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  • [♪ Music Intro and Keyboard Typing noises ♪]

  • [♪]

  • Greetings, and welcome to an LGR thing and today,

  • I would like to answer a very broad topic.

  • It's a question or set of questions that I get asked

  • *all* the time, ever since I've started LGR, and that is

  • "What classic computer should I buy?" Like I wanna get into playing old computer games,

  • How do I do it? What's the best way for me?

  • And you know what, that's just such a deep topic that goes all over the place that it's really hard to answer.

  • I attempted to do this seven or eight years ago with a video titled "What DOS PC Should You Buy?"

  • And while there are several things that I mentioned there that are still going to be brought up here,

  • 'cause they're still relevant,

  • there are several of the items that I would like to talk about that have gotten more expensive or harder to find

  • and beyond that, I don't want you to just take my word for it, so I have asked *nine* other YouTubers

  • to be a part of this video and give their input on the topic.

  • These are not only all channels that I totally recommend and watch all the time,

  • but I know that they're active in coming up with solutions to the kind of problems that we're gonna be discussing today.

  • So the questions I asked each of them was what is your *go-to solution* for playing old PC games,

  • whether it be earlier Windows games

  • or DOS games, pretty much anything from 1981 to 2001 or so.

  • Yeah, there are just a lot of topics to cover and a variety of issues, so let's get right to it!

  • So for this video, we'll be assuming that your goal is retro gaming,

  • and for that, you'll really want to ask the question, "What do YOU want to do with an old PC?"

  • or whatever solution that you happen to come up with because different games are gonna require different things.

  • And in regards to this, the most frequent questions that I get about this are:

  • Should I stick to pre-made computers from back in the day?

  • Classic hardware from Compaq or Hewlett Packard or Dell or whoever.

  • Or should I customize a slightly later machine with more modern components,

  • and then install stuff as needed for compatibility with older games?

  • Or should I build my own classic computer from scratch using spare parts?

  • Or should I maybe just skip all of that altogether and stick to emulation and virtual machines or buying games off of GOG?

  • Before we get to that, my personal go-to pick for an old computer that I like to play old games on

  • is the LGR Woodgrain 486.

  • I mean, that's why I built it here on the channel after all.

  • It serves my goal of imitating my first PC that I had as a kid, but

  • it also has all the bells and whistles that I lusted after back in the day.

  • And it's also covered in woodgrain! *Chuckles*

  • Which, granted, you know, I customized that and made that happen myself, but uh, you know, I like that.

  • And it also serves as a base for playing with early to mid '90s upgrades, because I just don't like to leave it static.

  • I like to swap parts out and see what can be done in terms of appropriate hardware and software from the mid '90s.

  • As it's configured right now though, it is a 66 megahertz AMD 486, a DX2 CPU,

  • has 16 megabytes of RAM,

  • a 1 megabyte Diamond Speedstar Pro VLB video card,

  • a Creative Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 sound card,

  • 1.2 megfloppy drive and 1.44 megdisk drive,

  • a 4x CD-ROM drive,

  • and it also has a flash card interface for convenient file transfers.

  • You can do this either by CompactFlash or SD cards or any number of other solutions.

  • And all of this is connected to an AOpen VI15G Socket 3 motherboard,

  • with 256K of L2 cache installed and a standard CR2032 button battery.

  • And that's actually one big reason I chose this board is because many batteries

  • on a lot of these older computers are gonna have something that's gonna leak.

  • Look for one with a modern battery that is less prone to leaking.

  • And something else that is absolutely not required but I happen to like it on these older machines,

  • is this green display here, which shows the current speed of the computer in megahertz.

  • This paired with a turbo button is extremely useful,

  • because a lot of games in the early '90s and late '80s looked for a slower CPU,

  • and the turbo button, you enable that, and it's going to slow down your computer.

  • What it does exactly is gonna vary depending on the computer you have, but generally, it slows things down.

  • I've done an entire video about this in the past, so if you're curious, you can check that out.

  • As for the operating system, this thing runs MS-DOS 6.22,

  • but I also have another CompactFlash card that I swap out with Windows 3.11 on there.

  • But the thing is though, it doesn't stop there! This computer is great for a lot of things, but

  • there are games earlier and later and even around the same time that are way more picky and...

  • this is just not going to work with it, or at least it won't be ideal.

  • I keep several early IBM PC compatibles hooked up for older games,

  • like original IBM PCs with a 4.77 megahertz 8088 and some with a

  • 8 megahertz, 286 CPU.

  • These can be very valuable for early '80s games, throughout around 1987 or so,

  • and as far as sound, *Chuckles* there's not much.

  • These just come with a PC speaker, or in the case of my IBM AT, an AdLib card.

  • Yes, just the original AdLib, which gives you that twangy FM synthesis sound.

  • And it's also worth noting that if you get many, many later cards that are compatible with the Sound Blaster standard,

  • they're gonna give you that AdLib FM synth sound, either in OPL2 or in OPL3 or something emulating it.

  • A slight step up from these are the 386 machines that I keep around, such as

  • these computers that are around 16 to 25 megahertz, a 386 SX or DX.

  • These are amazing for games that run too fast on even a mid-range 486, but are too slow on a 286 or 8088.

  • Perfect for earlier VGA games and later EGA games,

  • and I usually pair these kind of things with a Sound Blaster 2.0 or equivalent.

  • I also keep several machines set up with Windows 3.1 and 95 on there all the time.

  • And these have anything from a 100 megahertz 486DX4 CPU,

  • all the way up to a 233 megahertz Pentium MMX.

  • Usually with SVGA, a Sound Blaster 16, or one of those clones from the time period.

  • And finally for later '90s Windows gaming, I largely stick to Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows XP machines.

  • something with around an 800 megahertz Pentium III,

  • on up to a 2.4 gigahertz Pentium 4, depending on what I need.

  • Voodoo graphics are what I stick to for these for the most part,

  • since the supplied 3DFX Glide mode, which is an incredibly popular thing,

  • is different than Direct3D and OpenGL, so that's worth keeping in mind.

  • And some of the later ones I'll stick a NVIDIA GeForce 2 or an 8800 Ultra in there.

  • And as far as displays, uh, I typically recommend going with a CRT if at all possible.

  • It takes up a lot of space, but the result is fantastic

  • in terms of reproduction of what the games are originally supposed to look like.

  • And while I do still use certain older LCDs every so often,

  • it's only if they're the right aspect ratio and don't do weird things with the scaling

  • because sometimes you can end up with stuff that looks blurred or the pixels aren't the correct size.

  • You don't always have square pixels in these older games.

  • And typically, as far as sound cards go,

  • you do want something a little better than Sound Blaster 16

  • for Windows 98 Second Edition or Windows XP.

  • Something like the Aureal Vortex 2, which provides A3D, a fantastic early 3D standard.

  • I use that in a couple of my machines.

  • And yes, Windows 98 is still built on top of MS-DOS, so things run quite well in DOS mode for the most part,

  • but you do wanna watch out for compatibility issues in terms of graphics, sound, and CPU speed.

  • And I'm not really gonna talk about Windows XP, since it doesn't really have a proper DOS mode,

  • and that's getting into DOSBox territory, and you can start moving onto emulation and virtual machines anyway.

  • With all that being said, though, there are so many other points of view on these kinds of topics.

  • So, without further ado, let's get to our guests in no particular order,

  • and we're gonna start with Nostalgia Nerd.

  • NN: Hello, my name is Nostalgia Nerd, and when it comes to DOS gaming,

  • *this* is all I need.

  • This thing being a Compaq Presario 4100.

  • As the name suggests, under the hood is an Intel DX4,

  • a clock tripled 486, and really, the crème de la crème of Intel 486 processors.

  • I've slotted a Sound Blaster 16 and CD-ROM drive in mine, as well as upgrading to a whopping

  • 32 megabytes of RAM and two gigabyte hard drive to create a machine

  • that would have blown the minds and swollen tear ducts in 1994.

  • This machine is from the era of gaming I love the most.

  • I could always use a Pentium, but there's something about pushing the 486 to its limits that I find pleasing.

  • DOOM runs smooth as silk, and while it might struggle with some later games, I actually quite like that.

  • It also has a snazzy BIOS menu,

  • and I find the pairing of MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11 to be the peak of civilization.

  • Not to mention it's very aesthetically pleasing to look at,

  • even with a 17 inch CRT plonked on top.

  • All of these things combined make this my go-to machine for DOS gaming.

  • LGR: Well, as you might imagine, this is very much a viewpoint that I can get behind.

  • Sometimes a good, decent 486 is really all you need.

  • It's not the fastest, but it doesn't need to be. A lot of times, those limitations can be fun

  • and admittedly, tweaking and getting games to work that maybe shouldn't on a slightly slower computer

  • is a lot of the appeal of running games on older hardware, at least for me.

  • And really, a 100 megahertz DX4 machine is *plenty*, um, in fact, I'm also very fond of these Compaq Presarios.

  • Presarios or-

  • S- s- sudios or whatever-

  • they're very cool machines, I love my model 425 right here.

  • It's an all in one box, it's kind of a great middle ground of

  • having a full size desktop, but also smaller space it's taking up

  • and it has a CRT and it's very capable with the components inside.

  • But anyway, uh, let's move on to another point of view, and that is from Metal Jesus Rocks.

  • MJR: Hey guys, Metal Jesus here.

  • Now, in my retro gaming PC, I was looking for something

  • that perfectly encapsulated say, 1998 and 1999,

  • something that would run, say, Battle Bugs and also Septerra Core, and

  • all the rest of these games that I have behind me here.

  • Something that would run DOS and also Windows 98.

  • So what I ended up doing was starting with this Dell.

  • This is an XPS R400. It has a Intel Pentium II processor in there.

  • Then we maxed out the motherboard with 384 megabytes of RAM, I believe.

  • But as you guys know, it's the video card and the sound card

  • that determine how well all these games play.

  • So, for this machine,

  • we put a 3DFX Voodoo 3 in there, 3000 is the model number,

  • which works flawlessly both in DOS and in Windows.

  • For the sound card, I decided to not go with something exotic

  • because again, I'm looking for maximum compatibility both in DOS and Windows with every game I possibly can.

  • So I went with the standard.

  • I went with the Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16, and it works great.

  • The final must piece for my machine is the floppy drive because

  • so many of the games that I own are on eitherorfloppy.

  • The problem is is that my motherboard will only take one at a time, so,

  • right now I have a 3½ in there, but I do have a 5¼ that I can swap out if needed.

  • I'm very happy with it.

  • LGR: Alright, some very good points are brought up here because sometimes you wanna push it a little bit further than say a 486,

  • and go with something that can also do Windows 98, but

  • when you get into that era, or really, any era, sometimes you're gonna just have to compromise.

  • Like, in his case, where he was only able to run one type of floppy disk at the same time.

  • Sometimes, that can be due to the controller or the BIOS being used on the computer,

  • other times, you just don't have things working how it should, and it's weird.

  • I dunno, I've had that happen on several of my computers in that sort of late '90s, early 2000s era.

  • And then, the other thing to mention there is that uh,

  • while there are externalinch drives for you know, older computers and more modern ones as well over USB,

  • inch, you're kind of stuck with an internal one.

  • There are some adapters that let you useinch drives on USB,

  • but it's only a read-only thing for the most part.

  • Eh, writing is odd if you wanted to get it working externally, so something to keep in mind.

  • Well anyway, next person on the list is going to be Ancient DOS Games.

  • ADG: So when it comes to DOS gaming, you might think I'd be the kind of person who prefer to use real hardware.

  • But quite frankly, I just like emulating it on my Windows 10 machine.

  • Here's the thing:

  • If you wanna use real hardware for playing DOS games,

  • Sure, it's a perfectly valid option, it's just you kinda need like three different machines to cover the whole gamut.

  • You need something for the '80s, you need something for the early '90s, and you need something for the mid to late '90s.

  • So, with DOSBox, which is a DOS emulator, you can just... emulate all of those settings.

  • You can set your machine speed, you can set the type of video support, you can set up different audio devices.

  • And, you know wat the best part is?

  • Let's say you wanna play a game with a joystick.

  • If you're using a real DOS machine, you're limited to a four button joystick.

  • But with DOSBox,

  • you have access to pretty much *any* kind of joystick.

  • And the best part is that because you're not limited to four buttons,

  • you can just assign any button to any keyboard key, or heck,

  • put joystick support into a DOS game that doesn't even have it.

  • LGR: Well, here we're starting to get into the DOSBox side of things, as you might imagine, if you've ever seen his show.

  • He's always talking about all these different configurations that you can use

  • for every single game that he covers, it's like this is the type of thing you'll want to do to tweak DOSBox,

  • especially when you get to things like joysticks, because there are an awful lot of extra options for DOSBox,

  • which is nice, because...

  • He's right, you really do need at least three computers to get the best situation of these different eras

  • for the '80s, early '90s, mid '90s, and in my case, a 4th era, the late '90s - early 2000s.

  • and that's why I have so many dozens of PC setups lying around.

  • But, if you don't wanna do that, DOSBox is great.

  • It's customizable, expandable even.

  • And there are extra builds other than just the base DOSBox build,

  • one that I'm quite fond of is DOSBox-SVN.

  • It allows for things like 3DFX support and all sorts of extra cool stuff like that,

  • and, I mean, there are just plenty of them out there. I recommend diving into that world of DOSBox spinoffs.

  • Speaking of which, let's move on to the next person, which is PushingUpRoses.

  • PUR: When I was young, I had a Tandy 1000 and a lot of great games for it.

  • but when I upgraded to my Windows machine, I found I could no longer play them.

  • Compatibility issues were way more prominent in the '90s to early 2000s,

  • and when I found DOSBox, I found a brand-new way to play my old games on my new machines.

  • I would say it's what got me back into gaming.

  • For a while, I just had all these disks sitting around collecting dust, because my new machines could not play them.

  • It's definitely the most accessible and affordable option, seeing as though it's free,

  • and for me, it's the most efficient way to capture footage for my video work.

  • I also really like ScummVM, which is compatible with a lot of games both for DOS and for Windows,

  • and it has an easy-to-use interface.

  • Not everyone can afford or is tech-savvy enough to build an older DOS or Windows machine,

  • so I'm so glad we have options like DOSBox and ScummVM.

  • That way, everyone has a chance to enjoy their childhood games,

  • or even games they've always wanted to play and just didn't have the means.

  • In adulthood, I did pick up a few machines that I use for both DOS and Windows games,

  • but in terms of what I use the most, it's definitely emulation.

  • LGR: Well, absolutely agreeing there too. I mean, more DOSBox is good DOSBox, because

  • as fun as real hardware can be, as much as a treat it is,

  • it kind of is a treat, you know? You really have to commit to it if you want to use it.

  • And, that is a big reason why a lot of people end up

  • just not even going for older hardware at all and just sticking to DOSBox and..

  • As you can see, it works for people just *fine*!

  • You know? You have that and you also have

  • other more specialized programs for

  • individual games, like ScummVM, for instance, runs a ton of LucasArts, Sierra, and all sorts of adventure games

  • right there and they're often much better results than what you'd get in DOSBox.

  • Furthermore, there's things like source ports. And those are often fan-made projects

  • where they take uh, an existing source or take the codebase or graphics or assets from the game

  • and then update them to work with a modern system with a dedicated set of software.

  • It's just so good now, there's not really much reason to not do that, unless you're trying to go for, you know,

  • "emutating"

  • or uh, experiencing what the machine would have been like back in the day.

  • But anyway, next person on the list here we have Brutalmoose!

  • BM: My name is Ian. I run the YouTube channel Brutalmoose,

  • and when I like to play retro PC games, I do it on my HP Vectra VL400.

  • It's a computer that I bought on eBay and then customized after I got it.

  • It has an Intel Celeron 800 megahertz CPU,

  • the GPU is an NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti 4200,

  • it's got 512 megabytes of RAM,

  • and the sound card is a Sound Blaster AudioPCI 128,

  • and it's running Windows 98 Second Edition.

  • I'd love to put a faster processor in there, but I also kind of don't know what I'm doing.

  • Uh, so, it's kind of where it's at right now.

  • Aside from the upgrade limitations, which may really just be based around my limited knowledge,

  • it's been really great to run anything. It's a bit big and the horizontal shape is a little bit odd,

  • It'd be better if I had an actual CRT monitor to put on top of it,

  • uh, but I don't have the space for that right now,

  • so I just run it to my modern desktop monitor.

  • I like using it a lot more than software emulation, though that's just a personal preference.

  • And next up, I'm planning on building a Windows XP machine to kind of bridge the gap

  • between the Windows 98 games and the modern games.

  • I need an- I need an in-between right there.

  • Before I do that, though, I should probably learn more about how to build one of those.

  • Is that- is that all you wanted? I- I hope that's good, uh...

  • Yeee-

  • LGR: ...

  • Well, one more point here in the favor of pre-built computers, and I'm totally on board.

  • Getting something like this off of eBay or wherever is a great option, because usually

  • even if it's a little bit newer than the era you're wanting to play games on,

  • if it's not going beyond a certain point, it's still going to work for the vast majority of games

  • and in fact, the most common recommendation I give for people is just

  • get a Windows 98 computer,

  • stick some components in there that are gonna be compatible if you need them,

  • namely the sound card, so you can get some extra support.

  • However, like he also mentioned, upgrading is a bit of a concern.

  • And sometimes you're limited by the form factor, like

  • in the case of these Vectras, which, I really quite like. I have a lot of them myself, but...

  • sometimes you're limited by the space inside of there because it's all cramped

  • and it's just not as convenient to work on as a tower. These horizontal desktops, as nostalgic as I can get for them,

  • they can be a bit of an aggravation to work on internally.

  • That being said, let's go ahead and get Retro Man Cave's perspective.

  • RMC: My go-to classic hardware for playing older games?

  • For me, it starts with the 486 DX2-66.

  • It fits perfectly with the era of early '90s games that I like to play.

  • Powerful enough to tackle any game of that time,

  • while not being so fast that old games without speed limiting

  • don't run too quickly or can't easily be resolved.

  • I'm certainly not a purist when it comes to classic hardware. Nobody has fond memories of single speed CD-ROM drives.

  • I go for the fastest I can put in,

  • and an easily accessible CompactFlash drive replaces the hard disk.

  • making transferring games to it from a modern system an absolute breeze.

  • For audio, I'm a fan of the Audition 32, as advocated on Phil'sComputerLab.

  • It's fully Sound Blaster compatible, has great OPL3 sound, and most importantly,

  • has an MPU-401 output port for my favorite part of the whole setup:

  • the Roland SC-88 for sweet MIDI melodies.

  • With backward compatibility for MT-32 instrument tables but not custom patches,

  • it covers all of my music needs without breaking the bank on an MT-32.

  • My games never sounded nor played better.

  • LGR: Ahh, more 486 love. It makes my heart...

  • heartened.

  • You know, I dunno. I guess, it really is just because my first computer was a 486, but...

  • it's also just because a *ton* of games from the early to mid-'90s are going to run very well on there,

  • and you also have the ability to add a few convenient upgrades and...

  • that's all you need! You know, a CompactFlash setup and maybe a good sound card, an MPEG card or anything like that,

  • and you're ready to go! And of course, a good CD-ROM

  • and eh, I totally agree with him about not wanting to go with like a 1x or 2x,

  • they're just too slow to even be really nostalgically enjoyable,

  • unless you're trying to demonstrate how crappy things were *Chuckle* in these early iterations of hardware.

  • Uh, but yeah. That's just a great setup indeed, and in fact, also MIDI, he mentioned.

  • Uh, this Roland Sound Canvas, I absolutely recommend that as well if you can.

  • Uh, you may need a MIDI-compatible MPU-401 card installed,

  • or you can go for a sound card like the Audition that he mentioned right there.

  • I have one of those as well and it does work very nicely with MIDI.

  • You may need to use a program like SoftMPU

  • to get certain programs to work if they happen to require "intelligent mode," but

  • I've talked about that in previous videos.

  • Either way, awesome setup.

  • Uh, let's move on though to PhilsComputerLab!

  • PCL: Hey Clint, thank you for having me on your show!

  • Here's my custom-built 4-in-1 DOS and Windows 98 time machine.

  • It's based around a Super Socket 7 motherboard,

  • with the AMD K6-III+ processor,

  • which lets you toggle the caches and CPU multiplier, so you can slow it down

  • to a 386 and play those sensitive DOS games like Wing Commander,

  • but it also has enough power for early Windows 3D games like Unreal.

  • The video card I recommend is a 3DFX Voodoo 3.

  • Excellent DOS compatibility, sharp image, and it supports the Glide API.

  • The Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold and a MIDI interface card handle the sound.

  • I've also routed the CD audio signal to the back of the computer,

  • as everything goes into an external mixer.

  • And of course, a Roland MT-32 and a Sound Canvas.

  • I mix it up with some modern parts, so I'm using a modern ATX case,

  • power supply, a GoTek floppy emulator,

  • and an IDE to SATA adapter, with a drive bay for easy access.

  • So there you have it Clint, you should be able to play around ten years worth of retro games on this machine.

  • Thank you so much for having me on your show.

  • LGR: So this is a kind of setup that really intrigues me because I haven't exactly done it myself yet.

  • And that is a nice mixture of old and new components

  • working together to just make a streamlined, clean, uh very capable machine

  • without going too fast, without going too slow, it's kind of the best of both worlds of uh, modern tech

  • and older classic retro hardware and software.

  • I also like that he mentioned that you can disable the cache on there

  • and you don't have to worry about a turbo button or

  • sometimes a turbo button isn't enough. I have to disable the cache on my Woodgrain 486

  • when the turbo button isn't enough to get say, Wing Commander, working properly.

  • Games like that can be really tricky on faster hardware.

  • and it's also a thing where you may uh, want to run some software on top of that

  • and he didn't mention it, but I've used Mo'slow and Slowmo and

  • all sorts of other CPU limiting programs in DOS and Windows 95, with some decent success.

  • Uh, I've had less success with the Windows ones, but uh,

  • the DOS ones like Mo'Slo, yeah, sometimes that can do the trick.

  • Alright, well, let's move on to the next person here and that is The 8-Bit Guy.

  • 8BG: So what's my favorite MS-DOS gaming machine?

  • Well, ideally I think a 386 or 486 is

  • probably about the right speed to use for a gaming machine for MS-DOS, but

  • I don't have a lot of space around my house, so...

  • I don't really have a room for the full desktop setup and the CRT monitor and

  • stuff like that, so I tend to like laptops, and um...

  • so this is what I use, this is a 486 laptop

  • and it has the TFT active matrix screen,

  • its resolution is 640x480, so it's perfect for MS-DOS games.

  • Now, granted, it doesn't have any kind of internal sound card, but...

  • there is a certain charm to listening to the um,

  • the different PC speaker sounds, which pretty much every MS-DOS game had as a fallback if you didn't have a sound card.

  • BUT, if I'm not the mood to listen to that, I do have two have two other options here I sometimes use uh, this is a uh...

  • Covox Sound Device, it plugs into the parallel port, it works with quite a few games, and

  • uh, this is a brand-new product that I just got, which gives you AdLib compatibility on the parallel port, so uh,

  • that's two ways I can help to give me a little bit more authentic gaming experience on this laptop, but um...

  • Yeah, so this is definitely my favorite MS-DOS machine.

  • Yeah, this is exactly the kind of thing that I was hoping that David would dive into his segment, and he did.

  • Uh, laptops and portables. I mean, they're a fantastic area for vintage computer exploration!

  • It's something that I've been getting into more myself in recent years, and

  • I just think it's really fascinating because even though you don't have as much as an upgradability path,

  • you know, it's not as versatile as a desktop.

  • It does take up a lot less space and there's something really

  • fascinating to me about having

  • all these capabilities in a nice little compact package.

  • Of course, there are obvious downsides like the sound devices being limited that he mentioned.

  • And then sort of the later ones that often have

  • very good sound chips built in, with AdLib and Sound Blaster and Wave Blaster compatibility

  • but is also paired with a really bad scaler.

  • So that means that you're running an older DOS game or an older Windows game that's a lower resolution

  • and it tries to scale it up on the screen, and it looks like garbage.

  • Sure, you can plug in an external monitor, but then you're kind of getting beyond the point of using a laptop in the first place.

  • when your concern is space, but

  • Anyway, that being said, uh, laptops are a great option if you're looking to get into a vintage computer setup,

  • but don't wanna commit to a whole lot of space taken up

  • and setup and things like that. And they're often pretty affordable, too, if you look around in the right places.

  • And to finish this out here, last but not least, we have Ross Scott of Ross's Game Dungeon and Accursed Farms.

  • AF: Hey, Clint!

  • So what do I do to play old games?

  • Well, for DOS, it's easy.

  • DOSBox handles almost everything.

  • I use the program D-Fend Reloaded as a frontend to make life easier for configuring everything.

  • Sometimes, I get pops in the sound.

  • *POP*

  • I hate that...

  • but I can usually fight that by tweaking the values.

  • If a game has MIDI music, sometimes I use custom soundfonts to make it sound better.

  • BUT, finding the perfect soundfont is the path to madness.

  • For Windows 95 and 98 games, I first try compatibility mode.

  • That *usually* doesn't work.

  • After that, I run VMWare with old Windows installed inside it.

  • For hardware, I don't use anything special because honestly, legacy parts make me feel trapped

  • because all parts eventually fail, and I like knowing I can always play an old game with just off-the-shelf parts.

  • I'm actually worried where we're heading for games from the past ten years or so.

  • Even on VMWare for 3D accelerated games,

  • I can't force features like anisotropic filtering or antialiasing like back when those games came out.

  • so they can look worse now than they used to,

  • I hope the industry finds an answer to this as time goes on.

  • HELP!

  • LGR: AAAHH!!!

  • Oh man, okay, so... *Chuckles* here's the thing:

  • Uh, a lot of his reasons for using virtualization, VMs and emulators and stuff,

  • are the same exact reasons I *don't* use them, and that is because some of the things that you want to do on there,

  • they just don't work very well. You get weird little bugs as far as video and sound glitches

  • you can't do uh... AA and things like that, enhancements you could on original hardware.

  • (At least not yet). And yet, I totally understand why he doesn't even want to bother with old hardware.

  • It is kind of restricting and...

  • there is a time limit on this stuff, I mean, these things are not going to last forever.

  • And sure, there's a lot of upgrades and uh repairs

  • and sort of refurbishments that you can do to older hardware to make it last

  • potentially for another couple of decades, but...

  • beyond that, I mean, I don't know. There's- There's a lot of components that *are* going to die.

  • And the future is genuinely concerning to me because the virtualization and emulation scene

  • is not quite up to snuff *at all* for things from around 1996 to 2002 or so

  • on the PC, a lot of those Windows games that are just...

  • completely messed up, especially those that are 3D accelerated

  • or rely on some sort of weird DirectX shenanigans and all sorts of other things.

  • It's a real pain, um,

  • I mean, and something else that he also didn't mention is running these games on WINE.

  • It's odd, a lot of Windows games, the best way to get them working nowadays is to run Linux. *Laughter*

  • Um, as annoying as VMs and emulators can be to use,

  • it's still less aggravating and time-consuming than original hardware.

  • I've got some confused comments over the years from people being like,

  • "I wanna get into original hardware because emulators, or virtual machines, are so uh, irksome to set up" and...

  • You know, man, if you think those are bothersome, uh... *Chuckles*

  • There- It's nothing compared to getting like a 386 or 486 and diving into a world of

  • IRQ conflicts and Config.sys problems and just memory constraints and

  • everything.

  • It takes dedication and a lot of time and resources to get into real hardware,

  • and I completely understand if you don't want to, which is why I'm glad there are so many more options these days.

  • Well, that's pretty much it for this episode of LGR and once again,

  • thank you to everyone who was a part of this.

  • Uh, all these awesome YouTubers are awesome, so I appreciate it.

  • And also, thank you, the viewers,

  • for sending me all these questions related to this stuff that

  • hopefully I've covered a good majority of it in this video, or at least,

  • touched on a lot of things. I know there's a lot more as well,

  • that's I just haven't even gotten to yet, that probably would make sense for another video entirely.

  • And there's also the subject of buying these things and finding old hardware and software and

  • components that we didn't even really get to!

  • So uh, yeah, leave your questions in the comments

  • and uh, maybe your own setups, and what's worked for you and what hasn't,

  • I would love to hear it and I'm sure you're gonna say it anyway, so bring it on!

  • This stuff is endlessly fascinating to me and I'm sure we'll be getting to more of it in the future.

  • And if you did enjoy this episode, then thank you very much!

  • Perhaps you would like to see one of my others that are linked to right here.

  • And also, be sure to check out the full list of everyone that was in the video, uh, besides me! *Chuckles*

  • They're all fantastic as far as I'm concerned, so check 'em out!

  • Some really good content there, if you're not familiar with 'em.

  • And as always, thank you very much for watching.

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