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I own something like 100 or so old DOS games that I really want to keep playing after I build my new computer. The problem is that some of them run too fast on my current machine (100 mhz pentium with 40 megs of ram and win 95). The new machine will be a minimum of a 1.4 ghz duron with 256 megs ram and win 98. What should I do?
I've heard of a program that you run to degrade your cpu. For instance, when you start the program, it asks how much in percentage you want to use.
Can't quite recall the proggie name
First, why Win98? Have an old copy that ur just going to re-use? ( dont respond to that 2nd one) Id go for Win2k prof. server or XP if your going to use a Windows enviornment. And what games do you have problems with? I have no problems running X-COM UFO Defense and Warcraft I (only dos games i still own) but ive seen friends run others without doing anything with no problem. If the game is running to fast its probally the way its programmed and you should look for a crack (from someone who was trying to fix it, thats how i got x-com collectors edition to work, its Win95 for collectors, dos for origional)
I'm pretty sure win98 was the last version to have a real dos mode. Yes, some of the last dos games produced will run in a dos box (in full screen mode) in windows. But a LOT of older dos games have big problems. It depends a great deal on your hardware, especially the soundcard.
There are a number of slowdown utils around, both for real dos mode and dos in windows. How well they work depend on the particular game. One that comes to mind for dos is called Slowmo. (Not sure of the spelling. Try searching the net.)
Something to think about. Keep your old system intact and play the dos games on that. Maybe get a kvm switch. (I've never tried one of those. Anyone have any luck using a kvm switch?)
Just play your old games on your old comp. If you absolutely want to play those DOS games you could dual-boot XP with DOS :D. Okay, that was just a joke, but I know someone who's done it. :p
i have
I'm going with win98 because I haven't been convinced that xp will serve my purposes. The old machine has too many other issues to consider salvaging. As to the games, many are old Interplay D&D games with some old mecha sims (shattered steel and others). And many emulators whose save files I don't want to lose.
btw: what's a kvm switch?
Keyboard, video, mouse switch. Lets you share one keyboard, monitor and mouse with more than one computer. (system box) They generally come in 2 way or 4 way. Look a lot like an A/B printer switch. I've never tried one myself.
I'm running win95 osr 2.x. Probably have to move up to 98 one of these days, but 95 works well for me. I like having real dos mode. I have a lot of older dos games myself and I can get most of them to run. Many of them are much more stable in dos than dos box in windows.
I agree about having real DOS mode, kevinalm. Just try running Crusader: No Remorse in a DOS box, it will report an error and kick you out in a heartbeat. Wolfenstien 3D runs well enough under windows, but its a rarity (and seems to like crashing if you play for more than 3 hours at a time)