I'm looking to buy the CD of Worm Armageddon so I can try out these new updates, but I'm reluctant to because a lot of older games run funny in Windows 7. How are the odds that Worms Armageddon w/ beta patches will run smoothly (even if some troubleshooting is required first)?

The only known problem that could cause a computer to be outright unable to run W:A is if it does not support the 640x480 8-bit display mode required by W:A's front-end. We've had many reports in the past about certain Intel integrated graphics chipsets not supporting such modes, but I haven't heard about this problem in the past year at all, so it probably got fixed in a driver update.

Edit: here's how to find if your computer supports the above-mentioned screen mode:

1) Open the display properties (from Control Panel or from the desktop right-click menu)
2) Click "Advanced"
3) On the "Adapter" tab, click "List all modes"
4) Check that you have at least one mode in the list which starts with "640 by 480, 256 Colors"

I have a newish laptop with windows 7, WA works fine on it with the updates.

Initially (without applying any patches or updates, just using the initial CD version) I had some problems with crazy texture problems, but then I applied the updates/patch and now it runs awesomely (in widescreen too!).

Follow up question. I'm actually not in a situation where I can check my laptops settings right away, but if the Worms 2 demo from Trygames.com works with a few tiny graphical hiccups is that a good indication that worms armageddon + patches will be okay? The two may be too unrelated, but just a thought.

Worms 2's frontend is completely different to W:A's, and it's the frontend that causes most compatibility problems, so I wouldn't bet on it.

Not sure what happened, but I tried to respond and it didn't work for whatever reason. Anyways, I'm not at my laptop right now so I can't check its specs, but the downloaded worms 2 demo from trygames works fine except tiny graphical glitches. Is this a good indicator or do I need to get to my laptop to know for sure?

Oops, sorry about the posting mixup. I'm new to this forum. Anyways, thanks for the quick response and all that jazz. Fingers crossed, I'd love to be able to play Armageddon again!

If ingame works in W2, it should work in WA - it's just whether you'll be able to get there, because as CyberShadow correctly says, the frontends are completely different, and it is that that causes most of the incompatibilites (wine, old (thankfully resolved) Vista + Intel problems... you name it, it was caused by the frontend).

Worms 2 uses 640x480x8 by default, you have to hack the exe to run at other resolutions during gameplay. If you can play Worms 2 with some discolouration problems then you should be fine with W:A. There are many colour solutions on these forums too.

okay so what do I do it after installing the game and the patch I try and run it, and I get a message saying please insert the CD-ROM and restart the application

Well, is your CD inserted?

Well, is your CD inserted?

yes, i checked that and even took it out, and put back in again, still same error

Reinstall the game, and this time, install the update (http://wa.team17.com/main.html?page=supp&area=upda&file=15) (version 3.6.29.0), rather than the patch. Confusing terminology, I know, but I didn't choose it :P

ok thanks it works now, but i got werid colors so it makes it hard to play, cant see worms names, also when playing online i get a lot of lag, but that probaly coz i got a slow internet connection

This works just fine for most people. (http://forum.team17.co.uk/showthread.php?t=41652)