Member Avatar for Kamex

All of my favorite games are DOS games. I wanted them again so badly that I tried for 3 straight years to get them working on my new computer. A year into this process, my old computer died, and I was unable to play my games at all. I would have begun to forget what they looked like were it not for the fact that my Mom's computer could run them.

In the end, I had to duel-boot Windows XP and DOS to be able to to get the majority of them to run. None of my sound cards were Sound-Blaster compatible, so I had to copy the DOS driver files from my Mom's 98 computer, designed for her card in 98's MS-DOS mode, and put them on my duel-booted IBM DOS 5.0. I then asked my brother (as I am pretty much hardware illiterate) to switch sound cards between my computer and my Mom's. This actually worked and gave me sound, but some of the MIDI was distorted in a few games, and I haven't found a fix for that yet. I had to create a winbootdir variable to get them to run at all as this variable was how the drivers found their INI file.

Only a few years ago, it was very easy to run DOS games. All you had to do was insert a floppy, install the program, double-click on the EXE, and you were set. It's now become progressively harder...do you think it will eventually be impossible to run DOS games? Will it eventually become impossible to find sound-blaster combatible cards? When companies stop making drivers for 98, will there still be a way to get DOS drivers for non-sound-blaster compatible cards? What will happen when the last floppy drive on the planet dies?

I would be very sad if I had to say goodbye to my DOS games forever... :sad:

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Dulaithol

Dani AI

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raised the right worry: vintage PC hardware will fail, but that does not mean DOS-era games will vanish. There are two reliable paths to keep them playable for decades: preserve hardware and preserve software. and are correct that keeping one or two donor machines can be a practical fallback. Complement that with a software-first approach so you are not dependent on physical drives or scarce parts.

For highest fidelity, run full-system emulators that mimic old PC hardware (CPU, chipset, video, and legacy I/O) rather than higher-level wrappers. Two active projects that do this are PCem and 86Box; they can reproduce timing and device quirks that some old titles require. Use a DOS-compatible OS build inside those emulators (FreeDOS is a maintained, redistributable option) or run it in a VM such as VirtualBox when full hardware timing is not critical.
PCem
86Box
FreeDOS
VirtualBox

Practical preservation steps that make recovery easy years from now:

  • Image original disks (floppy/HD/ISO) and keep at least two copies with checksums; text-file the exact driver and config tweaks that made each game work.
  • Store images in multiple places (local archive + cloud) and give each image a short README. The Internet Archive hosts many old releases and is a useful reference point.
  • For audio/MIDI problems, route the game MIDI output to modern software synths or community-built emulators; many timing/distortion issues are solvable by switching the MIDI target.
    Internet Archive — MS-DOS games

Finally, buy or download re-releases when available (some stores package classics for modern PCs), support preservation communities, and keep a simple checklist for each title: image name, emulator/VM used, CPU/graphics/sound settings, and any driver files. With those habits, DOS-era games will remain playable long after original parts are gone.

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for Catweazle

Links to everything you need to know here, including one to a dedicated forum for users of the program:

Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hi,

Now might be a good time to look at computer markets for a used 386 / 486 laptop (color). That way you have a computer that is nice and easy to store, and you can play your games with it. It should have a video out if the LCD ever dies.

Nothing lasts forever though. Then again, my Apple IIc still works!

Christian

Member Avatar for Puckdropper

Personally, I recommed a TI 4000e laptop. If you take the time to learn how to fix the batteries (usually it's a blown fuse) then you can easily get 2-4 of them. Look to spend $30-50 on it.

I've found that if you look for a specific model of laptop and are patient, you can find one much cheaper than looking at all types of laptops.

Member Avatar for Kamex

Links to everything you need to know here, including one to a dedicated forum for users of the program:

I tried the link. While it appears to have excellent compatibility, it runs very slowly. I get about 1.5fps with it in Doom, and this is not playable. Is there a way to run the program in full screen? If I can do this, it may speed it up.

Member Avatar for ReDuX

Will DOS games someday become impossible to play?

God I hope so.
For the love of god, its 2004.

For the sake of progress, move on.. *sigh*

For the sake of sanity, go shoot some aliens or something...

BUT, having said that, there are some exceedingly amusing games on www.gamehippo.com (Fantastic site, totally FREE and some great homebrew titles there too, specially FPS/3D games) although they severely lack longevity and captivation. But fun none-the-less.

Member Avatar for alc6379

Hi,

Now might be a good time to look at computer markets for a used 386 / 486 laptop (color). That way you have a computer that is nice and easy to store, and you can play your games with it. It should have a video out if the LCD ever dies.

Nothing lasts forever though. Then again, my Apple IIc still works!

Christian

I like this idea. I mean literally, I have stacks of Pentium/Pentium Pro/MMX/ Pentium II systems laying around that people just give to me. Laptops are a bit scarce, but you could definitely find old, low-spec white boxes that you can load DOS onto.

Member Avatar for Dulaithol

I really hope that DOS games will stay around for a long time, but some day I do believe that they well never be able to play.

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