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Games that don't run properly on faster CPUs

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Reply 140 of 147, by konc

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Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood has one of those tricky timer issues. Near the end of the game you need to go through a maze and make it to the girl in time. This timer expires too soon (=you are not given enough time to reach your destination) even on a 386/40MHz. On 386/33Mhz it's doable but still marginal, turn turbo off and then it's easy. I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else so I though to document it here, the scene being one the the final scenes in the game doesn't help with popularity.

Reply 141 of 147, by Kordanor

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I am not sure if the list is still being updated. Tested some new games, and various games from the list. Several of these had no or other issues:

New games with issues:
Hanse Die Expedition: Installation gives Error 200 on 500Mhz or more, no issues with that on game. Issue if game runs too fast: Scene flipping speed is Speed dependent. Becomes an issue in combination with button presses which are continously checked. So if you don't immediately release the mousebutton, it will also be used as another click in the second screen. This is already becoming annoying on an AMD K6 2+ with 600Mhz. In DOS Box with too high ticks that becomes anavoidable
Ishar 1: If too fast, then game defaults to PC Speaker
Roball: Unplayable fast on AMD k6 2+ with 200Mhz, On 133Mhz it runs fine
Stellar Defense 2: Unplayable fast on AMD k6 2+ with 200Mhz, needs cache deactivated

No/Other issues:
Indiana Jones: Have no Issues, even running it on 400Mhz, Audio fine
Day of the Tentacle: No audio issues as described, runs fine on 266Mhz, crashes on 333Mhz on Title after Logo
Colonization: Had no issues. Just the scene transitions (fade via black) were too fast
Ultima Underworld 1: Barely saw a difference

Confirmed issues:
Some from the List I could Confirm: Alone in the Dark (1992) (Doubletap when running broken)
Descent: It's very resolution dependent. Low resolution too fast
Themepark: Very Resolution dependent. Low resolution too fast. There seems to be no config where high resolution runs well and menus are not too fast
Hi-Octane: Very Resolution Dependent. Both resolutions need exactly the right speed.
One Must Fall: Cashe Disable necessary, otherwise too fast
Quarantine: Cache disable necessary otherwise too fast
Wing Commander: Cache disable necessary otherwise too fast
Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams: Cache disable necessary otherwise too fast

Reply 142 of 147, by Exploit

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Oil Imperium, also known as Black Gold from ReLine Software is another one that runs too fast on faster CPUs. It is playable on a 286er. But on a 486 it is much too fast when drilling for oil.

Reply 143 of 147, by theelf

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One game i never have the luck to make it work in right speed is Alien Trilogy

In a mid 486 is slow, in a DX4 or cyrix 5x86 is much better but in small areas or near wall fast and ruin experience, in a pentium is too fast...

Reply 144 of 147, by kiacadp

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theelf wrote on 2024-07-06, 17:55:

One game i never have the luck to make it work in right speed is Alien Trilogy

In a mid 486 is slow, in a DX4 or cyrix 5x86 is much better but in small areas or near wall fast and ruin experience, in a pentium is too fast...

Funny you mention this game, one of my favourites as well. I have the CD and been meaning to test it. Also have the booklet and the minimum requirements for CPU are DX2 66Mhz, if I remember correctly Pentium processor is mentioned as well so I suppose Pentium 66 Mhz is what they are referring to? I was planning on testing the game on DX2 66Mhz , DX4 100 Mhz and Pentium 75 Mhz. But saw your feedback and I might just try it on P75 and see how that works.

Reply 145 of 147, by theelf

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kiacadp wrote on 2024-07-06, 20:51:
theelf wrote on 2024-07-06, 17:55:

One game i never have the luck to make it work in right speed is Alien Trilogy

In a mid 486 is slow, in a DX4 or cyrix 5x86 is much better but in small areas or near wall fast and ruin experience, in a pentium is too fast...

Funny you mention this game, one of my favourites as well. I have the CD and been meaning to test it. Also have the booklet and the minimum requirements for CPU are DX2 66Mhz, if I remember correctly Pentium processor is mentioned as well so I suppose Pentium 66 Mhz is what they are referring to? I was planning on testing the game on DX2 66Mhz , DX4 100 Mhz and Pentium 75 Mhz. But saw your feedback and I might just try it on P75 and see how that works.

The problem of the game, it seems dont have a frame lock, like doom for example that even if you play in a p3 never go higher than 35fps

Never have a nice experience with pc version if this game, much better in ps1

Reply 146 of 147, by dukeofurl

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I havent read every page of this topic but wanted to throw in a few games I noticed aren't working well on faster pentiums that I usually don't see talked about.

-street rod 2, does not detect sound card, and even if PC speaker is chosen, the game hangs shortly after the opening screens. Fix is to use setmul and turn off l1 cache to make a slower system

-pyrotechnica. The game itself runs fast and smooth on faster pentiums however the rate of fire that enemy ships shoot at you is also greatly increased to such a degree that it is impossible to progress through the levels. You get hammered by enemy bullets and destroyed before you can destroy them... I already had this issue to a degree with a pentium 90, and it's only exacerbated with a pentium 166 or 233mmx. On the other hand the game is a 3d game that is too graphically intensive to run on a 386, so a 486dx2 is probably the target system here.

-Xargon, many of the sfx do not play if you are running the game on a fast pentium. You can get them to play by disabling l1 cache on setmul but this is actually a little too slow for the game and you will then have some very noticeable slowdown during gameplay when the action gets going and you have many sprites on screen.

-Havoc, the demo for the windows 95 game. After I upgraded my system from a pentium 133 to a pentium 233mmx, the game will not progress beyond the static preview screen for the full version that comes before the auto demo or main menu for the game. It's not exactly frozen, it's playing music, but there doesn't seem to be a way to progress beyond this screen, which I think is ordinarily on a timer or allowed to be clicked through.

-spaceship warlock, windows 3.1 game. For the most part this is a point and click fmv game and those sections work ok, but the game also has some sections in the middle that are like rudimentary arcade games, where you for instance, man a laser turret on a space ship and are supposed to fire on another ship. Those sections run way too fast on a pentium and can be virtually unbeatable.

Reply 147 of 147, by Kordanor

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Wanted to add some info on Wizardry 6 which is mentioned on the list, but not with full/ complete data:

The main issue of being slightly too fast is that some texts are only shown for a very brief moment. One of these examples can be reproduced easily by starting the game, going left through the door left, and then up the tower a couple of times. You will then get a text. On my configuration which equals a 386 25MHz this is still slightly too fast and impossible to read in time. While I am unable to test this slower config, I would assume the maximum CPU Speed you should use is a 386 with 20MHz (possibly even slower)