Oldest game...

[mediaboy]

What is the oldest game that you have installed and working on your current gaming machine? When was it made, who made it, what are the minimum specs (to show the difference between computers then and now) and any random information about the game that you want to include. Including where to buy it if it's any good....

Oh - and mention XP compatability please.. I just nabbed a fairly awful XP laptop off of someone, and thinking that if I can get a new battery then I could play some nice games on the way home from school on bus or train or whatnot.

And yes, this thread does have an ulterior motive...

[TAKTAK]

Game
discworld.. (running in dosbox)

When made
1995


System requirements

100% IBM compat (386 or higher) cd-rom rive
4MB RAM
256col vga
general midi, soundblaster, adlib or 100% compat

or next oldest... Monkey island 3
running in SCUMMVM otherwise Wally just starts looping at the first chance he gets

[moogle]

Thief - Dark Project (1998)
Made by Looking Glass Studios

System Requirements
166 MHz CPU,
32 MB RAM,
4 MB video card RAM,
4X CD-ROM drive,
DirectX 6.0,
42 MB available hard disk space,
Windows 95

Working fine on Vista, just had to modify the .exe's to make them run on Core 0. So I think it should fare fine with XP.

Fun and thrilling stealth game
Although I just play it to murder people

[alsenior]

most likely system shock 2 (1999)

Specs:
Windows 9x, Pentium or K6 200+ MHz, 32 MB RAM, 4X CD/DVD-ROM, DirectX 6+, Highcolor 4 MB PCI or AGP video card, sound card.

[Dakaras]

I dont have anything that old but have to say Thief would get my vote briallant game

[dave87]

Original CS I guess

[tiggerai]

Ut 99 goty

[dave87]

On the subject of UT GOTY, where the hell can I get a copy.

I may have one at home in Essex, but I can't for the life of me work out where


EDIT - nvm, I just found it under a stack of DVDs lol.

[Ciber]

Oldest game on this PC must be Duke Nukem 3d or Quake. Duke works Ok but sound and resolution are limited. Last time I tried it, quake works fine with the opengl patches etc. Duke runs in a dos box, but the sound doesn't work fully and resolution is limited.

Well I looked it up and duke was first, January 1996. I'll go have a look for the box and the min specs etc...... Aha!

Minimum System Requirements: An IBM or 100% compatible 486 computer with 8Mb RAM, a VGA graphics card, 30mb of free space on a hard disk drive and a CD-ROM drive.
Recommended System Requirements: A 486 DX2/66 (yes 66mhz) (pentium rquired for svga modes) with 16mb RAM, VGA local bus. etc....

I seem to recall quake needing a 66mhz 486.

[Norky]

Maniac Mansion (1987) and Day of the Tentacle (1993)

Both run through SCUMM which has native Windows support so no need for emulation/backwards compatibility or summat. Maniac Mansion is pretty dated but gameplay wise Day of the Tentacle is still my favourite game ever

[moogle]

On the subject of UT GOTY, where the hell can I get a copy.

I may have one at home in Essex, but I can't for the life of me work out where


EDIT - nvm, I just found it under a stack of DVDs lol.

You can get it on Steam or at Shopto but it comes bundled with other UT games for a tenner.

[Main]

Got an old Maxis Classic pack running through DOSBox:
A-Train (1992)
SimCity (1988)
SimEarth (1990)
SimFarm (1993)

Although I'm mainly interested in A-Train, has more depth as a simulator than a lot of modern titles. Used to play this stuff back when we had a 486.

[Emirzan]

That I can run on my current machine?

The Secret of Monkey Island

Running via a DOS emulation platform. To play this hardware hungry beast you need:

MS-DOS 5.0 or higher
386/33 DX (486 recommended)
1 Mb EMS required (2 Mb EMS recommended)
Mouse
256 color VGA/MCGA
SoundBlaster and 100% compatibles, Adlib, Roland MT 32

Original release 1990.

If I get the Dragon 64 out of the attic and hook it up to the TV does that count as a current system?

[Emirzan]

Oh, and one more thing,

And yes, this thread does have an ulterior motive...

Would that in anyway be related to:

Cheap laptop?

[mediaboy]

Heh... yes, it is sort of related...

But the laptop lying on my knee is following spec:

Windows XP
Intel P2 CPU, 298Mhz
128mb RAM


So most of my games will just crash and burn. It does play worms though....
I think I might aquire a copy of quake... and see just how hard fps on laptops are...

Any more games?

[Ferral]

The Nomad Soul 1999

Minimum specs :

Pentium 233 or equivalent
32 Mb Ram
4 Mb Direct X 6.1 compatible VGA card and Soundcard
350 Mb hard disc space

Recommended :

Pentium 2 266 or equivalent

then the rest is the same as above

Personally speaking though this game requires a lot more than that, never got it to run right even under recommended! I would say at least 512 ram, 1 Ghz processor and a 128 Mb VGA card. Works on XP and Vista.


Heretic 2 1998

Runs on the Quake 2 engine to give you an idea of specs. Really good overlooked game. Works on XP and Vista. Vista however requires that you have it patched up and the mouse cursor is missing from the title screen. However you can just use cursors and return key for the setting and getting started.

Grim Fandango

Runs on virtually everything, even in software mode so definately a must have game. Works under XP and Vista but you must have the patch installed or it will crash in the carnival area near the start.

Indiana Jones and The Infernal Machine

Doesn't work properly under XP unless you have media player opened and minimised. Fine under Vista though!!!

Same specs required as the Quake 2 engine games.

Undying

Awesome Clive Barker game set in a haunted house. Excellent game that was made on the UT99 engine. No probs running it at all under XP or Vista.

Blood 2

Runs fine under Vista but not XP as it picks up the NTFS file system and won't even install. Vista on the other hand it installs but you will need to locate the patches for it. Official one and also the unofficial one to get it running. Once you have them installed it works great.