Playing Old Dos Games


  1. Posts : 84
    Windows 10
       #1

    Playing Old Dos Games


    I have an Old Dos Game that I was able to find in bin format and was trying to figure out how to play it on Windows 10. I was trying to figure out DosBox but maybe it's just me but it's too complicated.

    Anyone have any suggestions?

    Thanks
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 3,367
    W10 Pro x64/W7 Ultimate x64 dual boot main - W11 Triple Boot Pending
       #2

    With DOSBox things are rather basic since I can easily run some old 8bit dos games on the 64bit Windows 10 as well as previously seen on the 64bit Windows 7. With a basic entry to mount the game's program folder on a virtual drive you then simply type the name of the main executable to see it run.

    One classic title was the 8bit Duke Nukem where the first entry was "mount c: c:\duke nukem 1" where the custom folder had to be created for the old game since that didn't have any installer. Once mounted I simply typed in "dn1" being the "dn1.exe" file for starting the game up. The game loads right up!

    Playing Old Dos Games-dukenukeorig-w7-64.jpg

    A PC World article on DOSBos makes for a good read along with the Wiki and other sources since this is an easy one to learn how to use. The PC World article can be looked over at: How to Use DOSBox to Play Classic Games | PCWorld

    The dosbox.com wiki is seen at: Basic Setup and Installation of DosBox

    And then there's the How-To-Geek site for another guide. How To Use DOSBox To Run DOS Games and Old Apps

    With a newer game that is more involved like the Duke 3D sequel with a Dos/9x capable installer you would need a different type of emulator since DOXBox is intended mainly for the stand alone type games that simply unpacked into a folder from a cd collection if not bought back then on a floppy disk. A lot of those old titles are now if found totally free to download since they were long ago discontinued since at this late date who would still be seeing a 98SE machine still going let alone an dos museum piece? Not many unless an old pc was inherited?!
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 84
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Night Hawk said:
    With DOSBox things are rather basic since I can easily run some old 8bit dos games on the 64bit Windows 10 as well as previously seen on the 64bit Windows 7. With a basic entry to mount the game's program folder on a virtual drive you then simply type the name of the main executable to see it run.

    One classic title was the 8bit Duke Nukem where the first entry was "mount c: c:\duke nukem 1" where the custom folder had to be created for the old game since that didn't have any installer. Once mounted I simply typed in "dn1" being the "dn1.exe" file for starting the game up. The game loads right up!

    Playing Old Dos Games-dukenukeorig-w7-64.jpg

    A PC World article on DOSBos makes for a good read along with the Wiki and other sources since this is an easy one to learn how to use. The PC World article can be looked over at: How to Use DOSBox to Play Classic Games | PCWorld

    The dosbox.com wiki is seen at: Basic Setup and Installation of DosBox

    And then there's the How-To-Geek site for another guide. How To Use DOSBox To Run DOS Games and Old Apps

    With a newer game that is more involved like the Duke 3D sequel with a Dos/9x capable installer you would need a different type of emulator since DOXBox is intended mainly for the stand alone type games that simply unpacked into a folder from a cd collection if not bought back then on a floppy disk. A lot of those old titles are now if found totally free to download since they were long ago discontinued since at this late date who would still be seeing a 98SE machine still going let alone an dos museum piece? Not many unless an old pc was inherited?!
    The game I wanted to play has an installer. It's setup as a .cue and .bin files respectively. Was thinking of maybe using a VirtualBox? or VMWare?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 3,367
    W10 Pro x64/W7 Ultimate x64 dual boot main - W11 Triple Boot Pending
       #4

    You could certainly try since the app has an installer. Yet often those old installer did nothing more then unpack the files in a new folder the installer created and also made a desktop shortcut. You didn't anything pinned to the Start menu or anywhere else back then. A guide for seeing dos VM on VBox can be looked at How to create a DOS virtual machine in virtual box, H. Burpee, SMCC

    I never did get far trying to get a 3.1 VM going since the #1 floppy in the six floppy set was toast and then with 98SE no longer seeing a floppy drive as I had on the old Vista case for working with some that "old stuff" years back. That left out creating a virtual floppy or a bootable floppy image there.

    Note the CDBurnerXP app is way outdated being the one item that presents a problem while there are better alternative programs like UltraISO and others that could make up image files. The guide at the link is rather old but has been updated somewhat over the years at the college site there.

    If you have MS Dos 6.0 or 6.22 being the last another guide simply instructs on how to see dos installed with Virtual Box that not only provides a link for VBox itself but the three Dos 6.22 image files you will need. How To Install DOS 6.22 Under VirtualBox - All

    I clicked the Show All Steps button for you on that site rather then looking at the comments and the need to keep clicking the next page button. Unfortunately I would still need to boot back into 7 here since the Hyper-V feature being enabled on 10 will prevent other emulators being VBox or anything VM ware alike.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 84
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Night Hawk said:
    You could certainly try since the app has an installer. Yet often those old installer did nothing more then unpack the files in a new folder the installer created and also made a desktop shortcut. You didn't anything pinned to the Start menu or anywhere else back then. A guide for seeing dos VM on VBox can be looked at How to create a DOS virtual machine in virtual box, H. Burpee, SMCC

    I never did get far trying to get a 3.1 VM going since the #1 floppy in the six floppy set was toast and then with 98SE no longer seeing a floppy drive as I had on the old Vista case for working with some that "old stuff" years back. That left out creating a virtual floppy or a bootable floppy image there.

    Note the CDBurnerXP app is way outdated being the one item that presents a problem while there are better alternative programs like UltraISO and others that could make up image files. The guide at the link is rather old but has been updated somewhat over the years at the college site there.

    If you have MS Dos 6.0 or 6.22 being the last another guide simply instructs on how to see dos installed with Virtual Box that not only provides a link for VBox itself but the three Dos 6.22 image files you will need. How To Install DOS 6.22 Under VirtualBox - All

    I clicked the Show All Steps button for you on that site rather then looking at the comments and the need to keep clicking the next page button. Unfortunately I would still need to boot back into 7 here since the Hyper-V feature being enabled on 10 will prevent other emulators being VBox or anything VM ware alike.
    I am not gonna lie been trying to figure out how to play "The Interactive Adventures Of Seymour Butts".....It was an older adult game I only saw snippets from. I downloaded the RAR file and unpacked it but now there is a .bin and .cue file none of which will work with Windows 10 obviously
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 3,367
    W10 Pro x64/W7 Ultimate x64 dual boot main - W11 Triple Boot Pending
       #6

    The problem is with a fast Bing search for that title you won't find any gaming information as far as how to go about setting it up. If the game or interactive whatever lacks and executable file you won't be able to run it on anything. That is a requirement besides ".com" or other dos type batch file.

    The ".bin" file is a universal type of binary file that can contain executable code while the ".cue" is a file extension most often given to text files used for information about the media which in case of something 1992-1993 would be either 5.25" floppy disk or later to become a game cd.

    I suspect that would see some type of dos gui command file open first however where you would then choose the start new game or load adventure type option besides a setup or options item. The game might even have a help file included. That might be where the setup instructions would be found. You would need to look over all the files for a com or bat file perhaps if not able to find any txt or doc file.
      My Computers


 

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