WinXP and older games.

[troysvihl]

I'm thinking about jumping from win2K over to XP in order to play some older games that I still have. So I was wondering if anyone has used that "emulator" feature that supposedly allows you to run old Win9X, Win3.1, and DOS programs? Anyone try to run games from Maxis, Lucas Arts, or any other older games that wouldn't run on Win2K?

Just curious if anyone has had any problems or if it works well.

Thanks for any replies.

[Xayd]

Haven't tried it, but the impression I get from two other guys at work who have is "no go"

They haven't gotten a DOS game to work yet, tried about half a dozen from what they said.

[mike breck]

I think there's a lot to be said for either keeping Win98 on a second system or having a dual boot setup (e.g. 98 & XP) so you can still play your DOS games.

[Penguin]

I just upgraded to Windows ME. Will my old dos games still work with ME? Does anyone know of any problems?

[HAL9000]

I've been running ME for over a year Penguin and haven't had any problems to speak of.

[RJ]

There is no problem running DOS games with WinME because - like Win 95 and 98 - it is based on DOS. MS only took out the ACCESS to pure dos mode in ME, that's all, DOS is still threre.

WinXP - like WinNT and 2K - is not based on DOS. From what I've read most DOS games don't run under XP, and the some that do run without sound.

RJ

[Penguin]

IS it XP that I was reading about that had a DOS emulation mode? Wasn't this suppose to be able to run Pure DOS based games? Although this is MS we are talking about, and just because they say it works doesn't mean it does.

I guess it looks like I may be with ME for a long while, or until I no longer want to play my DOS based games.

Someone needs to come up with software to be able to run DOS games in XP and any newer versions of Windows OS. That would be a money maker.

Is it just me or does MS not realize that there are still a lot of people that play old DOS games and want to continue to use them?

[RJ]

I believe there are many people out there that love their old dos games - me included.
I can't get rid of Dune II - the first real-time strategy, or Indy 3 and 4, the Indiana Jones Adventures.
Sure I like Indy5, too, also play strategies like Age of Empires, Total Annihilation, Red Alert 2, Dune 2000 and Emperor, but anyway Dune II also belongs to it in a way. The new improved games are additions, not replacements for me.
I wished that the manufacturers could code their old games for new platforms, a Dune II for DirectX (sort-of). I mean, Dune II was so successful, it should have brought in way more money than it was needed for its development.

RJ

[mike breck]

Why not pick up an old P90 for next to nothing, load up pure DOS, and play it the way the real gamers use to do it before Big Bill "borrowed" pretty GUI's from Apple?

Or dual boot with real DOS?

[Penguin]

Actually Mike That is not a bad idea. I have my old PII 450 with 256 mb Ram sitting at home doing nothing. All it needs is a floppy and a CD-ROM.

What a great idea. Now just one question. How do I get a copy of pure DOS? Sorry for being stupid on this one. I know you are going to give me some easy answer and I am going feel dumb for asking.

[RJ]

This would be a good solution, but there is a little problem for me to realize it: room.
After upgrading and upgrading and upgrading I ended up having nearly all parts of my original PC, bought in dec 1996 (Pentium 133). I got the parts that were missing (mainboard, hard drive, sound card, RAM) and assembled my original PC, running its original Win95 that came with it. I gave it my mother so that she can use it for mainly writing letters and internet.

Sure I installed Dune II on it, and I can play it well, but then I have to go to her room and that's only possible when she doesn't need that room or the PC. I also could carry the PC to my room, but then I would have to reconnect everything because I have no room for a second PC. I would have to take away my PC and there install my original, which also isn't quite that what I want.

Dualboot with real dos: Well, I still have DOS 6.22 here on 3 floppies, but old dos won't be able to handle the new technology well (PCI Soundcard: SBLive!, USB mouse. Luckily USB keyboard is supported by BIOS. Anyway mouse is connected to keyboard (hub), so I think that would be a problem even if bios supports usb mouse).

RJ

[mike breck]

Ah, but that the beauty of buying an old machine for $40-$50 to play old games.
If you're careful, it still has the old hardware that works.

Anyway, I picked up a P90 for $50 with the original hardware, loaded Win 98 and it plays Blood, Duke Nukem, and all the Dooms, better than any other machine I've had. Cheaper than a Playstation!

Ofcourse, if you could pick up a machine that was preloaded with DOS, and all the hardware was correctly configured for DOS, then that would save the hardware configuration or compatiblity nightmare.

I don't know about the States, but here you are still able to buy machines like 486's and early Pentiums for a song and by the cartload.


Penguin

I don't think it's completely necessary to use DOS as the OS. But I'm sure someone would sell you the disks on these forums. With the more recent hardware in the P2 you might be better using the Win98 DOS.