Best Windows operating system for older pc games?

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Snake2715 · #1 Post by **Snake2715** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 6:41 pm

I am wondering what is the best version for the older pc games. I recently got my old pentium 200 up and running and am going to put one of the older Windows operating systems on it.

I currently have Windows 3.1 and 98 (not Se) I can get Windows 95.

So my question is what are those older games most compatible with? I noticed that even up to say 1996 they listed win3.1 as an optional operating system...

I am trying to use my older sierra games, as well as 7th Guest, Lucas Arts (Sam N Max, Full Throttle, day of Tentacle) and Kyrandia series....

If I do 3.1 ( I am leaning this way over 98 ) do I need to have DOS also? I cant remember if that is needed or not?

Any info would be great!!

ThreeHeadedMonkey · #2 Post by **ThreeHeadedMonkey** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 7:13 pm

Win 3.1 needs DOS to operate, yes (don't know about versions, though). I must say I've never had any trouble running those games on Win98. Both systems have real-mode DOS (Win98 comes with it), so I don't think it matters much... It's just what you prefer.

Spikey · #3 Post by **Spikey** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 7:15 pm

About the 7th Guest:

You can download a betaplayer for the 7th Guest, which makes it compatible with directx.

#4 Post by **Erpy** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 7:21 pm

For all those games, an old system with DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1 is absolutely perfect. Windows 3.1 was no stand-alone operating system yet, so it needs DOS to operate.

Angelus3K · #5 Post by **Angelus3K** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 7:22 pm

About the 7th Guest:

You can download a betaplayer for the 7th Guest, which makes it compatible with directx.

I can run The 7th Guest fine on XP without anything than the original CD.

Snake2715 · #6 Post by **Snake2715** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 7:38 pm

Angelus3K wrote:
About the 7th Guest:

You can download a betaplayer for the 7th Guest, which makes it compatible with directx.
I can run The 7th Guest fine on XP without anything than the original CD.

In compatiblity mode or what?

Angelus3K · #7 Post by **Angelus3K** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 7:42 pm

I think so, it was a couple of months ago. I can try it over the weekend if you want.

Snake2715 · #8 Post by **Snake2715** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 8:11 pm

I will try it first thanks for the info. I dont know how I would have missed trying that but maybe...

Thanks

One game down.

Spikey · #9 Post by **Spikey** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 8:52 pm

Angelus3K wrote:
About the 7th Guest:

You can download a betaplayer for the 7th Guest, which makes it compatible with directx.
I can run The 7th Guest fine on XP without anything than the original CD.

Oh ok.

Burn ME.

Snake2715 · #10 Post by **Snake2715** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:13 pm

/\ Spikey

Where can you get the beta player? I dont trust just any old sight have one to recomend?

Spikey · #11 Post by **Spikey** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:21 pm

Snake, I'll search for it tomorrow. I don't have anytime now. It's a large file cause Trilobyte inserted a new piece of commercial movie in it, with a true pulsating eye

Peter Swinkels · #12 Post by **Peter Swinkels** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 4:12 pm

Note: edited to prevent further misunderstandings.

Which operating system is best? Based on my experiences I would say Microsoft Windows 98 SE. It gives lots of freedom to MS-DOS programs unlike Windows NT/XP. Windows 98 also has less bugs than Windows 95, I noticed that some DOS programs actually run better under 98 than under 95. Also, while running in the background, Windows 98 and 95 cause less trouble than Windows 3.x for DOS programs. (Which means Windows 98 and 95 are much better at running DOS based programs than Windows 3.x.) Some Windows 3.x programs however run better under Windows 3.x than under any 32 bit version of Windows.

Snake2715 · #13 Post by **Snake2715** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 6:35 pm

Peter Swinkels wrote:Which operating system is best? Based on my experiences I would say Microsoft Windows 98 SE. It gives lots of freedom to MS-DOS programs unlike Windows NT/XP. Windows 98 also has less bugs than Windows 95, I noticed that some DOS programs actually run better under 98 than under 95. Also Windows 98 and 95 are much better at running DOS based programs than Windows 3.x. Some Windows 3.x programs however run better under Windows 3.x than under any 32 bit version of Windows.

I just have to say that I am happy to have found this site. I have received the quickest most thorough answer to my question here. I asked on a few other boards and you guys/gals have taken the most time to answer me with explenation.

Thank you!

Spikey heres the link to your post

Thanks!!

http://www.agdiforums.com/forum/viewtop ... =7th+guest

anathoth8 · #14 Post by **anathoth8** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 3:09 pm

Be aware however that with Windows 98, you may have to do some "tweaking" to get the sound to work properly in DOS mode. Most modern sound cards no longer include DOS drivers, so they can be quite difficult to get them to work.

Peter Swinkels · #15 Post by **Peter Swinkels** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 9:59 am

Be aware however that with Windows 98, you may have to do some "tweaking" to get the sound to work properly in DOS mode. Most modern sound cards no longer include DOS drivers, so they can be quite difficult to get them to work

What version of Windows you have shouldn't matter, if you are running a game from pure MS-DOS or DOS mode there usually are a few things you need to do manually that some Windows versions (98 and 95?) otherwise do for you.

Here are a few things you can try if you have a Sound Blaster (or compatible) if you are running a game from DOS or DOS mode:

(this may get a little technical)

1 Setting the BLASTER environment variable so that games know what your sound card's base address is. To set this variable, type the following at the DOS prompt:
SET BLASTER = Abase address.
If the address is 220 (hexadecimal) - which it usually is - type:
SET BLASTER = A220
You can look up the address in Windows 95/98 in the Control Panel.
To do so, do the following:
1 Open the Control Panel.
2 Open the System Control Panel applet.
3 Select the Device Manager tab.
4 Select "Sound, Video and Game Controllers" from the list.
5 Open the properties window for your Sound Card.
6 Go to the Resources tab.
7 Look at the first item listed as "Input/Output Range" under "Resource Type".
The left number under "Setting" should be the base address.

You can also check what the BLASTER value is set to when in Windows (if it is set), type "ECHO.%BLASTER%" at the DOS prompt. If the variable is set you should get a series of values (like "A220 I9 D1 T4"). The first value should contain the base address.

2 If you know your sound card's base address you can also set the master volume to maximum (which strangely enough doesn't seem to be possible with the control's in Sierra's games) if you have a Sound Blaster (or compatible): Start Debug.exe (type Debug at the DOS prompt) and type the following:
O base address + 4 22
O base address + 5 FF
Q
So if the base address is 220 that would be:
O 224 22
O 225 FF
Q

Hope that helps, also don't forget to try to path your game's sound drivers using GoSierra: http://www.os2world.com/games/html/dos_ ... tches.html
Tip:
Copy GoSierra.exe into the directory of the game you want to patch and type the following at DOS prompt while in your game's directory:
FOR %f IN (*.drv) DO GoSierra.exe %f
This should patch any drivers that can be patched by GoSierra.

BTW:
If you are using an older sound card and have selected "Sound Blaster / Adlib (or compatibles) for music and "Sound Blaster" for audio and your audio keeps "disappearing" you might want to select ThunderBoard for audio output in your Sierra game's installation program.

Angelus3K · #16 Post by **Angelus3K** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 1:10 pm

I think I still have my old Sound Blaster 16 card somewhere.

They were wikid cards!!

BeetleB · #17 Post by **BeetleB** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 3:19 pm

Also Windows 98 and 95 are much better at running DOS based programs than Windows 3.x.

Huh?

OK. If you have Win 3.1, then you need DOS. I defy you to find me a DOS program/game that worked better in '98 or '95 than it does in DOS (without Win running in the background).

As for sound drivers, it could be an issue. Even in '98, some games didn't work with Windows in the background, and you had to reboot into pure command prompt. If you did so, then the Windows sound drivers are no longer active.

Peter Swinkels · #18 Post by **Peter Swinkels** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 3:48 pm

without Win running in the background).

And I meant with Windows running in the background, if you don't have Windows running in the background it really doesn't matter what version of Windows you have when running MS-DOS programs does it?

As for sound drivers, it could be an issue. Even in '98, some games didn't work with Windows in the background, and you had to reboot into pure command prompt. If you did so, then the Windows sound drivers are no longer active.

I don't know about that specific problem. But I think it is save to assume that some Windows 3.x drivers also interfered with DOS programs.

I defy you to find me a DOS program/game that worked better in '98 or '95 than it does in DOS (without Win running in the background).

I repeat: if Windows is not running in the background, does the Windows version matter then? I don't remember ever having claimed that a DOS program worked better with Windows 95 or 98 in the background than in pure DOS. I said that DOS programs work better with Windows 95 or 98 in the background rather than Windows 3.x which means that Windows 95 and 98 are better at running DOS programs than Windows 3.x but not necessarily better than pure DOS.

BTW:
Although Windows can interfere with DOS programs working properly I have also noticed that Windows can improve certain things for DOS programs:
1 Disk access is generally much faster than under pure DOS or DOS mode, this not only goes for Windows programs but also for DOS programs.
2 In some cases the soundcard doesn't work in DOS mode but it actually does work under Windows.

I defy you

Alias · #19 Post by **Alias** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 5:37 pm

I think windows ME is good. $:\$ Un-sure.

Peter Swinkels · #20 Post by **Peter Swinkels** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 5:58 pm

I think I still have my old Sound Blaster 16 card somewhere.

They were wikid cards!!

I actually removed a Sound Blaster Pro (I think it was a Sound Blaster Pro, it went into a PCI slot) card from an old computer some one in the family gave me with the Sound Blaster 16 card (a gigantic thing that goes into an ISA slot) from my even older computer. Now the older DOS programs work just as well as they did on the previous computer when it comes to the soundcard.

Angelus3K · #21 Post by **Angelus3K** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 6:00 pm

Yea my SB16 is a ISA card it looks like a motherboard never mind a sound card lol!!

Quest For Glory Fan · #22 Post by **Quest For Glory Fan** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 4:33 am

i still have a Sound Blaster 16 in a computer now i just need to remember which one i left it in....Then it will be on EBAY

Best Windows operating system for older pc games?

Best Windows operating system for older pc games?

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