Playing old PC games from 90s-00s

[phinix]

In last year or so I started to re-play my old PC games from the time when I was a kid.
It is so nice to be able to play them on current hardware. There are some compatiblilty issues, but some of them are fine.

Played so far:

-The Thing Remastered
-Return to Castle Wolfenstein
-Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 1
-Project IGI 1
-Project IGI 2

[phinix]

Today I just finished Project IGI 2 - great memories:)

[Darthbaggins]

another reason why I have been supporting GoG more - thinking of firing up Legacy of Kain 1 and 2

[lumicore]

GoG has honestly become the best way to preserve old PC gaming. Half the battle now is just getting those old games to launch properly on modern hardware without spending 2 hours patching stuff.

[TheSoulhunter]

Still having fun with a lot of games from my teenage years...

- Streetfighter Apha 3
- Streerfighter III 3rd Strike
- King of Fighters 98 and XIII
- Shadow Warrior (Classic Redux)
- Blood (Fresh Supply)
- Doom (GZDoom + BrutalDoom)
- Crusader - No Remorse (...and No Regret)
- Unreal Tournament 2004 (recently made free)

No looong startup times, no looong intros, no looong tutorials, no looong cutsceenes... just quick and simple fun!

[phinix]

Still having fun with a lot of games from my teenage years...

- Streetfighter Apha 3
- Streerfighter III 3rd Strike
- King of Fighters 98 and XIII
- Shadow Warrior (Classic Redux)
- Blood (Fresh Supply)
- Doom (GZDoom + BrutalDoom)
- Crusader - No Remorse (...and No Regret)
- Unreal Tournament 2004 (recently made free)

No looong startup times, no looong intros, no looong tutorials, no looong cutsceenes... just quick and simple fun!

Crusader games - I remember when they came out, me and my friend played a lot. Also, remember Bedlam - similar isometric view shooter, only with small helicopter. All DOS games were cool

[tp4tissue]

Marvel vs Xmen > 3rd strike  ,  /Controversial.

[noisyturtle]

Marvel vs Xmen > 3rd strike  ,  /Controversial.

nah

[TheSoulhunter]

Marvel vs Xmen > 3rd strike  ,  /Controversial.

I remember Marvel VS Capcom, but not Marvel vs Xmen.
Gonna give it a try next weekend...

I also have a controversial opinion: Streetfighter EX plus Alpha was good...
A tweaked Fighting-Layer-EX system would be superior to the one in SF IV, V and VI

[tp4tissue]

It's streetfighter vs xmen,  Tp4 was imagining things agani.

[phinix]

OK, 90s games, excluding this comic games crap.

[tp4tissue]

NBA jam,

Turtles in time,

Area 51
Time Crisis

[TheSoulhunter]

Time Crisis

I still own the game and the lightgun that came with it. Also Crypt Killer, Point Blank, Resident Evil Survivor, etc.
But my final CRT broke about 10 years ago, and I can't figure out what's the culprit.
All old-school Radio/TV repair shops closed down more than a decade ago.
Swapped some caps that looked suspicious, but that did not help.
I hesitate getting one of eBay/else...

[tp4tissue]

Unless the CRT was abused, it's almost always the main filter cap aging, not enough juice.

[TheSoulhunter]

The main filter caps are the big boys (400V / 470µF) at the power supply section?

[tp4tissue]

Usually the biggest one in there, that isn't near the flyback.

[noisyturtle]

Local pickups are the go-to for CRT tvs. There's always some granny who kept a giant CRT in a room for 40 years, you just need to pick it up usually.
Maybe in EU it is more difficult finding old CRTs, and it is getting harder every year in the US as well

[tp4tissue]

CRTs have a unique look, but have mostly disadvantages at this point.

The motion clarity is also now rivaled by Oleds.

Prior, with 60fps locked games, Oleds couldn't match CRT, but now with Beam-Simulator shading, it's as good if not better.

[TheSoulhunter]

[Beam-Simulator shading[/size][/color]

You mean, you can now actually simulate the travel of the electron beam drawing the image?
Wouldn't that require insane FPS? Like... 400k FPS to simulate 720x576 resolution?
Or is it just something that gives the vibe as the beam draw and phosphor decay?

[TheSoulhunter]

Local pickups are the go-to for CRT tvs. There's always some granny who kept a giant CRT in a room for 40 years, you just need to pick it up usually.
Maybe in EU it is more difficult finding old CRTs, and it is getting harder every year in the US as well

Over here, pensions are low and electricity is expensive...
Also the Gov TV station tells em to upgrade their electronics to safe the planet.
Thus all the old people I know switched from their 200W CRT to a 100W LCD long ago.
But yeah, I keep an eye on eBay listings in my city. Most stuff I have seen so far is junk tho.

[tp4tissue]

CRT beam simulator requires multiples of 60hz. so at least 120hz.

It's works like BFI, but it takes inverse color and persistence into account.

It's essentially a smarter BFI Shader. At 240hz I would say it already looks better than CRT.

[TheSoulhunter]

I looked up some examples...
Seems it's not about simulating the horizontal beam drawing (mask point to mask point).
But rather the vertical persistence (part of the screen being black, image rolling top to bottom).

I can see how this would be enough to give you the CRT beam feel. Good idea...
Remembers me the rolling-scanlines filter I wrote in Avisynth/DShow back in the day.
Unfortunately I am still on 60Hz as there were no large (40" +) high refresh rate monitors when I got it.

Maybe time to upgrade...
Are there 40-45" high refresh rate, color accurate, 16:9 monitors, possibly with split-input/picture function?

[phinix]

Started Baldur's Gate enhanced edition - brings me back when it was released, hundreds of hours played.

Apparently they are remastering it! Both, 1 and 2. That would be awesome.

[tp4tissue]

There was the dell S3225QC for $350,  32" 3840x2160 oled 120hz that Tp4 urged everyone to buy from Costco recently, But it's probably out of stock now in most places.

If you want something like that, you'll have to go to the $500 sale range, 165hz 4K OLED from MSI or Asus, usually Newegg.

Tp4 however recommends the new iterated dark film covered QD oled models. They're all using the same samsung dark film panels, but call it dark armor, etc, etc.

4K 240hz is great, will be in the $600-800 range,  4K 360hz is incoming, probably $1000+.

[TheSoulhunter]

There was the dell S3225QC for $350,  32" 3840x2160 oled 120hz that Tp4 urged everyone to buy from Costco recently, But it's probably out of stock now in most places.

If you want something like that, you'll have to go to the $500 sale range, 165hz 4K OLED from MSI or Asus, usually Newegg.

Tp4 however recommends the new iterated dark film covered QD oled models. They're all using the same samsung dark film panels, but call it dark armor, etc, etc.

4K 240hz is great, will be in the $600-800 range,  4K 360hz is incoming, probably $1000+.

Up to 1k is fine as I probably gonna keep it for a decade...
Another requirements I forgot: It has to be a non glossy (matte) screen.

[TheSoulhunter]

Started Baldur's Gate enhanced edition - brings me back when it was released, hundreds of hours played.

Apparently they are remastering it! Both, 1 and 2. That would be awesome.

I feel that...
For me it was Diablo 2 (the last good Diablo imo).
I plan to get Path of Exile 2 as soon as it's finished (early-access atm).
It seems to be the spiritual successor of old-school Diablo from what I have seen.
And yeah, I would definitely also get a remaster of Balduars Gate 1+2 if it happens.

[tp4tissue]

The new dark armor is what it is, there's no choice in that they're all the same samsung panels.

Matte is not good for oled, especially qdoled, because it the blue pixel lightpipe which looks purplish in bright rooms..