Mods on original hardware?

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aterraformer
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Mods on original hardware?

Post by aterraformer »

I recently got an older pc to play dos and other games that don't run well on modern machines. I usually use dosbox but I'm kind of a purest with video games and I figure playing on an older computer would give me some benefit, if only for nostalgia purposes.

My question is: will these Commander Keen mods run on an older system, Windows 98 to be exact?
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Fleexy
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Post by Fleexy »

Yes! Keen mods, and most modding tools, will run on any OS with a 16-bit DOS subsystem. DOSBox actually might give you a better experience though - it can simulate the nice AdLib sounds instead of the obnoxious PC Speaker.
Last edited by Fleexy on Wed Jun 01, 2016 2:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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CommanderSpleen
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Post by CommanderSpleen »

386 to Pentium I is best for this purpose. Around when Pentium II emerged, sound hardware tended to be inbuilt into the motherboard and became increasingly incompatible with AdLib and Sound Blaster.

But any computer running DOS or Windows 95-Me should be able to run Keen mods. There just might be graphic or sound issues on computers made after the mid-nineties.

Also use a CRT monitor for best results.

Also use PC speaker for awesome results. Haters gonna hate.
Benvolio
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Post by Benvolio »

I often wax lyrical on these fora about my old Amstrad 1512 from the '80s, running MS-DOS 6 on its Intel 8086 processor.

Regretably its monitor (which was specific to 1512 and 1640 Amstrads) was deteriorating and, a week before it was brought (at my parents' suggestion) for 'recycling', I played Xtraverse's Norp the Yorp: Diffusion and Xky's KeenX on it. So yeah, we've been pretty backwards compatible until perhaps the last year or two.
keenmaster486
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Post by keenmaster486 »

Generally, you can say the following:
If a Keen mod runs in DOSBox, it will run on hardware with specs like this:

8086 to Pentium III type CPU
Adlib-compatible sound card (virtually any sound card made during the 90's)
EGA-compatible graphics (virtually all graphics cards except really early ones)
OS: DOS 3.3 through Windows 7 32-bit (NT-based Windows (2000, XP, 7, etc) doesn't work quite as well; Windows 95, 98, ME are better since they run on top of DOS)

And that's all you need. Just the original specs that Keen ran on in the first place. That's all DOSBox emulates anyway.

You can even run Keen on modern computers, natively (without DOSBox), if you install DOS on the hard drive and stick an Adlib-compatible sound card in there (lots of PCI cards have this capability).
And even brand new graphics cards still retain EGA compatibility :P I've done it many times. (just watch out for ATI cards, they have terrible EGA compatibility, and Keen scrolls very jerkily even with the "fix" enabled)
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