DOS - 9X thread

What would be the best setup for making a Win 98 machine nowadays? What are some of the best games to play on it?

Other urls found in this thread:

winworldpc.com/library/operating-systems
cnet.com/products/thinkpad-t42/specs/
ppsspp.org/
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

-Quake
-C&C
-Kyrandia
-7th Guest
-Alone in the Dark
-Descent
-Wing Commander
-Blood
-Ultima 7
-Half-Life
-Duke Nukem 3D
-Civilization

Do you want an easy setup? Get an IBM Thinkpad T42, these are the last IBM thinkpads that had native support for windows 98, and in IBM tradition the drivers are still available to this day. Even has USB 1.1 for somewhat convenient (as convenient as it possibly can be) file transfer from modern PCs. Just get Win98 UBCD and you're good to go. Also useful for bludgeoning those who would attempt to do harm to you.

The best games to play? Just get a classic PC game you were told to run in DOSBox and discover that the games aren't supposed to have hideous amounts of input lag, god awful sound, and actually play pretty smoothly when you aren't emulating. A great one is Blood. Otherwise? Get WON Half-Life and enjoy! Wanna play emulators on your CRT TV? Get some old but decent emulators (the T42 has great specs for win98) use the s-video out and hook it into your 27" trinitron and you get some great picture. Wanna use a sick 4:3 shadowmask CRT? VGA out baby. This thing will run all windows 98 games flawlessly at 60fps and up to 1600x1200, the 4k of its day.

Blood was one of the games that inspired the want to build it. Didn't really consider Half Life and shit. The fuck's UBCD? Is it better than 98SE from winworld?

its windows 98 you can install from a CD without a boot floppy. Also comes with useful software like the last supported versions of 7zip and firefox and VLC for windows 98. Also has a few bug fixes by implementing the unofficial service pack which introduces minor windows NT compatibility.

Strongly recommend just getting a T42 as retro computer hardware is far pricier. Also the T42 is fucking great.

Also WON HL is the definitive version and if you played the steam version you played one with nerfed graphics

Grabbed the boot disc, convenient. I'll look for it then, assuming can run Quake/Blood and shit wonderfully compared to a desktop.

maxed out framerate on quake last time i played it, so it's good shit

Fucking hell they're cheap in comparison. Docking station worth picking up as well?

I suppose if you want ps/2 inputs, it's not a bad idea. It would look nice too as a sort of station setup.

How good is the OPL3 emulation on the T42?

I think the latest GPU drivers predate OGL3…

I mean the Soundblaster support in DOS games. A lot of post DOS era computers have terrible Soundblaster audio emulation.

Oh, I misread your post, I thought you were talking about OpenGL. I haven't had any issues. I haven't had issues with dos support and I haven't really had to do any configuration. general midi does the trick.

If anybody needs ISOs for older (pre-XP) versions of Windows or DOS, you can download them for free here: winworldpc.com/library/operating-systems

Can that setup run Thief and Ghost Recon?

You're going to miss the whole Win95-Win98 experience without a RivaTNT 1 or 2, or a Voodoo 1 or 2, and a SoundBlaster 16 with MIDI daughter board.

If you try to recreate that with same-era laptop you're not going to be having much fun. Curious how shitty everything will look and sound though. Seriously look at these shit-tier specs and think about what you are trying to accomplish:

cnet.com/products/thinkpad-t42/specs/

Anyone know a good AMD laptop?
The Intel mobile lines like the Pentium M's were designed by Israel, can't trust those.

Virtualbox?

VMware is better.

...

There isn't much to know. Just hit ebay or your local thrift shops and look for something from the time period. Get one with a USB port and install the Win 98 USB mass storage driver if you want an easy-as-fuck way to transfer files. Install an SSD if you want to hotrod the thing and throw in a Voodoo 2 or some such if you want 3D acceleration.


Too many to list but some essentials are MOTHERFUCKING DEATH RALLY, MDK, Lemmings, all the Commander Keen games, Scorched Earth, a fuckton of shooters(Duke, Blood, Shadow Warrior, Ultimate Doom, Doom 2, Hexen, Strife, Marathon 2, Quake, Quake 2, Descent, Descent 2), Mech Warrior 2 Mercenaries and/or Mech Warrior 3 + expansion if your rig is beefy enough, likewise Rogue Squadron 3D, Ultima 6, Nascar Racing by Papyrus for the crashes, Falcon 3.0 if you want a flight sim, X-Com and TFTD, fucking hell there's just too much.

And the Tomb Raider games, Diablo and Diablo II etc. etc.

Thinkpads.

Let's entertain this thought: How feasible is it to run Win98 on a current "modern" computer?

Not remotely unless said modern computer somehow has properly working Win 98 drivers available for it.

Prove it. You can't even PCIe passthrough an nVidia consumer grade GPU to a VMware VM, and no one sane is going to buy two Quadro cards just to be able to run a Windows OS in VMware with full GPU / sound capabilities.

I stand by the/my first post. It's pretty much the ultimate games enthusiast PC from ~96.

Looking at some ebay prices for a win98 machine, it seems getting functional hardware for a reasonable price is the main hurdle, not the software. Yeah I understand they don't make pentium II's anymore. But there is too many fuckers who wants to sell a "retro gaming" win98 pc for 100-300$+. If I knew there was a market for that I'd kept and sell my dead win98 machine for parts, jack up the price and call it
RARE PARTS FOR Vintage Retro Gaming PC

You don't need passthrough for 20 years old games with VMware. VMware runs DirectX applications better than Virtualbox.

I've tried with:

A lot of these games are playable just fine on modern PCs, just so you know.

Platformers:
Prince of Persia I & II (the originals)
Jazz Jackrabbit series
Commander Keen series
Duke Nukem series
Hocus Pocus

First Person Shooters:
DOOM
Quake
Duke Nukem 3D

Shoot 'em Up:
Raptor: Call of the Shadows
Stargunner
Tyrian

Fighting games:
One Must Fall 2097

Turn-Based Strategy:
Master of Magic
Heroes of Might & Magic
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Civilization I & II
Age of Wonders I

Real Time Strategy:
Dungeon Keeper
Sacrifice
Populous: The Beginning
Also Command & Conquer

Adventure:
Curse of Monkey Island (I forget which one is best)
Grim Fandango (I know it's Tim Schafer but there is a reason why people had high expectations before he turned to be a massive faggot)
Day of the Tentacle (again, I know it's Tim Schafer, but he had solid adventure games back in the day)
Myst

Action Adventure:
Tomb Raider series

Stealth:
Thief I & II

Other shit:
Commandos I & II
Panzer General

I'm pretty sure for something like this your first socket is 0, m8. Try that if you can.

Just VM windows 98 through your linux distro of choice

Thinkpads were intel only.

Why would you want to build a Windows 98 machine? Just download DOSBox.

The newest version of Half Life is so glitched. I replayed the game recently, and I died on the beginning tram ride. One of the gates didn't open, and I got squashed. After the resonance cascade, aliens popped out and killed me.

The Radeon Mobility 7500 is sufficient to play any Quake 3 era games, Half-life, and early GTA games. There likely isn't a Win98 game it wouldn't be able to play unless it requires a specific GPU. I have a laptop with an ATI Rage 128. It is good for games up to Quake 3.

how do i run games on this?

You could run PSP emulation.

ppsspp.org/

Can someone verify if Xash3D works with 1.0.0.9? I've only been playing with 1.1.1.0, since it's apparently the most compatible with mods.

launch Znes?

simtower

simtower

Just checked it myself - no, it doesn't. Too bad, really.

Go get a Win 98 machine from a thriftshop. Then get a few more and flip them on ebay for shekels. Shit pays for itself.

That is not a toaster.

Nah, that would require at least an i7 or Ryzen equivalent, 32gigs of DDR4 RAM, and a GTX 1080. Don't even get me started on PS1 emu, that stuff requires a small continent's worth of supercomputer clusters.
:^)

I haven't seen much of the older win98 desktops in my area, most places that takes in computer and electronics donations don't even want anything below a core2duo, windows7 sticker machines are mostly the minimum for donations. If I had the inclination to flip them and I don't, I probably have to haggle with electronics recycling depots and not thriftshops in my locale.

More Adventure games:
Phantasmagoria
Torin's Pass
Riven, not Myst
Sanitarium
Quest for Glory IV
Tex Murphy Under A Killing Moon/Pandora Directive
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (the only good Lucasarts one)
The Last Express
Realms of the Haunting
Shadow of the Comet
Gabriel Knight 2
Police Quest/Space Quest/Leisure Suit Larry
Discworld Noir
BloodNET

Also if you have it built in time for Halloween play Nocturne

In before GOG hate.

play them faggot

Bump

flash games

flash games

What's a good video card with 3D acceleration to throw in a PC with a 300 MHz Pentium 2?


Hardwar is a great one too. Good flight combat and trading simulator with a great soundtrack. It even runs well on my shitty on-board 1 MB accelerator.

If I don't want to spend tons of dosh and time on a Voodoo 2 and a way to get 2D video working with it*