On Friday, Aug 12th, my cousins, their friends, and I went to the National Videogame Museum and we played Pong, Oregon Trail, some arcade games (including Gauntlet) and that was a fun place to go to.

bjwil1991 wrote on 2022-08-19, 05:39:

On Friday, Aug 12th, my cousins, their friends, and I went to the National Videogame Museum and we played Pong, Oregon Trail, some arcade games (including Gauntlet) and that was a fun place to go to.

Nice! I went a few years back. Nice place with a great collection. If you ever get a chance, definitely check out The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY as well.

liqmat wrote on 2022-08-18, 15:09:

Some of you may have heard of these, but not I. Going to give these a whirl this weekend.

2.) Wing Commander IV Remaster Demo

Found out about this one via PC Gamer: https://www.pcgamer.com/wing-commander-iv-rem … gaming-classic/

I'm particularly interested in this one. Let me know how you like it.

Still playing Sniper Elite 4 here. My gaming time has been pretty minimal lately, so it's a slow grind. But I'm loving it. It's a perfect game for my tastes. Will be checking out some DOS RPGs this weekend too. 😉

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-19, 10:41:

...Will be checking out some DOS RPGs this weekend too. 😉

Looking forward to hearing what you play this weekend, and thoughts/impressions!

---

I had 20-30 minutes free between work and boxing, so I played

Wolfenstein 3D
This is a nostalgic classic from my younger years, and I remember this as being sort of a killer app for PCs. It was an action game that the consoles simply could not match at the time, as simple as it was (this would be repeated with DOOM of course). I never bothered revisiting it because it just seemed so simple compared with even DOOM... but this game is really quite excellent even now.

Yes, the levels are just giant mazes. Here's the thing: due to the engine limitations, you can use the good old "pick a wall and keep following it" trick to easily solve the levels. Without having to draw (or memorize) level layouts, it just becomes a really fun action game, almost arcade-like.

What make this game work are many of the same elements that make DOOM (and Quake) work so well. Enemies have different behaviors but they are simple enough to understand immediately. Enemies also have unique "barks" so you can tell right away what enemy has spotted you without even seeing it. The sound effects are very satisfying overall (ESPECIALLY the various treasures). Finally, even the weakest enemies can be lethal up close, and yet even the strongest enemies aren't really damage sponges. Enemies die after what seems like just the right amount of shots.

The game is a bit more challenging playing keyboard only, but not impossibly so. It quickly becomes second nature holding the ALT key to strafe left and right in open areas to "dodge" enemy attacks (although most if not all attacks seem to be hit scan) or peek into rooms. It seems very basic at first, but there's some depth in the same way that a good arcade game has depth.

I'm still on Episode 1, but nearing the end. My previous best was getting to the boss of Episode 2 and being unable to defeat him, so I hope at least to get to Episode 3 this time around. I feel like the game plays too fast on my P133 (thought not ridiculously fast), so I'll disable both caches next time to bring it to high end 386 speed.

newtmonkey wrote on 2022-05-18, 14:42:

The Legend of Kyrandia: Hand of Fate
The solution ends up being to give them cheese to catch fish (????????)

-we are staying here till we catch up fish
-here take these cheese for bait

yep, i agree it should be like this:
- if you give us cheese we will catch up fish, swim home, park our boat and leave boat and leave anchor in the boat unwatched so that you could steal it.

appiah4 wrote on 2022-05-20, 17:15:

Hand of Fate is one of my favorite adventure games of all time but you really need to be able to get into its over the top fairy-tale logic mindset to enjoy the puzzles and the humor. To each their own, but for me it is one of the best games I ever played..

You must try Scout Quartermaster

appiah4 wrote on 2022-07-07, 06:59:

Arena I never played. Daggerfall, I never got the hype. I tried it twice and never got very far.

Morrowind though captured me like very few RPGs can.

Oblivion and Skyrim lost me again. I guess Elder Scrolls in general are not for me and Morrowind is the outlier 😁

you forgot about Redguard 😀

clueless1 wrote on 2022-07-23, 11:59:

I just completed the Annihilation Line DLC for Terminator: Resistance. Took me 11 hours. The main campaign took 25 hours. It was a really good game, one of my favorite FPS experiences ever! Highly recommended. Thanks @liqmat for gifting me this game...you were absolutely right about this hidden gem, my friend.

Try Pył to feel the good old times.

I am fully replaying Half-Life. The linux version has some weird bugs at certain moments. And yes, I am one of those people who actually plays with the hd models.

newtmonkey wrote on 2022-08-19, 12:55:

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-19, 10:41:

...Will be checking out some DOS RPGs this weekend too. 😉

Looking forward to hearing what you play this weekend, and thoughts/impressions!

@liqmat donated a beautiful 486 system to me for the cost of shipping, so I'll be setting that up this weekend and trying some games that are perfect for it and are on my playlist:
Ultima 6
Ultima 7 Pt 1 (already beat this in 1991, but will eventually replay it)
Darklands
M&M3
Ravenloft 1&2
maybe some Goldbox games (I think I might rather do these on modern hardware with Gold Box Companion)

Space Quest: Chapter I - The Sarien Encounter (DOS)
I've been itching to play another graphic adventure game recently, and decided to give this a shot today as I have fond memories of (unsuccessfully) playing Space Quest IV back in the day at a friend's house. Three hours later, I completed the game after many many deaths, having to go back to older saves, and even having to completely restart once. I went into this mostly blind, but I did have to check for hints a couple of times.

I thought the game was surprisingly fair. I died a lot, but made sure to save every time I accomplished anything, and also made sure to use good descriptions when naming my save files. I didn't mind the frequest deaths at all, as they mostly are there just to tell you that you need to go in another direction. There are quite a few "dead end" situations here, but I thought they were mostly fair and obvious either right away or after a short time. However, there are two REALLY unfair bits:

I missed a perfect score by a few points, so I checked a walkthrough after to see what I missed and was pleased to find that the game actually has multiple solutions for two of the major puzzles. I guess solving one of those the alternate way would have awarded me a few more points.

Anyway, I mostly had a great time with this one and it is one of the very few graphics adventure game I've ever completed (Legend of Kyrandia, Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet, Loom, The Secret of Monkey Island, and Quest for Glory [if that counts]).

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-19, 22:09:

@liqmat donated a beautiful 486 system to me for the cost of shipping, so I'll be setting that up this weekend and trying some g […]
Show full quote

@liqmat donated a beautiful 486 system to me for the cost of shipping, so I'll be setting that up this weekend and trying some games that are perfect for it and are on my playlist:
Ultima 6
Ultima 7 Pt 1 (already beat this in 1991, but will eventually replay it)
Darklands
M&M3
Ravenloft 1&2
maybe some Goldbox games (I think I might rather do these on modern hardware with Gold Box Companion)

That's a really beautiful system! I'm pretty jealous! When I was first thinking of building a dedicated DOS gaming PC back in 2020, I seriously considered going with a 486-66, as it was my "dream" system for quite a while back in the day... I remember when I finally got one back then, I expected it to be a sort of "end game" system I wouldn't have to upgrade or replace for many years (hahahaha).

Well, I had trouble finding the parts here, so I settled on a P133, which I can slow down to a fast 386 or slow 486 by playing with the cache settings. Still, based on the games I mostly play on DOS, a 486-66 would have been mostly perfect!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading which of those games you decided to play. They are all games I have on my list, too, though I've made decent progress in the Golbox games already. The GB games actually play pretty well even on original hardware etc. (they usually have automaps, and they aren't really mapping-intensive games like the Wiz games or M&M1), but the Goldbox Companion really does make them feel quite modern.

dr_st wrote on 2022-08-19, 04:09:

gaffa2002 wrote on 2022-08-18, 23:55:

I spend more time quickloading than actually playing the game, which is too bad because the game was being very fun until those guys were introduced.
Will give the game another chance, but if the pacing remains like this, I may skip to Descent 2.

Not sure Descent II will be much different in this regard. If you find yourself quickloading too much on Hotshot, perhaps lower the difficulty down a notch?

I wanted to play the game start to finish on the same difficulty, so if I reduce the difficulty I will want to start from level 1. And since I'm halfway through the game in hotshot, I'd rather push it to the end as at least the difficulty kind of got stable.
As for Descent 2, I'll not start on hotshot like I did for D1 (or maybe I will, if I get the hang of D1)

newtmonkey wrote on 2022-08-21, 12:28:

That's a really beautiful system! I'm pretty jealous! When I was first thinking of building a dedicated DOS gaming PC back in […]
Show full quote

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-19, 22:09:

@liqmat donated a beautiful 486 system to me for the cost of shipping, so I'll be setting that up this weekend and trying some g […]
Show full quote

@liqmat donated a beautiful 486 system to me for the cost of shipping, so I'll be setting that up this weekend and trying some games that are perfect for it and are on my playlist:
Ultima 6
Ultima 7 Pt 1 (already beat this in 1991, but will eventually replay it)
Darklands
M&M3
Ravenloft 1&2
maybe some Goldbox games (I think I might rather do these on modern hardware with Gold Box Companion)

That's a really beautiful system! I'm pretty jealous! When I was first thinking of building a dedicated DOS gaming PC back in 2020, I seriously considered going with a 486-66, as it was my "dream" system for quite a while back in the day... I remember when I finally got one back then, I expected it to be a sort of "end game" system I wouldn't have to upgrade or replace for many years (hahahaha).

Well, I had trouble finding the parts here, so I settled on a P133, which I can slow down to a fast 386 or slow 486 by playing with the cache settings. Still, based on the games I mostly play on DOS, a 486-66 would have been mostly perfect!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading which of those games you decided to play. They are all games I have on my list, too, though I've made decent progress in the Golbox games already. The GB games actually play pretty well even on original hardware etc. (they usually have automaps, and they aren't really mapping-intensive games like the Wiz games or M&M1), but the Goldbox Companion really does make them feel quite modern.

Unfortunately, I discovered that my MT-32 stopped working normally since the last time I fired it up. 🙁 I have not had a chance to troubleshoot yet, but I've got to look at the MIDIMAN card, the cable, and the MT-32 itself. That will be another project for another day. For now, I'm still playing with this gem of a system. I've fired up a few RPGs just to see how they run (U6, U7, Darksun) and they all run perfectly. The ISA graphics actually help slow the system down when I thought the 66Mhz would be too fast. Turbo is no different than disabling L1, and are not additive (L1 + Turbo doesn't make it any slower than just L1 or Turbo), but the speed options available are more than enough for these games. I'm not going to end up having time to actually play any RPGs today, but that will come soon enough. The best part of this system is the small monitor really improves the visuals of these games by shrinking the pixels. They look way better than on a 15" or 17" CRT. And the monitor is not toast like most monitors this age. The display is in terrific condition!

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-21, 18:41:

Unfortunately, I discovered that my MT-32 stopped working normally since the last time I fired it up. 🙁 I have not had a chance to troubleshoot yet, but I've got to look at the MIDIMAN card, the cable, and the MT-32 itself. That will be another project for another day. For now, I'm still playing with this gem of a system. I've fired up a few RPGs just to see how they run (U6, U7, Darksun) and they all run perfectly. The ISA graphics actually help slow the system down when I thought the 66Mhz would be too fast. Turbo is no different than disabling L1, and are not additive (L1 + Turbo doesn't make it any slower than just L1 or Turbo), but the speed options available are more than enough for these games. I'm not going to end up having time to actually play any RPGs today, but that will come soon enough. The best part of this system is the small monitor really improves the visuals of these games by shrinking the pixels. They look way better than on a 15" or 17" CRT. And the monitor is not toast like most monitors this age. The display is in terrific condition!

That's sad to hear! My CM-500 started malfunctioning a while back, and I was devastated. I got that several years back for really cheap used, and to replace it now would cost a ton of money. I ended up replacing it with an MP32L "emulator" based on Raspberry Pi... I wish I could still use original hardware, but at least for these ears, it sounds just as good if not better. Speaking of which, I was at a pawn shop earlier today and was surprised to find an MT-32 on the shelf... but at a price of 22,000 yen (160 USD) for just the unit itself UNTESTED. 10 times the price I paid only 10 years ago or so. The days of cheap Roland synths are truly over...

I am with you on the monitor size. I'm using a 15" CRT now (down from a 19" LCD, previously a 17" CRT), and I definitely prefer how things look on my current monitor vs. the 17" I had before. Never in my life would I have thought that going down to a smaller size display would be better, but it's definitely true imo for EGA/VGA.

I wonder how slow your sytem gets with turbo turned off. It must go down to mid/high 386 level? Or maybe a slow 486? I imagine it might be just the right speed for Ultima VII!

newtmonkey wrote on 2022-08-21, 19:16:

I wonder how slow your sytem gets with turbo turned off. It must go down to mid/high 386 level? Or maybe a slow 486? I imagine it might be just the right speed for Ultima VII!

Roughly: when cpu is DX2-66 and deturboed or L1 disabled, it slows down to 386-25 or 33Mhz. When cpu is SX-33, it slows to 386-20 speeds.

I'm leaving the cpu as a DX2-66 and U7 runs a little fast, but good without turning turbo off I guess because of the ISA graphics. Besides, U7 is immune to cache disabling (which is what happens when this system is de-turboed). De-turboing makes it run U6 and WC1 and 2 well. I'm going to try swapping out the Tseng ET4000AX for the Trident TVGA9000B to see what affect that has. It probably won't make much difference but we'll see.

Gunman Chronicles. It seems that it was better in my memories than on a modern PC.

It has some interesting ideas (i.e.: weapons where you can choose some parameters) and it has some variety... but levels are very linear and it has some plot issues.

There is a funny thing about it... it has never been released on Steam, but if you redeem your CD key on Steam you obtain the Half-Life Platinum Pack (Half-Life 1, plus both expansions, Team Fortress Classic, Ricochet and some other things).

clueless1 wrote on 2022-08-21, 21:20:

I'm leaving the cpu as a DX2-66 and U7 runs a little fast, but good without turning turbo off I guess because of the ISA graphics. Besides, U7 is immune to cache disabling (which is what happens when this system is de-turboed).

This patch limits the U7 frame rate really well if you can be bothered: Re: Ultima VII Frame Limiter Patch

This this applied I can play it on my 450Mhz K6-2+ at a perfect frame rate and without the hitching when walking.

Zup wrote on 2022-08-21, 21:32:

There is a funny thing about it... it has never been released on Steam, but if you redeem your CD key on Steam you obtain the Half-Life Platinum Pack (Half-Life 1, plus both expansions, Team Fortress Classic, Ricochet and some other things).

Huh, I actually own Platnium Pack, and redeemed one of the CD keys on Steam successfully. Didn't think Gunman Chronicles CD keys would redeem the same thing.

You should also get "Day of Defeat" with that too, if I'm not mistaken?

Counter-Strike retail and Blue Shift keys should grant the same thing.