VirtualBox is already not an option as that's more designed for the NT line as a guest when it comes to Windows.

I personally use VirtualPC though I never used VMWare so I don't know how that fares for 9x.

leileilol wrote:

VirtualBox is already not an option as that's more designed for the NT line as a guest when it comes to Windows.

I personally use VirtualPC though I never used VMWare so I don't know how that fares for 9x.

Can you run 3d accellerated games on VirtualPC with windows 98?

Only if you use D3D/OGL software emulation by a 3rd party which isn't worth it.

The "best" option for D3D for old 9x games under emulation is to use Wine in Linux. Even then it's still shitty since Wine compatibility is very spotty. If you stick with the games listed as working in the Wine Compatibility database then you should be fine. Don't try games that aren't in the list or listed as not working tho you'll just be wasting your time. Obviously using this method it will not be as easy as playing the games if you were using Windows.

DosFreak wrote:

Only if you use D3D/OGL software emulation by a 3rd party which isn't worth it.

Dam. 🙁

If you have a mac you could use Wineskin which has decent compatibility with windows 98 and especially direct 3d within windows 98. if not get a better OS 😉

Wineskin is the same as Wine, just in pretty clothes. Same compatibility issues as lock stock Wine with some added problems that are exclusive to wine on OSX.

The problem with virtualization of Windows 9x is that none of the Virtualization companies have seen the nned for 3d accelaration for that platform ;(

Someone should tell the VM makers why the hell do we need only DirectX 9 support under virtualization. We need exactly the opposite.

Procyon wrote:

I need Windows 98 because I want to play some of my old games: Flying Corps Gold, Su27 and a load of others I can't get running on XP or Vista.

We've had threads about some of those before. Su-27 Flanker ver. 1.5 (win95): no sounds in winxp , for instance.

filipetolhuizen wrote:

Someone should tell the VM makers why the hell do we need only DirectX 9 support under virtualization. We need exactly the opposite.

Wholeheartedly agreed. It's DX7 and prior that I'm concerned about, especially with DX10-era graphics cards becoming increasingly broken with such games. (Just try to get Heavy Gear II running on a modern computer, I dare you. At best, the graphics won't be culled properly and look messed up. At worst, the game will instantly crash before it begins to load any 3D parts.)

But it's not only graphics that I'm worried about, but sound. We're still stuck without any DirectSound3D support whatsoever. That means no EAX or A3D support, something I refuse to accept. There's no reason a newer computer should be missing out on anything compared to an older one.

The whole point of virtual machines should be to save me from having to keep around older desktops specifically built to run older games and software in general, and for that, they fail miserably in their current state.

I hate to say it, but the only solution right now is to put a Win9x-era desktop together and run those finicky games on that...while DOSBox is an acceptable solution for the majority of DOS games, no such viable alternative exists for Win9x-era games yet.

I think new dosbox version supporting voodoo may cover most your win9x glide/direct3d needs. If it ever appears. So you can only wait 😉

NamelessPlayer wrote:

Just try to get Heavy Gear II running on a modern computer, I dare you.

At least one person managed it, apparently.
another lost soul trying to get a game working - HEAVY GEAR II

WineD3D might do something, but it's kind of hard to tell.
D3D to open gl wrapper

At least the glide wrappers, specially nGlide, are great. It's getting close to 100% working.

I'm running Win98SE successfully as a guest OS inside VMware Player. Before it I tried VirtualPC but it gave problems with some games (I forget what exactly now) so I switched to VMware Player which on the whole runs well for what I want it to do.

I use it to run the following games:
Warlords III DLR
Sid Meir's Alpha Centauri
Diablo
Achtung Spitfire
Close Combat 1
Capitalism Plus
Balance of Power

What I have not been able to get working in VMware player is:

Close Combat 2
Talonsoft's 12 O'clock High (aka Bombing the Reich)

All listed games are having WinDIB/DDRAW renderer. But anything using Direct3d/OpenGL isn't supported currently in guest Win9x.