Unsupported 16-Bit Application

Question

Hello!

I came across a CD-ROM Windows 95/98 game called Backyard Soccer and was looking forward to reminiscing by playing. I put it in my ASUS G11 (currently running Windows 10 Home) and received the following error message, "The program or feature cannot start or run due to incompatibility with 64-bit versions of Windows. Please contact the software vendor to ask if a 64-bit Windows compatible version is available." Can some explain what to do in layman's terms? :) I sincerely appreciate your assistance. 

Take care, 

Jen

Answer 1

Hi Jen. I'm Greg, an installation specialist, 10 years awarded Windows MVP, and Volunteer Moderator, here to help you.

A Windows 95 game is 35 years old, or 350 years old in computer years (1=10 years ratio) so that's the level of impossibility you're asking.

However it is possible to get 16 bit applications running in Windows 10 as shown here:

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/enable-16-bit-...

http://techgenix.com/16-bit-applications-window...

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskTechnology/comments...

https://appuals.com/fix-unsupported-16-bit-appl... (Avoid ad links, especially avoid Restoro ad!)

https://medium.com/@hankssofia/steps-to-fix-inv...

There is nothing else I find for that game in Windows 10 so it's likely it's not possible.

For games similar to Backyard Soccer that run in Windows 10 see here:

https://www.igdb.com/games/backyard-soccer/similar

https://www.moregameslike.com/backyard-soccer/

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and keep me posted. If you'll wait to rate whether my post resolved your problem, I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

______________________________________________

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Answer 2

Thank you, Greg! I clicked on the provided link (https://www.groovypost.com/howto/enable-16-bit-application-support-windows-10/) and there is not a NTVDM option to check off.

Thanks again, 

Jen

Answer 3

Jen, it's likely dropped out in one of the newer versions, as they change a lot in each one and it's hard to keep up.

You can continue with the other tutorials to see if there are any other things that work.

Answer 4

I also read the Reddit article where candre23 says, "You're in luck. Backyard Baseball was written in SCUMM, a scripting language used by Lucas Arts, Sierra, and Humongous for a lot of old games. There is an emulator called SummVM that runs most of these games quite well." 

What does this mean?

Thank you again for your assistance!

Answer 5

An emulator is software you'd install to Windows to run another platform's apps. So for example you can install an Android emulator to run Android apps on Windows even though they are not at all compatible. I included that article because of the lead given on a possible emulator for older 16-bit programs, specifically one that is known to work for your game. But as it doesn't pertain to Windows, I'm not vouching for it's efficacy.