I spent some time setting up a Pentium II with Windows 98 and a Voodoo 3 on PCem this weekend.

It’s really cool software, and a fun little project.

I spent a little time playing some Rainbow 6 (crazy how much the genre has changed over time) and Castle of the Winds 2.

Black and White runs well, but has some pretty bad audio stutter that I’ll have to figure out a solution for.

Do you have a favorite game from the period that I should try? I’m particularly interested in ones that are hard to run on modern versions of Windows.

  • jqubed@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    6 hours ago

    I have never heard of this project and it might suck up a lot of my time. How does this differ from making a virtual machine from old versions of Windows?

    I believe I first played RollerCoaster Tycoon on Windows 98. I also got SimCity 2000 from GoG but it’s the DOS version and I feel like the Windows version looked better.

    For things that actually used the 3D card, I used to enjoy Midtown Madness 2, Motocross Madness, and Need for Speed III, but that all might’ve been in my Windows 2000 days.

      • SGH@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        1 hour ago

        I only had the demo of it and I just kept going up the hill and building up as much speed as possible, only to then let myself go OOB - for hours and hours.

        Ah… Lovely memories of a brainless kid just messing around with his computer…

    • Zombiepirate@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      6 hours ago

      I believe the difference is that it actually emulates the hardware instead of just making the stuff you have look and act like it is compatible, but I’m far from an expert.

      I really enjoyed Midtown Madness 1 when it came out, if 2 doesn’t work I think 1 would. Thanks for the rec!

    • Zombiepirate@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      3·
      7 hours ago

      I’d really love a patch to play Gothic 2 with English subtitles but German audio.

      The English voice acting might be the worst I’ve ever heard.

      • Prunebutt@slrpnk.netEnglish
        2·
        7 hours ago

        Lo idea about theeenglish dub/translation, but if you can ignore that they had like a dozen voice actors for a whole island, the German voice acting is really good. Good look finding that mod.

    • Zombiepirate@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      4·
      8 hours ago

      Oh, Jagged Alliance is a great idea. I think I even have those other ones on GOG, which I bet will run just fine on PCem.

      • PiraHxCx@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2·
        8 hours ago

        About games hard to run, back on Win7 I couldn’t get Dark Colony installer to run with any compatibility mode (luckily, you can run the game just by copying the files from the CD). StarCraft had some graphics issue but just on menus (I think on Win10 as well), and I couldn’t play Outwars at all (although GOG version has some fix for modern Windows). A GOG game I bought that I couldn’t run on modern windows was Slave Zero.

    • Zombiepirate@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      7 hours ago

      I have it from GOG, but the control mapping is still pretty bad IIRC.

      I should really give it a go here, good idea.

      • BlueSquid0741@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        2·
        6 hours ago

        I have it on gog too, but I’ve been on Linux since 2009 and it just throws wine errors every time. The last time I was able to play it was on a Pentium M laptop I had from 2006 or something.

          • BlueSquid0741@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
            1·
            4 hours ago

            I’ve only tried wine and GE-proton through Heroic, Lutris and Bottles. Always gives some wine error.

            I’ve never tried it through Steam.

  • yermaw@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    4·
    8 hours ago

    Not sure if this counts, but Privateer 2 : The Darkening is one of my favourite games of all time and its a pain in the ass to run on modern systems.

    Its a DOS game so I’m not sure if it counts, but still.

    • MonkeMischief@lemmy.todayEnglish
      3·
      7 hours ago

      This reminds me: I was thinking of “Independence War Deluxe”, because sheesh, I couldn’t even get that running from a PC Gamer demo CD on release-era hardware LOL.

  • Stern@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    8 hours ago

    I think it was either Manhunt or bully that couldn’t run on modern systems. Could also give Cold Zero or Swat 4 a go, though I might be misremembering timeframes on one or more of these. Oh, and of course the original magic the gathering game from the mid 90s.