Old Games - Permanent Solution

I'm a an adventure big fan, and i like to play thoso long lost old games, but i have a problem, the problem is, as Inferno well knows, Windows XP.

Well, i discoverd the final solution to play all those old games:

The answer is Microsoft Virtual PC.

Download the program from Microsoft, there's a 45 day free trail, and then you can purchase the full version, you can create virtual PC's in your XP.

There is a catch, you need a bootable CD for the operating system you want to install.

In my case i used some old diskettes and installed my very old MS-DOS 6.22, then i took some generic DOS CD-ROM drives (Samsung for me, and finally installed Windows 95 to my "virtual disk".

Virtual PC can emulate DOS, Win 95, Win 98, Win Me and Win 2000.

Finally i installed my games, i started with Febble Files which will defenitely wont work on XP and its running like a charm, i can even copy the saved games from the virtual Win 95 back to my Win XP, then i experimented with Dark Side of the Moon, and joy i had text to play with.

So, if you love those old games, the answer is Microsoft Virtual PC.

Thanks Inferno for your great page on XP settings for games.

Hope i helped a few Boomers to play their old games.

By the way i am no genius, the program was sugested to me by a friend in eMule, she plays a lot of old games too.

wowee, thats definately worth a try!! Thanks Lohen

Hi Lohen,
With this program will I have to install everything from scatch as if I had formatted my HD or will it recognize stuff currently installed. Also will I have to get new hardware (ex. have a soundblaster16 PCI card and an ATI Radeon7000 AGP card though VESA doesn't seem to be a problem or say a 50x cdrom drive)to lower end components and have to swap out everytime I use the program as I plan to load either '95 or DOS or possibly 2 drives for each one. I imagine I'd probably have to get a new HD to use this as my current one is 30 gig (12.1 gig free)and another which is 10 gig (6.31 gig free). Just trying to figure out if it's worth my using this program.

Thanks for the heads up,
Bill

A very nice solution to the problem of playing old games. Congratulations!

This is great to know.........i'm off to investigate!! Thanks!!

Llewton you dont need anything new other than the program itself, it uses all your XP hardware and emulates it, and you dont need a disk a virtual one is created by the program, all you need is the operating system you want to install, like DOS or Win95.

Than everything works from a window in the program.

By the way guys you can have various operating systems at once.

This sounds a lot like Partition Magic or something.........i'm going to seriously consider it. It sounds almost too good to be true!! Yippee!!!

Oh well, I won't be able to use this one afterall. I just went to the Microsoft site for it and it only works if you're using Win 2000 or XP. As I use Win 98 SE I guess this one will be useless for me. Thanks for the tip anyway Lohen.

Bill

This sounds great, Lohen. Is it complicated to set up?

Do you know anything about the Windows Compatibility Kit? Does that work in a similar manner?

Melanie

Virtual PC is a program that has be around for almost 3 years, now ( first in beta format and then the real version...) It will run any OS that you care to load.(including redhat and linux. But you must have the OS to load and the setup can be involved. I don't use it in regard to my site becausee while it is free for 45 days ... it can be cost prohibative for some to purchase....

Dosbox 6.0 is an emulator that will run many games as well ... but the level of "user friendlines" is still questionable.

The same holds true for ScummVM


Many gamers are quite asute in operating and implementing these fine emulators or partion dividers and work very well with them ... but there are still those gamers who are not.
I will continue to write the setups that I write until there is no longer a need for them.

Inferno

Thanks for the info, Inferno.......good points made. I for one am astounded at Virtual PC tho. I just downloaded the 45 free trial and am now able to play my old Space Quest and King's Quest games on my XP computer. How cool is that!!!!??!!! Something I never thought I'd see!!! I am in heaven!!!!

Anyone know of something like this that will install and work on top of Windows 98 SE. The only onjes I've seen are the one mentioned above and VMware, both of which are for Win2000/XP. Would love to find something to get the few old games I can't get running to work.

Lohan, I've installed Virtual PC from the download, but it looks a lot like DOS; even though I installed Win 98 on it. Is it supposed to look like that? I had no problem installing and playing the old Space Quest and King's Quest games; but cannot get Phantasmagoria 1 or 2 to install in the DOS like window. Help!! And here i was on such a roll!!

Never mind......I figured it out and all is well. I hadn't fully installed 98; so when I went back and did that, it worked fine. I think Virtual PC is great; so far so good!!!

Glad i made your lives a little easier.

Playing Beyond Time here...

The inventory works, which didn't on XP,

I love this VPC...

HEHE

I'm just concerned if I decide to buy it......I'm running XP Home edition; and it says it doesn't work with that. I don't want to buy it if I have the wrong OS to begin with. Granted, the trial version is working; but I just don't know............???

And I got Amber Journeys Beyond to work on my XP computer with it; (using Win 98 as the OS) So how's that????????

Hi Liz,
It seems from the answer on this message board that it will work with XP home. Check the info in this link.
http://sillydog.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34360

I also downloaded the trial version and tried to run it on my computer (win98 SE) and was told it would not operate with this OS and wouldn't install. As you were able to get it running with XP Home I think you're safe. CYE
hope this helps.

Bill

Thanks, Bill...........i'm really glad to know this!! <img border="0" alt="" title="" src="graemlins/bravo.gif " />

Thanks Lohen,
As a result of finding out about this program from you I'm getting Win XP Home and a new 80 gig HD for my birthday (31st). Am going to dual boot the drive with 98 SE and XP home and use Virtual PV for dos 6.2 and Win 95. Will I have to install a whole bunch of DOS drivers for Win 95 and DOS 6.2 or will the program do it for me?

Bill

Excellent, Lohen!
I had to try the Virtual PC and it works like a charm!
Installed some tricky games and all of them worked very well.

The sad thing is the 129 US$...

Feels like this is the missing part in XP for adventuregamers that Microsoft should offer for free!

I thought at one time that Microsoft bought out VPC... am I incorrect?

If I'm correct, it's a shame that it isn't offered as a "bundle" for new XP systems.

Inferno

This is probly a dumb question--but this sounds interesting--do you have to dual boot to use this program????

No Looney it installs like any other program and runs on top of Windows XP, no dual booting.

That is great to know---My dh is getting ready to reformat my 98 machine and I am having nightmares that for some reason it won't come back up--then I will have tons of games that I can't play--so will sleep easier now

Bill the only drivers i needed to install was DOS cd-rom drivers, nothing else.

Enjoy your "oldies"

Playing Ceremony of Innocence now (like a charm)

I'll let ya know what I think of it and how it works when I get XP Home and get my system set up with it in a few weeks Lohen. One question though, if a game couldn't find my sound card in Win 98SE(Soundblaster16 PCI)and thus not installing do you think it would be able to find it loading Win95 in VPC?