37 replies to this topic

[Sharky]

Just Curious, since we can now play all our old games using emulators for all the other popular systems... Including up to Amiga, and Arcade Machines.

Well there were lots of MS-DOS Classics lots of people cant play again.
Mainly because the latest versions of Windows doesnt allow DOS Mode anymore. (Only a very umcompatible DOS-BOX)

Also our PCs are way too fast for them too.

So the question is, is an MS-DOS Emulator ever being considered (Like they will use a speical Disk/HD Image file for each game, and also this MS-DOS Emulator will also have to emulate the hardware aswell ?

Because just curious if one-day we will be able again to play DOS Games on our modern PCs once again.

[privateers69]

I havent tried to many of them, But there is emulators for DOS you can find some at this Abandonware web site under 'TOOLS' one of the them I've tried is made specially for the Lucas Games that uses the SCUMM interface on adventure prgs. called 'ScummVM'

Website:

http://aw.localhost.ee/aw/

[Sharky]

privateers69 said:

I havent tried to many of them, But there is emulators for DOS you can find some at this Abandonware web site under 'TOOLS' one of the them I've tried is made specially for the Lucas Games that uses the SCUMM interface on adventure prgs. called 'ScummVM'

Website:

http://aw.localhost.ee/aw/

Thanks this good! I was mainly thinking on wanted to play these Lucas Games again and this should be perfect for Day of the Tentacle.

Im in a long queue right now and also had to register but this ScummVM looks promising from the screenshots

Just cant wait till I can download it !

[Inky]

You could also get a MSDos clone on floppy, like FreeDOS

[EricBall]

One of the grand challenges with many DOS games was figuring out what CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT entries were required to get enough free RAM while still loading all of the sound and other drivers. This became even more challenging with later versions of DOS used more RAM themselves. When I was archiving all of my floppies to CDR, I tried to play a couple of games and had to give up because I couldn't remember all of the tricks I used to use. And I thought to myself "This used to be part of the fun?"

[Sharky]

@InkyAtari - isnt FreeDOS a thing for use of Real DOS... Then its not an emulation.

@Ericball - I remember the good old (or bad old) CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.bats.. The most important 2 files on your system back then.
I configured all them and made serveral more and created a multiple DOS menu at startup,so most of my DOS games worked back then.
Then the big CPU DOS games came out.. Redneck Rampage and Blood and only could used 320x200 resolution back then... yuck!

One of my favourite MS-DOS game was Crusader (I think it was called). when you were sort of a red Robocop type man....
Gee I wish I could play that game again one day

[Inky]

Sharky said:

@InkyAtari - isnt FreeDOS a thing for use of Real DOS... Then its not an emulation.

Free Dos is an open-source MSDos clone, that you can put on a boot floppy.

[Artlover]

There is also VMWare. But it's awfully expencive to buy.

I've used it, and it's incrediable to say the least.

[raindog]

Someone has written something called "DosBox" which is meant for playing old DOS games under Linux or MacOS, but they actually have a Windows version too! Won't run stuff like DN3D yet, but I guess it works fairly well.

http://dosbox.source...load.php?main=1 (download)
http://dosbox.source...y=name&letter=a (list of some supported/unsupported games)

[oesii]

I have a DOS 6.22 boot floppy that I use for my sio2pc setup on my atari computers. That program only runs when you boot into DOS. Even with new hardware doesn't a boot disk with a old version of DOS take care of all your problems?

[Nukey Shay]

No, there are a few problems...just being able to get INTO dos, for example. Another is that Dos6.2 has a few limitations attached to it...8.3 filenames, 2gig maximum HD access, Dos6.2/Dos 7.0+ Scandisk incompatabilities.

[oesii]

But I don't see those as big problems if you just want to run a few apps and games. The main thing I've had to configure is to make sure the CD drivers are booted up and have the irq/dma settings for the sound card ready to go. I'm not talking about making DOS your everyday OS just to run one game at a time. Don't boot floppies work like this for everyone?

[Nukey Shay]

I was referring to booting from floppies (i.e. not your everyday OS). How would you run an app if the Dos 6.2 boot disk can't "see" files on the HD?

[oesii]

I got you, but the only incompatability I've noticed is the long filenames which are usually truncated like xxx~1.exe

I also keep all my 8bit and other games on CD, so if that's really a big problem you can make sure to rename them all to 8.3

I just haven't seen too many problems with booting into dos and not seeing your hard drives but maybe I'm missing something obvious

[Nukey Shay]

You wouldn't be able to run a lot of games off CD-only...since many update files while you play it (player data in adventure games, for example). And the truncated filenames might be alright...but AFAIK you won't even see those if your everyday OS is something like WinNT.

I suppose if the game was small enough, you could run it right from floppy (boot the Dos disk and swap).

Can Iomega Zip disks work in the Dos environment? That would get rid of the file size limitation using the "swap" method above.

[Hydian]

Zip disks work in DOS. Agent.exe IIRC is the dos zip disk driver.

Everyone is missing the best DOS out there so I'll mention it. DRDOS.

http://www.drdos.com/products.html

FYI, When Caldera owned DRDOS, they wrote the DOS that windows 95/98/ME is built on. DRDOS 7.x should be the closest thing to being compatable with that version of DOS (as well as prior versions) and the version I have (under the OpenDOS name before Caldera changed it back, spun it off and got swallowed by SCO) supported long filenames and true multitasking as well as FAT32 partitions.

It isn't free anymore (it was under Caldera) but it is still the best DOS out there (and really has been since it was created.)

Seeing NTFS partitions under DOS is possible with NTFS for DOS, but that also costs money and probably isn't worth it for just playing games. The comment about not being able to see the partitions would also include the Win9x/2000 FAT32 partitions.

Lastly, the Windows 98 boot floppy does a fine job as a DOS floppy (being a lite version of DRDOS) and reads FAT32 partitions just fine. It's also free.

[Sharky]

I finally got ScummVM working and im running DAY OF THE TENTACLE beautifully.

Until I noticed DOTT runs quite well anyway on Windows Me with it.

But at least I know ScummVM and a great emulator for the Scumm games. :wink:


@raindog - I have to try the "DOSBox" emulator u mentioned. Its sounds promising, and im not too interested in the 3D games like DUKE NUKEM 3D anyway that wont run under it because they run anyway well in Windows Me.
Just the good old 2D Type games i wanna play again.


@Hydian - Ill give your DRDOS a go to and compare the best difference from DRDOS or DOSBox.

[privateers69]

glad to hear you like it..

[privateers69]

Double post

[z28in82]

so for those too lazy/comp illaterate which is the program for someone looking to play some ol school DOS games i.e. Lucas' DOTT, Indiana Jones : Atlantas, TIM, Carmen Sandiego??

I have recently been wonderign the same things and was gonna wipe my comp (running ME) and try to get a version of 98 SE running on it. Please tell me we can spare me this horrible fate?

Also if I can run an emulator what should I finally upgrade to 2K, NT, or XP? And before anyone can say it I won't go MAC so give it up :wink:

[Sharky]

That ScuumVM runs great esciapply how unlike DOS-Boxes that just run in the background and still runs at the correct speed all the time!

[Sharky]

raindog said:

Someone has written something called "DosBox" which is meant for playing old DOS games under Linux or MacOS, but they actually have a Windows version too!  Won't run stuff like DN3D yet, but I guess it works fairly well.

http://dosbox.source...load.php?main=1 (download)
http://dosbox.source...y=name&letter=a (list of some supported/unsupported games)

I just now downloaded DOSBox it looks promising

I just look for a link where i can download the games. As the Abandonware link what privateers69 gave me http://aw.localhost.ee/aw/ is now dead.

[Nukey Shay]

http://www.abandonkeep.com
http://www.classicgaming.com
http://www.download.com

There's some other ones

[Sharky]

Nukey Shay said:

http://www.abandonkeep.com
http://www.classicgaming.com
http://www.download.com

There's some other ones

Thanks i couldnt find any anywhere so now im using the www.abandonkeep.com keep right now.

Hmm its works wonderfully!

Umm anyone know if DOS-BOX emulates the PC Joystick?
Or do I got to get a real PC Joystick like its seem like a cant play
Ghost'n'Goblins withone one.

[Sharky]

DOS-Box Emulator is great raindog.. Thanks

and I never knew this an DOS Emulator could be possible.

Im now able to play all my favourite old DOS Games of the early 90s now.
This is brillant!

If I trried to load those without it they will simply lock-up my system and do all sorts of werid stuff!