News Enthusiast demos ancient MS-DOS and games running 'from the metal' on modern PC system

[Admin]

YouTuber tests some DOS games without emulation on a recent Intel Celeron, and discusses what's needed to do it on your own modern Intel or AMD CPU.

Enthusiast demos ancient MS-DOS and games running 'from the metal' on modern PC system : Read more

 

[Neilbob]

I think I remember, after an enormous amount of tinkering with AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS, I managed to get about 620 KB of the 640 KB free.

I'd like to say it was fun to go through that, but my hazy memory (which is down to quite a bit less than 640 KB these days) must have let that part slip.

As for this, all very interesting from an academic/enthusiast perspective, but not really much use in practice when DOSBox does most of the work now. That said, I do sometimes wish I had a really old PC from the DOS 6.22/Windows 3.1 era just so I can play Magic Carpet 2 for more than few minutes without it glitching out. One of my all-time favourite games, but none of my DOSBox fiddling has ever been able to get it stable.

 

[jp7189]

Time to dust off the old Zork floppies.

 

[davidjao]

I think I remember, after an enormous amount of tinkering with AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS, I managed to get about 620 KB of the 640 KB free.

I'd like to say it was fun to go through that, but my hazy memory (which is down to quite a bit less than 640 KB these days) must have let that part slip.

As for this, all very interesting from an academic/enthusiast perspective, but not really much use in practice when DOSBox does most of the work now. That said, I do sometimes wish I had a really old PC from the DOS 6.22/Windows 3.1 era just so I can play Magic Carpet 2 for more than few minutes without it glitching out. One of my all-time favourite games, but none of my DOSBox fiddling has ever been able to get it stable.

I assume you mean "Magic Carpet 2 - The Netherworlds" by Bullfrog Productions, Ltd. released in 1995. I don't know anything about this game, so I can't play it skillfully, but I am able to play it for as long as I want without glitches using 86Box.

86Box config is as follows. Operating system is MS DOS 6.22 with VIDE-CDD / SHSUCDX and CTMOUSE drivers, although I assume the classic OAKCDROM / MSCDEX / MOUSE.COM drivers would also work.

[General]
vid_renderer = qt_software
confirm_save = 0
confirm_reset = 0
confirm_exit = 0
host_cpu = 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1365U
uuid = 56fe3928-d8a8-58da-b03a-5f3684acb78c
force_43 = 1

[Machine]
machine = 486sp3c
cpu_family = i486dx2
cpu_speed = 66666666
cpu_multi = 2
cpu_use_dynarec = 1
fpu_softfloat = 0
time_sync = utc
fpu_type = internal
mem_size = 16384

[Video]
gfxcard = stealth32_vlb

[Input devices]
mouse_type = ps2

[Sound]
fm_driver = nuked
sndcard = sbawe32

[Network]
net_01_link = 0
net_02_link = 0
net_03_link = 0
net_04_link = 0

[Storage controllers]
hdc = ide_vlb_2ch
cassette_mode = load

[Floppy and CD-ROM drives]
fdd_01_type = 35_2hd
cdrom_01_parameters = 1, atapi
cdrom_01_ide_channel = 1:0
fdd_02_type = 525_2hd
cdrom_01_image_path = /home/user/src/dos/magic_carpet_2/MagicCarpet/mc.cue
cdrom_01_type = 86BOX_CD-ROM_1.00

[Hard disks]
hdd_01_parameters = 63, 16, 1024, 0, ide
hdd_01_fn = drive_c.vhd
hdd_01_vhd_blocksize = 4096
hdd_01_speed = ramdisk
hdd_01_ide_channel = 0:0

 

[Neilbob]

I assume you mean "Magic Carpet 2 - The Netherworlds" by Bullfrog Productions, Ltd. released in 1995. I don't know anything about this game, so I can't play it skillfully, but I am able to play it for as long as I want without glitches using 86Box.

86Box config is as follows. Operating system is MS DOS 6.22 with VIDE-CDD / SHSUCDX and CTMOUSE drivers, although I assume the classic OAKCDROM / MSCDEX / MOUSE.COM drivers would also work.

Ooh, that could be worth a try. I'll give it a shot (when I have a few minutes).

 

[jp7189]

I assume you mean "Magic Carpet 2 - The Netherworlds" by Bullfrog Productions, Ltd. released in 1995. I don't know anything about this game, so I can't play it skillfully, but I am able to play it for as long as I want without glitches using 86Box.

86Box config is as follows. Operating system is MS DOS 6.22 with VIDE-CDD / SHSUCDX and CTMOUSE drivers, although I assume the classic OAKCDROM / MSCDEX / MOUSE.COM drivers would also work.

[General]
vid_renderer = qt_software
confirm_save = 0
confirm_reset = 0
confirm_exit = 0
host_cpu = 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1365U
uuid = 56fe3928-d8a8-58da-b03a-5f3684acb78c
force_43 = 1

[Machine]
machine = 486sp3c
cpu_family = i486dx2
cpu_speed = 66666666
cpu_multi = 2
cpu_use_dynarec = 1
fpu_softfloat = 0
time_sync = utc
fpu_type = internal
mem_size = 16384

[Video]
gfxcard = stealth32_vlb

[Input devices]
mouse_type = ps2

[Sound]
fm_driver = nuked
sndcard = sbawe32

[Network]
net_01_link = 0
net_02_link = 0
net_03_link = 0
net_04_link = 0

[Storage controllers]
hdc = ide_vlb_2ch
cassette_mode = load

[Floppy and CD-ROM drives]
fdd_01_type = 35_2hd
cdrom_01_parameters = 1, atapi
cdrom_01_ide_channel = 1:0
fdd_02_type = 525_2hd
cdrom_01_image_path = /home/user/src/dos/magic_carpet_2/MagicCarpet/mc.cue
cdrom_01_type = 86BOX_CD-ROM_1.00

[Hard disks]
hdd_01_parameters = 63, 16, 1024, 0, ide
hdd_01_fn = drive_c.vhd
hdd_01_vhd_blocksize = 4096
hdd_01_speed = ramdisk
hdd_01_ide_channel = 0:0

Stealth VLB... chuckle. I still keep a Vesa local bus motherboard and a S3 Diamond Stealth VLB in a drawer for when I'm old and bored and feeling nostalgic.