The very first computer I had access to had a Windows 95 operating system and it came with a bunch of games installed. I've been wanting to play them again for old times take. I've managed to download some of them in the past but when 64 bit operating systems became standard they dropped support for 16 bit applications so the games don't run on a modern computer even with things like compatibility mode enabled. I was wondering if some of the more technically knowledgeable users here know of a way to run these games on a modern computer.
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It hasn't got the widespread acclaim that dosbox has, but PCem is a really good bet for running windows 3.11/95/98. It includes the ability to load roms ripped from hardware of the era, and thereby run drivers and such as if they were on real hardware.
Emulator is here.
And this is an archive of a windows 98 setup to run inside of it.
And this is a pile of hardware roms.
This solution can emulate the voodoo, which opens up a whole host of early 3d games that are hell to run today. Again though, fair warning, this is a lot more fiddly than some other paths; but also more capable.
Here are several options, listed in order from most likely to work properly to least:
Option 1: For DOS games you could try DOSBox, and for Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 there's DOSBox-X.
Option 2: You could run Windows 95 in a VM, such as VirtualBox.
Option 3: If you install a 32-bit version of (modern) Windows on your PC you can enable the 16-bit subsystem. An x64 processor is still perfectly capable of running 16-bit code. You're likely to run into other compatibility issues, though.
I stuck it down below, but otvdm. Reimplements a 16 bit subsystem on windows x64 using wine. Once installed, you just run 16 bit apps like you would any other and they behave like other native apps.
Yes, and in fact I've been playing Stars!, which is a windows 3.1 era game, on my windows 10 64 bit. On a 4k monitor.
You want otvdm, which is a tool that implements part of the linux wine envrionment on windows to create a 16 bit subsystem again. Install this puppy and then just run your win16 apps. They will behave like native.
I used to use a VM with 32 bit windows xp to run my oldest stuff, haven't opened that VM since finding this tool.
This is beautiful. I didn't suggest WINE because I figured recommending linux just to run 16-bit winapps would be complete overkill, the fact someone ported WINE onto windows is incredibly recursive and pleasing.
I wish I kept my old dumpster PC for some nostalgia games too.
I was really disapointed when I tried to boot Astral Tournament and it won't run because of some invalid date bug, don't remember the details.
Something with how the internal "clock" of more recent operating systems is different created compatibility issues way above my technical level.
I tried booting a virtual older windows but gave-up during the configuration of the virtual machine because I didn't want to spend time learning the basics, on a laptop so crappy I couldn't be sure would run it successfully anyway.
The whole point of digging such old, free basic games was that they could easily run on my sub-2GHz horrible laptop.
SNES emulators compatible with Windows 10 works fine though. Any SNES game that is still playable with a keyboard is okay. So most RPG classics like FFVI, Chrono Trigger, Lufia II, etc, works like a charm and save state is a blessing.
I definitely recommend an SNES-style controller like this though, for a more comfortable and authentic feeling. (there are cheaper wired ones too)
I've successfully run Windows 3.1 in DOSBox on Linux and it runs quite well. I can't remember how I did it since it's been a couple years since I set it up, but it was something I searched for like "run Windows 3.1 in DOSBox" Not sure what you're trying to run but I've successfully run some old Windows 3.1 games in it before.
I miss my shitty old hotwheels pc...
The Hotwheels PC.
The flames tell you it's fast.
So fast I literally could not shut it down without it crashing. That blue windows repair screen was a daily ritual for me. Granted, it was more stable than my sisters Barbie computer. That POS couldn't even run StarCraft. At least mine could MOSTLY run StarCraft.
Write your own kernel and compiler like a white-man!
You could instead grow up and move on. Stop playing video games. You're too old. Get other hobbies.
https://pcem-emulator.co.uk
Have fun ;)