Best way to play old PC Games?

Hah yeah rough. I started out on a 15" Magnavox/Headstart monitor that was capable of 800x600 (or 1024x768 I forget) SVGA monitor as the video card it came with was capable of it and that was an old headstart computer back in Christmas of 1990. The games on that never looked bad, compared to your normal color TV of the era it looked pretty crisp which amazed me being used to NES games to that point and the rare use of a 2600 at a friends place. Wing Commander was one of my first games, the very first off the 40 games on a CD that came with the PC was shareware wolfenstein and big box konami oddball conversion of the Simpsons Arcade Game.

I was mainly curious on what anyone else was currently doing to play vintage pc games. Sorry I should have clarified before, By best I meant least hassle with best quality gameplay, Or maybe least cost to highest reward. Generally I am not a fan of emulation and prefer to play on genuine hardware / software. But was thinking of a exception in the PC's case as I dont have alot of time and knowledge to build and run a vintage era specific pc. At this point Im thinking of just trying some games off of GOG on the laptop and see how they play and go from there. Thanks to all for the input!

If you want real hardware with little hassle, go with late 90s/early 2000s ATX hardware. It's very similar to modern day ATX. The only old standards you'd need to learn a bit are AGP and ISA, I suppose IDE as well. You can find ATX boards with a wide variety of CPU support, like Slot 1, (Super) Socket 7, Socket 478, Socket A and the like. If you want some DOS and Windows in one box, go with a (Super) Socket 7 or I think Socket A, that would get you access to the AMD K6-2, K6-3 and early Athlons. The parts are easy to find and relatively cheap. If you find a nice board with at least one ISA slot, just put a decent Soundblaster in it and that will cover basic DOS support. There are lots of good PCI video cards from back then, so AGP isn't required, but it's nice to have.

The other thing to remember is that if one does go down the authentic hardware route instead of the pre-packaged route there is also a good chance you will have to start messing around with autoexec.bat files and such. Usually to get the free memory you need to get some of the games to run. Going pre-packaged (like GoG) you shouldn't have to worry about it. Just something to consider when looking at the options.

That depends on how far back you go. If you're using a 486 with MS-DOS, then yeah you'll have to learn how to free up conventional memory. If you're using a PII - PIII system with Windows 95 / 98, then the DOS Manager in Win9x will usually take care of memory for you.

There are occasional exceptions though. One game, System Shock 1, likes pre-defined memory limits instead of "auto" in the properties for its executable (usually cdshock.exe). For example, set DMI to 8MB and System Shock should run without memory errors.

Some DOS games won't work properly in a windows environment either, like the Kyrandia games from Westwood.

They require a line added to Windows.ini that you wouldn't know to add unless you had the original talkie release on CD and still had the manual for it and looked in the troubleshooting section.

Ultima 7 also hates Windows due to memory manager conflicts.
I think Ultima 8 and Crusader No Remorse/No Regret have similar problems.

The Crusader games in windows will pretty much cry about not having enough memory or just not be able to execute the file at all. Amazing games though.

Kid Panda said:

The Crusader games in windows will pretty much cry about not having enough memory or just not be able to execute the file at all. Amazing games though.

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Play those on the Saturn. They run great.

Tripredacus said:

This thread is a case of people replying but not reading the title [...] But all these idiots posting about using emulators (GOG, DOSBox) like it is no big deal. [...]

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Dominance9 said:

Hi, If this looks familiar it is. I had asked this about a week or so ago but it got deleted with everything else. Unfortunately I dont remember some of the websites and other things some recommended.

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xsq said:

gog

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Dominance9 said:

Thank you! gog was the main one I was trying to recall and couldnt.

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After fixing my Thinkpad T23 I have installed XP and 98, I use that for old games now. Not the best you could do though.

DecepticonZero said:

Play those on the Saturn. They run great.

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They control like shit, tho. :/

aaronjmill said:

They control like shit, tho. :/

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No, that's the game's fault. Trust me, the KB control is garbage too. Mouse aiming is laughable.

The GOG summer sale is underway. Lotsa good oldies at the $1.50 range.

BLEAGH said:

The GOG summer sale is underway. Lotsa good oldies at the $1.50 range.

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Thanks for the heads up! Rise of the Triad $1.50 Postal 2 .99 Redneck Rampage Collection for $2.39. Im buying now