Kinda Old PC Games

[shido]

Quest For Glory Series, Bioforge, Space Quest Series, CIV2, Sam & Max, Gabriel Knight, Master of Magic, emmm... Lost Vikings ^^

[Weasel]

I could try the Space Quest games on this machine (since it can boot to DOS and I have the SQ Collection disc - which contains games 1 through 5), but I'm a bit worried about how fast it'll run in some cases. I've heard that some parts of the game rely on the CPU timer, which causes events to happen too soon on newer computers (case in point: the attack droid in SQ4 - the droid comes out in a matter of seconds if your computer is too fast). I'd need to find the timer fixes on the 'Net...

Maybe I should try and burn a copy of Bioforge. I can run it in DOSbox on my main system, but it's not very smooth...

I don't have a problem running Sam & Max using ScummVM.

[Discoalucard]

You will almost definitely have problems with SQ1-3. I THINK the mouse driven ones had options to turn up and slow down the speed, so you might be okay there.

[Deleted]

What type of games (genre) do you prefer, wildweasel? I know lots of games that would work on your machine.

[Weasel]

I generally prefer action games, with adventure/puzzle games coming in second. RPG's are good too, but I cannot stand old-school computer RPG's like the D&D Gold Box series. (Ultima is the exception.)

[Deleted]

Here's something for starters:
Cyberdogs
C-Dogs (aka Cyberdogs 2)

Both are pretty good freeware shoot'em ups (IMHO), if you can get them to work properly.

I'll be posting more suggestions when I have more time.

[Weasel]

I've got C-Dogs lying around here. I think I've actually still got all the custom sound effects that I installed on it.

[jameseightbitstar]

admin said:

You will almost definitely have problems with SQ1-3. I THINK the mouse driven ones had options to turn up and slow down the speed, so you might be okay there.

Actually, you've got it in reverse: SQ1 thru 3 (not counting the remake of 1) run fine.

The thing is, most of Sierra's games (basically all the ones with an icon-based interface and some of the later text parser ones) have what are called "Timer Bugs." Basically, the system is too fast for the game and this causes problems, like the Droid in SQ4. In SQ6, the game runs at normal speed but will crash at certain points. And no, messing with the game's Speed Setting DOES NOT fix this (the "Speed" setting, in fact, only controls how fast Roger walks from point A to point B, it has absolutely nothing to do with the overall game speed).

HOWEVER!

There ARE ways to resolve it and make the games playable. The first method and one I personally like best, is to simply disable your CPU's internal cache. I don't know if this'll work on computers faster than 500 MHz and I don't recommend bothering on a system that can't boot directly into DOS (with CD-ROM drives, mouse, and sound card fully functional), but it's easy to do. Normally this requires you to go into your BIOS, but there's a program that'll disable your CPUcache for you. You can download it here. It's called "Slowdown." The Slowdown program (whcih is the best slowdown utility in the world, BTW) comes with a program called CPUcache, making it so all you have to do is use the command "CPUcache D" to disable that thing. I use this program all the time. It works and it doesn't cause any unwanted side effects.

Another option, is there's a fan named New Rising Sun who has made patches for any Sierra game that has a timer bug. You can download his patches here.

There ya go!

[necromaniac]

Street Rod I and II and STUNTS!!!!! (The only racing games that I have enjoyed along with Outrun and Burnout).

[jameseightbitstar]

Did I already mention Elder Scrolls: Arena and Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall?

Also I should recommend Prince of Persia 1 and 2 and their clones--Blackthorne, Out of This World aka Another World, Flashback (if you get the CD-ROM version of Flashback though, be aware that it, like the Sierra games, also has a problem with fast computers).

[Weasel]

I've got Arena on a CD here and found the interface a bit confusing. I've been trying to find Daggerfall but haven't had much luck...as for the PoP games, I've got both of them and they're just too frustrating for me. Out of This World and Flashback are great and I've got them both (floppy versions), and I've played Blackthorne on the SNES.

I only wish I could get X-COM: UFO Defense working.

[YourAverageJoe]

necromaniac said:

Street Rod I and II and STUNTS!!!!! (The only racing games that I have enjoyed along with Outrun and Burnout).

Forgot about Stunts, there's also a few projects online working on recreating Stunts.

[jameseightbitstar]

wildweasel said:

I only wish I could get X-COM: UFO Defense working.

What exactly is wrong with it? Also, what OS are you using and what edition of X-Com (IE is it a stand-alone release or from a collection)?

And yea, Arena takes some getting used to. Fortunately, the CD version has a built-in slowdown feature to help compensate (I think it's something like alt-minus to slow it down, alt-equal sign to speed up... but it could be control or shift instead of alt, I forget). In general I tend to turn the speed DOWN when I'm in the dungeons, to help me better deal with enemies.

[kal]

Just thought of, if you can possibly get it running, Deathtrap Dungeon is pretty great.

[aggroger]

necromaniac said:

STUNTS!!!!! (The only racing games that I have enjoyed along with Outrun and Burnout).

I've had lots of fun with the Stunts editor for months.
Back on topic: are the Dangerous Dave series and Robot Odyssey already mentioned?