When the framerate is just slightly too low, or when it changes wildly, that can lead to dizziness. The lag between your input and the expected change in what is displayed on the screen is what does it for me.

Are you running it on bare metal or is it in DOSBOX?

AlaricD wrote:

When the framerate is just slightly too low, or when it changes wildly, that can lead to dizziness. The lag between your input and the expected change in what is displayed on the screen is what does it for me.

Are you running it on bare metal or is it in DOSBOX?

This is true especially going from frame rates you're used to to something different. I finally got a 144hz monitor for my "new" computer and quite a few times found my world spinning around me because of the change in the motion. Now playing a game at 30 or 60FPS can give me the "on a boat" effect.

Redneck Rampage can be a little annoying, it took me a long time to figure out I had to hit that hillbilly with the crowbar at the end of the very first level. I remember restarting that whole level repeatedly thinking I must have missed something, and would shoot the guy at the end when I got frustrated.

Zup wrote:

in some FPS games I can get dizzy. Usually it takes me two or three hours of straight gameplay in some games to get dizzy (but I never got dizzy in other games). I've finished other build games (Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior, both played in plain DOS or using windows ports) and never felt dizzy... but in Redneck Rampage I can only play an entire level before having to shut down the computer.

Has anyone felt the same?

What you describe is a pretty standard phenomenon of 'motion sickness' that affects a certain percentage of the population. I have a couple of friends who have this, and also cannot play FPS games for too long without taking breaks. There may be something particular in the level design or the color palette of Redneck Rampage that triggers it faster for you, or it could be DOSBox vs pure DOS (due to different filters, resolution, FPS). Generally I've found that older low-resolution games are more likely to trigger motion sickness, which also can explain why you suffered from it less when playing the Windows ports.

You can try playing Duke3D in DOSBox to see if it's the game or the settings that causes your dizziness.

Zup wrote:

I can get dizzy when travelling by car or bus (funnily never when I'm driving, and I drive A LOT)

I think this has a slightly different underlying cause - when you are the one driving, you know exactly when you turn and how much, since you're the one controlling the vehicle. Therefore, your body can expect it and compensate a bit. When someone else is driving for you, you cannot anticipate these things, so they hit you harder. It's like the problem with riding roller-coasters in darkness - people get more whiplashes and sore backs in them.

BeginnerGuy wrote:

Redneck Rampage can be a little annoying, it took me a long time to figure out I had to hit that hillbilly with the crowbar at the end of the very first level. I remember restarting that whole level repeatedly thinking I must have missed something, and would shoot the guy at the end when I got frustrated.

More than just a little. Even before this horrendous example you brought - the levels are just so darn long, and go on and on and on.

I've only felt so dizzy with a few games. Another game that made me felt so sick (but it needed about an hour) was Antichamber, but I guess that it has something to do with the artwork (lightning, how the levels are drawn on screen and those things).

AlaricD wrote:

When the framerate is just slightly too low, or when it changes wildly, that can lead to dizziness. The lag between your input and the expected change in what is displayed on the screen is what does it for me.

Are you running it on bare metal or is it in DOSBOX?

I've played it at 320x200 on pure DOS in a 486DX2/66, later in a Pentium II 333 and now I'm playing it at 800x600 via DOSBox on an AMD Phenom II X4 965 (so I guess I have enough power).

dr_st wrote:

can try playing Duke3D in DOSBox to see if it's the game or the settings that causes your dizziness.

As I said, I played both Duke 3D and Shadow Warrior in pure DOS and DOSBox. I guess it's not related to build games, but it's related to that specific game.

Worth a try... try putting a lamp behind your monitor so that you cant see the lamp but can see the light from it. Try different brightnesses/colors as well. (40watt incandescent helped me.) Should be cheap or even free if you have a lamp laying around.

it helped for me after I had a concussion which made playing any FPS impossible without getting sea sick, only needed to do it for a few weeks.
Also worked for my girlfriend who couldnt play FPS's without dizziness.

Yellow tinted glasses might help. (work for a friend of mine, but didnt work for me. dont waste money on the overprices "gunnar glasses" get some cheap yellow tinted safety glasses from a hardware/tool store. Lowes in the US has a 3M made pair for under $10)