Well, If I remember correctly I played at high detail but not maximum screen size, possibly one or two notches below Full+HUD.
Memory is a tricky thing and I think you won't want to relive Descent DX33 experience =P
I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.
appiah4 wrote on 2020-01-31, 11:33:[...]
I don't know of any post 1996 DOS game that does not run under Windows 9x and all PCI cards with SB Pro compatibility in Win9x should run those games flawlessly. The only games you really need ISA cards for are those that require Real MS-DOS and they don't exist beyond 1996 AFAIK.
True, but you won't get real OPL3 (except on the YMF74x), you won't get GUS or AWE stuff, and there's a good chance of some nasty 44.1kHz-48kHz resampling.
and there's a good chance of some nasty 44.1kHz-48kHz resampling.
It's practically always involves 44.1kHz-48kHz resampling with PCI sound card.
I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.
The Serpent Rider wrote on 2020-01-31, 12:36:Well, If I remember correctly I played at high detail but not maximum screen size, possibly one or two notches below Full+HUD.
Memory is a tricky thing and I think you won't want to relive Descent DX33 experience =P
To make sure we don't misunderstand each other, I played Doom 1 with a DX33, Descent 1 with a DX4-100.
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dionb wrote on 2020-01-31, 12:36:appiah4 wrote on 2020-01-31, 11:33:[...]
I don't know of any post 1996 DOS game that does not run under Windows 9x and all PCI cards with SB Pro compatibility in Win9x should run those games flawlessly. The only games you really need ISA cards for are those that require Real MS-DOS and they don't exist beyond 1996 AFAIK.
True, but you won't get real OPL3 (except on the YMF74x), you won't get GUS or AWE stuff, and there's a good chance of some nasty 44.1kHz-48kHz resampling.
Another thing is for example the game I mentioned earlier Archimedean dynasty from 1997. It requires dos glide driver for voodoo cards, so I assume that would be hard to make work under windows with that pci card sb pro compatibility. That is why I have always been in dos with awe64 isa card using my Pentium 3 system.
The Serpent Rider wrote on 2020-01-31, 12:36:Memory is a tricky thing and I think you won't want to relive Descent DX33 experience =P
Your memory apparently, as Descent wasn't as demanding as you seem to remember:
https://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/descent/co … CoverId,564035/
A 486/33 was not even the minimum, but the recommended configuration (minimum was 386/33). I played it as well back then on my Cyrix 486DX40 and it ran just fine.
wrote:but the recommended configuration
"486/33 or faster"
wrote:I played it as well back then on my Cyrix 486DX40 and it ran just fine.
The facts are not on your side. Descent has barely playable framerate on DX2-66 with high settings. On the first level and rookie difficulty (less monsters).
wrote:By the way, I never knew of this game (Archimedean Dynasty) and it seems to be right up my fucking alley, time to go on eBay..
This game is absolute beast for a typical DOS setup. Quoted 486DX4-100 in the minimal configuration will crawl on single digits fps on the later stages with many ships present on screen. And that's with all settings set to minimum.
I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.
dionb wrote on 2020-01-31, 07:19:So really that's the point: it's not about date, it's about OS. If you want to run Windows only, you could get away with PCI sound in 1995 (if there had been any 1995 PCI sound chips...), if you want to run DOS, ISA is very much recommended, even if you want to run it with an Athlon/P4 from past 2000.
Actually there's at least one 1995 "sound card" : the Nvidia NV1 !
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I test Descent often these days, and you do not want to play it on a 486DX-66. Maybe a DX-100. It does work fine with my Cyrix 5x86-120, but that CPU is well into the Pentium range.
But it runs great from a 98SE DOS box in a P3 with PCI cards such as the Vortex 2, Live!, and Yamaha 7x4. For playing DOS games, I recommend the last two for their superior wavetable MIDI.
But it runs great from a 98SE DOS box in a P3 with PCI cards such as the Vortex 2, Live!, and Yamaha 7x4
I would say, Descent requires at least Pentium 200 to play comfortably in VGA or lowres VESA modes (320x400).
I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.
I would never play Descent now on a machine like a DX-2 66 but I would have found that framerate acceptable at the time of release and played it. Did you play descent at the time of release Serpent Rider? I remember playing LAN games of Descent at work and everyone had DX2-66 machines but we certainly would have thought it was a lot better on a pentium.
Voodoo card makes such huge difference when it comes to games. I just tried recently original dos tomb raider on a 486 cpu and pci 486 motherboard and it was a slide show and then I added voodoo 1 card and it made the game playable.
wrote:Did you play descent at the time of release Serpent Rider?
I had Descent LAN deathmatch experience on a computer which probably was DX2-66 (or was it DX2-80?), low amount of RAM and without any sound card, although much later. It was tolerable, but I don't remember it being smooth. Then again, deathmatch is less demanding.
I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.
The Serpent Rider wrote on 2020-01-31, 14:10:The facts are not on your side. Descent has barely playable framerate on DX2-66 with high settings. On the first level and rookie difficulty (less monsters).
Sounds like multiplayer Descent / Descent2 is far less stressful than single player on high difficulty. All I know is I probably logged 1000 hours playing multiplayer Descent on my DX4-100.
Also the DX2-66 in the youtube link is not running a VLB videocard. I can't find where it says what he is running, but he mentions in german, and in the comments that the showcased system isnt VLB.
NVM the video does say its a ET6000 vlb. 🙁
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dionb wrote on 2020-01-31, 12:36:appiah4 wrote on 2020-01-31, 11:33:[...]
I don't know of any post 1996 DOS game that does not run under Windows 9x and all PCI cards with SB Pro compatibility in Win9x should run those games flawlessly. The only games you really need ISA cards for are those that require Real MS-DOS and they don't exist beyond 1996 AFAIK.
True, but you won't get real OPL3 (except on the YMF74x), you won't get GUS or AWE stuff, and there's a good chance of some nasty 44.1kHz-48kHz resampling.
YMF724, 738, 740C, 754 will also have real OPL3. I am not 100% sure about the 738 as I have never seen a card with one.
No TSR needed, just have to run an initialization program, either as long as you have a motherboard that has:
PC-PCI / SB-Link header
supports DDMA
You only need a TSR if you have to use DSDMA.
it depends on what you want to play. i built a rig for nascar racing, which needs ISA sound but renders the graphics in the cpu, so the faster the better. Currently doing that on a 500mhz P3, which is great, but probably would stop seeing a benefit around 800mhz, IMO.
Searching for Epson Actiontower 3000 486 PC.
From what I remember, I played Descent I on a Pentium 75 machine.
Gameplay was "okay" from what I remember. I also had got a PAS16 (and later, SB16 CT1740) installed.
As for the ISA bus. My family's Pentium III (733MHz) had got one or two ISA slots, too.
The PC was running Win98SE originally, so no need for special DOS compatibility (on-board sound was fine).
However, the on-boad sound card did feature an optional "SB16 emulation" setting in CMOS Setup..
As for late DOS games.. Toonstruck, circa 1997 (late 96), (in higher quality) seemed so demanding,
that I thought of using/building a dedicated Pentium II PC (~450 MHz ?) for DOS games.
I also thought about using a S3 Trio3D or similar AGP card with VBE 3.0. 😁
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The core of my discussion is precisely this: assuming that the latest DOS games that require an ISA sound card are dated around 1996, it means that they should require a maximum of a Pentium up to 200 Mhz. There shouldn't be many worthy games that don't work on a 5x86 or POD because they're too slow. And at the same time there are not many years of difference between the power of the 5x86 160Mhz and 1996 where the P4 comes into play. The gap between the power of the 5x86 160 and the CPU required in 1996 shouldn't be huge, but I don't have much experience to say this.
I don’t think many people had a P4 before the year 2001.
The gap between the power of the 5x86 160 and the CPU required in 1996 shouldn't be huge, but I don't have much experience to say this.
There's a very huge gap with highres VESA modes.
I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.
