86box emulation can play any windows 95/98 game

[Dux]

Considering that a number of older games on GOG are still quite difficult to run smoothly on a modern rig, does that mean that emulation such as this is really the correct way of playing? It seems to make a lot of sense to create a virtual retro computer or whatever to actually accomodate older games in the best way possible, rather than trying to force them to cooperate with modern hardware.

 

[Makabb]

Trying this out, have a question.

How do I mount CDs/floppies? A bunch of guides I've seen for PCem (including the one linked above last page above again, damn people deleting their posts) and older versions of 86box have a 'disc' drop down menu, but I can't find any options for this in the 86Box version I downloaded.

Can't find any way to do this in the Settings menu either.

tools -> settings -> hard disks (create ide disks)
------------------------> other removable devices ---> cdrom drives (make atapi drive)

To mount a floppy click on the floppy disk in the lower left of the emulator and 'existing image'


Once you install windows i suggest you disable the cdrom and use daemon tools 3.47 in windows 95,,,,, use a program called 'winimage' to upload game images to the hard disk image, and in windows 95 open them with daemon tools (this way you will play with cd audio, also its the fastest way to transfer files to the hard disk image, via the 'winimage' program)

winimage.com/download.htm

 

[Makabb]

does that mean that emulation such as this is really the correct way of playing?

Yes, this is basicaly like having a computer from that era.

 

[Nano]

Thanks Makabb. Finished setting everything up, though I used Windows 98 Second Edition instead of Windows 95.

First game I tested: Fury3 from 1995, one of the first DirectX games. Running very smoothly.

 

[FeelTheRads]

What CPU do you have? Is the 100% speed constant in Windows?

 

[Nano]

What CPU do you have? Is the 100% speed constant in Windows?

Using the came CPU as the OP (MMX 200), and it is 100% most of the time. Fury3 was stable at 100%, but I just tested Blade Runner and that game took the CPU down to 30%. It was pretty much a slideshow. I'll try testing some other games.

 

[FeelTheRads]

I meant what CPU your machine has.
And if it's 100% while in W98, not in games.

Out of curiosity to compare it with my own, which has pretty shit performance,

 

[Bigg Boss]

Two games I have tried to run on Window 7, but did not work:

Resident Evil
Nocturne


Do these work? If these work I reserve the right to change WHAT THE FUCK AM I READING to Incline.

 

[Nano]

^ I'll try it out in a bit.

I meant what CPU your machine has.
And if it's 100% while in W98, not in games.

Windows 10 v1607, i5-8400. And yes, Win98 was consistently 100%.

 

[Makabb]

Two games I have tried to run on Window 7, but did not work:

Resident Evil
Nocturne


Do these work? If these work I reserve the right to change WHAT THE FUCK AM I READING to Incline.

they do

 

[Makabb]

^ I'll try it out in a bit.

I meant what CPU your machine has.
And if it's 100% while in W98, not in games.

Windows 10 v1607, i5-8400. And yes, Win98 was consistently 100%.

if the CPU drops, try lowering it to like pentium 166 mmx, i noticed some games work better with lower CPU setting.

 

[Makabb]

Also it was said to install windows 95 and not 98, because 98 is giving worse performance for games currently in the emulator.

 

[Bigg Boss]

Two games I have tried to run on Window 7, but did not work:

Resident Evil
Nocturne


Do these work? If these work I reserve the right to change WHAT THE FUCK AM I READING to Incline.

they do

See...part of me wants to stop shit rating you now due to your rampant Bethesda faggotry. Go post some Fallout 76 news right quick. Hmmmm. As a compromise all further Bethesda faggotry will be rated Parrot due to this Incline thread. Anyone who posts Window 95 or 98 stuff is cool in my book.

 

[Makabb]

Most games can still work fine enough without emulation, so why even bother?

Actualy they don't? There are all sorts of compatibility problems and none of those games will work with CD audio (unless the music is ripped like in GoG versions)

And as time goes by, the emulation will be only faster and more accurate.

 

[Zandig Slaytanic]

Does Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard/Battlespire work with this?

As for Redguard,

No , not properly. I tested it in both 86Box and PCem . Tried both the software and 3DFX versions of the game, and multiple CPU settings for the emulators.

It either crashes the emulator outright, gives CMDFIFO errors and shuts down, or if you can get it run after many tries it runs like a slideshow.

This is with an i7-7700k, 16gb dd4 2400, GTX 1080, Windows 10.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Windows 10 v1607, i5-8400. And yes, Win98 was consistently 100%.

Alrighty then, my CPU sucks. Maybe this IS usable then with a recent CPU.
Thanks!

 

[soulburner]

Just finished installing Windows 95 with all the drivers and it seems my i5-3320M is not enough to do anything more than P75 and even that is quite slow. Still, Windows 95 itself looks and works a lot better than in Virtual Box, so I may keep experimenting with it. Will check it out on my desktop i5-2500K @ 4.3 GHz later today, too.

 

[Mangoose]

Oh my fucking god do you guys not know how to VM

 

[felipepepe]

Oh my fucking god do you guys not know how to VM

I was going to ask exactly this... why not just set a Win 98 VM?

 

[FeelTheRads]

Because no 3D acceleration? The whole point of this is to use that.

Also shit support for Win9x in all VM software, except VirtualPC.

 

[Nano]

Oh my fucking god do you guys not know how to VM

I was going to ask exactly this... why not just set a Win 98 VM?

In addition to the 3D thing, you won't get to see this when using a VM:

But seriously, setting up Win98 on 86Box has been way easier for me compared to VirtualBox. There were a lot more driver shenanigans when setting up my Win98 VM, and with a worse result than 86Box, and that's when VirtualBox is supposedly the best VM for Windows 9x (even though the VirtualBox guys don't officially support it).

 

[felipepepe]

Because no 3D acceleration? The whole point of this is to used that.

Uh, VMWare Workstation is free and supports 3D acceleration. I used it to play games like Lands of Lore III, Silver, Arcatera, Siege of Avalon, etc...

 

[soulburner]

Uh, VMWare Workstation is free and supports 3D acceleration. I used it to play games like Lands of Lore III, Silver, Arcatera, Siege of Avalon, etc...

Hmm, that's interesting. Does it really work that well with Windows 9x? If so, I might give it a try. Only tested Win9x with VirtualBox and it worked rather badly.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Uh, VMWare Workstation is free and supports 3D acceleration. I used it to play games like Lands of Lore III, Silver, Arcatera, Siege of Avalon, etc...

Uh, I doubt it supports 3D acceleration in W98 or W95. Maybe in XP and it won't have Glide.

VirtualBox also supports 3D in XP, but that's not the point. Uh.

 

[Tacgnol]

VMWare workstation 3D acceleration is pretty decent, but it will never be as good as a more accurate attempt at emulation.

This project really has potential.