Most DOS games should work under Win98. Advantages of running from DOS mode:

* The game gets full run on system resources.
* More compatibility

Advantages from within Windows:

* Multi-tasking: you can run other applications in the background while playing the game
* Less memory needs to be used for DOS-based device drivers, as Windows can provide most of their functionality

Does this help?

Harry Potter wrote on 2023-08-19, 19:30:

Most DOS games should work under Win98. Advantages of running from DOS mode: […]
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Most DOS games should work under Win98. Advantages of running from DOS mode:

* The game gets full run on system resources.
* More compatibility

Advantages from within Windows:

* Multi-tasking: you can run other applications in the background while playing the game
* Less memory needs to be used for DOS-based device drivers, as Windows can provide most of their functionality

Does this help?

Hiya that really does clear things up for me. It's nice to play a DOS game for a bit then hop in straight to another game. I don't really want to have to use DOS unless I really need too. Double click and done. 😀

Win9x and Me are based on DOS. You can also create a boot menu to boot directly into DOS.

If the game works as intended from within windows, there isn't really any need to boot into DOS proper.

Win 9x/ME are not exactly DOS "based". DOS is used to bootstrap windows (and also as a compatibility layer for 16-bit drivers). After that it works independently.

Other advantage? is simply nostalgia.
Watching the lines of text as it goes though the boot process.

But yeh main reason I boot into dos is
A) Games run better in pure dos on slower PC's
B) Network games can't find each other if the 486 is in dos and the PIII is in Windows
C) Some games (but very few) just don't like windows

I think there might be a small benefit to using DOS if you are using compact flash or an SD card for storage. Windows 98 would be expected to write to the hard drive more, so you wouldn't expect your card to last as long. Personally, I've never had to replace a CF or SD card in a Windows 98 machine, so it's not a big concern for me. Moreover, CF and SD storage is dirt cheap, so I'm not worried about cost. I've seen some people suggest that you should set "ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1" to preserve your storage longer, but I've seen others say it does nothing.

Someone more knowledgeable than me could probably give you a better idea if booting into pure DOS would save any wear and tear on your storage. I don't know how often Windows 98 uses the swap file, especially if your just gaming. Another question would be if Windows 98 writes much to disk when it is starting up or shutting down. If it does, it wouldn't surprise me if constantly rebooting would actually decrease the lifespan on a CF card.

All that aside, I prefer to set my Windows 98 systems to boot straight to DOS anyways. I use Linux for work, so I feel at home on the command line. If I need to run a program with command line parameters, I just need to type them in. I also find it quicker to navigate between different directories. I also don't have to make room on my desk for a mouse unless I'm using a program that needs one. I only use Windows 98 if a program needs it or if I need to copy a file from a USB stick. For me, booting straight into DOS is more convenient and I just need to type Win to launch Windows.

Another advantage in running games from explorer are certain pci soundcards like the yamaha ymf724 will let you use XG midi in games, something that can't be done in 'reboot to dos' mode

Pro: Windows 98 can run Sound Blaster emulation. Either through VDMSound or the SB emulation drivers that ship with VXD drivers. Useful for PCI soundcards.

More memory. Windows 98 is comparable to a memory manager using V86.
The very heart of Windows 98 is the Virtual Machine Manager (VMM).
Windows 98 is being built on V86, literally.

Faster HDD access/higher throughput.
If Windows 98 is running, both a Protected-Mode disk cache and HDD driver is being used.

Networking. Windows 98 supports a variety of network protocols. It can also support DOS-based networking software that's been run before Windows had started up.
With the right tools, IPX/SPX could be tunneled over internet.

Contra: Potentially there are timing issues (system timer, com ports, interrupts etc), lack of Real-Mode, same drawbacks as using V86 based memory managers. Lack of VCPI compatibility.
Certain EGA or VGA tricks are not being supported (Commander Keen affected?).

When I was a kid I used to be all for "pure DOS only raaarrgh!". I think it was because of my limited experience trying to run DOS games from Win3.11, which never worked right.
Only after becoming a regular on this forum I learned that Win9x can actually improve compatibility for many DOS games. Especially in the sound card department, but it also in memory types and capacity.

My DOS/W9x machine is configured as DOS primary, Windows secondary; I would have probably done it the other way around if I was setting it up from scratch today.

However, for old/unstable/slightly faulty hardware, or for glitchy drivers - DOS gains another advantage - it is less finicky. My K6-II+ setup can run hours and days straight in pure DOS, but in Windows it now freezes / crashes pretty quickly. Bad driver? Glitchy GPU / motherboard? No idea, but obviously not something that DOS games care about.

I would say that's an okay way to go, provided you are doing it on at least pentium class machine, a 486DX2-66 can't really afford the overhead. Anything giving you problems is fairly likely to be because it's a pentium machine rather than running from win98... meaning anything that doesn't like it, doesn't just need DOS it needs slowdowns utils and special setup.

I generally just stick to using DOS to minimize compatibility problems , basically the idea is if I run the right OS and contribute the right hardware ,
it should avoid any additional weirdness that running through windows might bring , sure sometimes you might need kludges anyway but the idea is to scale back the amount of hoops I need to jump through.
Also DOS isn't too bad once you get used to it , its pretty much text adventure windows plus some limitations.

Vic Zarratt wrote on 2024-06-09, 05:54:

Another advantage in running games from explorer are certain pci soundcards like the yamaha ymf724 will let you use XG midi in games, something that can't be done in 'reboot to dos' mode

Something similar applies to AWE sound cards when running DOS games within a Windows 9x environment. The MPU-401 emulation thru the EMU8K is much better than AWEUTIL, having SF2 SoundFont support (said support being featured on certain PCI Sound Blasters as well) and working with protected mode games out of the box.

On my Win98SE system at my mother's house, I can't get UMBs or EMS support in Windows mode. 🙁 I have a special DOS boot disk to boot in DOS mode, and it has QEMM and some other goodies. I also have another boot disk for USB support. I created the latter because, for a while, Windows wasn't working at all. 🙁 At somebody's suggestion--I don't remember whether it was here or at majorgeeks.com--I deleted the contents of the Windows folder but not its subfolders and reinstalled Windows, and now, Windows works. I had a Windows-based RAM drive, and I found out that it causing problems, as, when I switched to a DOS-based one, a glitchy graphics driver was able to change screen resolution, and UMBs and EMS worked a little better: now, Windows starts up properly, but, when I log in, I get a lot of errors from Explorer. If you want, the next time I'm at my mother's house, I can post the config files.

This has been posted here before, but it's a great read describing what the technical issues are that can cause a DOS game to not run under Win9x: http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780321 … _bonus_ch02.pdf

Some games work fine on DOS, but they work horribly on Windows. For example, Quake I under DOS works perfectly, but on Windows it slows down or has problems with frame synchronization (breaks, jerks), which is not at all acceptable for a first-person shooter.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2023-08-21, 01:26:

I don't know how often Windows 98 uses the swap file, especially if your just gaming.

Windows 98 starts using the paging file only when free memory runs out. At the same time, the file cache is first released, giving this memory to programs. And only when there is really no place to get the memory from, the memory is partially reset to the paging file. At least this is what is observed in the system monitor (SysMon). Parameters such as "Disk Cache Size", "Swapfile in use" and "Unused physical memory" clearly demonstrate this process.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2023-08-21, 01:26:

Another question would be if Windows 98 writes much to disk when it is starting up or shutting down. If it does, it wouldn't surprise me if constantly rebooting would actually decrease the lifespan on a CF card.

You have raised a very interesting question that is quite easy to clarify, at least with the help of a virtual machine. I've done some research in this direction. The method consisted of starting a fresh OS with the network disconnected, then waiting for a minute (Inactivity) and shutting down. The first value is taken from the VM properties before it terminates. The second value is the actual size of the Undo Drive (containing all changes to the disk during the session), when the VM is finished. Turn out:

Writes: 8.500K; Size: 1.50Mb - MS-DOS 6.22
Writes: 171.0K; Size: 4.02MB - Windows 3.1
Writes: 811.5K; Size: 7.52MB - Windows 95 RTM
Writes: 1.50MB; Size: 25.1MB - Windows 98 RTM
Writes: 1.00MB; Size: 19.1MB - Windows 98 SE
Writes: 2.30MB; Size: 35.0MB - Windows Me
Writes: 14.6MB; Size: 64.5MB - Windows XP SP2
Writes: 34.2MB; Size: 92.8MB - Windows Vista SP1
Writes: 22.5MB; Size: 99.5MB - Windows 7 SP1

From this we can conclude that MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 write the least on CF\SSD. Windows 9x is still relatively moderate. And modern NT already writes a lot. Most likely, subsequent Windows 8\10\11 produce even more records (I didn't check).

DoZator wrote on 2024-06-11, 10:54:

Some games work fine on DOS, but they work horribly on Windows. For example, Quake I under DOS works perfectly, but on Windows i […]
Show full quote

Some games work fine on DOS, but they work horribly on Windows. For example, Quake I under DOS works perfectly, but on Windows it slows down or has problems with frame synchronization (breaks, jerks), which is not at all acceptable for a first-person shooter.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2023-08-21, 01:26:

I don't know how often Windows 98 uses the swap file, especially if your just gaming.

Windows 98 starts using the paging file only when free memory runs out. At the same time, the file cache is first released, giving this memory to programs. And only when there is really no place to get the memory from, the memory is partially reset to the paging file. At least this is what is observed in the system monitor (SysMon). Parameters such as "Disk Cache Size", "Swapfile in use" and "Unused physical memory" clearly demonstrate this process.

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2023-08-21, 01:26:

Another question would be if Windows 98 writes much to disk when it is starting up or shutting down. If it does, it wouldn't surprise me if constantly rebooting would actually decrease the lifespan on a CF card.

You have raised a very interesting question that is quite easy to clarify, at least with the help of a virtual machine. I've done some research in this direction. The method consisted of starting a fresh OS with the network disconnected, then waiting for a minute (Inactivity) and shutting down. The first value is taken from the VM properties before it terminates. The second value is the actual size of the Undo Drive (containing all changes to the disk during the session), when the VM is finished. Turn out:

Writes: 8.500K; Size: 1.50Mb - MS-DOS 6.22
Writes: 171.0K; Size: 4.02MB - Windows 3.1
Writes: 811.5K; Size: 7.52MB - Windows 95 RTM
Writes: 1.50MB; Size: 25.1MB - Windows 98 RTM
Writes: 1.00MB; Size: 19.1MB - Windows 98 SE
Writes: 2.30MB; Size: 35.0MB - Windows Me
Writes: 14.6MB; Size: 64.5MB - Windows XP SP2
Writes: 34.2MB; Size: 92.8MB - Windows Vista SP1
Writes: 22.5MB; Size: 99.5MB - Windows 7 SP1

From this we can conclude that MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 write the least on CF\SSD. Windows 9x is still relatively moderate. And modern NT already writes a lot. Most likely, subsequent Windows 8\10\11 produce even more records (I didn't check).

Thanks for sharing this. It's very informative, especially with some real data!