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.
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.
Great comment, exactly right.
Hilarious to imagine from the perspective of a non tech savy person though: your virtual machine program “something box” is for the other old windows, not the old windows you want. Get this “other box” windows thing to make the right old windows so you can play windows games on your windows pc.
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.
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.
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.
As others have said, you’re in that pocket of time where the game wants more than DOS, but less than modern windows, which isn’t well catered to. Your best option is a windows 98 or 95 virtual machine, which is doable, but not trivial or quick to set up.
Windows 10 really isn’t meant for gaming. Buy a console and the corresponding game copy for that console, and play it like that.
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).
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
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’.
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