Specifically what build games have you tried?
Build engine can be pretty hard on some hardware, but at non VESA resolutions you should be able to eek out a playable experience with most titles.
Higher resolutions can bring PIII/Athlon rigs to their knees in some cases however.

ThermalLance89 wrote on 2023-12-07, 21:46:

Hi. […]
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Hi.

So, I've been fixing my childhood computer to the best of my abilities and available hardware to me.

The problem I have is that build engine games stutters and overall performs rather poorly regardless of resolution. Explosions for example sends the framerate in the single digit. It happens regardless of resolution.

Here are the specs of the computer:

IBM PC 350
Intel Pentium 166mhz
64mb Ram
SoundBlaster AWE64 PCI
The videocard is, I believe, a 4mb Matrox MGA Millenium. PCI
850mb hard drive.

Is the hardware to blame? Could the videocard not be fast enough? Might it be the harddrive that is getting old and should be replaced?

Also, are you running from within Windows or true DOS?

Jasin Natael wrote on 2023-12-07, 22:45:

ThermalLance89 wrote on 2023-12-07, 21:46:

Hi. […]
Show full quote

Hi.

So, I've been fixing my childhood computer to the best of my abilities and available hardware to me.

The problem I have is that build engine games stutters and overall performs rather poorly regardless of resolution. Explosions for example sends the framerate in the single digit. It happens regardless of resolution.

Here are the specs of the computer:

IBM PC 350
Intel Pentium 166mhz
64mb Ram
SoundBlaster AWE64 PCI
The videocard is, I believe, a 4mb Matrox MGA Millenium. PCI
850mb hard drive.

Is the hardware to blame? Could the videocard not be fast enough? Might it be the harddrive that is getting old and should be replaced?

Also, are you running from within Windows or true DOS?

I tried from Windows then I did "Restart in MS-DOS mode" from the start menu. I'm using Windows 98 currently. I would install straight DOS 6.22 if I could but my floppy drive is acting up and im waiting for the replacement to arrive before I do so.

Jasin Natael wrote on 2023-12-07, 22:44:

Specifically what build games have you tried?
Build engine can be pretty hard on some hardware, but at non VESA resolutions you should be able to eek out a playable experience with most titles.
Higher resolutions can bring PIII/Athlon rigs to their knees in some cases however.

Shadow Warrior and Blood. Understandably Blood was considerably worse. But, both had the same issue.

Is the processor actually running at its rated speed, or might it accidentally have been set to a slower one? Did you try any other demanding titles (e.g. Quake), and did they run as well as expected?

elszgensa wrote on 2023-12-07, 23:46:

Is the processor actually running at its rated speed, or might it accidentally have been set to a slower one? Did you try any other demanding titles (e.g. Quake), and did they run as well as expected?

Unfortunately, I do not own Quake in a format I could use to run on that computer. I'll try to see about the cpu speed. I did have to change the CMOS battery so perhaps some settings in bios are out of whack. I'll take a look.

ThermalLance89 wrote on 2023-12-07, 21:46:

SoundBlaster AWE64 PCI

this is the most unusual factor to me in this case

There's no way a P166 should be slow for a Build game - unless you're intentionally running beyond 800x600 or using a Rendition in VGA. The hard drive doesn't imply the possible FAT32 caching issue either

leileilol wrote on 2023-12-08, 04:48:

ThermalLance89 wrote on 2023-12-07, 21:46:

SoundBlaster AWE64 PCI

this is the most unusual factor to me in this case

There's no way a P166 should be slow for a Build game - unless you're intentionally running beyond 800x600 or using a Rendition in VGA. The hard drive doesn't imply the possible FAT32 caching issue either

Got confused for the soundcard. Was an ISA card.

I really don't know what's up with this computer tbh. Perhaps there's something funky with my installation. But I can't do much about it until my floppy replacement arrives.

Try loading UNIVBE before running the game. I remember this giving a slight speed boost back in the day.

As others have mentioned, Build engine games are pretty demanding, so don't expect to get much more than 30 FPS at 640x480 on that system.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-12-08, 06:47:

Try loading UNIVBE before running the game. I remember this giving a slight speed boost back in the day.

As others have mentioned, Build engine games are pretty demanding, so don't expect to get much more than 30 FPS at 640x480 on that system.

Oh, I don't expect more. I just find it odd that it ain't stable. I could swear it used to run better but,then, my memory might be playing tricks on me.