It simply is about time to have one of these in my opinion. We have a mega video game thread and a bunch of isolated threads for specific modern games, but we don't have a thread for the classics.
I consider a retro game to be any game that is part of the 5th generation of video games or earlier. Meaning that the gamecube, xbox, dreamcast, and playstation 1 games are off limits. The definition is most certainly up for debate, but try to keep this thread away from modern games (no call of duty please).
Running old games:
Running retro games can range from very simple to very hard. I consider myself to be more or less proficient in the use of DOSBOX (an expert by no means), however, I know very little about other emulators and can't proved any help. Here is a very brief tutorial on running old dos/windows games on modern systems.
Running DOS games:
I suggest DOSBOX: http://www.dosbox.com/
Create a file on your hard drive in a location other than program files (in windows vista and above) called oldgames.
Unzip/install dosbox into that folder preferably in its own file (C:/oldgames/Dosbox)
linux users can just install the pre-packeaged repository (sudo apt-get install dosbox) or a variation of that depending on your distro. mac users I don't know.
Spoiler: from game files
Now if you have all of the game files on your hard drive then the process is rather simple just place them in their own folder under old games, for example, C:/oldgames/AOD. Launch DOSBOX and type
mount c c:/oldgames/AOD
C:
Game.exe
Where c:/oldgames/AOD is the path to the game
and Game.exe is the executable of the game with a extension of .exe, .com, or .bat
You might have to tweak some setting for optimal performance. It is best to look on the dosbox wiki (http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Main_Page) for specific game settings. You might also have to run the game's sound setup in order to hear sound when you play.
Spoiler: from cd/floppy
If your game is on a CD/floppy it gets more complicated...
Mount c c:/oldgames -freesize 2000
Mount (d/a) (drive letter for cd/floppy):/ -t (cdrom/floppy) -label (the label that the cd/floppy has. Can be found by looking at in your file manager)
Where use d for cdrom mounts and a for floppy mounts in (d/a)
Substitute the drive letter of your floppy or CD rom drive you want to mount (usually d for a cdrom drive and a for a floppy drive)
next type d: or a: depending if it is on a floppy or cd
install.exe (or the instillation program on the cd/floppy)
Follow the instruction, however, when it asks you for the install directory just direct it to C:/gamename. It will actually install to C:/oldgames/gamename on your actual hard drive, but the game doesn't know that
Once the install is finished you can type:
C:/
cd gamename
play.exe (or whatever your game's executable is)
In order to play again you will have to remount the CD just as you did to install it except that you don't have to run the install program. You can eventually create a .conf file for dosbox that will automatically do this for you, but that is a discussion for another day.
3) check to make sure that your dosbox options match up with your game settings. This mostly has to do with sound settings which can, ironically enough, lead to full game crashes.
I would suggest running the "Setup" or "sound set" utility that most games come with and setting the sound card to soundblaster or soundblaster16 if available. leave the IRQs/channels at their default and see what happens. If it doesn't work, go into you dosbox configuration file (~/.dosbox in Linux, Your installation directory (if I remember correctly) in windows) and makes ure that all of the sound related options match the settings in the game (or vice versa). MAKE SURE THAT THE "gus" SETTINGS ARE CORRECT!!!
Also make sure that the game supports the selected graphics card (listed under "machine" in dosbox settings). I have a few funny stories about selecting different graphics cards!
I would also suggest upping the "memsize" from 16 to 32. Especially if you are playing an older dosgame (duke nukem 3d, carmagedon, blood, etc.)
4) Check for a source port for your game. Doom, for example, doesn't run very well at all in dosbox. Instead, for the full dos feel, you should try running it in chocolate doom (but if you prefer a more modern feeling doom game try zdoom). I have also ran into trouble running duke nukem 3d in dosbox, so I found a great source port called eduke32 (might even have a 64 version now ) that runs flawlessly.
5) Still having problems? It might be time to try to virtualize. Read below how to vivtualize windows 3.1 without dosbox. YOu could also try directly virtualizing DOS using the same method.
6) That doesn't work for you? Well, you can always try original hardware. That will never fail
Spoiler: a few config changes that might help
In your dosbox config file (can be found from your start menu, or ~/.dosbox in Linux) change the default setting to the following:
output= ddraw (or opengl on Linux and mac. This will basically let you use directx to render the game. Or OpenGL...)
machine= svga_3 (if not already. This basically sets the emulated graphics card to be a good one...)
memsize= 24 or 32 (24 for will under all games. Use 32 for newer games that want to hog memory. Older games might not like 32 MB of memory)
XP and early windows version (2000, 98, 95, etc.) are very much compatible with many, but not all, older windows games. All that you have to do is right click on the .exe file that you want to run, click properties, compatibility, run in compatibility mode, and select windows 3.1 or windows 95. It may also help to run it in 256 colors and at a lower more "classic" resolution. Some versions of windows (win 2000) have this properties tab disabled, in order to enable it just follow the instructions here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/279792
This method works perfectly for me 90% of the time.
Spoiler: for the 10% of the time or windows vista and beyond
You need to boot windows 3.1 in dosbox. Actually this is pretty simple now that we have pre built instillations that work like a charm. Simply create a folder C:/Oldgames/Windows
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO NOT RUN THE PROGRAM FROM YOUR ROOT DIRECTORY (normally C:/)!!!!!!!!
Unzip this: http://files.abandonia.com/extras/Progr ... DOSBox.rar into the C:/oldgames/windows folder. You will need 7-zip or winrar in order to do this (the default arcive manager in most linux distributions will have rar compatibility by default, Mac users ????). So you should have something like this:
C:/Oldgames/Windows/A bunch of files and a windows.bat file
Now simply drop the unzipped/copied off cd into the windows directory. If you have your game on a cd/floppy I would recommend coppying off all of the files into a folder, or mounting the cd drive along with windows and seeing how that turn out.
Now simply go to dosbox and type the following (amending depending on your hard drive structure as always)
Mount c c:/oldgames/windows
c:
windows.bat
Now navigate in side of windows an click "main". After that "file manager" and then you should see the folder for your game right there (if not, navigate to the root directory in windows). Double click on it and find the .exe file that you want to run and enjoy. If you need to install a game then just keep in mind that if you enter "C:/" as the install path it will actually install to "C:/oldgames/windows" on your actual hard drive.
In post 3, CooLDoG wrote:If you name a soldier after yourself, he will be the first one to die in XCOM. Never fails.
I never rename soldiers.... Still know their names and rage when they die though.
Also: So much fun reading this to someone who knows the game point by point and see them wince again and again.
I've been slowly playing through Apocalypse the last few months, the endgame sucks.
Everything from that link is 100% true. I rename soldiers in order to tell their strengths. Like if a guy has high accuracy I will add an "S" to the end of his name. If he has high strength I will put a "H" at the end of his name. Just stuff like that so I can load out my soldiers quicker and so I don't have to read over stats in battle.
Also, if a soldier has 10 moral, fire him immediately.
Right now I'm installing Daggerfall with "playOnLinux". I wonder if it will just use Dosbox or if it will run through wine. If it runs through wine that will be awesome.
Just a poorly configured DOSBOX/ When it said it was downloading wine dos support and the file size was suspiciously the same size as DOSBOX I knew something was up.
In post 61, Umbrage wrote:fighters have a bigger safety margin but once you're screwed you are SCREWED.
it might take more time overall with a caster but it's less of a risk
Moral of the story don't get screwed. Carry a fuck load of pots. Gold isn't an obstacle in that game because you can just walk into shops a steal stuff. There is no reason for you not to have 150 health pots. But to be fair, arena is swingy and I have played quite a few other classic CRPGs so it was easier for me to pick up and play.
Also, keep in my I have played a fuck ton more of daggerfall (over 100+ hours just this year) so the information I am spitting may actually be fore daggerfall and not arena.
In post 89, Claus wrote:What OS are you using? Steam's version of Xcom worked almost without problem (If I alt-tab away from it, it will go into windowed mode and I can't get it back to fullscreen). The Dosbox package from ubuntu won't play sound, though -- I will try a PlayOnLinux script next.
I'll look into this. There are many different versions of X-com some run in windows, other don't. I'll see what I can get to work.
Pulled out old dos version and it works just fine for me... I would try the play on linux script for the gog version of the game. I have had good luck whit them.
Windows or Dos. Makes a huge difference. If you have DOS then you can read the OP and install. You might want to mount the CD whenever you play the game because it might have the audio that you are missing on it. Back in the old days we streamed music (and sometimes even sound effects) right off the disc.
Command should be something like
mount d d:/ -t cdrom -label Xcom
Where "Xcom" is what ever the disc is called in you file manager.
Then you have to mount the game...
mount c c:/dosgames/xcom
Or wherever you put it. Now you can run the game hopefully with music.
Also note that if you originally mounted you destination as "C:/DOSGAMES" and when using the installer typed in "C:/XCOM" as the install directory, then you MUST mount "C" as "c:/dosgames" and then type
cd xcom
so that your path looks like "C:/xcom"
instead of "C:/"
May or may not do anything. Also make sure that in your sound setup to select soundblaster as your sound card...
If it is a windows version... things get complicated (and I can't help as much)...
Try compatibility mode (windows 95, 98, or 2000. NOT XP. I have had problems with playing the game in XP). Try decreasing your resolution and color depth. And hope for the best. If worst comes to worst you can virtualize windows and play it off of that... (in dosbox or virtual box)
In post 97, UltimaAvalon wrote:I've been to that wiki page and it is 0 helpful. I am able to install the game, so the mounting/installation instructions also isn't helpful. What happens is when running, it just says Program:INTRO at the top and I get a black screen of nothing happening
I had this problem when I tried the gravis ultra sound drive. Try messing around with your sound settings. Turn it to no sound and see if the game runs. Then go trial and error. You might have to go into the dosbox .conf file and see if these settings:
If you are supper attached to the gravis ultra sound then you can enable it in dosbox by setting the gus=false to true and the sound blaster-true to false. But I generally think sound blaster is the best.
Also, if all else fails just mash enter for the IRQs and stuff. I have generally found that the game's default is the dosbox default. If you run into problems then go check the conf file...
~edit, added short trouble shooting guide to the OP.
They are different sound cards. Dosbox emulates different sound cards differently. On your system one may sound better than another. Sometimes gravis may sound better, other times soundblaster may sound better. Generally though soundblaster is always a good default.
I did not play that game. I did play floor 13, which is a fucking awesome game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwgBsmoiX0w
(someone didn't set their sound card right... always choose sound blaster.)
In post 117, Umbrage wrote:randomly started playing super mario world again today and suddenly I'm great at it WTF HAPPENED?
I suck at platform games. I love the idea of them, but I simply suck. I wish I could get into classic Nintendo games and stuff like that but I never could get my head around them. I fall more towards strategy/shooter/simulation games.
Just had a great idea. Would anyone be interested in a colonization (maybe free col if you are idealistic and hate abandonware), or a civ 1 succession game?
nope. What OS are you using? What game are you trying to play?
If windows vista, 7, or (presumably) 8 DOSBOX must
NOT
be in a "program files" directory.
But you have to specify the correct drive where your games are. For example on my old windows 2000 machine (that had the OS on the C:\ drive that was only 18GB so I installed almost nothing there) I had DOSBOX installed on my F:\ drive and my games on my E:\ drive (don't ask). So to play a game I called up dosbox and:
mount C E:\DOSGAMES\Blood
instead of c c:\...
On another note, I found a really cool trick to help improve performance. In your dosbox config file (can be found from your start menu, or ~/.dosbox in Linux) change the default setting to the following:
output= ddraw (or opengl on Linux and mac. This will basically let you use directx to render the game. Or open GL...)
machine= svga_3 (if not already. This basically sets the emulated graphics card to be a good one...)
memsize= 24 or 32 (24 for will under all games. Use 32 for newer games that want to hog memory. Older games might not like 32 MB of memory)
I don't know.
