Emulateing Dos?

[Video]

Eh, I've been trying to get some old games to work on my comp[uter, but they absolutely refuse, on some of them, and the ones that will play, don't work properly.

 

I figure this is just cause I'm useing Vista, or XP (depending on the computer) and that's causeing problems. But I'd like to play Doom with propeer transparancies, or play Warcraft (at all) and I've reached the end of what I can do, short of removeing the OS and setting up a strictly dos environment. But I don't see any reason you can't emulate say a 286 or something like that in it's own environment the way you load an emulator for an old console.

 

I've looked on the net, but what I've found I think is just Dos, not an emulator for windows, and mo9st for windows stuff just says to use the dos prompt.

 

Anyhow, any help appreciated. I want to get into some of these old games again, but it would be nice if they workedright.

[+remowilliams]

If you are looking to emulate actual DOS w/older Sound Blaster compatible hardware, etc. then look no further than DOSBox. Also check out the vogons forum. DOSBox can be complicated at times (more so if you don't actually have a working knowledge of DOS itself), but it is most assuredly worth the effort.

 

If you're looking to run even 'newer' software than actually runs in and requires Win95/98, then an older PC setup for that purpose is a good idea.

[Herbarius]

Also to play Doom on Windows XP/Vista, you should download the Shareware version of Doom95 (just google for it). If you own the original DOS version of Doom, you can just copy the DOOM.WAD into your Doom95 directory so you can play the full game using the windows client (be sure to select the correct WAD in the Doom95 frontend. DOOM.WAD means the full version, DOOM1.WAD is the Shareware episode).

 

If you own the DOS version of Doom 2 you can also copy its DOOM2.WAD into the Doom95 directory and play it using the windows client, too.

 

 

The only problems I've encountered with this setup is a graphical glitch concerning Invisibility (the invisibility pickup and invisible enemies). This apparently varies form one machine to the other.

Edited May 5, 2009 by Herbarius

[hitchcock4]

Why emulate when you can own the actual machine?

Here are two systems you can buy on eBay that are probably about the right age for the computer you are looking for.

This 1: 3D1&item=250417649491&_rdc=1&viewitem=&salenotsupported 400MHz AMD machine

 

This 2: 80386 Computer 33MHz

 

Last: 486 era computer

[Buzbard]

One way to play old DOS & Windows games is to use Virtual PC.

After you download and install it, (if your using WinXP the installation will complain that you have the wrong operating system, just ignore it), you'll need your old DOS or Windows installation disks (just google 'em, FreeDOS works ok). I've used it to play some of the old Sierra games, Myst, Quake, etc., some of the really old DOS games don't work so well but you can't have everything now can you?

 

As for Doom, DoomII, Heretic & Hexen, Doomsday is the way to go, you'll have to supply the .wad files from the original games, but it's all in one package, and the graphics are greatly enhanced.

Edited May 5, 2009 by Buzbard

[monzamess]

Sorry to go off-topic, but the "Vintage PCs" category of eBay is full of ridiculous nonsense!

 

Examples:

Bargain 600XL

What IS this?

APPLE MACINTOSH lle VINTAGE COMPUTER

 

Ok I'll stop.

 

I second the DOSBox recommendation. DOSBox emulates old PCs, just like Stella emulates the 2600, etc. If you're trying to play old games from the first PC days up to the 386/Windows 3.1 era, it will do the job. It even does the special Tandy 1000/PCjr a/v modes.

[cimerians]

Unless you remember DOS very well....and are good at configuring games to run. (You will need to muck around with Config.sys and Autoexec.bat for many of the mid-90's games).

 

Do NOT buy an old PC.

 

Its a headache big time if your not proficient in DOS and also keep in mind you will need DOS based drivers for everything on the system (Sound card, Mouse, CD-rom drive etc)

 

That can be a pain tracking down nowadays.

 

Do yourself a huge favor and look for DOSBOX.

[GOTHCLAWZ]

You could just buy a small computer system, remove the OS, put a few nostalgic game stickers on there & use that as your multiple game console.

 

Then program a few game pads to work with your computer. You can even play PS2 games on computers so get a good graphics & sound card to go with it. But really, when you use a PS3 controller as your game controller you shouldn't need any other implement to control your games, it's simply the best & has every game command needed for at least another 5 years (besides microphone & controller to TV censors, but the 6-axis is good enough).

Edited May 5, 2009 by GOTHCLAWZ

[+remowilliams]

Unless you remember DOS very well....and are good at configuring games to run. (You will need to muck around with Config.sys and Autoexec.bat for many of the mid-90's games).

 

Do NOT buy an old PC.

I would agree with that sentiment. Not knowing your way around DOS can complicate using DOSbox a bit, but it can make trying to use actual vintage hardware a near impossibly frustrating task.

[GOTHCLAWZ]

In fact, if you want a console that looks like a NES console & has the overall performance of a shit; Go here.

 

But it would be a good opportunity to customize your own cover for your own DOS game console.

[Quadhorn]

You might also want to look at Bochs (bochs.sourceforge.net) now that it's gone opensource; more an x86 (+hardware) emulator than DOS specifically, but it would provide you with a tweakable virtual PC.

 

Depending what you want to run, it might be worth looking for specific WinXP/etc. emulators for the specific games e.g. ScummVM (www.scummvm.org) for Day Of The Tentacle / Sam & Max / other Lucas Arts point'n'click fun and Exult (exult.sourceforge.net) for Ultima VII.

 

In fact, if you want a console that looks like a NES console & has the overall performance of a shit [...]

The Op's after DOS emulation in particular because many pre-Win9x games don't work under any post-Windows95 OS or post-486 machine, for a number of reasons including:

 

* the game timing is limited only by processor speed; games designed for e.g. a 25MHz 386 run too fast on a modern 1GHz+ device).

* the code used in the game relies on low-level direct access to hardware; modern OS's don't allow this.

* the code used in the game assumes the availability of hardware that no longer exists e.g. 3dfx cards, ISA sound cards, etc.

* DOS emulation under Windows is flawed and there can be clashes with the shiny new features new CPUs have compared to early x86's; an emulated x86 allows e.g. running actual DOS as if on an actual 386.

[frogstar_robot]

You might also want to look at Bochs (bochs.sourceforge.net) now that it's gone opensource; more an x86 (+hardware) emulator than DOS specifically, but it would provide you with a tweakable virtual PC.

 

Bochs is more for academic exploration of architecture internals. It is very much on the slow side for actually running software. Something like VMWare, VirtualBox, or QEMU is a better choice if going that route. The path of least resistance is DOSBox as others have mentioned though I'd look for modern ports of the game or it's engine before resorting to emulation.

[Quadhorn]

Bochs is more for academic exploration [...]

Fair do's; I haven't tried it in a while. I thought modern PCs would be up to the task if you're emulating pre-Pentium systems ... it's an alternative if the other suggestions don't work out for some reason. A brief look through the discussion boards found people claiming to use it for Wing Commander and the like.

[Quadhorn]

Reading the first post again:

If you're after something to play Doom, have a look into the various ports available. There used to be a glDoom port that added hardware acceleration and transparency, though it's not been worked on in over a decade. You might want to look at zdoom (zdoom.org); aside from all the improvements to the engine, it'll also allow you to run some of the reworked level packs such as Knee Deep In ZDoom (kdizd.drdteam.org). There're similar things for Duke Nukem 3D (look though hrp.duke4.net; it'll lead you to the new EDuke32 engine and also has updated graphics and sound packs) and ... somewhere (can't find it at the moment) ... Shadow Warrior.

[Video]

Well, I was just useing Doom as an example of some of the games I like to play on it, I got the Collectors edition that came out a couple of years back, but, as I said, it has graphical errors. Warcraft is another, and I got some stuff like Need for speed and some of those bazzillion in one games discs that have good games that won't work due to timing errors or something. And Lemmings was friggin awesome, but luckily I've been getting my fix on SNES and Lynx so that's not to much of a loss I suppose.

 

I just thought a stable environment to "fake" an older computer might be the way to go, rather than havveing a dedicated system set up, that old computer is huge (not that the new one is all that small, but it's smaller than the old desktop case)

 

But enyhow, thanks for all the info, looks like Dosbox is the way to go probably. I do have an old computer in the closet, it was a 95 with a 233mhz processor, but I don't know if it works, maybe I'll drag it out and see how it works.

 

Mucking around with Dos isn't to much troubles, so an old computer may be the way to go, but there's no telling what you'll get online, I may try the local computer shop, they got a fair selection of old computers, but I don't think anything that old.

 

Anyways, thanks for the info, I'll go look up dosbox and see what it'll do. Oh yeah, Duke Nukem, but it's probably new enough to work on windows, so

[Keatah]

Wow! thanks for the info on the Duke HRP and Doomsday stuff. That is very cool indeed!

[Quadhorn]

@Keetah:

Glad to help. I know the downloads are huge, but so's what they've done to Duke3D; hardware acceleration, new .ogg music, high resolution textures, 3D models to replace old 2D enemy sprites ... the sheer time and effort put into it is mind boggling. Well worth the download for any Duke3D fan.

[frogstar_robot]

@Keetah:

Glad to help. I know the downloads are huge, but so's what they've done to Duke3D; hardware acceleration, new .ogg music, high resolution textures, 3D models to replace old 2D enemy sprites ... the sheer time and effort put into it is mind boggling. Well worth the download for any Duke3D fan.

 

And more productive than the now-defunct 3DRealms team I might add. I think they're going to call it Duke Nukem NeverEver now.

[Polybius]

Also to play Doom on Windows XP/Vista, you should download the Shareware version of Doom95 (just google for it). If you own the original DOS version of Doom, you can just copy the DOOM.WAD into your Doom95 directory so you can play the full game using the windows client (be sure to select the correct WAD in the Doom95 frontend. DOOM.WAD means the full version, DOOM1.WAD is the Shareware episode).

 

If you own the DOS version of Doom 2 you can also copy its DOOM2.WAD into the Doom95 directory and play it using the windows client, too.

 

 

The only problems I've encountered with this setup is a graphical glitch concerning Invisibility (the invisibility pickup and invisible enemies). This apparently varies form one machine to the other.

 

I Have the Dos version of DOOM to work fine on my Win 98SE, except for some occaisional sound glitches.

[Polybius]

I have noticed that that most DOS games will run easily on Win9x, but some of the older DOS games, (Digger, Devastator) seem to run too fast, and they're unplayable. So, if you use an emulator, they'll probably run smoother.