Wow. That was a hotrod 286 you had when young! I only had an 8mhz one. I think with 20Mb HDD. Loved that thing, but it got dumped when I was given a shiny new Pentium 120Mhz. One of my regrets in life was throwing that 286 machine away.

25mhz ? thats rather fast for a 286, however the system requirements state it needs a i386

OMG! I just tested Megarace on my 386SX @ 25MHz yesterday too! The video playback was a total stutter-fest even with a 6x CD-ROM drive. How on earth did you manage smooth video playback on a 286?

If this is the game it says it requires a 386SX, which is probably why it hangs on your 286 as it's probably using 32bit instructions.

https://www.mobygames.com/game/592/megarace/specs/

Hi guys thanks for reply

Linoleum wrote on 2025-07-30, 19:48:

OMG! I just tested Megarace on my 386SX @ 25MHz yesterday too! The video playback was a total stutter-fest even with a 6x CD-ROM drive. How on earth did you manage smooth video playback on a 286?

A 386 SX is slower than a 286, i have a 386SX40 and is more or less similar than 286 25mhz.. a 386SX25 must be like a 286 16mhz maybe?

The videos in my 286 are fine, smoth, some times little stutter but normal, i dont expect perfection, and game totally playable, very nice in fact yesterday i almost finish it, even with 386 emulator

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-07-30, 19:05:

Wow. That was a hotrod 286 you had when young! I only had an 8mhz one. I think with 20Mb HDD. Loved that thing, but it got dumped when I was given a shiny new Pentium 120Mhz. One of my regrets in life was throwing that 286 machine away.

I still keep my 286 almost intact, harris 25mhz, 4mb ram, 512mb HDD, mitsumi cdrom 1x, the only hardware i did not keep was ESS soundcard, that i exchanged for a opti years later. The only think now i dont use is old HDD, i exchange for a 512mb CF

pan069 wrote on 2025-07-30, 20:55:

If this is the game it says it requires a 386SX, which is probably why it hangs on your 286 as it's probably using 32bit instructions.

https://www.mobygames.com/game/592/megarace/specs/

old school gamer man wrote on 2025-07-30, 19:15:

25mhz ? thats rather fast for a 286, however the system requirements state it needs a i386

Hi, like i said, i played in my 286, and i think is a very old version of the game, but even the oldest version i found on internet, hang, and need some 386 instructions

In setup the oldest i found still keep the 286 option

and in fact in megarace.bat there is a option for 286 and 386 machine

I know the version i played as kid is older, because only have english, but even the oldest i found on internet have multilanguage

In megarace.dat there is two data files one for 286 other for 386

CRVGA.HSQ
CR386.HSQ

VGA is 286, both are same data file just for different CPU, but it seems they forget the 286 version of CONTROL.HSQ because i realize hang there. Maybe because only english only, the first version is USA/UK only? and whas the version i get as kid ? or a beta? in argentina when i born was common to have pirated stuff, and a lot was betas etc

Megarace “appears” to be capable of running on 640k + EMS

There is a real mode 386 software emulator available for the 286.

Combine the 2 and there is a small chance it will run.

From what I remember megarace was originally intended for 286 but do to scope creep ended up 386+
If the amount of 386 features used is small the emulator might work here

rmay635703 wrote on 2025-07-31, 16:41:

Megarace “appears” to be capable of running on 640k + EMS […]
Show full quote

Megarace “appears” to be capable of running on 640k + EMS

There is a real mode 386 software emulator available for the 286.

Combine the 2 and there is a small chance it will run.

From what I remember megarace was originally intended for 286 but do to scope creep ended up 386+
If the amount of 386 features used is small the emulator might work here

Is theelf mistaken in the memory of playing it on a 286 then? Is it possible that a leaked early version was out there that supported 286?

AFAIK the game works on 286 regardless of which release. Open the megarace.bat file and make sure it says 286.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-07-31, 18:04:

rmay635703 wrote on 2025-07-31, 16:41:

Megarace “appears” to be capable of running on 640k + EMS […]
Show full quote

Megarace “appears” to be capable of running on 640k + EMS

There is a real mode 386 software emulator available for the 286.

Combine the 2 and there is a small chance it will run.

From what I remember megarace was originally intended for 286 but do to scope creep ended up 386+
If the amount of 386 features used is small the emulator might work here

Is theelf mistaken in the memory of playing it on a 286 then? Is it possible that a leaked early version was out there that supported 286?

Can be, was 30+ years ago, but remember playing the game a lot before doom, and I update to 386 because doom...

rmay635703 wrote on 2025-07-31, 16:41:

Megarace “appears” to be capable of running on 640k + EMS […]
Show full quote

Megarace “appears” to be capable of running on 640k + EMS

There is a real mode 386 software emulator available for the 286.

Combine the 2 and there is a small chance it will run.

From what I remember megarace was originally intended for 286 but do to scope creep ended up 386+
If the amount of 386 features used is small the emulator might work here

like i said in first post, with emu386 the game work fine, and good speed, thats why i think almost any 386+ stuff is used, because emulator slowdown a lot, and the game run fine

eddman wrote on 2025-07-31, 19:27:

AFAIK the game works on 286 regardless of which release. Open the megarace.bat file and make sure it says 286.

In all versions i tested, there is two options, with 386 and without, write a 286 just do nothing

What version do you have?

Wow interesting. My experience with megarace on a 386 with 12mb ram and 2x CD-ROM drive is that it runs quite poorly, lots of stuttering , I would not call it smooth in any way, nor is it close to how the game performs on faster systems. I would not have expected it could be run on a slower machine and somehow have better performance. 🤔

dukeofurl wrote on 2025-07-31, 21:26:

Wow interesting. My experience with megarace on a 386 with 12mb ram and 2x CD-ROM drive is that it runs quite poorly, lots of stuttering , I would not call it smooth in any way, nor is it close to how the game performs on faster systems. I would not have expected it could be run on a slower machine and somehow have better performance. 🤔

The problem of the game is that not have a speed limiter, faster the system, faster the game. For me i found the game too much fast for example in my cyrix 5x86 120mhz, i need to disable cache to play at more normal speed

I have a 486SLC 40mhz and i think is best speed, but in 286 works really good too, i can win races without any problem, and found speed smoth, of course less faster than the 486SLC and less faster than 5x86... and in a pentium 200 is so fast is impossible to play jaja

theelf wrote on 2025-07-31, 20:25:

In all versions i tested, there is two options, with 386 and without, write a 286 just do nothing

What version do you have?

It was quite a while ago; a late EU release. Yes, in 286 mode no number is written in the bat; I said 286 to make it easier to understand. In any case, something else must be going on with your system that's causing it to freeze. You didn't write your current specs, unless it's the same machine as your childhood one.

eddman wrote on Yesterday, 08:44:

theelf wrote on 2025-07-31, 20:25:

In all versions i tested, there is two options, with 386 and without, write a 286 just do nothing

What version do you have?

It was quite a while ago; a late EU release. Yes, in 286 mode no number is written in the bat; I said 286 to make it easier to understand. In any case, something else must be going on with your system that's causing it to freeze. You didn't write your current specs, unless it's the same machine as your childhood one.

Yes, same machine, exept sound card, i have a opti now, but tested SB16, AWE, etc no difference

I even keep same case, is like a time machine