|
|
Post by Aunt Alison on Sept 10, 2021 17:00:19 GMT
My dad made me one with a menu so you could use the same disk for different games
First PC game I played was Under A Killing Moon and it felt like weeks waiting for him to work out how to make a boot disk to run it. Those were the days. Sort of
|
|
|
|
Post by 😎 on Sept 10, 2021 17:04:19 GMT
Some games had some quirks. I could only get Leisure Suit Larry 6 to work with SVGA -and- sound -and- CDROM by booting it one way, running it, letting it bomb out with memory errors, rebooting with a different config, and then launching.
I know logically there's no way that should have been the case but it was. If it was a cold boot with the working config, it wouldn't load.
|
|
|
|
Post by Aunt Alison on Sept 10, 2021 17:08:20 GMT
Some games had some quirks. I could only get Leisure Suit Larry 6 to work with SVGA -and- sound -and- CDROM by booting it one way, running it, letting it bomb out with memory errors, rebooting with a different config, and then launching. I know logically there's no way that should have been the case but it was. If it was a cold boot with the working config, it wouldn't load. You're either older than me or were much smarter than me
I tried making a boot disk for a friend's family PC once. At one point, the PC wouldn't boot properly anymore so I switched it off and on at the plug, it booted and I went home
|
|
|
|
Post by jellyhead on Sept 10, 2021 17:15:39 GMT
oh, are we talking about spending 2 hours in autoexec.bat and config.sys working out how to save 10kb so you could get the game to load with your drivers? And then doing it again for the next game becauseit didn't like a particular version of one of the system drivers you were using.
then working out a menu which helped simplify things once you got them working. My particular nemesis was figuring out the DMA port and values for my various soundcards i had lying around for my Frankenstein's Mongrel of a 386/486 PC i had. oh and the million, trillion recently obsolete video cards i had been given by friends or were scrapped from work PCs.
Himem.sys, LoadHi Mouse, EMM365, IRQ & DMA addresses. oh the nostalgia. I'm so glad Plug-and-Play finally started working properly and i didn't have to faff around with that stuff too much any more.
Then i got my Voodoo Banshee and my SoundBlaster Live! and joined the future. Good times.
|
|
|
|
Post by Phattso on Sept 10, 2021 17:17:52 GMT
There was definitely a feeling of earning your gaming time on PCs in that era, that's for sure. Windows fucked it all up, but those pre-Win95 years with DOS 6.2 were glorious.
|
|
|
|
Post by 😎 on Sept 10, 2021 17:20:38 GMT
My soundblaster 16 was on port 240 rather than the standard 220 due to a conflict. There were a small handful of games that hated that. I even got a patch on a floppy direct from Microprose to get SFX working in Transport Tycoon because of it.
Ah memories.
|
|
|
|
Post by Aunt Alison on Sept 10, 2021 17:26:05 GMT
I used to love Transport Tycoon. I don't think I ever really got very far with it but I'd start new games all the time. That was basically most games for me back then. Hardly ever finished anything
Also got told off all the time for installing demos
|
|
zagibu
Junior Member
Posts: 1,946
|
Post by zagibu on Sept 10, 2021 17:32:09 GMT
You miss the old quirky times of PC gaming, and I miss the 4 player split screen action early console gaming was so strong at.
|
|
askew
Full Member
Posts: 6,795
|
Post by askew on Sept 10, 2021 17:35:26 GMT
There was definitely a feeling of earning your gaming time on PCs in that era, that's for sure. Windows fucked it all up, but those pre-Win95 years with DOS 6.2 were glorious. I feel like I still had to faff around with this shit trying to get Tomb Raider to work on Win95 |
|
|
|
Post by 😎 on Sept 10, 2021 17:44:34 GMT
The thing I get squeaky about with Transport Tycoon is that the original also had an expansion, World Creation Kit or something. But then Transport Tycoon Deluxe came out, which supposedly had it built in, but it was missing a bunch of stuff from the creation kit (like being able to properly build out towns instead of just plopping them down and letting it autogenerate, and the Martian landscape was missing as well). Now with OpenTTDX it seems to have been completely forgotten and overshadowed and those small minor tiny differences which brought a ton of joy in my youth are gone. Booooo.
|
|
deebs
New Member
So I was killing this pig with a hammer
Posts: 788
|
Post by deebs on Sept 10, 2021 18:09:53 GMT
Some games had some quirks. I could only get Leisure Suit Larry 6 to work with SVGA -and- sound -and- CDROM by booting it one way, running it, letting it bomb out with memory errors, rebooting with a different config, and then launching. I know logically there's no way that should have been the case but it was. If it was a cold boot with the working config, it wouldn't load. I have scintillating news for you then. Larry 7 is free here right now. freebies.indiegala.com/leisure-suit-larry-7-love-for-sailNo jumper switching or altering IRQ settings required. I do not miss that bullshit. I don't know how I managed in the pre-internet times without a forum to ask. |
|
|
|
Post by elstoof on Sept 10, 2021 18:11:15 GMT
Never had you down for Leisure Suit Larry fans if I’m honest
|
|
|
|
Post by Chopsen on Sept 10, 2021 18:16:51 GMT
I once played through one of the Leisure Suit Larry games with my girlfriend over a few sessions. In retrospect, that was weird.
|
|
|
|
Post by Phattso on Sept 10, 2021 18:17:47 GMT
We didn't need the internet back then, we could just ask our mates who were over for some LAN gaming. There'd be plenty of time, since none of us would know where the bloody terminator for the network loop was anyway. Even assuming you could get ipconfig to spit out anything useful. Actually, now I think about it, everything I know about hardware infrastructure I learned from DOS and local network gaming.  |
|
|
|
Post by Chopsen on Sept 10, 2021 18:22:11 GMT
Networking in *DOS*?
|
|
deebs
New Member
So I was killing this pig with a hammer
Posts: 788
|
Post by deebs on Sept 10, 2021 18:24:31 GMT
Commander Keen deathmatch was brutal.
|
|
|
|
Post by Danno on Sept 10, 2021 18:27:03 GMT
Commander Keen deathmatch was brutal. was that an actual thing? |
|
deebs
New Member
So I was killing this pig with a hammer
Posts: 788
|
Post by deebs on Sept 10, 2021 18:36:54 GMT
Nope.
|
|
dogbot
Full Member
Posts: 8,738
|
Post by dogbot on Sept 10, 2021 18:37:26 GMT
You’re not suggesting that there’s *any* other way?? |
|
|
|
Post by Danno on Sept 10, 2021 18:39:45 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by grizzly on Sept 10, 2021 18:44:28 GMT
There was definitely a feeling of earning your gaming time on PCs in that era, that's for sure. Windows fucked it all up, but those pre-Win95 years with DOS 6.2 were glorious. As much as I appreciate the nostalgia (I was 2 when Win95 was released) I would like to point out that DirectX actually made sure that games no longer needed to include their own drivers for common hardware, which was a huge hassle even when the hardware developers were co-operating. |
|
|
|
Post by Danno on Sept 10, 2021 18:45:11 GMT
There was definitely a feeling of earning your gaming time on PCs in that era, that's for sure. Windows fucked it all up, but those pre-Win95 years with DOS 6.2 were glorious. As much as I appreciate the nostalgia (I was 2 when Win95 was released) I would like to point out that DirectX actually made sure that games no longer needed to include their own drivers for common hardware, which was a huge hassle even when the hardware developers were co-operating. Shuddup Zoomer. x. My grandad sorted out all of the boot issues, I thought he was a magician at the time. He still couldn't prevent our 464 from crashing after trying to load a tape for half an hour though |
|
|
|
Post by grizzly on Sept 10, 2021 18:51:16 GMT
As much as I appreciate the nostalgia (I was 2 when Win95 was released) I would like to point out that DirectX actually made sure that games no longer needed to include their own drivers for common hardware, which was a huge hassle even when the hardware developers were co-operating. Shuddup Zoomer. x. My grandad sorted out all of the boot issues, I thought he was a magician at the time. He still couldn't prevent our 464 from crashing after trying to load a tape for half an hour though What's that? I can't hear you over the sound of all your hard drives, floppy disks, and very small fans that have to work very hard 
I got lucky with my dad basically doing everything for me initially when it came to DOS, but he made sure to make me do the computing from a very young age (again, I was 2 ) and it's been incredibly useful atleast.
Yay for our technologicially advanced ancestors!
|
|
|
|
Post by Danno on Sept 10, 2021 18:54:17 GMT
My creaking rig on a hot day would put a 386 to shame. I like your avatar  |
|
|
|
Post by jellyhead on Sept 10, 2021 19:06:05 GMT
I love that my PC starts up in under 30 seconds but i do get a bit nostalgic when i watch LGR and he boots one of his old machines and there's the orcestra of BIOS beeps, Fans running, harddrives spinning up and that floppy disk check that marked that all was well and the noisy bast would soon be ready for more Duke Nukem 3D or whatever was next on the stack of hooky floppies you'd been given from your mate with the internet connection or you'd downloaded at college/uni.
Didn't have internet when i was younger so i basically inherited whatever Atari scene crack disks my mate's dad or dad's mate gave me. hah.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2021 19:25:44 GMT
My first ever PC was £2,500 (tax free) and was a 486 DX with 4mb ram, 120mb hd, cd ROM drive, floppy drive, 14.4k us robotics modem and sound blaster. I remember is came with encarta and I spent ages playing every video on the cd over and over as I thought it was amazing.
I think it was Windows 3.1, but I had to do the boot config stuff a lot to get things running.
|
|
|
|
Post by Danno on Sept 10, 2021 19:33:36 GMT
My first ever PC was £2,500 (tax free) and was a 486 DX with 4mb ram, 120mb hd, cd ROM drive, floppy drive, 14.4k us robotics modem and sound blaster. I remember is came with encarta and I spent ages playing every video on the cd over and over as I thought it was amazing. I think it was Windows 3.1, but I had to do the boot config stuff a lot to get things running. Where'd the Witch King of Angmar go, dude? |
|
|
|
Post by Phattso on Sept 10, 2021 19:35:20 GMT
There was definitely a feeling of earning your gaming time on PCs in that era, that's for sure. Windows fucked it all up, but those pre-Win95 years with DOS 6.2 were glorious. As much as I appreciate the nostalgia (I was 2 when Win95 was released) I would like to point out that DirectX actually made sure that games no longer needed to include their own drivers for common hardware, which was a huge hassle even when the hardware developers were co-operating. I was 20, and it was all software renderers then so there weren’t all that many driver issues on the video side! Audio was a minefield mind you. And the first 15 years of Direct X were the biggest clusterfuck to happen to gaming so I’d hang my hat on another tech if I were you. 😂 |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2021 19:45:55 GMT
Danno he was a casualty of my current migraine. I thought it made me look like I was trying to be something or other and that maybe it was annoying people. Kind of wish I'd reinvented myself when I came here as I get the impression I'm not liked by some. Anyway, tomorrow is a new day and I'll get over myself and this migraine.
|
|
|
|
Post by Danno on Sept 10, 2021 19:47:55 GMT
As a fellow migraine sufferer I know what you mean. And balls to those that have beef with you (of all people!), get that dessicated armoured husk back, stat!
|
|
