This is a nice intro to something I've been considering lately:
Jim's oldskool.org is a good resource for suggestions on getting old games
to run on modern PCs, but wouldn't it be great if there were also a database
somewhere with solutions for problems with specific games (for people who
don't have the room for a retrorig and need to run their games on their
500mHz+ machines)?
Say a user was having trouble getting, say, Day of the Tentacle to run, he
got music but no voices. He could do a search on DOTT and find solutions
other gamers have found, possibly patches coded by hardcore enthusiasts,
etc. In the long run, this would save everyone the trouble of trying all
the solutions that DON'T work, by giving them the ones that do. The
database could include relevant specs of the problem machines and
step-by-step answers.
Underdogs is like this, to some extent, with their "fixed" versions of older
games. I'm thinking primarily early CD-ROMs here, which are too large and
expensive bandwidth-wise to download, and no fun to play as rips. (I'm not
suggesting the entire game be available for download, merely patches if any
exist, and some troubleshooting info based on other players' experience.)
True, you do miss the time-trip of playing on an older machine, but the
majority of players aren't bothered by this, and like Stephen says there
probably aren't enough of those old machines to go around anymore.
Is there enough demand out there for something like this, would you think?
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Leonard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 11:52 AM
Subject: [SWCollect] Old games and gaming rigs
> "Stephen S. Lee" wrote:
> >
> > I'm also wondering whether the price of Wing Commander Kilrathi Saga
will
> > ever come down to earth. With my Killer Retrogaming Rig, I don't need
> > this to play, like many of the people who shell out big bucks for this
do.
>
> This statement, and Lee's questions about Adlib support, have prompted me
to
> start a new thread on oldschool gaming. :-) With more experience than I
care
> admit, here are some random observations on getting old games to run in
today's
> world:
>
> - 99% of the problems you'll have getting old games to run is speed. If
you
> have a game made before 1989, chances are very high that it will require a
286
> or lower. If you have a game made after 1989, chances are high that you
can
> get it to run on your current hardware if you slow it down VIA HARDWARE,
like
> disabling the caches and slowing the speed of the CPU. See below:
>
> - Slowdown programs work with about 5% of games with speed-related
problems.
> If one works for you, great -- but don't get your hopes up.
>
> - There is no such thing as a single Killer Retrogaming Rig. :-) You can
use
> all the tricks you want but there are some games that do particularlly
nasty
> tricks or make particularlly nasty assumptions that require original
hardware.
> You need at least three rigs to run 95% of old games:
>
> - A true 8088 running at 4.77MHz with CGA for everything made before 1987
> - A 16MHz 80386 with a "turbo" speed control (to toggle between 16MHz and
> 8MHz)
> - A 486/33 with a "turbo" speed control
>
> Additional boxes that will cover 4.5% more:
>
> - A Pentium 90 (for games that require that kind of horsepower but have
severe
> timing issues on modern boxes
> - An 80286 (for games that need about 12 MHz of speed but use
self-modifying
> code that won't run on 80386s and higher
> - A Tandy 1000 so that you can experience the 16-color graphic and 3-voice
> sound in games that support them (most people don't know that some of the
> Tellarium PC releases had support for 3-voice music, like Rendezvous with
Rama
> -- you listening, Chris? :-)
>
> And finally, for that last 0.5%:
>
> - A PCjr for PCjr-only games
> - A 7.16MHz or 8MHz 8086, or original IBM AT (6MHz 80286) -- for games
that
> need just an extra bit of punch than a 4.77MHz 8088 can provide, but for
which
> a 10+MHz 80286 is too fast)
>
> And the truly sad thing? I own them all. Some are so important to me
that I
> have backups/spares (I have 3 Tandys, 4 PCjrs, 2 model 5150s, 4 386/16s,
etc.)
> So I guess you could call me hardcore. Oh yeah, I also own a 1GHz Athlon
for
> modern gaming and a PIII 933 for video and audio work. And my 4-yr-old
plays
> educational games on a PPro 200.
>
> The end result of all this is that I am capable of running every single PC
game
> ever released, without fail, without exception, exactly as the developer
> intended. And why do I need to do this? Because I am the head data
historian
> at www.mobygames.com.
> --
> http://www.MobyGames.com/
> The world's most comprehensive gaming database project.
>
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