VOGONS


What games are recommended for a 386?

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First post, by TheRetroGamer26

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Hi, Did you have any recommended game to play on 386DX 33 Mhz System?

Reply 1 of 21, by cyclone3d

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Wing Commander
Wing Commander II
Wolfenstein 3D
Commander Keen (all of them I think)
Duke Nukem
Duke Nukem II
Galactix
Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure
Jazz Jackrabbit
Mech Warrior

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 3 of 21, by TheRetroGamer26

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cyclone3d wrote:
Wing Commander Wing Commander II Wolfenstein 3D Commander Keen (all of them I think) Duke Nukem Duke Nukem II Galactix Cosmo's C […]
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Wing Commander
Wing Commander II
Wolfenstein 3D
Commander Keen (all of them I think)
Duke Nukem
Duke Nukem II
Galactix
Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure
Jazz Jackrabbit
Mech Warrior

Thank you

Reply 4 of 21, by TheRetroGamer26

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collector wrote:

Wrong forum. This forum is for DOS games on *newer systems*. You should ask old hardware related questions here: Marvin, the Paranoid Android

I am apologize because i posted it on wrong forum. but what's new systems mean? like Pentium 3 ?

Reply 5 of 21, by collector

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Modern hardware and operating systems. Say an around an i3 or higher with Win7+, OSX or a late Linux. Certainly no later than P4/XP. Note what this board, VOGONS, is named stands for: Very Old Games On Newer Systems. The retro stuff is an after thought, but has been given its own set of subforums here: Marvin, the Paranoid Android

The Sierra Help Pages -- New Sierra Game Installers -- Sierra Game Patches -- New Non-Sierra Game Installers

Reply 7 of 21, by tayyare

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These below were the most memorable ones that I had been playing on 386 class machines during the days (an SX16 and later a DX40)

Wing Commander 1 & 2
Wolfenstein 3D & Spear of Destiny
Doom
Corridor 7
Blake Stone
Rise of The Triad
Comanche Maximum Overkill
Alone in the Dark
Larry 1, 2, 3, 5 (and 4, if you can find the missing floppies)
King Quest 1, 2
Space Quest 1, 2, 3, 4
Police Quest 1, 2
All kinds of Tetrises
Deathtrack
Grandprix
NBA Basketball
Simcity
Civilization
F29 Retalliator
Syndicate
X-Wing
The Incredible Machines
X-COM
Prince of Perisa 1,2
Indiana Jones and Last Crusade
Out of This World
Settlers
Dune II

You can also check this:

http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/dos/1993/

I think most of this list can be playable on a 386DX40 with ease. Anything older is already a sure thing.

Last edited by tayyare on 2018-04-05, 10:00. Edited 1 time in total.

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Adaptec AHA29160
3com 3C905B-TX
Gotek+CF Reader
MSDOS 6.22+Win 3.11/95 OSR2.1/98SE/ME/2000

Reply 8 of 21, by Cyberdyne

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Well Doom and Jazz Jackrabbit are not "playable", but if you are a masochist, then go for it.

I am aroused about any X86 motherboard that has full functional ISA slot. I think i have problem. Not really into that original (Turbo) XT,286,386 and CGA/EGA stuff. So just a DOS nut.
PS. If I upload RAR, it is a 16-bit DOS RAR Version 2.50.

Reply 9 of 21, by tayyare

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Cyberdyne wrote:

Well Doom and Jazz Jackrabbit are not "playable", but if you are a masochist, then go for it.

Doom was very much playable with a 386DX40 + 4MB RAM. Or we were thinking like that during the times 🤣

A 386DX33 should'nt be that far.

GA-6VTXE PIII 1.4+512MB
Geforce4 Ti 4200 64MB
Diamond Monster 3D 12MB SLI
SB AWE64 PNP+32MB
120GB IDE Samsung/80GB IDE Seagate/146GB SCSI Compaq/73GB SCSI IBM
Adaptec AHA29160
3com 3C905B-TX
Gotek+CF Reader
MSDOS 6.22+Win 3.11/95 OSR2.1/98SE/ME/2000

Reply 10 of 21, by OldCat

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Cyberdyne wrote:

Well Doom and Jazz Jackrabbit are not "playable", but if you are a masochist, then go for it.

Depends on the machine and graphics card. I remember playing Doom just fine on 386DX/40MHz with Weitek coprocessor. At the same time, I have played Doom on 486DX33 recently and it lagged. So, your mileage might vary, but I would give it a try - might turn out very playable.

Reply 11 of 21, by firage

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A couple nice lists posted already.
I'd add even more Apogee/Epic shareware titles. Epic Pinball is notable; many sound options will be hard to run on a 386, though.
Castles II
King's Bounty
Lemmings, including Oh No! More Lemmings and Holiday Lemmings
Master of Orion
Panzer General
Red Baron
Star Control II
Street Rod 2
Sword of the Samurai

collector wrote:

The retro stuff is an after thought, but has been given its own set of subforums here: Marvin, the Paranoid Android

Came later, but is now by far the main purpose here as counted in posts. 😀

Last edited by firage on 2018-04-05, 13:52. Edited 4 times in total.

My big-red-switch 486

Reply 12 of 21, by Cyberdyne

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OldCat wrote:
Cyberdyne wrote:

Well Doom and Jazz Jackrabbit are not "playable", but if you are a masochist, then go for it.

Depends on the machine and graphics card. I remember playing Doom just fine on 386DX/40MHz with Weitek coprocessor. At the same time, I have played Doom on 486DX33 recently and it lagged. So, your mileage might vary, but I would give it a try - might turn out very playable.

What the hell is the Weitek co pro even mentioned? 🤣

I am aroused about any X86 motherboard that has full functional ISA slot. I think i have problem. Not really into that original (Turbo) XT,286,386 and CGA/EGA stuff. So just a DOS nut.
PS. If I upload RAR, it is a 16-bit DOS RAR Version 2.50.

Reply 13 of 21, by OldCat

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Cyberdyne wrote:
OldCat wrote:
Cyberdyne wrote:

Well Doom and Jazz Jackrabbit are not "playable", but if you are a masochist, then go for it.

Depends on the machine and graphics card. I remember playing Doom just fine on 386DX/40MHz with Weitek coprocessor. At the same time, I have played Doom on 486DX33 recently and it lagged. So, your mileage might vary, but I would give it a try - might turn out very playable.

What the hell is the Weitek co pro even mentioned? 🤣

I don't remember the exact details, as I was a teenager at the time and did not dabble in hardware, but it was a separate chip on board that (supposedly) made the machine faster. And it was made by Weitek.

More info here: http://www.cpu-collection.de/?l0=co&l1=weitek&l2=386%20fpu and I attached the article scan from the era, found on VCfed.

Reply 14 of 21, by Cyberdyne

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I know what a Weitek co pro is, but it is totally useless for all your games and allmost all your software. Only specialized software.
That thing can not even run x87 based software 🤣

I am aroused about any X86 motherboard that has full functional ISA slot. I think i have problem. Not really into that original (Turbo) XT,286,386 and CGA/EGA stuff. So just a DOS nut.
PS. If I upload RAR, it is a 16-bit DOS RAR Version 2.50.

Reply 15 of 21, by OldCat

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Cyberdyne wrote:

I know what a Weitek co pro is, but it is totally useless for all your games and allmost all your software. Only specialized software.

Ah. Perhaps. I remember that particular 386DX referred to as "the one with the Weitek coprocessor", thought it might give a bit of the edge in games as well.

Reply 16 of 21, by Cyberdyne

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Weitek even lowers performance, because it is memory mapped, and uses UMB area if i am not mistaken, so EMM386 has to circumvent it, and you dont have so mutch that precious under 1MB DOS memory 😵

I am aroused about any X86 motherboard that has full functional ISA slot. I think i have problem. Not really into that original (Turbo) XT,286,386 and CGA/EGA stuff. So just a DOS nut.
PS. If I upload RAR, it is a 16-bit DOS RAR Version 2.50.

Reply 17 of 21, by gdjacobs

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Weitek chips were useful for CAD software and had compiler support from several vendors.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 18 of 21, by jesolo

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tayyare wrote:
These below were the most memorable ones that I had been playing on 386 class machines during the days (an SX16 and later a DX40 […]
Show full quote

These below were the most memorable ones that I had been playing on 386 class machines during the days (an SX16 and later a DX40)

Wing Commander 1 & 2
Wolfenstein 3D & Spear of Destiny
Doom
Corridor 7
Blake Stone
Rise of The Triad
Comanche Maximum Overkill
Alone in the Dark
Larry 1, 2, 3, 5 (and 4, if you can find the missing floppies)
King Quest 1, 2
Space Quest 1, 2, 3, 4
Police Quest 1, 2
All kinds of Tetrises
Deathtrack
Grandprix
NBA Basketball
Simcity
Civilization
F29 Retalliator
Syndicate
X-Wing
The Incredible Machines
X-COM
Prince of Perisa 1,2
Indiana Jones and Last Crusade
Out of This World
Settlers
Dune II

You can also check this:

http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/dos/1993/

I think most of this list can be playable on a 386DX40 with ease. Anything older is already a sure thing.

Although I agree with most of the games on this list being quite playable on a 386DX-40, I do feel that Doom, X-Wing, Rise of the Triad & Jazz Jackrabbit are meant to be played on a faster 486 based system (in this case, at least a 486DX2-66 with VLB graphics) in order to really enjoy those games. ID software recommended a 486 for Doom in their system requirements.
Yes, you can play it on a 386 (just like I can install Windows 95 on a 386SX with 4 MB RAM as well) but, will it run optimally with full detail and smooth frame rates? Doubtful, at least not like the game developer intended for it to be enjoyed.

Reply 19 of 21, by bjwil1991

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Frederik Pohl's Gateway 1 & 2: Homeworld (8 1.44MB diskettes and CD-ROM)
NHL Hockey 95 (DX40 required)
Police Quest III: The Kindred
Lemmings
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (CD-ROM)
IndyCar Racing (CD-ROM)

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