trying to load an old game on my system that I know I got to work before. Vietnam black ops. I even downloaded the patch. The problem is the start screen doesn't come up. I remember getting this game to work before, but I can't remember how.....

anybody know?

Try changing the compatibility mode.

tried that... I guess it doesn't like newer video cards. It works fine on my low-grade laptop.

I had/have the same promlem with Vietnam Black ops.The menu screen
just goes black.Here's my solution.When at the black/blank screen hold
down the (prt scr sysrq) button and the menu should start to flicker.
You should now be able to navigate to the options screen and go into
video options. Once in video options change d3d render to software render.
This will make the menu work again.The game doesn't look very good in
software mode.I still like to play it in d3d mode with the Inconvenience
of holding the (prt scr sysrq) button to navigate the menu.

I hope this helps.