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Launch Windows 3.1 with a double-click (+ games!)

Narushima

Cipher
Joined
Jun 14, 2019
Messages
2,035
Windows3-1-Open.png
I've packaged a DOSBox folder with Windows 3.1 pre-installed. All you have to do is download the archive, unzip it and double-click the dosbox file. You will be greeted with this:

Win-Title.png
A fully functionnal Windows 3.1 install, with sound and graphics drivers already in place.
As you can see, I have added a few games, including registered versions of the Exile trilogy and some classics.

If you crave more old, janky games, you will find a huge collection here.
Some games might require more or fewer colours, and you can modify that in "Windows Setup" (don't go too high or the display will be mangled and you won't be able to go back).

If you want it to start in full screen automatically, edit the dosbox.conf file to change "fullscreen=false" to "fullscreen=true".



Electroman.png
Glider.png
Electroman, aka Polish Terminator​

Pilot a paper plane across a vast house full of obstacles in Glider (Enter key to boost!)​

Crystal-Caliburn.png
Dare-to-Dream.png
Crystal Caliburn, a quality pinball game from forgotten Japanes studio LittleWing (they're still around!)
Dare to Dream, a point-and-click game for kids with a light-hearted story​

Castle-of-the-Winds.png
Klotski.png
Classic rogue-like Castle of the Winds (I & II)​
In Klotski, the goal is to free the red piece. Easier said than done.​

download the archive
 
Last edited:

Narushima

Cipher
Joined
Jun 14, 2019
Messages
2,035
Put Civilization II on there and it's a deal!
You can very easily do that yourself. Just drop whatever game you want in the "games" folder, then launch the emulation, and it's there, under C:/games.
You might have to install the game, depending on what you get, but otherwise, to create a shortcut, you have to, in Windows 3.1, make sure the "Games" folder (as seesn above) is selected, then File > New... > Program Item, then browse to the executable, name it in the Description field, and click OK. The funny thing is, you can't rename a shortcut. So if you made a typo, you have to delete the shortcut and create a new one.
Just creating these few shortcuts made me appreciate how easy things are now.
 

Hag

Arbiter
Patron
Joined
Nov 25, 2020
Messages
1,652
Location
Breizh
Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming!
Wow, looking very nice. But does it have the voice recognition software to display the clock (don't know how it was called, just remember my father was really fond of it) ?
 

Narushima

Cipher
Joined
Jun 14, 2019
Messages
2,035
Updated first post, I've added a few games.
Crystal Caliburn slows down after launch; just wait a few seconds and it'll be fine after that.
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
Gave this a quick spin. For some reason sound doesn't work for the Glider game, and trying to load a save for any game (and saving I guess) causes the whole thing to freeze. Any ideas?
 

Narushima

Cipher
Joined
Jun 14, 2019
Messages
2,035
Any ideas?
Launch "Windows Setup" and change display to 800*600 64K colors LF (Keep current drivers, then restart, which takes about three seconds).
I modified it so it worked with Dare to Dream, but I've reuploaded it with those settings by default, it's probably better.

Generally, if a game has issues, it's because of that setting.

Are there any viruses?
Plenty.
 

Suissant

Novice
Joined
Sep 28, 2021
Messages
32
Is the original Exile trilogy better than the remakes? I played some hours of Avernum and was liking it enough but then I remembered that I liked the original Geneforge infinitely more than the remake.
 

Toady

Educated
Joined
Jul 14, 2021
Messages
103
Is the original Exile trilogy better than the remakes? I played some hours of Avernum and was liking it enough but then I remembered that I liked the original Geneforge infinitely more than the remake.
Nethergate > Nethergate: Resurrection
Exile > Avernum > Avernum Remake
Geneforge > Geneforge Mutagen
 

Modron

Arcane
Joined
May 5, 2012
Messages
9,934
Really the only thing the Avernums have over Exiles is some Quality of Life improvements like automated quest journals. The shift to whatever projection style Avernum has over the top down style of Exile led to a downgrade in exploration before secrets were logical and where you thought they should be or maybe something you thought bore checking because there could be a cavity there instead of Avernum's just find a little button on the world. Party size was cut down from 6 to 4, encounters got smaller, some skills were paired down into singular skills, other skills including most(all?) hidden ones were removed entirely, and probably more shit I can't recall offhand anymore (less spells?).

You might prefer the Avernum graphics to Exiles but neither were anything to write home about so you might as well test Exile first see if you can abide them. Content wise they should be mostly the same unlike Nethergate Resurrection they didn't cut decent amounts out in the process of remaking it.
 

Ladonna

Arcane
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Messages
10,637
This is great. Thanks Narushima I might attach a USB floppy drive as well and try installing my old games straight from disk.
 
Joined
Jan 21, 2023
Messages
2,998
Klotski, Chip's Challenge and Exile 1 were part of my childhood! I still remember Exile 1's startup sounds. *zooooom!* *bergh!*
 

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