Daggerfall...playable on modern PCs?

[ring0_event]

Hi. I was toying with the notion of getting Daggerfall, but because this was a DOS title, I'm wondering how well it would work on a modern box. Would dosbox suffice? Any pointers?

 

[Chefe]

By modern box, I assume you're talking about using WinXP as your O/S, which in that case no, it won't work on its own. You'll need DOSBox.

You'll also need a special program to install it with, which you can find on UESP.net (well, not right now, exactly).

 

[ring0_event]

By modern box, I assume you're talking about using WinXP as your O/S, which in that case no, it won't work on its own. You'll need DOSBox.

You'll also need a special program to install it with, which you can find on UESP.net (well, not right now, exactly).

Yes, I'm running WinXP SP2, on a 3.0GHz P4, 1 GB RAM. Could you give more info about this special install program? I've never needed any special install programs for my other DOS games (e.g. Gold Box games).

 

[Vault Dweller]

It works perfectly, like most if not all DOS games, with a DOS box. If you need instructions, I can post them later. For now, look for another Daggerfall thread in General RPG, it's been explained there.

 

[ring0_event]

It works perfectly, like most if not all DOS games, with a DOS box. If you need instructions, I can post them later. For now, look for another Daggerfall thread in General RPG, it's been explained there.

Thanks for the pointer, I'll look for that thread. I know how to use dosbox, as I use it to play Gold Box games once in a while.

 

[Zomg]

It can also be run with a combination of VDMS and Speedset in XP and Windows 2000, although for some people there may be a gamebreaking bug with a difficult workaround. It's a secondary option for people who don't have the machine to run Dosbox.

 

[ring0_event]

It can also be run with a combination of VDMS and Speedset in XP and Windows 2000, although for some people there may be a gamebreaking bug with a difficult workaround. It's a secondary option for people who don't have the machine to run Dosbox.

Thankfully, I managed to find the WinXP installer on fileplanet. Just how strong a machine is required for smooth gameplay with dosbox? My basic config:

3.0 GHz P4, 1 MB RAM
WinXP SP2
XT850XT

I have no experience with emulating anything higher end than the old Gold Box games, hence my uncertainty of the requirements.

 

[Chefe]

Don't worry about VDM sound, DOSBox works the best. You don't need a crazy machine to run DOSBox like some people would lead you to believe, I got Daggerfall working fine on an AMD-XP 2500. Your system is fine.

I'd suggest you get a frontend for DOSBox, such as D-Fend (which can be found on the DOXBox site). You can easily adjust a ton of options, such as frameskipping (which you will have to use), and easily save those settings.

 

[Lumpy]

Strange... It works perfectly for me on XP, without DosBox.

 

[ring0_event]

Don't worry about VDM sound, DOSBox works the best. You don't need a crazy machine to run DOSBox like some people would lead you to believe, I got Daggerfall working fine on an AMD-XP 2500. Your system is fine.

I'd suggest you get a frontend for DOSBox, such as D-Fend (which can be found on the DOXBox site). You can easily adjust a ton of options, such as frameskipping (which you will have to use), and easily save those settings.

Thanks for that info. And I found the WinXP daggerfall installer you alluded to on fileplanet. I'm familiar with dosbox, so d-fend should make my life easier. Thanks!

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

I actually play it without having to use Dosbox. I had to use the installer, but other than that it runs fine without having to mess with anything else. But, it will only run on my C drive and not any of my other drives. Figured out why though. My C drive is NTFS and all my others are FAT32. I partitioned part of my F drive and made it NTFS and Daggerfall ran on it no problems. And I mean no problems. No superspeed or instability at all.

 

[deus]

Personally, I've have no luck getting Daggerfall to work properly. With DOSbox, the dungeon geometry is warped and makes it unplayable. I can get it to run under XP, but I have a lot of problems. If I use VDMSound, I fall under the jittering/invisible sprite bug somewhat. In addition to that, climbing doesn't work and I can't jump forward, only about one foot in the air. If I use Moslo, I can fix the sprite bug somewhat, but I miss out on the sound and music. Monsters tied to randomly generated quests are still invisible. Climbing still doesn't work and jumping works about 1/3 of the time.

 

[Rina]

I got it to work by installing the game with dosbox... and then I run it with VDMsound thing, but climbing and swimming didn't work, and artificial stupidity was broken. Then my friend told me how to fix one thing and I got it to work just right on dosbox. Too bad it's so aged. Controls are too awkward and graphics make my eyes hurt. >_<

 

[sabishii]

It worked for me without Dosbox. I'm still in the beginner dungeon, but the graphics annoy me, too. I dunno, when I play an older 3D game like this - or actually, even just the first Half-Life - I get motion sickness. It sucks, I want to play some of the real parts of Daggerfall based on what I've heard about it.

 

[Zomg]

The problem where you can't strafe, swim, climb or jump properly is a timing error, and can be corrected with Speedset. As for controls, they can be quite easily remapped and put into a modern "free look" WASD mode with reduced UI rather than the Arena-like default controls.

Futzing around with those old games trying to get them to work is half the fun, in my opinion. It takes me back to the 640K conventional memory boot disk nightmare days.

 

[yipsl]

I originally had a dual boot, and when I got rid of my Windows Me partition, I just copied Daggerfall over to a data DVD and then copied it to the new NTSF partition. It runs fine under XP on our main PC.

No sound problems, no clipping, nothing beyond normal Daggerfall glitches. Believe it or not, I just set up a 2 gigahertz Celeron with a spare gigabyte SIS 651 chipset mobo. I'm running Windows Me on that and I can't get music to work in Daggerfall. I have to research the AC97 audio. Sound effects work, but not the music.

And this is really odd, but I could run both Daggerfall and Arena under Me on an old P166 I took out of the closet, but I can't get Arena to run either, not enough EMS. The only thing different is the case and power supply, the mobo and more RAM. The OS is the same and I just hooked up the old 7.5 gig WD hard drive from the P166 and didn't even have to reinstall the OS.

Lest someone laugh at the Celeron, it was free. It was a gift. It didn't cost me anything and I wouldn't spend a penny on a Celeron. It will eventually go to our son when I get a good second PC. Our second PC had a mobo death and I'm RMA'ing the ECS board, so we won't have it until sometime next month. Drat these cheap mobos that last for about 7 months or so and then die in explicably.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Well, the key is having it on an HD using NTFS format. I've done it on three different computers all with different chipsets and XP. It runs fine on all of them. No jumping, strafing, or climbing problems. No problems at all, really. The only thing I had to do was use the installer.

 

[ring0_event]

Well, the key is having it on an HD using NTFS format. I've done it on three different computers all with different chipsets and XP. It runs fine on all of them. No jumping, strafing, or climbing problems. No problems at all, really. The only thing I had to do was use the installer.

Great, thanks for that extra bit of info. Now all I have to do is wait for it to be shipped to me from an ebay auction. The great thing is that it comes with a strat guide. I really love collecting RPG strat guides. I've got all of the infinity engine guides (except PST), and all of the gold box guides as well (even the DL ones). This will be a nice addition to my collection. Oh, and I hope that I enjoy the game as well

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

I hope you do as well. It's right up there with Darklands, Fallout, and Arcanum as one of my favorite RPGs of all time.