Can you play old PC games on a modern computer?

[64squares]

Does anyone know if you can play PC games from the late 80's early 90's on a modern computer? I'm talking about games that do have a 3.5" disk but they're for a 386 or 486 PC. If so, how do you install them? Thanks! Michael

[SuperShark]

You tried any emulators yet?

[lakeflaccid]

DosBOX (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net) allows you to play old DOS games.

There's a massive compatibility list on the website (linked above).

It's not the most user friendly program to configure. There're some frontends available from the website which should make things easier, but I dunno anything about them.

[dougman999]

I have Quake. I tried installing it on my Windows XP computer, and it says it won't work in Windows NT. I tried setting the compatibility to windows 95, and it wouldn't work either. So, do I need an emulator, or can I still get it to run on my system?

[Jehuty]

You can always just buy an old system, it's not like they cost much money.

Or try google to see if someone has hacked the game to work on xp, I got most of my old w95 games working by trying this method, not dos though.

[Moon Patrol]

I have Quake. I tried installing it on my Windows XP computer, and it says it won't work in Windows NT. I tried setting the compatibility to windows 95, and it wouldn't work either. So, do I need an emulator, or can I still get it to run on my system?

That is WEIRD that Quake won't work! I could have sworn it does, if I could find my CD, I'd try it for myself and see. I thought there was a windows version of quake "Quake GL" or something that came on the CD as well. If those older windows executables don't work, then you're basically shit-out-of-luck. :( Also, try setting Win 98/2000 modes too, it never hurts to try.

[Flack]

There are a few options.

As mentioned, one is DosBox. This program works wonders and has allowed me to play lotsa lotsa games that simply won't work on w2k/xp.

You can also try setting up a virtual machine. Programs like VMware allow you to set up "virtual" computers on your computer. You can load up an old DOS os Win95 virtual computer on your computer and play the games through it. I know it sounds weird, but it works great.

As mentioned, you can also pick up an old machine and play them on the original thing if you want. I picked up an old 486/100 machine for like $10 and it works great. It dual boots into DOS as well as Win98, so I can play games in DOS and still boot up inwo Win98 for networking.

[lakeflaccid]

I have Quake. I tried installing it on my Windows XP computer, and it says it won't work in Windows NT. I tried setting the compatibility to windows 95, and it wouldn't work either. So, do I need an emulator, or can I still get it to run on my system?

The original Quake was made for DOS, but id Software also created versions for Windows. You can get WinQuake from id's ftp (ftp.idsoftware.com).

id also released the source code a few years back, so there're lots of modern ports. Check out ProQuake (http://www.planetquake.com/proquake/). Most newer systems should be able to run GLProQuake, but if not there's regular ProQuake. GLProQuake uses OpenGL, so it looks much better.

[ubikuberalles]

Does anyone know if you can play PC games from the late 80's early 90's on a modern computer? I'm talking about games that do have a 3.5" disk but they're for a 386 or 486 PC. If so, how do you install them? Thanks! Michael

For some programs the answer is yes. I can run Zork 1 to 3 on my Win2K box with no problems. I also am able to play Empire on my Win2K box but it acts a little funky (mouse doesn't work so I have to use the keyboard only). Empire works much better on my Win95 box.

I haven't tried DOSBox yet as the programs I've tried (in addition to the ones I mentioned) have so far worked on either Win2K or Win95. However, I have a bunch of others (Zork Nemesis, Doom II:Hell on Earth, Ultima etc.) that will probably need DOSBox to work.

It's the newer game programs that I have the most difficulty with. It's either because I have the wrong version of Direct X or it conflicts with some other program I have installed. Very frustrating. The only solution that has worked for me on these newer games is to build a dedicated game system without the bells and whistles I have on my current Win2K box.l

[64squares]

Thanks for all the information. I appreciate it. I asked because I had lots of vintage PC software that I wanted to test to make sure it worked before selling it. Since the emulators work with some games and not with others, I decided just to sell the software untested but with a guarantee that if it doesn't work it's returnable.

[Cthulhu]

Right-clicking on an exe or com or bat or whatever file (I love DOS LOL ) and setting the compatibility modes to 256 colors, Win 95, and 640x480 resolution has actually enabled me to play most DOS games on Win XP. The Japanese version of Win XP, actually. King's Quest I-IV have some font issues, but I think that's mainly due to the base fonts in the XP DOS emulation being different in the Japanese OS...

Give that a shot before you install a bunch of programs. It won't work with everything, but it's definitely the easiest and fastest way when it does work.

[SirDrexl]

One thing I will add is that if the game was designed for Windows 3.1 (there aren't that many of those but they're out there), make sure you don't have the game in a folder with a long name-more than 8 characters. Make sure the full path to the game doesn't have any long folder names, not just the folder the game is in. There was a version of Pirates! Gold for Windows that I downloaded and it wouldn't work because the archive (ZIP or RAR, I don't remember) had the game in a folder with a long name and I when I extracted it and tried to run it I would get the message "Cannot run 16-bit program" or something like that. When I put the game in a folder with a short name, it worked.

[SuperShark]

WOW! Good point!

It is true that older versions of windows, including older windows programs, cannot handel large file names. Windows 3.1, as stated, can only handel 8 letter names while Windows 95, i believe, can only handel 35 or so (i think, may be 98). Now windows XP can handel file names will over 100 letters! If anyone needs exact numbers for any reason, I have them in an old issue of PC World lieing around in a stack in my house!

I totaly forgot about this! Very good work SirDrexl!

Try shorter file names! :D