old classics. The Good Old Game Preservation Program aims at keeping those PC games compatible with modern and future computer setups, adding custom improvements to make sure these titles run with quality. On launch, the program already has over 100 games with 501 adjustments made by the team’s tech support.
Preserving classics
GOG is a DRM-free PC games store that curates the titles it sells, unlike the much more popular PC storefront Steam. The store’s name came from the term “Good Old Games,” and making sure to test their titles thoroughly for modern computers has been part of theirmissionfor years, but they only made a special stamp to highlight these titles now as part of its 16th anniversary.
Capcom Announces Original Resident Evil Trilogy on GOG
Resident Evil 1 is available now but will release 2 and 3 in the future.
All titles that are part of the program will have extensive testing and custom improvements for quality-of-life and compatibility. According to aposton the store page, they’ll ensure that “current and future popular PC configurations,” and that these versions will be the most complete available with manuals and even bonus content that may not be in other editions. If players run into any technical issues, however, GOG’s Tech Support will also be available to help.
The full list includes classics likeThe Witcher,System Shock2, RollerCoaster Tycoon Deluxe, Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition, Alpha Protocol, Riven and many others. Currently, only Windows is supported by the program, as the team’s currently aiming at increasing the titles under the GOG Preserved umbrella first before expanding compatibility to other operating systems.
One of the cases highlighted by GOG’s stamp is theResident Evilseries. The original versions of the first three games were recently released once again on PC exclusively to their store as the GOG tech team worked on verifying and adjusting the titles to make them compatible with Windows 10 and 11.
The technological improvements went beyond just having them run on modern systems, though. The games now use an improved DirectX renderer, including various features that were not available originally, such as new rendering options, cloud saves and controller support.
For some of the other titles, however, the job was considerably easier. ForBlizzard’s original Diablo, the team only had to verify its compatibility with Windows 10 and 11 and validate the stability of the current build. Most of the coding work had already been done back in 2019, solving issues like the game asking for CDs, mouse issues and adding an upscaling option.
Similarly, Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Complete got fixes to the intro video in Russian and French, and a fix for windowed mode. Other than that, however, the team only had to confirm the game ran well on current PC builds with Windows 10 and 11.
All titles that are part of the program will have extensive testing and some custom improvements for quality-of-life and compatibility.
As PC configurations evolve over time, old software tends to deprecate. Compatibility issues have been a part of the industry for many years now, so this sort of initiative is a very important step in preserving video game history and making sure people can still enjoy those classic experiences.
