DOS Games in WinXP

[Bilbo Baggins]

Hey. I am new here, and yuo guys seem pretty good on this techie lark.

I have downloaded a few old games that used to run in DOS. I have since upgraded to Windows XP, and when I try and run them, i get RunTime Errors. Is there anyway I can get em to work?

[Mr Jones]

Yeah, install windows 3.1 in fresh partition :p

[psyfive]

[:confused:] WTF?!?! is this some kind of joke or something?! Bilbo... New here... [/:confused:]

When i play dos games (doom, carmen sandiego, duke nukem) I just hit the windows key+r then type cmd and use the crappy command line that windows xp gives ya...

Heh i still have some old dos 6.0 installation floppies packed away in the back of a drawer somewhere around here.

[Vie]

use a real OS, try 98 its uber good.

I feal unclean

[pixiefied]

ya xp doesnt go well with games. i cant play sims on it. its like my video card just quits all of a sudden and the game shuts its self down

[m0e]

What vid card Pixie?

[pixiefied]

32 mb sis chip 2xagp

[Merlin]

Alright Bilbo, keep your pants on ;)

Some games simply do not work under XP. For example, Driver. Some people with certain hardware have managed to get it to work, but for most people, no joy. There's no patch for Driver either.

[m0e]

Originally posted by pixiefied
32 mb sis chip 2xagp Well I don’t have anything on disk for SIS anymore. And their website is uber-slow. I have had a couple of boards with SIS integrated video and they have worked well for me. I would think it should run the Sims in 800x600 just fine no matter what O/S you are running. But I don’t have enough components to get the one I still have running to see if I can find a solution. Not that I even know if it would be the same chip. Their website recommended getting drivers from your computer manufacturer because they would be optimized for your system. I would probably go to the motherboard manufacturers site to see if they have updated drivers. My best guess is this would be a shared memory problem. I believe the video uses shared memory. You might need to bump the ram a little.
Do you have XP set to auto update? I’m not sure about SIS but sometimes there are updated drivers on the MS website for your hardware. And it’s not always the best for your system. They driver they have for nVidia chips has worked fine on some systems I have worked on but the drivers I have downloaded from nVidia have worked better on other systems. And with full auto update on it will possibly d/l and install without notifying you, although a drvier update should require a restart, even with XP. The last machine I worked on with an SIS chip I used drivers from the motherboard manufacturer but that machine was using Win98se, so that might not be the right answer either.

[liquidmotion]

you CAN run in compatibility mode.

or get win2k, it pwns j00.

[pixiefied]

i pwns j00!

[m0e]

tatu? 50 cent? really?

[pixiefied]

actually im gonna just get a new computer.this one is ok,but there are something i want and a girl gets what she wants!!

[m0e]

This is a little something I came up with shopping around the web the other day.
Case-Enermax CS-10182-BA $85.00
Power Supply-Enermax EG365P-VE FCA $65.00
Processor-AMD XP3000+ $590.00
Mother Board-Asus A7N8X Deluxe $140.00
Ram-Micron PC3200 512mb X2 $144.00
Case Fan-Antec Trilight LED 80 X5 $30.00
Video Card-EVGA geForce4 ti4200 128mb ddr w/svh out $170.00
Sound Card-M-Audio Revolution 7.1 $100.00
Hard Drive-Western Digital Caviar SE 80gb $98.00
CD-RW-Lite-On 52x burner $50.00
Moniter-NEC AccuSync 90 19" CRT $170.00
Mouse/Keyboard Combo-Logitech Cordless Comfort Duo $72.00
Speakers-Klipsch GMX D-5.1 $300.00
Printer-Epson Stylus Photo 820 $82.00
O/S-Microsoft XP Home $115.00
Total $2,211.00
Of course you would have to put it together yourself and I don’t know what kind of warrenty some of the components or suppliers have. I was just seeing how ggod of a system I could come up with for less than $2500. And a XP200+ is about $85 right now, or about $500 cheaper than this.

[Atmo]

If compatibility with old dos games is important then dual boot 98se and XP.

But some dos games do run ok under xp, and if not there's sometimes a new executable for it (like winquake).

I dont bother with dos games anymore, as they end up being displayed on both my monitors which is ultra distracting.

[liquidmotion]

Originally posted by pixiefied
i pwns j00! mmm, i lub it when j00 talk dirteh to meh :)

m0e: j00 have no pr00f!

[m0e]

Originally posted by liquidmotion
mmm, i lub it when j00 talk dirteh to meh :)

m0e: j00 have no pr00f!

Proof of what?

[Bilbo Baggins]

Looks like its gonna be a DOS partition.

[Atmo]

Do you have dos drivers for your soundcard bilbo?

[Bilbo Baggins]

Yes. The original disk for 98 also included the optino to install the dos drivers.

[Atmo]

Ok, but will you be able to install them from dos?

It's generally why i reccomend dual booting 98se and XP rather than dos6.22 and XP.

[Bilbo Baggins]

Well I will try the 98 install instead. I will think about it tomorro.

[Some1]

...or, couldn't the same affect be acheived by making a simple little DOS boot disk?

[xzxzzx]

Originally posted by Some1
...or, couldn't the same affect be acheived by making a simple little DOS boot disk?
Yup, assuming your hardware (sound card, specifically) works well with DOS...

There are all kinds of tricks to get Windows 98/ME/2000/XP to work with DOS games. Compatability settings, sound emulators, dos emulators, patches, etc.

Here's the trick that always works: Install DOS on one of these (http://listings.ebay.com/pool2/plistings/list/all/category31498/index.html?from=R0).

[Atmo]

Just found something you might be interested in, an emulator named dosbox.

Currently emulated is:

CPU:286/386 realmode
GFX:VGA/EGA/CGA
SND:PC-Speaker/Tandy 3-Voice/Adlib/SoundBlaster
MSC:Keyboard/Mouse
DOS:Directory FileSystem/XMS/EMS

It works, but it cant run protected mode games (like doom or duke3d). Older dos games like wolf3d and streetrod run just fine though, and a bonus is that doesnt display the image on both monitors. Even has a basic windows frontend for those that dont like the command line.

It's still not as good as real dos, but for old dos games its better than the dos emulation nt does.

http://dosbox.zophar.net if you wanna give it a go.

[xzxzzx]

Originally posted by xzxzzx
While the above will work for some games, here's what you should really do:

InstallDOSononeofthese (http://listings.ebay.com/pool2/plistings/list/all/category31498/index.html?from=R0).

[c2R]

Originally posted by Atmo
Just found something you might be interested in, an emulator named dosbox.

It works, but it cant run protected mode games (like doom or duke3d). Older dos games like wolf3d and streetrod run just fine though, and a bonus is that doesnt display the image on both monitors. Even has a basic windows frontend for those that dont like the command line.

It's still not as good as real dos, but for old dos games its better than the dos emulation nt does.

http://dosbox.zophar.net if you wanna give it a go.

I've just had a chance to play with this, and it's most pleasing! Download it, play Wolfenstein, Dune 2, or Moonstone!

[Starbucks]

Bilbo Baggins, what games are you trying to get to work?

[Bilbo Baggins]

I have a big list, but top of it is Cannon Fodder 2.

[Fickle]

Originally posted by Merlin
Alright Bilbo, keep your pants on ;)

Some games simply do not work under XP. For example, Driver. Some people with certain hardware have managed to get it to work, but for most people, no joy. There's no patch for Driver either.

I can play Driver on XP.

[bored154]

Originally posted by Mr Jones
Yeah, install windows 3.1 in fresh partition :p

i got windows 3.1 on my dads old laptop...

[Psythik]

Originally posted by pixiefied
ya xp doesnt go well with games.
What's really scary is that It seems that I've had the best, most crash-free gaming experence running WinME, considering that it's one of the most unstable OSes to date, even more so on my 700MHz PIII with 128MB RAM and 8MB intergrated graphics. To make things seem scarier, all the games I've played on this system will run in 1024x768 at a smooth 60FPS (except for Sim City 4). Ironic thing is tho, the system crashes a lot easier when doing a lot less demanding things, such as sufring the 'net or listening to Winamp. Weird. :weird:

[Vie]

WinME, I have found from experiance, dosn't like being left alone, if you keed it constantly active with somthing, its faily stable.

I use seti, it can keep ME going for about 2 weeks at a push.

[Coman]

weird but it takes me so much longer to set up 98 right now than it did XP which was almost fluently. it took me a couple days to finally install norton system works but still with lots of problems, and now im trying to set up drives for my sound blaster which so far only gives me a blue screen when im restarting and freezes. and i thought it would be much easier and faster with 98 than with XP.