Retrogamers Paradise (DOSbox, WinUAE, SNES9X, …)

HiddenX

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Please post about your experiences with old cRPGs here; how to get them running on modern machines.
Best Emulator settings, windows compatibility settings, best in-game settings,…
Here is an example:

Albion:

System: Win7 64 Bit
Game-Version: 1.3.8 (Dos game)
Emulator: Dosbox: 0.74
Game path: c:\games\Albion
CD path: c:\games\Albion\CD
Source: http://abandonia.com

Instructions:
  • start dosbox
  • Save a Dosbox .cfg-file: enter "config -writeconf dosbox.conf" at the dosbox command prompt
  • press enter
  • exit dosbox with "exit" + enter
  • edit the [autoexec] section of the dosbox.conf file
  • enter:
mount c c:\games\albion
c:
cd albion
  • start Dosbox
  • enter "setup"
  • Select SB16 for Sound and General Midi (Roland 400) for music
  • Select "Done" to save and exit the setup-program
  • enter "albion" for starting the game -> you can add "albion" to the [autoexec] section, if you want:
mount c c:\games\albion
c:
cd albion
albion
 
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Erm… Hidden… Thanks to you I've checked Max Payne and they say on Steam it won't work on win7. Any cure? Or it's currently - no buy?
 
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I'd love to know how to get Worlds of Xeen running on DOSBox without such clunky, wobbly mouse cursor movement, or Ultima 7 without that annoying pause every 4 or 5 steps my character takes...and this on an i7, GTX 660Ti-based system! Otherwise, DOSBox and the Amiga emulator is BOSS.
 
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Erm… Hidden… Thanks to you I've checked Max Payne and they say on Steam it won't work on win7. Any cure? Or it's currently - no buy?

The problem with Max Payne games is not Win 7, they are simply not running on multi-cores. You have to tell them running on one core only:

Make a MP.bat file with this command in it:
start /affinity 1 MaxPayne.exe

voila - start MP.bat

PS:
I've heard you need patch 1.05 and a sound patch, too!
 
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I'd love to know how to get Worlds of Xeen running on DOSBox without such clunky, wobbly mouse cursor movement, or Ultima 7 without that annoying pause every 4 or 5 steps my character takes…and this on an i7, GTX 660Ti-based system! Otherwise, DOSBox and the Amiga emulator is BOSS.

Have you tried this guide for Ultima 7 already?

Setting up DOSBox

Download and install DOSBox accepting all default options - just keep hitting Next.
Go to Start > Programs > DOSBox-(XX) > Options > DOSBox (XX) Options to open up DOSBox.conf.

Dosbox Configuration File
Dosbox Configuration File

This is the DOSBox configuration file. Here we will configure DOSBox to properly emulate Ultima VII's preferred environment.
Search for and replace the following values in the file by going to Edit > Replace > Enter Text in 'Find what' and 'Replace With'. Note: If you have already altered DOSBox, you will need to reset it by going to Start > Programs > DOSBox-(XX) > Options > Reset Options.

Find What ..Replace it with
1 joysticktype=auto joysticktype=none
2 ems=true ems=false
3 umb=true umb=false
4 cycles=auto cycles=12000
5 output=surface output=ddraw

We need to find out what is your desktop resolution. Go to Start > Control Panel > Display > Settings. Under "Screen Resolution", it will say XXXX by XXXX pixels. For most folks, it is either "1280 x 1024" or "1920 x 1024". Assuming "1280 x 1024", we need to remove the spaces and get 1280x1024.

Find What ..Modify/Change the value to..
fullresolution= fullresolution=1280x1024
scaler= scaler=hq3x

Remember to substitute 1280x1024 with your own display resolution.
Now comes some DOS Stuff. At the end of the same file, we have to add some DOS commands to run Ultima VII automatically on starting up DOSBox.

For this guide, we are going to assume that the Ultima VII: The Black Gate files are placed in a folder named "ULTIMA7" (note: keep to less than 8 characters for DOS compatibility). Serpent Isle is placed in a folder named "ULTIMA72". Both are in the C drive. So the DOS way to represent this folder would be

C:\ULTIMA7 (for Black Gate)
C:\ULTIMA72 (for Serpent Isle)

If you had placed the games in a folder named GAMES, it would look like this

C:\GAMES\ULTIMA7 (for Black Gate)
C:\GAMES\ULTIMA72 (for Serpent Isle)

To get DOSBox to recognize this folder, we have to ADD the following to the END of the DOSBox.conf file. That means, going all the way to the bottom of the file and putting the below lines:

mount c: C:\ULTIMA7
mount d: C:\ULTIMA72

(Replace "C:\ULTIMA7" with another folder name if you are using a different folder, for Black Gate only)
(Replace "C:\ULTIMA72" with another folder name if you are using a different folder, for Serpent Isle only)
To increase the volume of the MIDI sound effects to be on level with the audio effects, ADD these lines. Even then, the Guardian's voice can boom much louder than the music. The second line lowers the sound effects volume to 65%.

mixer fm +250
mixer sb 65
DOSBox now recognizes the two games as two separate drives. Note that all these are emulated, so your real C:\ULTIMA7 is now a C Drive and C:\ULTIMA72 is now a D Drive in DOSBox.
Save the file and close. Run DOSBox. To access The Black Gate, type

C: <Enter>

Likewise, if you want to access The Serpent Isle folder, type

D: <Enter>
Configure each of the games by executing INSTALL at the prompt (for each game) and selecting Sound Blaster, 220h and IRQ 7 for DOSBox sound emulation to work properly.

INSTALL <Enter>

Now run the game and enjoy!

ULTIMA7 (for Black Gate)

SERPENT (for Serpent Isle)
To switch it in full screen, press Alt+Enter together.
 
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Have you tried this guide for Ultima 7 already?

Setting up DOSBox

Download and install DOSBox accepting all default options - just keep hitting Next.
Go to Start > Programs > DOSBox-(XX) > Options > DOSBox (XX) Options to open up DOSBox.conf.

Dosbox Configuration File
Dosbox Configuration File

This is the DOSBox configuration file. Here we will configure DOSBox to properly emulate Ultima VII's preferred environment.
Search for and replace the following values in the file by going to Edit > Replace > Enter Text in 'Find what' and 'Replace With'. Note: If you have already altered DOSBox, you will need to reset it by going to Start > Programs > DOSBox-(XX) > Options > Reset Options.

Find What ..Replace it with
1 joysticktype=auto joysticktype=none
2 ems=true ems=false
3 umb=true umb=false
4 cycles=auto cycles=12000
5 output=surface output=ddraw

We need to find out what is your desktop resolution. Go to Start > Control Panel > Display > Settings. Under "Screen Resolution", it will say XXXX by XXXX pixels. For most folks, it is either "1280 x 1024" or "1920 x 1024". Assuming "1280 x 1024", we need to remove the spaces and get 1280x1024.

Find What ..Modify/Change the value to..
fullresolution= fullresolution=1280x1024
scaler= scaler=hq3x

Remember to substitute 1280x1024 with your own display resolution.
Now comes some DOS Stuff. At the end of the same file, we have to add some DOS commands to run Ultima VII automatically on starting up DOSBox.

For this guide, we are going to assume that the Ultima VII: The Black Gate files are placed in a folder named "ULTIMA7" (note: keep to less than 8 characters for DOS compatibility). Serpent Isle is placed in a folder named "ULTIMA72". Both are in the C drive. So the DOS way to represent this folder would be

C:\ULTIMA7 (for Black Gate)
C:\ULTIMA72 (for Serpent Isle)

If you had placed the games in a folder named GAMES, it would look like this

C:\GAMES\ULTIMA7 (for Black Gate)
C:\GAMES\ULTIMA72 (for Serpent Isle)

To get DOSBox to recognize this folder, we have to ADD the following to the END of the DOSBox.conf file. That means, going all the way to the bottom of the file and putting the below lines:

mount c: C:\ULTIMA7
mount d: C:\ULTIMA72

(Replace "C:\ULTIMA7" with another folder name if you are using a different folder, for Black Gate only)
(Replace "C:\ULTIMA72" with another folder name if you are using a different folder, for Serpent Isle only)
To increase the volume of the MIDI sound effects to be on level with the audio effects, ADD these lines. Even then, the Guardian's voice can boom much louder than the music. The second line lowers the sound effects volume to 65%.

mixer fm +250
mixer sb 65
DOSBox now recognizes the two games as two separate drives. Note that all these are emulated, so your real C:\ULTIMA7 is now a C Drive and C:\ULTIMA72 is now a D Drive in DOSBox.
Save the file and close. Run DOSBox. To access The Black Gate, type

C: <Enter>

Likewise, if you want to access The Serpent Isle folder, type

D: <Enter>
Configure each of the games by executing INSTALL at the prompt (for each game) and selecting Sound Blaster, 220h and IRQ 7 for DOSBox sound emulation to work properly.

INSTALL <Enter>

Now run the game and enjoy!

ULTIMA7 (for Black Gate)

SERPENT (for Serpent Isle)
To switch it in full screen, press Alt+Enter together.

I honestly can't remember if I did in the 5 years I've been trying to get U7 to run smoothly under DOSBox, but I think I remember reading on the VOGANS forum that even on original 486-hardware, U7 had this problem. Of course, the alternative is to use exult but I heard that this port is missing certain features from the DOS version and I'd like to play it as close to the original version as possible. Plus, I won't be tempted to play in ridiculous resolutions that the developers never intended Ultima 7 to be played at ;)
 
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Exult is a great effort, but it just doesn't feel the same as the original.
 
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Personally, I couldn't imagine playing U7 without Exult, but that's probably because I didn't play it back in the day.
 
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There's also Nuvie

What's Nuvie?
Nuvie, pronounced 'New-Vee' is an open sourced game engine for playing Origin's games Ultima 6, Martian Dreams and Savage Empire on modern operating systems. Ultima 6 is fully playable from start to finish with Nuvie. Nuvie also contains many enhancements to the original game engine including new UI modes, featuring drag'n'drop and full map view mode. Alternate graphics are also supported.
 
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I'd love to know how to get Worlds of Xeen running on DOSBox without such clunky, wobbly mouse cursor movement, or Ultima 7 without that annoying pause every 4 or 5 steps my character takes…and this on an i7, GTX 660Ti-based system! Otherwise, DOSBox and the Amiga emulator is BOSS.

I had them both working flawlessly on XP a couple years ago. Haven't tried Win 7.

The configurations were sadly lost when I upgraded. Should have saved them (hits head)...
 
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A second boot-partition (or VMWare) with Windows XP is always a good idea for older games.
 
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I had been using Microsoft's "Virtual PC" software, and could successfully install DOS and Windows 3.1 there.

Microsoft's "Virtual PC" comes in several variants. Some of them already contain "Service Packs".

My personal advice is to use Virtual PC 2004 first, mainly because of the "MS-DOS Additions" or how they are called (you'd want them for DOS mouse support, for example), and then, after installing them (and probably other "Additions" as well), upgrade it to Virtual PC 2007 (and its "Service Packs" as well, if possible).

Of Albion I did an CD image, of my own CD, by the way.

I also tried to do floppy disk images, but that is a bit difficult because there is no "definitive program" for that, and it doesn't work with copy-protected Floppies (like for the Blues Brothers jump & run game by Titus), either. I had long ago made a thread regarding this matter here : http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14651 Most disk image creating programs don't do images of floppies anyway.

All of what I've written above is valid for Windows XP because I did it with it. I don't have anything newer than that yet (and I really hope that I'll be able to build myself a whole new PC for Win98SE one day …)
 
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I assume a lot of you know this, but for those who don't: GreyFace has developed some really important patches for Might & Magic 6-8. In fact, I'd say it's pretty much mandatory to use those patches these days. Anyway, here's his site:
https://sites.google.com/site/sergroj/mm
 
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For anyone interested in revisiting Wizardry 6 or 7:

http://www.davidwaltersdevelopment.com/tools/dosbox/#dosbox

Custom Dosbox version that fixes the digital sound effects problems encountered in Wiz 6/7 using standard Dosbox.

A little off topic, but I'd love to play all the classic pre-1995 CRPGs of yesteryear (ie Wizardry series, Eye of the Beholder, Dungeon Master, etc.) , but can't tolerate the lack of an effective automap and I hated using graph paper. One of my favorites (and the first CRPG I ever played, on the C64) was Dragon Wars and one reason I thoroughly enjoyed it was because it had an excellent automap system. Grid Cartographer 2 looks like a good program to help get around the problem of no automapping but need something that can map in game so i don't have to constantly exit, then tab back into the game, then exit out, then- repeat, rinse & cycle.
 
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