Author Topic: Old School DOS games (Read 1517 times)

Wolfala · « **on:** February 18, 2004, 09:18:55 PM »

Troops,

I've been browsing through some of my old collections, and i've got a sudden urge to bust out the long since neglected classics: Wing Commander 3, Wing Commander 4, and of course Tie Fighter CD ROM. Now as you may remember, almost 10 years has passed since these classics were even talked about - and we've gone through atleast 1/2 a dozen operating systems during that period of time. What do I need to do to find out information like IRQ and DMA channel assignments for the sound card and other other issues to be aware of to make this stuff work on todays hardware?

~~Wolf~~

Kommandant · « **Reply #1 on:** February 18, 2004, 09:26:04 PM »

Wow........ I remember endless hours playing Tie Fighter before I was old enough to grasp the concept of Masturbation. Of course I don't know, hope someone else does.

Spork42 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 18, 2004, 09:58:43 PM »

I was just trying to get X-COM UFO DEFENSE to work and I discovered a thing called Dosbox. Here's a handy guide to getting it to work:

http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=2502

All sounds work in-game. This program seems to have a built in CPU throttle as well.

Blooz · « **Reply #3 on:** February 19, 2004, 12:27:39 AM »

For Windows XP, right click the programs icon and select the Compatability tab. Set it to emulate whichever operating system you need.

Engine · « **Reply #4 on:** February 19, 2004, 10:18:04 AM »

Did you get X-Com working, spork? I'd love to play an updated version of the original, but it looks like no one's interested in revamping it properly.

gofaster · « **Reply #5 on:** February 19, 2004, 10:30:43 AM »

Is the Wing Commander franchise dead? I don't think I've seen any version of it on store shelves recently.

Makarov9 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 19, 2004, 10:38:46 AM »

A company is making an XCom remake with the Quake 2 engine. I downloaded the tech demo and it looks/feels like the original except with good graphics and it runs in Windows/Linux. I will definetly get it when the full version comes out.

http://ufo.myexp.de/

Preview of UFO:Alien Invasion

Ecliptik · « **Reply #7 on:** February 19, 2004, 11:19:45 AM »

Quote

Is the Wing Commander franchise dead? I don't think I've seen any version of it on store shelves recently.

Yep, Origin is pretty much gone. Wing Commander V was made for Win9x, so it shouldn't be a problem to run it on modern systems. Wing Commander I - IV are a different story. You can get them to run sometimes, but USB devices won't work, you need serial COM/gameports.

Origin did re-release them in the form of Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga, which is the first three games in the series made compatible with Win9x/XP/2000, and a patch to make IV work properly. It's no longer produced. Copies of it are rare and in high demand. They often go for a hefty price on Ebay.

gofaster · « **Reply #8 on:** February 19, 2004, 11:41:50 AM »

Thanks for the info. That's a shame about the series coming to an end. I thought it was one of the better games out there. Bummer.

Tarmac · « **Reply #9 on:** February 19, 2004, 11:47:56 AM »

Excellent find, Makarov. Downloading now.

XCOM XCOM XCOM XCOM!!!

Wolfala · « **Reply #10 on:** February 19, 2004, 12:39:45 PM »

Good lord, i'm seeing that as high as $250.00 on amazon!

Spork42 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 19, 2004, 04:03:56 PM »

Engine: Yes, it works perfectly! It hasn't crashed yet. Sound effects and music work with no configuration. I picked Sound Blaster Pro and used the default settings for it.

I find using a CPU cycles value of 15000 is good.

Mano · « **Reply #12 on:** February 20, 2004, 11:29:48 AM »

Dos games will run on WinMe if ya can't get WinXP to run 'em :

slimm50 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 20, 2004, 11:59:07 AM »

Time to break out my old AW DOS game.

Engine · « **Reply #14 on:** February 21, 2004, 03:59:09 AM »

Damn, I don't have my original X-Com cd anymore, so while I can get DOSbox working, X-Com refuses.

So, I downloaded a Win98 compatible version of X-Com, which starts up fine but is graphically a mess. Some refresh rate problem I guess, but damned if I want to try and figure it out.