Originally posted by Billybong Would a VESA driver like the old Scitech program be worth a play with??
Possibly, but that's like asking "Will surgery cure my headache?" (IOW, SciTech stuff can cause as much trouble as it fixes).
And assuming I fluke the graphics would I then have to set up the sound card as per the olden days, in the Autoexec
with port, IRQ etc??
Yes and No. Since it's DOS, it still needs to "see" the proper hardware (IE: If it needs 8 Megs EMS memory, you have to make sure it's getting 8 Megs of EMS memory).
But not everything is the same, you'll not be dealing with AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS (although you might have to set up custom AUTOEXEC.NT and CONFIG.NT under certain circumstances).
(can you do this with a SB Live!!....
Your actual sound card isn't really relevant as NT (XP) will not allow direct access. Everything must go through the OS. If you haven't been told already, there is no DOS in XP. You just have a command prompt that emulates some of the functions of DOS. Whatever's not emulated, won't work. That's why getting old DOS titles working in NT/2000/XP is such a major thing.
I found my old copies of Ultima Underworld I and II,...
Hrrmm. Kind of a pain, some can get it to work. Others, not.
Don't know...Although I've read at least one post that it was easy to set up in XP.
Ultima VII, Wing Commander Privateer..... and more!!
I think masochist is going to be my middle name.
Ah, yes. I see much grief in your future. Fortunately, for you, EXULT has hit v1.0 (although it's not a perfect replica: combat is different and there's the occasional "oddity"), so at least you have an easy way out for Ultima 7.
Privateer? Say Hello to my "Little Friend", the Dual-Boot. Easy to set up on a new install, a major pain with XP already installed. There are still a number of titles that simply will not run properly (or at all) unless they see a DOS/Win9x environment. You either have to give them that environment for real (Dual-Boot with DOS/Win9x) or emulate it (like "Virtual PC" >0 and terrible performance).
In case you're wondering, Privateer is one of those titles, "Hates NT".
By the way FBPro 95 works first time in a dosbox with VDM...hmmm maybe 95 was a very good year after all,
That's because it's using a standard VGA screenmode instead of VESA.
(Now I wonder if this copy of Ghenghis Khan II will work...??).
It should. I would prefer emulating the Amiga version myself.