So far all the DOS games I've installed Wolf3d, Duke3d, DOOM, Tomb Raider all seem to run everything OK from their executable in Win98.
Do I gain anything from running these games from pure Dos mode; ie restarting the PC and booting into DOS?
Just curious what disadvantages/ advantages there are. I presume some Dos games won't run at all from Win98se ?
Thanks 😀
Most DOS games should work under Win98. Advantages of running from DOS mode:
* The game gets full run on system resources.
* More compatibility
Advantages from within Windows:
* Multi-tasking: you can run other applications in the background while playing the game
* Less memory needs to be used for DOS-based device drivers, as Windows can provide most of their functionality
Does this help?
Joseph Rose, a.k.a. Harry Potter
Working magic in the computer community
Harry Potter wrote on 2023-08-19, 19:30:Most DOS games should work under Win98. Advantages of running from DOS mode: […]
Most DOS games should work under Win98. Advantages of running from DOS mode:
* The game gets full run on system resources.
* More compatibilityAdvantages from within Windows:
* Multi-tasking: you can run other applications in the background while playing the game
* Less memory needs to be used for DOS-based device drivers, as Windows can provide most of their functionalityDoes this help?
Hiya that really does clear things up for me. It's nice to play a DOS game for a bit then hop in straight to another game. I don't really want to have to use DOS unless I really need too. Double click and done. 😀
Win9x and Me are based on DOS. You can also create a boot menu to boot directly into DOS.
A-Trend ATC-1020 V1.1 ❇ Cyrix 6x86 150+ @ 120MHz ❇ 32MiB EDO RAM (8MiBx4) ❇ A-Trend S3 Trio64V2 2MiB
Aztech Pro16 II-3D PnP ❇ 8.4GiB Quantum Fireball ❇ Win95 OSR2 Plus!
If the game works as intended from within windows, there isn't really any need to boot into DOS proper.
Win 9x/ME are not exactly DOS "based". DOS is used to bootstrap windows (and also as a compatibility layer for 16-bit drivers). After that it works independently.
Other advantage? is simply nostalgia.
Watching the lines of text as it goes though the boot process.
But yeh main reason I boot into dos is
A) Games run better in pure dos on slower PC's
B) Network games can't find each other if the 486 is in dos and the PIII is in Windows
C) Some games (but very few) just don't like windows
I think there might be a small benefit to using DOS if you are using compact flash or an SD card for storage. Windows 98 would be expected to write to the hard drive more, so you wouldn't expect your card to last as long. Personally, I've never had to replace a CF or SD card in a Windows 98 machine, so it's not a big concern for me. Moreover, CF and SD storage is dirt cheap, so I'm not worried about cost. I've seen some people suggest that you should set "ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1" to preserve your storage longer, but I've seen others say it does nothing.
Someone more knowledgeable than me could probably give you a better idea if booting into pure DOS would save any wear and tear on your storage. I don't know how often Windows 98 uses the swap file, especially if your just gaming. Another question would be if Windows 98 writes much to disk when it is starting up or shutting down. If it does, it wouldn't surprise me if constantly rebooting would actually decrease the lifespan on a CF card.
All that aside, I prefer to set my Windows 98 systems to boot straight to DOS anyways. I use Linux for work, so I feel at home on the command line. If I need to run a program with command line parameters, I just need to type them in. I also find it quicker to navigate between different directories. I also don't have to make room on my desk for a mouse unless I'm using a program that needs one. I only use Windows 98 if a program needs it or if I need to copy a file from a USB stick. For me, booting straight into DOS is more convenient and I just need to type Win to launch Windows.
