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PC retro gaming

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Hak Foo:
My first PC game was Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon, delivered with a 16MHz 386SX clone that was basically obsolete the day it left the factory.  The funny thing was the copy-protection was "look up this locomotive".  Between myself, who had been doing model railways for a few years, and my father, who was a rail enthusiast back to his youth watching the end of steam propulsion in the UK, we never needed the manual.

sefixmm:
My first computer was a clone with an Intel A80486DX4-100, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_DX4. Such a great computer, I have played so many games on it like Doom, Theme Park, Quake 1, Alone In The Dark,... And tone of shareware.

I would like to go back in retro gaming but prices for old computer parts are just so high that it's not an option. I would give a try in emulation, do you have any recommendations ?

HungerMechanic:
There isn't much need for retro computers to play most DOS games, IMHO.

It's a nice thing to have, but emulation is very capable today.

Doom can be played perfectly in DOSBox. And it has many accurate ports that allow the game to be run natively on modern systems. For example, "Chocolate Doom," which is basically DOS Doom, in DOS screen resolution. Works on Windows/Mac/Linux today. "Crispy Doom" is the same thing, but at 640x400 or so, like it used to run on some computers.

Enhanced versions of Doom for DOS also work in DosBOX, like MBFDoom [higher limits and features] and Boom [similar].

I can't remember if Theme Park has any ports for modern OSes, but you might want to check GOG.com to see if you can just buy it and run it. Most games you listed are there.

Quake is enjoying a long second-life because of ports. Sure, you can play DOS Doom even today in DOSBox. But you can even hack the old WinQuake and GL editions to run on modern Windows, I think. There are undoubtedly tutorials. But why bother? So many modern ports. The most accurate / hassle-free is probably Quakespasm. It's good for running user levels. There's also Darkplaces, if you want to add packages that give HD textures, sounds, monsters, lighting. There are so many new levels, mission packs, mods and total conversions that it's hard to know where to start. Except you should try Quake 1.5 and especially "Arcane Dimensions." Quake Lives!

There's also an emulator called ScummVM that runs most of those old Sierra-like point-and-click adventure games. Runs them natively and smoothly in modern OSes. Some games received an HD re-release like Monkey Island and Full Throttle. ScummVM also runs Eye of the Beholder, the dungeon crawler.

There are also many nostalgic games today, inspired by some of the ones you listed. Thimbleweed Park, based on the old point-and-click adventures. Dusk, based on Quake. Lots of shareware-like Indy games like Spelunky. Also check into what the 8-Bit Guy is doing on Youtube, as he ports real new 8-bit games to DOS.


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From a hardware standpoint, you'll ideally want to get a modern computer with a single-thread processor speed of at least 3.20 Ghz. I'm talking emulation. This should allow the computer to emulate challenging games like Blood at full-speed and accurately. No ticks and slowdown. You might even get away with 640x400 or higher, with the right VESA drivers in DosBOX.

It also helps to use something closer to the old 4:3 resolution. You could find an old 1400x1050 or 1600x1200 LCD monitor [or smaller!] for perfect, hassle-free 1:1 scaling. Or use a newer monitor in 16:10 ratio, that allows IPS monitors like the Dell U2412/15M. There will be black bars on the side, but otherwise a perfect 4:3 square in the middle, taking up most of the screen. Good use of real estate.

So a 3.2+ Ghz processor [multi cores don't help much, dual-core should be enough] and a 4:3 or 16:10 monitor. That's what you ideally need for DOS gaming today. [That processor would also help with NES emulation. There's an emulator that does perfect NES, but needs that speed].

If DOSBox isn't enough for you [I think it is for about 70% or more of games], you can just install FreeDOS on a computer. I've never used this. But if you have a processor capable of virtualization, you can run FreeDOS in a virtual machine on your regular computer. And it's no different that having a DOS machine. It's real, native DOS running on your hardware in your OS. So you can run Doom and so on, and it should be like running it on DOS 6.22 or so.

BTW there are new peripherals that help in emulation, you can buy a USB-device that you can attach an old but genuine, refurbished Roland MT-32 sound chip in. In DOSBOX-X, you can then output sound through that chip, playing DOS games with genuine Roland through your USB.

phinix:
My first computer was Commodore 128.
Then 2 years after, my first PC - 386SX 40MHz, 2MB RAM, 80MB HDD. It was a monster back then, just few of my friends had 286.
I started with DOS, then Windows 3.1. Golden days of gaming.

sefixmm:

--- Quote from: HungerMechanic on Mon, 30 May 2022, 09:35:40 ---So much blabla
--- End quote ---

Who, thanks for all the information :thumb:

Actually I play at Brutal Doom, love that mod :)

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