PhilsComputerLab wrote:I never do! For gaming, I do not see any need in patching Windows 98. At least I haven't come across any issues.
I have just assumed the updates from Microsoft help with bugs. But I have no real proof of that. Interesting thought.
jesolo wrote:I always install the Unofficial Windows 98SE Service Pack 2.1a, which does (under the main updates) mostly contain a combination of the official patches released by Microsoft for Windows 98SE.
After that, they diversified the subsequent unofficial service packs (from 3.0x onwards) by including fixes/patches and enhancements from later versions of Windows. Here I also feel that you are installing fixes/updates that is not required for games running on Windows 98SE.
I do, however, extract the USB stack from one of the later Unofficial Service Packs (like from version 3.2 or onwards) and install that separately in order to obtain USB support for mass storage devices.
I just looked at as, Microsoft has finished all the work they are ever going to do on Windows 98 fixes. So I just asked myself, Where can I just get all of their work? So yes, some of those patches may have little to do with gaming. It's just an aim to get as stable of a system as I can make. I do like your approach that you explained. I did not know that I could add mass storage that easily. I should consider that.
jesolo wrote:I'm still in two minds whether I just need to update to DirectX 8.1a or to DirectX 9.0c (the last version supported for Windows 98SE), since by the time that DirectX 9.0 was released, Windows XP already hit the market and therefore most hardware and games would have been developed to make better use of Windows XP's features.
You and I share some thinking with this. My idea has been to build a system "capped" with nice DirectX 7 card. Some information about DirectX on Wikipedia, has explained that DirectX 7 and older, is meant to be compatible with all older versions. And "it seems to me" that the time period of the geforce 2 looks to be a nice stopping point for all older DOS and Win9x hardware. A very wild time of various devices. So I made a dual boot MS-DOS 6.22 / Win98 system built with Geforce2 TI and Voodoo2, along with some sound cards that are fun from the time. AWE64, Aureal Vortex 2, and SB Live!.
I made a separate XP based system with DirectX 9.0c, which also covers DirectX 9, 8, 7. Hardware for that era fit easily as their own build outside of Win9x. At least, that's what I've done. *shrug*
Any opinions welcome if someone things this is totally way off. I'm just making this up as I go.