PC Gaming = World of Suck

[CougTek]

Doing housekeeping at the shop, I found a box with Day Of The Tentacle and MechWarrior 3. The first is seventeen years old, the second only eleven.

I would propose them to Merc, but I'm sure he already has them. And nope, they are not in a weird foreign language like French.

 

[Mercutio]

I decided that I need to build a retro-gaming system. DOS gaming is easy enough to do on any sort of computer, but I had a real problem with early DirectX titles. A lot of them puke on screen resolutions above 1024x768 or on NT-based OSes.

My main requirement was that I had to have hardware supported by Windows 98, but still capable for gaming.

I wound up with a P4/3.2GHhz on an i865 motherboard, 1GB RAM (overkill for Win98), 160GB IDE drive, AWE64 and a Radeon 9700 driving a 15" 1024x768 flat panel.

The trick in all this is that all my components except the video card wound up being new in box parts. Some of it was just crap I had sitting around. I had to go hunting for a new motherboard, but it wasn't hard to find. It was a lot easier to find a new socket 478 motherboard than it was to find a new Socket A, though.

The whole setup is pretty sweet for stuff like the old Microprose Magic: the Gathering game, or Mechwarrior 2.

The only way I can think to make it better would be to add in an SSD.

 

[ddrueding]

I bet that machine is wicked fast. Would be interesting to see how fast it boots with an SSD.

 

[Mercutio]

I think it took longer to install the Catalyst drivers than it did to install Windows 98.

 

[MaxBurn]

Ah yes, the good old days.

 

[timwhit]

Is there a reason you can't run a virtual machine to play these games? I thought certain virtualization software package supported OpenGL and DirectX.

 

[Mercutio]

Is there a reason you can't run a virtual machine to play these games? I thought certain virtualization software package supported OpenGL and DirectX.

VMware Server, Virtualbox and VirtualPC do not provide that support.

 

[timwhit]

http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html#guestadd-3d

 

[Chewy509]

Been having some fun with Wormux, Pingus and Neverball recently between lectures.

Wormux = Worms clone.
Pingus = Lemmings clone.

 

[Chewy509]

http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html#guestadd-3d

I know VirtualBox supports 3D acceleration for some guest OSes, but since I assume Merc needs to run Win98SE, he's out of luck there. (OpenGL and DirectX hardware acceleration is XP/Vista 32bit only at the moment).

 

[sechs]

VMware also supports 3d acceleration, but I expect that there is no support for non-NT-based Windows OSes, as well.

 

[Mercutio]

Yes, it's the combination of DirectX + Win98 that is specifically problematic. Virtualbox was actually the setup I tried first.

Plus now I have a nice non-virtual computer set aside for it.

 

[Mercutio]

I always like playing Worms against the computer with the destructive power of all the weapons roughly doubled. That made drilling through the landscape with a minigun a valid tactic.

Man that was a great game.

 

[Chewy509]

I always like playing Worms against the computer with the destructive power of all the weapons roughly doubled. That made drilling through the landscape with a minigun a valid tactic.

Man that was a great game.

You should give Wormux a go then... Sending in the Super Tux is always fun.

PS. To play against the PC, call the second team "computer". It's in the docs, but not very well labeled.

 

[CougTek]

It's in the docs, but not very well labeled.

Like everything else in the Unix/Linux world.

 

[Chewy509]

Like everything else in the Unix/Linux world.

:lol: ...

 

[Chewy509]

Just saw this linked from slashdot: Microsoft to reboot 2x games. Ages of Empires and Flight Simulator.

FS will be now called 'Flight': http://www.microsoft.com/games/flight/

Just passing on the info as I know a few here used to play FS.

 

[ddrueding]

I read that as well, and am anxious as to how they will do it. If there is even the slightest thought to making it playable on a console, the whole idea is toast. The accuracy/realism/difficulty was what made it fun. You really did have the sense that you were developing a skill.

 

[ddrueding]

The 5970/4GB is here...for $1200.

 

[Chewy509]

The 5970/4GB is here...for $1200.

For those with $$$$$$$$ to spend, there is always the nVidia Quadro 6000 w/6GB RAM. (due on Oct 2010 with RRP of $4999). Throw in some 3D glasses for 3D gaming and you should be set.

 

[CougTek]

I almost never buy computer games, but when (if) this one is trully released next year, I'll make an exception.

 

[Mercutio]

Looks like they're playing on Xboxes, or at least Xbox controllers.

 

[Mercutio]

Apparently gog.com died over the weekend. That is really too bad. I was really hoping they would continue to grow and to suck less than Steam.

 

[Handruin]

The good news is steam doesn't suck. The sad news is you're unwilling to give it a chance.

 

[Mercutio]

The good news is steam doesn't suck. The sad news is you're unwilling to give it a chance.

I gave it a chance. I'm not giving it another.

 

[Handruin]

When did you give it a chance? There are free games you can download if you don't want to commit money to anything.

 

[Mercutio]

I had Half Life 2.

I have used Steam to give away game codes I've gotten from buying hardware, but I do that on their web site. I'm not going to install their client until I'm sure I can uninstall it without impacting any of the games I want to play.

 

[Handruin]

You can't play a game activated with Steam without using the client. Using the client isn't that big of a deal. It also keeps my games up to date with patches which is a nice feature. Try some of the free games and demos so that you don't have to worry about losing money.

 

[Mercutio]

Until I can de-couple the games from Steam, and until they tell me exactly what data they're collecting about me and my activities, it meets my definition of malware. I'm sorry, but I don't want that on my computer.

I do have a Steam account that I use to send legal copies of games to other people through their web site, but I'm not willing to put up with the software on my own systems.

 

[ddrueding]

Steam is useful, and it is evil (same as Facebook IMHO). I have given in to Steam because I like near-instant gratification and hate going to physical stores. I have avoided Facebook because I don't like people as much as I like games.

 

[Mercutio]

Apparently I don't like either of them enough.

 

[Sol]

Apparently I don't like either of them enough.

I'm not a fan of Steam but my gaming machine doesn't generally have any information on it that I'm worried about having collected and I'm willing to compromise occasionally for really good deals.

I hope you weren't looking forward to playing Civilization V though, it seems that even the retail boxed version will require Steam to run...

 

[ddrueding]

Civ V is downloading now. I'll be back in a couple weeks

 

[LunarMist]

How many TB is that download? :bsmurf:

 

[ddrueding]

4.2GB IIRC.

 

[LunarMist]

So you were back in a few minutes with the super-speed connection then?

 

[Stereodude]

So you were back in a few minutes with the super-speed connection then?

Just a guess, but I believe the time frame given was in reference to playing the game, not downloading it. :rabbit:

 

[ddrueding]

Just a guess, but I believe the time frame given was in reference to playing the game, not downloading it. :rabbit:

10-4

 

[Mercutio]

I fired up a game of Alpha Centauri last night. It was Academician Proctor Zakharov's pleasure to deliver a personalized beating to Sister Miriam Godwinson.

 

[LiamC]

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20091205

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