Re: FastDoom 0.4. A new Doom port for DOS, optimized to be as fast as possible for 386/486 personal computers!

Posted on 2020-08-22, 18:28

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by HandOfFate

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

I tried out v0.4 and v0.5 on my 486 DX4 120MHz/VLB, and while they both have a slighter lower realtics count than v0.3 the difference is very small (3612 vs 3601). It is very warm today though, compared to when I benchmarked v0.3 :P I guess you are using the 486 build, can you test the 386 build …

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Re: I found some game saves from 2000 but i need help to find for which game.. some hex help appreciated.

Posted on 2020-08-22, 08:45

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by HandOfFate

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Those files are quite big indeed so it must be saving a lot of state. The biggest save files that I know of are Deus Ex (which saved a copy of the whole map), Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines and Morrowind, but it's not any of them unfortunately. There aren't any useful strings of text in these …

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Re: Hassle-free network card for DOS/WfW311?

Posted on 2020-08-21, 12:46

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by HandOfFate

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've had good experiences with both the 3com Etherlink III and Realtek RTL8019AS in MS-DOS, Windows 3.1 and Windows 3.11 WfW. Realtek still hosts all the drivers for their old cards themselves.

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Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga

Posted on 2020-08-19, 19:31

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by HandOfFate

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I also got a laptop to add to the list of "close but not quite": Compaq Armada 1700. With it's Pentium II 233 - 266MHz and ESS ES1869 it's perfectly suited for DOS gaming, and the Chips and Technologies 65535 is fine for most (if not all) newer DOS games. It's just that the scaling of the TFT is not …

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Re: FastDoom 0.4. A new Doom port for DOS, optimized to be as fast as possible for 386/486 personal computers!

Posted on 2020-08-16, 14:12

by

by HandOfFate

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

I tried out v0.4 and v0.5 on my 486 DX4 120MHz/VLB, and while they both have a slighter lower realtics count than v0.3 the difference is very small (3612 vs 3601). It is very warm today though, compared to when I benchmarked v0.3 :P I guess you are using the 486 build, can you test the 386 build …

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Re: Windows XP Updates?

Posted on 2020-08-15, 21:14

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by HandOfFate

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I got myself a slipstreamed XP SP3+. It wasn't easy: VirtualBox 6.0 and 6.1 keep crashing randomly for some reason and WSUS 3.0 (on Windows Server 2003) had the hardest time synchronizing. The synchronization errors aren't new if Google is to be believed, but I had to try many times before it would …

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Re: Need help resurrecting a 486 dumpster find

Posted on 2020-08-15, 19:07

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by HandOfFate

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, and I'm also not sure it was manufactured by this P&Q company. P&Q did make things with UMC chipsets as well so if this M-423 came from P&Q, maybe "Ilon Usa inc." also sold their UMC chipset boards? But otherwise it's very close, it even has that white tie wrap around the oscillator: https://f. …

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Re: Need help resurrecting a 486 dumpster find

Posted on 2020-08-15, 16:18

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by HandOfFate

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm making an attempt at identifying the board (it's about all I can do with this weather) There was (or even is) a manufacturer called "P&Q" that made 486 motherboards. They had a "L-9620-8" that looks quite similar, except that it also had VLB. But I can't find much about these motherboards yet. …

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Re: FastDoom 0.4. A new Doom port for DOS, optimized to be as fast as possible for 386/486 personal computers!

Posted on 2020-08-14, 17:11

by

by HandOfFate

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

I tried out v0.4 and v0.5 on my 486 DX4 120MHz/VLB, and while they both have a slighter lower realtics count than v0.3 the difference is very small (3612 vs 3601). It is very warm today though, compared to when I benchmarked v0.3 😜

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Re: FastDoom 0.4. A new Doom port for DOS, optimized to be as fast as possible for 386/486 personal computers!

Posted on 2020-08-13, 16:41

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by HandOfFate

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

Cool, I'll be sure to try it out (once my computer room is below Hell temperatures). I'm curious to see if the FPS has improved even more, compared to my earlier benchmarks. What do you mean with Sega Saturn shadows? Was there something bad about the shadows in the that port?

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Re: things you don't do with a retro PC

Posted on 2020-08-12, 11:08

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by HandOfFate

in Milliways

in Milliways

Solver - I do like making an old troubled PC work again, sometimes spending too long coaxing some old machine into use only to not really use it! That's me! I occasionally play a game on these old machines but I spend way, way more time on building, configuring and fixing things. Those old, tiny …

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Re: Windows XP Updates?

Posted on 2020-08-12, 10:19

by

by HandOfFate

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Interesting thread, thanks for sharing 😀

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Re: Windows 3.1 / 9x games that require Quicktime

Posted on 2020-08-12, 09:23

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by HandOfFate

in Deep Thought

in Deep Thought

Maybe it's needed for the intro movie. Did you see it?

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Re: Critical Games (DOS) Overview

Posted on 2020-08-11, 20:15

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by HandOfFate

in DOS

in DOS

I'm not sure this is what you call a game that is "critical", but Air Power from Rowan Games comes to mind as being a peculiar game. It had its own two custom VESA drivers if you wanted to play the game in SVGA mode: one "fast" and one "universal", and they don't work on all video cards. I've seen …

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Re: Windows XP Updates?

Posted on 2020-08-11, 17:25

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by HandOfFate

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

In my case I'd rather do it myself. Far more interesting 😀 [edit] Immediately after changing the Windows Update server in XP's Group Policy, it started downloading updates. Nice!

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Re: Windows XP Updates?

Posted on 2020-08-11, 16:45

by

by HandOfFate

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

That is also my goal

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Re: Windows XP Updates?

Posted on 2020-08-11, 10:42

by

by HandOfFate

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

@HandOfFate I run it with Windows server 2003 :) As you say, it definitely is not straightforward and you need to learn basics how to set up WSUS and work with it, but then you just set one GPO in XP system with WSUS server address and it gets updates from there. It works fine with clean Win2003 …

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Re: How much RAM do you need ?

Posted on 2020-08-10, 16:08

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by HandOfFate

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The highest memory requirement (or recommendation per README) of any DOS game that I remember was Carmageddon in "-hires" mode. The README claimed that you needed 24MB for that but I never it with less. But since Carmageddon won't run on a 486 anyway (... right? I will have to try it), let alone " …

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Re: Have you opened your SC-55 to check the battery inside?

Posted on 2020-08-10, 12:51

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by HandOfFate

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Having to put a tray on your bed in order to work on stuff. He must be living in a very cramped house. Thanks for sharing the video. This will help 😀

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Re: Help me finding manual-identify 486 board

Posted on 2020-08-10, 12:35

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by HandOfFate

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

What helped me a few times was to browse through the motherboard listings at Stason.org and see if any of the diagrams match your board. In your case you could look for boards that have their cache chips in a row like that below the CPU. That stands out a bit.

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