DOS Games Discussion

[NHL95fan]

Hi there! I run a windows XP, but recently downloaded an emulator called "dosbox" which lets me play old DOS games on my XP. I love old DOS games and its a lot of fun, but the games are sometimes "choppy".

Someone told me these old games would run MUCH better on an actual old ODS computer, like a 486 or pentium. Is this true? Also, he said that there was a way to download DOS itself on my windows XP so I wouldnt even need "dosbox".

With all this in mind I have a few questions:

1. I have an old windows 95 packard bell computer. Would DOS games run perfectly on this computer (just have to get the cd drive fixed first)?

2. Is there any way to actually install DOS on my microsoft windows XP computer? So the games would run perfectly (unlike with dosbox emulator)?

3. The games I am primarly want to play are NHL 93, and NHL 95 (if that means anything at all). I like to hack these games (change uniforms/update teams etc.) sometimes. Since older computers cant really hookup to the internet, how do I transfer my "hacks"? Do I have to transfer them to a cd? A floppy? So I can play them on old computers.

THANKS for any assistance! I love old DOS games!

[emmzee]

You basically have two options ...

1. Use DOSBox which it sounds like you've already tried. A new version, 0.70, of DOSBox was released recently, so if you're using 0.62 try the newest version.

or

2. Try Virtual PC from Microsoft. (It's now a free download.) It basically allows you to install whatever operating system you want within Virtual PC's framework, so you could install DOS 6.22 or Win 95 or whatever on your modern PC and run it in a window, like you do for DOSBox. In theory, it should run faster than DOSBox, too ... of course, you'll need the disks/CDs to actually install whatever OS you want to use within Virtual PC itself. Search this forum for more info about Virtual PC.

As for running an actual old computer ... I've honestly never built a computer specifically for that purpose. I used my old 486 for quite awhile before it died, but if you're intent on building a computer primarily for DOS stuff, people on the Hardware board will likely have some suggestions for you.

[NHL95fan]