The latest version should be able to open an old version of wallet.dat, you don't need to download the old Bitcoin Core versions.
For the balance, if the wallet was used before, there should be a at least some unverified transaction in the history (your previous transactions);
if it's totally clear, it may be an unused wallet or had the wallet transactions zapped before they get verified.

To get the correct balance, your node need to be synced to the point (time) when your wallet transactions were received, that will require you to download and verify hundreds of gigabytes equals to a few days of waiting depending your machine.