Okay listen: I am less than tech-savvy, but I tried so many step-intensive things on my dinky PC, to no avail.
I use Windows10 home (yes, I know, bear with me!) and am just trying to boot games I already OWN!!! No dice. Now I just sit here, arms crossed, and seethe “I hate u, computer.”
Yes, I’ve enabled the IIS and tried to use the option to allow program to run 32-bit. No dice.
I’ve tried compatibility mode. Absolutely nothing (Windows, you useless-ass shitwad).
I struggled through DOSBOX as a non-tech person, managed to do the Windows 3.1 thing, tried to boot my files through there, got as far as the install screen!!! Stuck at 0% probably forever. So it was a failure.
Tried running old game files from some people who are smarter than me that emulate the D:\ drive instead of the physical disks. Zilch.
FrikkiN AHHHHH!!!
I JUST WANNA RELIVE MY NOSTALGIA AND SHOW MY KID ALL MY OLD AND SHITTY GAMES I USED TO PLAY AS A KID!!!
Could anyone give a solution that won’t have me downloading and installing 6 trillion new programs? Any helpful links a non-tech person could understand?
Swear to god, I’ll Cashapp 5$ to the first person to give a solution I can reasonably follow & that works.
Also you will have my adoration forever. Thanks.
Download and Install Oracle VM VirtualBox from here
https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/7.0.12/VirtualBox-7.0.12-159484-Win.exe
Follow the steps here to create a Windows 98 Virtual Machine
https://i12bretro.github.io/tutorials/0070.html
After that (assuming you have a CD/DVD Drive), you’ll need to do VirtualBox’s Machine > Settings > Storage > Enable Passthrough for the DVD drive; them just plug in the game disk.
$5 to this person OP.
Linux isn’t going to help, and why the hell would you want to buy or pirate (and run the risk of malware) something you already own.
Going to have to disagree on the second bit. Nearly every game that was released on XP or earlier has run better for me with WINE or DosBox in Linux than Windows. Proton and Lutris/Heroic have only made it better. I have the Might and Magic collection and Mass Effect Remastered on my deck and both run flawlessly with little setup.
Are you seriously suggesting that a game meant to run on Windows 98 runs better on wine than it does on Windows 98?
Indeed. Linux, with WINE is known to outperform Windows, sometimes by a wide margin, for older games for some time. Win98 hasn’t seen any development in about two decades. Meanwhile, people who enjoy old software have been continually improving WINE, allowing modern hardware and OS advances to be leveraged and unpatched low-level issues to be fixed. Linux is very much a better Win98 than Win98.
Things have improved a lot since the 90s.
Consider installing a Linux distro and trying WINE.
Sounds incredibly stupid, I know, but WINE has far better backwards compatibility than modern Windows.
I used to use PlayOnLinux for exactly this thing. It’s a front end/manager for WINE. Heroic and Lutris are similar, but have carried the concept further.
How old are these games? What OS did you play them in? Better question: which games specifically?
What are the contents of the CD? If every file has an uppercase name then it’s likely to be a DOS game and DOSBox really is your best option.
If they are point-and-click adventure games, look into ScummVM, it may be easier than messing with DOSBox.
1994 - 1996 and beyond. Originally played on Win98, currently on Win10. Trying out several different CDROMS, but I’ve been testing out an old “Learning in Toyland” CD, but I also have an old “Yukon Trail” CD I’m trying to boot up.
I’ve tried DOSBOX, but I keep getting messages like “requires Windows” or whatnot. Like HOE, I HAVE WINDOWS AND IT DON’T EVEN WORK
Dosbox is for dos games ;) If they ran on Win98 then try them on Win98 again. Get something like Virtualbox and make yourself a Win98 machine to play with.
Seconding the recommendation for Virtualbox. Wanted to play my old Lego Island CD a few years ago and I just booted it up in an old Windows VM. Worked like a charm.
Have you tried installing a copy of Windows in Dosbox, then install the game from there? I remember doing something like that to play the original SimTower.
Very likely the game is 16 bit mode, which is why nothing in Windows 10’s compatibility mode is working, as it doesn’t support 16 bit programs.
Ahhh…you’re trying to play Windows 3.1 games…that’s why you’re having issues…yeah emulation for Windows 3.1’s random differences from Windows 95 and DOS are surprisingly rare still.
There’s no dedicated emulator for Windows 3.1 yet. I personally installed a copy onto Doxbox, but it’s not a very easy solution.
But I can tell it’s 3.1 cause one of those is The Learning Company and the later versions of the Super Solver games have the same issues.
Check each game’s entry on PCGamingWiki. They’re a good resource for finding what it takes to get old games running well on modern PCs. A lot of times, the answer is either “buy it on Steam and use a community-made patch” or “buy it on GOG”.
I’m curious, what games are you trying to get working?
Windows 10 really isn’t meant for gaming. Buy a console and the corresponding game copy for that console, and play it like that.
try using pcem or other kinds of virtualisation
I tried to get some JumpStart games to run with DOSBOX a few years ago on Windows 7. Iirc I managed to install but not run the game.
I recently tried a bit to try and get another 16bit game run on Arch Linux with WINE in win98 or 95 mode but that still didn’t pan out.
Honestly it’s probably doable in some way without one but next time I try I’ll probably use a VM (Virtual Machine).
sourcing an older computer that can run xp isn’t terribly difficult, or expensive. don’t need internets for them, don’t need massive video card, or a big high-res monitor. in the end, finding one, and a little space to set it up, is a lot easier and with far fewer headaches than getting many of the old games to run on ‘modern’ windows or linux.
i have systems from an old celeron 300a to dual core am2 to play the really old games on… even have crt and white kb/mouse for the full ‘experience’.
I’ve gone through this song and dance before with my old games and the most success I’ve had is with wine on Linux. It’s not foolproof unfortunately, and takes a bit of tinkering. It likely won’t work for every game either. You’ll probably want to find tutorials for each specific game you’re trying to run. Another option I’ve had some success with is running a windows xp VM. But again this isn’t foolproof and requires some technical literacy
I haven’t personally tried using the tools in this video, but they may be an easier way to set up virtual machines for specific older hardware/ windows machines for gaming.
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