I've been playing Age of Empires 3 for some time, and I'd like to try some of the homemade custom campaigns that are available. The problem is, I seem to have an alpha or otherwise early edition of the game; custom scenarios require a .bak file as well as an .age3Xscn file in order to function, and most homemade custom scenarios seem to be made for later editions that don't use this file format (.bak). Does anyone know a way around this problem? Thank you in advance.

@speeny: thanks for the info! I will definitely look into that.

@speeny: so it is possible to make backup copies of saved games? One thing I don't like about Steam is that it erased my saves on a game I didn't play for a few months.

@lembu90: I haven't tried those. I know there are quite a few similar platforms out there now though.

I despise Steam. I prefer DVDs because I like to actually own a game once I buy it; I like to be able to retain control of my saved games, play from the DVD instead of dealing with an online system that frankly, I don't like very much. Does anyone know how to take a game like Mafia II and bypass installing it through Steam?

I really enjoyed these two games. To give some context, I'm 54 years old and blind in one eye--the 'vanquish 500 enemies in three seconds or lose' games do not work for me. I found Godfather and G2 relatively easy to play despite challenges, and I was able to beat the games, which was satisfactory. Does anyone know any open-world games similar to these two? I'm looking into Mafia I and Mafia II at the moment. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

@vagrantsnow: Thank you for the recommendation. I'll check them out.

@sakaixx: thank you!

I've been having trouble with open-world games lately. I tried Far Cry 2 and it was horrible--I couldn't take ten steps without 20 guys I can't even see killing me. I've had a few experiences like that. I'm looking for open world games (preferably 2006-2010 era because my graphics card is low-quality) where I can wander around, talk to people, mess with people, shoot/kill people, without having to accomplish anything in particular and without 500 enemies shooting at me at once (I've already got most of the GTAs and the two Godfather games, which I love). Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!