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Now that my workflow FINALLY has calmed down, I've been planning to sit and really loose myself into the worlds of AGs. Been meaning to play some older ones, for instance Pepper (thanks Stinger!) and the Kyrandia series, but last night I noticed I can't make them work...

 

I've got Win-98, do you guys have any suggestions as to what would make older games work? I have some vague memories that there are programs out there that "slows" down the computer and stuff like that.

 

Let's compile a "how-to" for those older nuggets out there. Put your links and advice here!

 

Thanks guys! :)

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Er yeah, there's something called CPU killer I think, but that's just for making very fast games run slower.

 

http://www.scummvm.org/ is your best friend when it comes to running old adventure games on new machines, though. Not sure it will support all your games, but it works great on old LucasArts adventures. Speaking of which, http://quick.mixnmojo.com/ is also good for all your LucasArts adventure gaming related needs.

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Thanks guys! Yeah, sure why not Pleto! Like I said in the first post, I've got no idea how to make games work, the older ones that is, in general. Figure there might be more of us out there... So please, keep the suggestions coming! :)

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Originally posted by Wajus

Does anyone have an idea why Pepper's on my win98se has crooked graphics? I can see the all characters perfectly but somehow the background got screwed up. HELP!

 

Many Sierra games need to be played with your display settings at 256 colors. If your computer is set to 16 or 32 bit, then you may have to change your settings. If you don't know how, follow these instructions:

 

Click Start > Settings > Control Panel

Double-click on Display

Select the Settings tab (top right of the window)

Under Colors, switch to 256 colors

You may have to restart you computer

 

I'm not sure if this will help but it doesn't hurt to try! :)

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Originally posted by DustCropper

Many Sierra games need to be played with your display settings at 256 colors.

I'm not sure if this will help but it doesn't hurt to try! :)

 

Damn I'm almost done but... ekhm... but how does one restart his computer? :rolleyes:

 

Anyway, it worked!!! Thanks sooo much.

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OK the program is called "Turbo"

 

Check something from the readme...

 

Turbo for Windows 95 and NT August 1997

---------------------------

 

Keywords

--------

Turbo Windows NT Utility

 

Description

-----------

Software "Turbo Switch". Set the effective CPU speed 1-100%

of full speed. All programs now run at this reduced speed.

 

Useful for following situations:

(1) A program with CPU timing loops needs to be slowed down.

(2) Software being debugged needs to be slowed down, to see

details of graphic output sequence.

(3) Software needs to be tested under adverse load, or

performance evaluated for slower CPU.

 

Requirements

------------

Windows 95 or NT on Intel CPU.

 

Files Included

--------------

Turbo.EXE executable program file

Turbo.HLP Windows HELP file

ReadMe.TXT this file

 

Installation

------------

Move above files into directory of your choice.

Double-click Turbo.EXE to start.

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The standard link given is http://www.vogons.com , IIRC.

 

Slow down methods can work if your game has some sort of known timing bug. In the case of Space Quest 6, they didn't, but going into the BIOS and disabling the L2 cache did. Things like Slo-Mo and Turbo are quick&dirty ways of making your machine run like a slower computer, but aren't very reliable. Underclocking your machine works better, but 1)makes windows boot slow, 2)often doesn't go slow enough, 3)requires advanced puter knowledge.

 

For old Windows games, you might need to change the screen size and color depth, but I'm pretty sure that won't matter for DOS games (ask if you can't distinguish).

 

For old DOS games, the most reliable thing is always to

1)find DOS drivers for your sound card

2)VESA drivers for your graphics card (such as the ol' UNIVBE) if necessary (assume not, at first)

3)locate DOS mouse drivers if desired (mouse.com is the filename, usually)

4)figure out how to use MSCDEX.EXE with whatever somethingCDsomething.SYS file there is

5)figure out how to install them in your config.sys and autoexec.bat

6)reboot to DOS (either an option at shutdown, or hit F8 when booting)

 

Of course,

1)I'm not an expert at running games.

2)There are often other problems that need tackling -- you'll (usually) want to be running EMM386 if you're not already, for example. And you may need to trim down on the things you're running, because they cut down on the "main" memory (good ol' 640K).

3)There are lots of weird game-specific things that may require homebrew patches or even crazier things. Check with people who aren't me about these.

4)All of this requires a crash course in DOS, and there might be an easier solution (such as looking at the EXE properties, and messing with stuff like initial memory).

 

Unless otherwise specified, feel free to ask more questions.

None of this applies to XP. YMMV. One per person per household.

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First off, you only need the slo-down program for Pepper's, emma.

 

Second, it can be a real hassle to get games to work when they say they're out of Expanded Memory. It requires boot-disks an whatnot. Unless you're running Windows 2000 or XP, in which case you could just run VDMSound.

 

But I'm still willing to try and help you on IRC, like before, Emz. :D

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OK pepper's is under windows (3.11) so I don't hink that drivers are the problem really, so is not memory (EMS,XMS,M&M'S whatever).

Whether I use MoSlo or don't use MoSlo (besides Pepper's still have speed adjsutment in options) the effect is the same: Heap Space!

 

Hmmm I have 98se.

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Wajus, the Heap Space error is due to some timing bug, and happens on too fast computers. Therefore MoSlo is only needed during that timepoint that the bug shows its ugly ass, that is, during the scene with Uncle Fred in the beginning.

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I read somewhere that MoSlo doesn't work on the newer processors (something like 700mhz+ ?) so try CPU-Killer as bigjko said.

 

Heres a useful address:

http://www.ntcompatible.com

 

It has a huge number of games listed and whether they work or not in NT based operating systems (Windows NT, 2000, Server 2003, and XP) and how to get them to work if they can. Very useful site.

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