Thinking about getting a Desktop for older PC games

[PeculiarSatyr]

So I'm thinking about either building a machine or finding an old one somewhere to play older PC games that have compatibility issues with newer OSs.

 

Stuff like Civilization 2 and some older DOS games like Betrayl at Krondor. I've used DOSbox with some success but find it to be kind of annoying and would prefer to have a dedicated machine for old games and then hopefully my current machine will play anything else.

 

Anyone have advice on what I should look for? Which OS should I use? Windows 3.1, 95, 98, etc?

 

Anyone that has advice would be appreciated.

[Hatta]

I recommend a P3 running Win 98SE. Something in the 650-800mhz is plenty of power, and easy to come by. Anything that needs more power you can play on a modern PC. You could go slower, but there's little point in it. Any DOS games that are sensitive to CPU frequence are so old they'll run too fast on a P100. If you want to run CGA era DOS games, you'll need yet another PC, but it doesn't look like that's what you want right now. Also P3s often came with ISA ports still. You're going to want an ISA sound card if you're going to be playing DOS games.

 

98SE is the best of the 9x line for gaming. It's almost a modern OS with good networking and USB support. It is a lot more bloated than 95, but that doesn't matter except on ancient hardware. My P2-266 flies with 98SE on it.

I like having a pure DOS 6.22 partition around too, but it's not really required. Rebooting in DOS mode is usually sufficient for anything that won't run under Windows.

[Rex Dart]

Hatta nailed it, except for needing yet another PC for old old games. There are DOS utilities to slow a computer down.

[SlowCoder]

If you want a physical machine, I say go for it.

 

DOSBox really does a great job of DOS emulation. It's the Stella of DOS programs. And you can run Windows 3.1 through it. You can also tune its speed and other functionality.

[+FujiSkunk]

Darn, SlowCoder beat me to it.

 

I second the recommendation for DOSBox. I've used it to play DOS games from the late '80s and early '90s before, and it handled them beautifully on my otherwise-Win2K desktop.

[+SpiceWare]

I've used DOSbox with some success but find it to be kind of annoying

When's the last time you tried DOSBox? I've had issues with it in the past, but the latest version works quite well. I'm using Boxer, a Macified version of it.

Edited October 13, 2011 by SpiceWare

[Rex Dart]

I don't know, I've not had the best luck trying to get Mechwarrior 2 to run correctly in DOSBOX. It's fine for Laser Chess or whatever 20MB-or-less game you want to play, but those later games can be trouble.

[+remowilliams]

Dosbox P4

 

 

 

 

[SlowCoder]

I don't know, I've not had the best luck trying to get Mechwarrior 2 to run correctly in DOSBOX. It's fine for Laser Chess or whatever 20MB-or-less game you want to play, but those later games can be trouble.

I own MechWarrior 2, and was able to get it installed. Been a while, but it may be one of the games that complains about the emulated CD drive. I went ahead and did a nocd hack on it, so I no longer have to worry about it. I think.

[Hatta]

Dosbox P4

 

I see uncooled Voodoo2s in that P4. Conventional wisdom is that fast computers can cause passively cooled V2s to overheat. I'd keep an eye on that.

[Rex Dart]

I don't know, I've not had the best luck trying to get Mechwarrior 2 to run correctly in DOSBOX. It's fine for Laser Chess or whatever 20MB-or-less game you want to play, but those later games can be trouble.

I own MechWarrior 2, and was able to get it installed. Been a while, but it may be one of the games that complains about the emulated CD drive. I went ahead and did a nocd hack on it, so I no longer have to worry about it. I think.

 

But the music's on the CD...

I can't remember my exact issue, but I think it was something with the mouse not wanting to work.

[SlowCoder]

I don't know, I've not had the best luck trying to get Mechwarrior 2 to run correctly in DOSBOX. It's fine for Laser Chess or whatever 20MB-or-less game you want to play, but those later games can be trouble.

I own MechWarrior 2, and was able to get it installed. Been a while, but it may be one of the games that complains about the emulated CD drive. I went ahead and did a nocd hack on it, so I no longer have to worry about it. I think.

 

But the music's on the CD...

I can't remember my exact issue, but I think it was something with the mouse not wanting to work.

It's you, honey. My mouse works fine.

[Mark Wolfe]

I was actually considering making an older Mac setup with a windows/dos NuBus card in it [there is also a pci version I think]. this was the solution back in the day for installing windows 95 on a partitioned hard drive and switching between the two, it was intended for office apps but I bet it would do a great job with games, then you can collect all the old mac and pc games and run them in the same box.