Got some 386 gear and started making a few videos:

These can be used as reference if you like and shows how speed sensitive Wing Commander is.

Personally I like it at 25 MHz. It is easier, especially killing that last remaining enemy 😀

Wing Commander on a 386DX 40 MHz

Wing Commander on a 386DX 33 MHz

Wing Commander on a 386DX 25 MHz

Time for a software video!

In this video I will show you the steps for installing MS-DOS 6.22. The video features:

- Creating a MS-DOS 6.22 boot disk
- Partitioning and formatting the hard drive
- Copying the MS-DOS 6.22 files
- Downloading Mau1wurf1977's MS-DOS files
- Copying the boot menu and all files to your hard drive

Link to Mau1wurf1977's MS-DOS files:

www.mediafire.com/download/f5a7i03mxvxl ... 0files.zip

MS-DOS 6.22 Installation

Wing Commander on a 386DX 25 MHz with Roland MT-32

So what is the perfect CPU for playing WC?

sliderider wrote:

So what is the perfect CPU for playing WC?

For me a 25 MHz 386 DX. However it's a fast system with 256KB Cache. So it depends, but I would say 25 or 33 MHz would have to be the sweetspot.

If it's a tiny bit too fast you can always put a slower video card in the machine 😀

MS-DOS 7.1 installation

In this video I will show you the steps for installing MS-DOS 7.1.

IMPORTANT: You WILL need access to an existing Windows 98SE installation to grab a few extra files.

The video features:

- Creating a MS-DOS 7.1 boot disk
- Partitioning and formatting the hard drive
- Copying the MS-DOS 7.1 files
- Downloading Mau1wurf1977's MS-DOS files
- Copying the boot menu and all files to your hard drive

Link to Mau1wurf1977's MS-DOS files:

www.mediafire.com/download/f5a7i03mxvxl ... 0files.zip

EDIT:

I noticed that when you copy the files onto the CF card the are flagged as system files and as hidden. You can fix this by right clicking on them and removing this flags. The Creative installer plays up when it encounters a hidden AUTOEXEC.BAT

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

For me a 25 MHz 386 DX. However it's a fast system with 256KB Cache. So it depends, but I would say 25 or 33 MHz would have to be the sweetspot.

If it's a tiny bit too fast you can always put a slower video card in the machine 😀

With the money Chris Roberts is making for Star Citizen his team could take some time to fix the speed issues of the original Wing Commander for DOS, in the form of a patch.

I suppose he still has rights to the original code.

That would be fantastic!

And also offer dual sound card support for Wing Commander 1 😀

Also, another video:

VIDEO: Ultima 7 on a 386DX 40 MHz with Sound Blaster Pro 2 and Roland MT-32

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

That would be fantastic!

And also offer dual sound card support for Wing Commander 1 😀

Hmmm, dual sound card support would not have great interest IMO, at least for me. I don't think Sound Blaster sound effects sound better than what the Roland MT-32 does on that department.

In fact, many people state Wing Commander 1 sounds best on a Commodore Amiga, and i couldn't disagree more.

I remember something about using SM2.EXE to play the original campaign without speed issues, because Origin fixed timing issues for Secret Missions 2. I think it involved re-naming campaign game files. The drawback was that game characters are fixed in the .EXE, and Doomsday and Jazz would appear instead of Bossman and some other character i can't remember now.

That being said, i think Wing Commander deserves this kind of attention. Some may think otherwise because of Wing Commander "The Kilrathi Saga", but that is Windows 95, and i wanna play in DOS with a Roland MT-32. And while some can say that DOSBox, which i love, can help solve speed issues and still play with a MT-32 , i just want to play it with my old hardware.

SM2, like WC2, allows you to control the frame duration and also skip frames. I believe the keys are ALT+ and ALT- and CTRL+ and CTRL-.

VIDEO: 32GB on a 386 - Smashing the 500MB barrier

386DX 40 MHz vs an ISA 486SX 25 MHz

How much of a performance impact does Ontrack DDO have?

Ontrack Dynamic Disk Overlay Performance Investigation

Installing a jumper to enable more FSB options

Doom -timedemo demo3 AMD K6-III+ 600 MHz

BIOS flashing with a chip programmer

Thanks for the homage!! Very cool! 😎

nice!

I notice your "fast computer = freezing" , itg could be another reason... maybe the usb port is not providing enough current, does this programmer also have a DC-input as well as usb? lots of failed flashes are because of insufficient current, these old chips need 12+ volts to be programmed (usb is 5v, surely the programmer has some volt pump inside but maybe it does not get enough juice from the fast computer...?)

Could be, I also used the front USB and not one in the back...

Question: To read the ROM like from a MT-32, when they are not socketed, do people de-solder them or is there another way?

if you have the option always use external PSU and use the usb only for data... it can make a huge difference in older UV eproms as I have found out...
and yeah, the safest bet is to desolder the eprom in question... maybe add a socket to the mt32 as well...
are you planning on upgrading? IIRC my eprom is soldered too