is it possible to modify an operating system to bypass installing problems caused by newer game requirements?

is it possible to prevent these problems when trying to install a game on a unsupported operating system that would normally give a error which says you need to upgrade your operating system and what not. is there a way of making the game / program install through another way / modification / running in some kind of compatibility mode? reason being is i heard that some games that recall for a certain directx version but which dont meet that level for older operating systems could possibly be run still in opengl mode if the operating system also supports the same version but obviously to get to that point, you would also need to install the game. can these be done? im asking this because i may experiment with an old operating system to mess around with it and have fun with it and run a few games that run in opengl mode but which dont meet directx requirements of the operating system and somehow install the games and run them in opengl.