Game Specs Testing \ VOGONS

Game Specs Testing

Topic actions

Post a reply

First post, by Karm

Posted on 2018-05-06, 11:00

Karm Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 56
Joined: 2017-03-05, 17:34

Hello there!

I was wondering what the minimum specs for late old DOS PC games have been.
So I started digging around and came to this conclusion:
486dx2/66 (of course...)
8 MB RAM
1x or 2x Speed
1 or 2MB Graphics
50-300 MB Hard Drive (depend on the installation option)
Soundcard (Soundblaster compatible, Pro Spectrum, WSS, Gravis, Roland, Yamaha etc.)

While I saw a lot of 8 MB RAM I also saw Broken Sword having a 4 MB Spec (mobygames).
Because I looked in the Folder on the original CD ROM I was a little bit confused, because there was a Wav file on it with a size of aroun 5 MB.
Knowing that streaming sound was not supported by the used sound library and that probably the whole file had to be loaded into memory, I was a little confused.

So I started up my old 5x86 and using emsdsk and xmsdsk determined how much RAM the program really needs...
As I thought the game needed at least 6 MB RAM, so that the setup or the game would start.

Right now I would like to know if you could check if one of you could run Broken Sword using just 4 MB and if you could help me test, how much RAM other late DOS games really need.

Reply 1 of 4, by F2bnp

Posted on 2018-05-06, 11:09

F2bnp Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 3499
Joined: 2007-09-23, 10:19

Pretty sure Broken Sword requires 8MB and the sequel required 16MB. Interestingly, the European box does not state RAM requirements, nor does the manual. I'm a little confused on the topic though, are you looking to find out about system requirements of late DOS games in general or just Broken Sword in general?

Broken Sword, being a 2D adventure game, has much lower system requirements than 3D games of the time.

Reply 2 of 4, by Karm

Posted on 2018-05-06, 11:49

Karm Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 56
Joined: 2017-03-05, 17:34

Looking through all the Box pics on mobygames there are just 2 with RAM specs. One states 8 MB one 4 MB.

BS is just an example. I'm trying to find out what min. specs were common at the end of the DOS era especially when it comes to 486 system (because for me a Pentium is a Win95 machine).

I'm trying to find out, if it was more to use 4, 8 or 16 MB RAM, how much hard drive space was acceptable and so on.
So I'm not just looking at the highest specs but at the standard minimum specs.
For example a 486dx2/66 was a common min. Spec for a longe time, like the Pentium 90.

But I don't only want to look at the specs written on the boxes, because I did this before, and in the case of BS the written specs have been wrong or in other cases to low to be enjoyable (to sell the product of course).

Reply 3 of 4, by leileilol

Posted on 2018-05-06, 12:07

leileilol Offline

Rank l33t++

Rank: l33t++
Posts: 11803
Joined: 2006-12-16, 18:03

From box spec observations from memory of the usual hyped games, assume the usual VGA/SB compatible for the rest:

1994 - 386DX 33MHz, 4mb
1995 - 486DX2 66MHz, 8mb
1996 - 486DX4 100MHz or Pentium 75, 8mb
1997 - Pentium 90MHz with 16MB
1998 - Pentium MMX 166MHz with 32mb

long live PCem

Reply 4 of 4, by F2bnp

Posted on 2018-05-06, 12:10

F2bnp Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 3499
Joined: 2007-09-23, 10:19

leileilol wrote:
From box spec observations from memory of the usual hyped games, assume the usual VGA/SB compatible for the rest: […]
Show full quote
From box spec observations from memory of the usual hyped games, assume the usual VGA/SB compatible for the rest:

1994 - 386DX 33MHz, 4mb
1995 - 486DX2 66MHz, 8mb
1996 - 486DX4 100MHz or Pentium 75, 8mb
1997 - Pentium 90MHz with 16MB
1998 - Pentium MMX 166MHz with 32mb

This is quite accurate.

Go to top of page Go to top of page

Back to Software

Main menu

Common searches