Does anyone here play old DOS computer games?

[DanielMack]

I’m talking about the games like Drug Wars and some of the others. I remember playing these all the time back in the day. I haven’t played them in a few years as I don’t have access to them any more. But, I certainly would like to play them again.

[Areala]

Absolutely! DOSBox is a must for any old-school PC gamer:

http://www.dosbox.com/

Of course, the real trick is installing some of those games, since most modern systems no longer ship with 3.5" (or 5.25") floppy drives. I have both but have still had to turn to downloads when I discover the occasional disk corruption (National Lampoon's Chess Maniac Five Billion and One, for instance, shipped on a dozen 3.5" disks, but my 11th disk won't read).

*huggles*
Areala

[KiwiArcader]

I've been playing a little of Janes Advanced Tactical Fighters through DOSBox recently. A guy on another forum has been creating HUGE multi-game packs incorporating it along with auto-installation first time you play a game and so forth. Quite amazing. Very, very cool if you have the ratio to download them. I obviously acquired the Simulation set

He's just completed another compilation for Windows 3.x games as well.

[twiztor]

i remember back in high school there was a Mac-only RPG called "Taskmaker". i thought it was really awesome at the time and would love to play it again but haven't found any way to, since i've been PC-only since before 2000. oh well.

i don't know if that's what you're asking, but it was the first thing to pop into my head.

[DanielMack]

I didn’t know this existed. Thank you for posting it. I’m going to give that a try. I used to have so much fun playing those games. Does anyone here remember the game about being a truck driver? You had to tell the computer how fast to go and when you wanted to sleep. The goal was to deliver the shipment on time.

Edited August 13, 2015 by DanielMack

[Areala]

I should have also provided this link:

https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos

The Internet Archive offers a massive library of old games, free to play on your web browser. This links to the MS-DOS portion.

I'm pretty sure there are multiple 18-wheeler simulators for DOS, but I'm willing to bet the one you're thinking of is "Cross-Country USA":

http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/crosscountry-usa-home-edition

There was also a Canadian version of this game produced, which you can play at the Internet Archive, as linked above!

*huggles*
Areala

[DanielMack]

Thank you for posting these links. I’ll check them out when I have time. I haven’t had much time to do anything these days. I want to get back to gaming. But, it seems that everything pulls me in another direction.

[Nesseight]

My favorite DOS games were Dark Forces and Scorched Earth. I don't really play them today, but I would if they were convenient to set up.

[Iano]

I recently played through Dark Forces again, such a great game, need to start up Jedi Knight next! GOG.com takes my money.

[Areala]

My favorite DOS games were Dark Forces and Scorched Earth. I don't really play them today, but I would if they were convenient to set up.

http://www.gog.com/game/star_wars_dark_forces

There's your six dollar cheap and easy, modern system configurable version of "Star Wars: Dark Forces" courtesy of Good Old Games.

Another six dollars and you'll get the sequel and the "Mysteries of the Sith" expansion as a bundle, which is good because if you're running Windows 7 or higher, there's no way to install the original CD versions on your system via their installers. GOG's programmers fixed that all up, so we can enjoy playing it again. I love those guys.

Scorched Earth is still a free download from what I remember, you just need to work with DOSBOX (also a free download) if you want to play it on modern systems.

*huggles*

Areala

[dragonz]

X-Com retail files + OpenXcom application for modern day resolutions, other perks = awesome.

[maze]

If you are talking about old DOS games, I have to say JILL of the JUNGLE, (because I played the Atari classic Jungle Hunt a few moments ago), and The Incredible Machine.

And now I will go to youtube looking for the looney tunes factory theme song...

[wtc1973]

I was just wondering if anyone has ever tried getting Rayman to work in DOSbox. I've never been able to get that game working correctly in either Saturn or Playstation emulators. It was one of the first games I played when I got my Saturn in '96.

[MisterXiado]

I'm resurrecting a beat-up 486 right now. Waiting on a 14 pin VGA cable to see if it's dead. Seems to be missing the expanded video ram card, which may horribly limit Windows performance, and it throws horrible POST beeps when I try to swap in an ISA MPEG decoder card to use as the primary display (as it's the only ISA card I have with a 15 pin VGA port). No substitute for actual DOS. Unless you use DOS 7, some hacked-up version of DOS that purportedly has all of the strengths of 6.22 and then some.

[nutznboltz2003]

I actually have DOSbox set up and running specifically for the old Oregon Trail game. Aside from that, most of my old DOS games I have purchased through GOG to be able to still enjoy them. This has gotten me Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics! I'm so happy for groups like GOG!

[MisterXiado]

486 is alive, though after running a mixerset in DOS, Windows now no longer plays sounds. Tch.

Edit: Fixed that by re-updating the software from DOS. I was messing around in Wolfenstein and Doom this morning, and tested Monkey Island last night. Except for the sound effects in Doom not working (a BIOS shadowing issue), everything is fine. The system choked on the only CDROM drive I could find in my basement, so I'm limited to using floppies to move data like some kind of garden trowel. The NIC in the system is not recognized by anything that I can tell, so I may have to dig for drivers to see if it's even going to function.

Too bad I couldn't find a more general 486 system instead of the weird HP XM/66 I have. It would have made it much easier to max out.

I plan on loading it up, even in its shaky state, with Tyrian, Doom 2, maybe Diablo and Warcraft 1 and 2, and whatever else I played when I was a kid, but the primary purpose for building this system was to recover the data from old disks. I also need to rig up something similar for my C64, but the big plans will have to wait until I get set up in my new lab. Ah well, at least it's something to look forward to.

[pablumatic]

I use DOSBox to almost exclusively play the original X-COM and DOOM and its variations.

[kitsunebi]

It's rare that I play a PC game that ISN'T running through Dosbox. Even on games with automatic dosbox installers like the stuff from GOG, I prefer using my own Dosbox config files and setup. I even run Windows through Dosbox (well, Win3.1, anyway). Doing everything myself allows me to get the best presentation possible. Why default to PC sound when you can get Tandy instead? Or emulating sound cards I couldn't afford back then and going, "so THAT'S what it sounds like with a Roland MT-32..."

I know a lot of those ancient games actually look and sound better on Amiga, but Dos and the PC are where all of my nostalgic feels are, so that's how I prefer to play.

[MisterXiado]

I really don't like the idea of virtual systems that aren't interfaced with legacy IO devices. Feels off. Still, fullscreen is as close as horseshoes, if you can't stomach the idea of paying $35 in shipping for a system with only three expansion slots. Thankfully, DriverGuide still actually has drivers, in spite of their creepware downloader. Just decline everything, and you're golden. Grahams. I've never experienced an external sound device, like the Roland and Yamaha MIDI stuff, so at least their prices don't sting my nostalgia.

[Depressor]

I have an old notebook for this) Play on my work when have free time.

[chuckingdice]

I remember picking up Shareware disks back in the day at the local grocery store of all places. I got introduced to games like "Last Half of Darkness", "Commander Keen" and the "Duke Nukem" plat former game.

[ButtonMasher]

I never owned a console until I was 11 or 12, so my earliest gaming memories are all PC-based. My dad still has the massive collection of shareware and other floppy disk games.

I used to love playing Manhunt by Sierra Games. It used to creep me out whenever I got captured!