[xkrylonx]

like many of you i've been a gamer most of my life, and lately i've been aching to replay the classics once again. i want to re-live most of the Sierra games in all their glory along with the Lucasarts gems. While this is mostly about playing the great adventure games, i'll also be throwing on the x-com (UFO) games and some great rpgs like Planescape: Torment.

i dug up one of my old pc's and its a pentium of some sort, probably 75-120 range. i'll look again when i get home. it currently has win3.1 on it, and if i can get a mouse to work with the serial port it'll be running perfectly.

so my question to you all is what OS do you think i should go with? i think some of the games i'll want to play may have needed win95, but i'm not sure. its all been so long. and obviously i have another computer that i play current games on, so anything that will work on XP i can run on that instead. but my whole goal here is to not have worry about workarounds or fixes to get the games to work - just to play them as they were.

any advice / tips / insight is much appreciated!

[MdaG]

I run all my retro games in DOSBox or ScummVM. That way I can run them on my new Windows XP or Linux computer. If you're running any Windows 95/98 games I can't help you though...

http://www.scummvm.org/
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/

[avatar_58]

Personally I recommend just using dosbox on a modern PC. I've given up setting up classic pcs because its actually more work for less reward. My PC runs every sierra online game in dosbox and lucasarts at perfect speeds with sound and no crashes etc. Believe me its worth it.

As for my suggestion, from personal experience, sierra games thrive off dos. They will run under windows 98 okay, but you may need to tinker with your sound settings. Lucasarts games (most of them) work anywhere. So basically if you don't mind forgoing the GUI stick with dos. Otherwise use windows 98 for compatibility and ease of use.

120mhz may be too much for some sierra games. You will need to use mo'slo to get some of them working. However try this utility on some sierra games to get digital sound working in 98:

GOSIERRA -
http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-search?key=GoSierra

It helps alot!

[xkrylonx]

avatar, what is your current PC setup? i've definitely tried to use dosbox a few times but have never had satisfactory results. i think the last sierra game i tried to run was a LSL game.. maybe 7? the one where he starts tied to the bed. the speeds were way off, very slow. and tweaking the clock speeds didn't really help that much.

i'll definitely give the emulators another honest try, but at the same time i don't mind setting up the old computer being as i still have them all. from my 386sx 66 to my AMD 64 3800+

[avatar_58]

I have an AMD FX-53...so that explains my results

However what dosbox settings do you use? Larry 7 does require a lot of juice to run at perfect speeds. I do have a method to remove the need for a CD and that speeds the games up a bit, but only for stuttering sound.

On that CPU older sierra games (typing ones and most point/click) should work fine. What cycles do you run dosbox at?

[xkrylonx]

well your chip is definitely badass, but a amd64 3800 isnt that far behind it - so i dont think that should be an issue. i'll give dosbox another go and see how i fair. but first i gotta dig-up some of the games - then i'll let you know how its running. maybe it will just be a matter of tweaking dosbox a bit.

[Christina]

Originally Posted by xkrylonx

so my question to you all is what OS do you think i should go with? i think some of the games i'll want to play may have needed win95, but i'm not sure. its all been so long. and obviously i have another computer that i play current games on, so anything that will work on XP i can run on that instead. but my whole goal here is to not have worry about workarounds or fixes to get the games to work - just to play them as they were.

any advice / tips / insight is much appreciated!

I'd say go for Windows 95. I have an older computer around for the same purpose and it runs 95 and I haven't had any problems playing the old games on it.

Having an old computer around is defintely better than using DOSBox or ScummVM - I've encountered too many problems with them.

[avatar_58]

Originally Posted by Christina

Having an old computer around is defintely better than using DOSBox or ScummVM - I've encountered too many problems with them.

I disagree. Once you get the hang of dosbox and understand the features its much easier than dos itself. Instead of me fighting time-related sierra bugs I can just reduce the cycles and the sound works without a hitch as well.

Also...using a frontend you only have to setup the game once and then you can back it up and never worry again about tweaking.

I don't know where I was before I found dosbox...

[kathrynrose]

What i have done with running my older games is to use a Belkin splitter, which allows me to move between the two computers and still be able to utilize my current speakers, mouse, keyboard and monitor. This way can still have my main computer for XP and use the auxiliary one which has 95/98 installed in it, for my classic games. Just an idea i thought i would throw out to You

[Christina]

Originally Posted by avatar_58

I disagree. Once you get the hang of dosbox and understand the features its much easier than dos itself. Instead of me fighting time-related sierra bugs I can just reduce the cycles and the sound works without a hitch as well.

Also...using a frontend you only have to setup the game once and then you can back it up and never worry again about tweaking.

I don't know where I was before I found dosbox...

But I've just got a computer sitting around from 1994 - why not use it? I didn't go out and put together a classic gaming machine, I just kept my old PC this whole time. (I can't throw anything away^_^)I've never had any problems using DOS(maybe because when I started gaming most of the games were dos based.) And I haven't had to tinker around with "reducing cycles" or the sound. That's stuff I have to tinker around with when I try to run old games on new computers. Not old games on old computers.

[avatar_58]

Oh I don't have any trouble with dos either, but I realized that keeping these old comps around was getting me nowhere. Instead I tried out dosbox and never looked back.

When all is said and done in the future we will all need dosbox anyway so I would get aquainted Modern O/S are none too good for old games so its a good thing we have such a utility.

All I'm trying to say is that there are people who refuse to upgrade simply due to oldies support...I say ditch the old PC because if your machine is fast enough you can get dosbox running any old game out there.

[Christina]

Originally Posted by avatar_58

Oh I don't have any trouble with dos either, but I realized that keeping these old comps around was getting me nowhere. Instead I tried out dosbox and never looked back.

When all is said and done in the future we will all need dosbox anyway so I would get aquainted Modern O/S are none too good for old games so its a good thing we have such a utility.

I am acquainted with it. I can use it. I just find running games on my old PC easier.

[avatar_58]

Originally Posted by Christina

I am acquainted with it. I can use it. I just find running games on my old PC easier.

To each their own.

Personally I'm working on a DVD set that will include all of my old games setup under d-fend w/ dosbox. That means I will have a great big list that is full of pre-installed already configured games to work on any PC that is quick enough.