/vr/ - Retro Games

for when you need a few more imps and pinkies in your battle arena

>>10225469
Digger nightmare mode.

>>10225469
>486 DX2
>20MHz

Can you imagine if set-top gaming had made use of an overclocking function?

>>10225474
Zoom.
>>10225517
The display is set by jumpers, zoomzoom.
>>10225530
Zoom harder.

>>10225517

>>10225545
Read your own image for once.

>>10225550
It's 40MHz but you can bring it down to 20 with the turbo button. No, I'm not talking about the bus clock

What are some games that absolutely need to be played at specific clock frequencies to run at the proper speed? Off the top of my head, I remember that shitty CGA Megaman game runs way too fast to be playable on most systems.

>>10225586
Test Drive 3
I don't know the specific CPU and clock speed it's supposed to run with but it can absolutely run too fast to be playable

>>10225621
That game is trash even when it's not running at some stupid speed.

Trivia: the Turbo button didn't actually give you more speed - it just switched between two or more settings, effectively throttling the CPU because it's playing a game too fast. Yeah, you didn't use Turbo to get more FPS, you used it to slow down the CPU so the game wouldn't run at 1000 FPS.

>>10225469

>>10225586
Most games older than 1994 that use the framebuffer to load sprites need it. Some games that used the CPU clock for game logic (to roll a dice, to create random encounters, etc) would need a slower speed or they'd run too fast.

A good example are the first three Fallouts (1, 2 and Tactics). The game plays fine except when you are on the world map. When in there, the game uses the FPS to choose which random encounter you're supposed to get. If your CPU is running too fast, you'll get a random encounter every half a second, making the act of crossing map tiles almost impossible. There are patches that correct this, but nowadays you can just limit FPS to 60.

>>10225469
Bro, that just makes the computer slower.

>>10225760
kek what's the actual context?

>>10225586
Alpha Waves. 33MHz is still a little too fast but the game is playable at that speed.

>>10225897
It's a copypasta from /x/, often posted in response to a "famous" pic of some macaco leaning in a moving gravitron

>>10225586
Ultima 7, wing commander

>>10225517
>DX2

Speaking of CPUs and clock rates, what are some games that specifically require running at the 4.77MHz that the original 8088 ran at? I don't actually have experience with a computer that old. My first PC was a 386, and I think the computers at my schools may have been 80286s, so my knowledge of the era prior to that is limited.

>>10226421
>Not DX4
Sad.

The button was handy in Aladdin in those casino machine-like stages between game levels.

>>10225586
https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/List_of_CPU_speed_sensitive_games

>>10227191
Two that I remember are Hard Hat Mack and Striker, both run perfectly at the speed of a 4.77MHz 8088 (or DOSBox cycles around 300-400) and too fast at higher speed.
Digger is another speed-dependent game, although I feel like it's best played at a CPU speed about 1.5x faster than the original PC.

Why didn't the computer industry realize what a stupid thing it was to name a button "Turbo" that underclocks a CPU?

They even likened it to a turbocharger in a car but that improves performance, not slashes it.

>>10227453
>Why didn't the computer industry realize what a stupid thing it was to name a button "Turbo" that underclocks a CPU?
They knew but naming the button "Turbo" is better for marketing even if it makes no sense. You don't want a button named "Slow" on the PC you're selling and the only more accurate alternative that's not as negative would be something like "compatibility mode"

>>10227453
>>10227504
Couldn't it be wired so pressing it made the computer run at full speed and depressing it would slow it down? I seem to remember that being a possibility.

>>10227524
Yes, you can do that. But the point is naming it Turbo is still retarded when it's just the normal speed

>>10227435
Thanks anon. Looks like shit's all over the place, and I'm sure that list isn't exhaustive, either. Ideally you'd have like four or five dedicated machines to cover most use cases, seems like.

>>10225586
The original System Shock, kinda. 99 percent of the things aren't affected by clock speed, except your full auto guns fire extremely fast and the final boss is nearly impossible to beat on a fast computer.

What are the best machines to have to cover most eras of retro PC gaming?

>>10228913
Modern PC running dosbox and nGlide

>>10228913
What >>10228936 said but if you want to be closer to the real thing without real retro hardware, PCem and 86Box. You do need a decent CPU when getting to Pentium level with these though, but you're basically emulating the hardware, not the software so everything is more accurate

>>10225517
No need to have a trantrum. It wasn’t as easy to reconfigure junk back then.

>>10229090
Yeah, seems my shitty laptop caps out at around a 100 MHz Pentium for running something like Windows 98, and that's before loading a game. I've been having fun experimenting with older, slower machines, though. I managed to get Keen 4 running on a 4.77MHz 8088 with EGA graphics and Adlib sound, but holy hell is it slow as fuck. Still neat that it even managed to run at all, though.

>>10230808
Check this out:
https://github.com/jhhoward/WolfensteinCGA

>>10230925
Pretty cool, anon!

>>10225757
>bro did you know, running isn't actually walking fast, walking is just running slow

>>10225469
Its purpose is literally to make it slower
it should've been called compatibility button

>>10232051
I had 386 and I was pissed about so called "turbo".

>>10232095
technically when it's released you could call it turbo

>>10232051
>Its purpose is literally to make it slower
And then when you push it again its purpose is to make it faster. Magic!
>>10232095
>>10232101
>trying this hard to fit in
ew

>>10225586
You can use CPU Throttle and it works depending on your chipset.
http://www.oldskool.org/pc/throttle/DOS/
Resident Evil 1 works like shit and crashes in Jill/Barry cutscene for the first undead.
GTA 1 has a frame limiter that has an uncomfortable frame rate for modern sensibilities but you can turn it off. Obviously if your CPU is too fast you're out of luck.

>>10225586
A whole lot of CGA garbage
Some Sierra games that run at the correct speed, but due to some absolute retard programming the game becomes unwinnable if the CPU is too fast. Meaning any CPU faster than the ones available when the game was made. Examples: Leisure Suit Larry 3, Space Quest 4 CDROM version

>>10225586
Super Street Fighter II Turbo has a frame-skip that can't be turned off.
The faster your CPU is the less it will frame-skip.
But the thing is if the CPU is too fast the game will start dropping your inputs.
So you have to hit a sweet spot which is somewhere around a Pentium I 60mhz.
And even then you will still get frame-skipping.
As far as I can tell there is no way to get the game just run 100% correctly without skips.

>>10231764
kek

>>10225542
>zoom zoomie zoom zoom zoomie zoomer zoomie zoom zoomie zoomer zoom zoomer zoomie

>>10233032

>>10233037
>zoom zoomie zoom zoom zoomie zoomer zoomie zoom zoomie zoomer zoom zoomer zoomie

>>10232963
I remember on that game (the gametek port) certain stages had frame issues, the boxer stage for instance. Then I think sagats stage had great fps.

There was another super sf2 port (I'm not sure what the deal was with it in terms of.. Legitimately released) but that was almost like a port of the snes version. It wasn't as polished by any stretch but it was quite playable and had great music.

>>10225586
Supaplex unless you're using that speedfix.exe

>>10225621
>>10225770
>>10226157
>>10226240
>>10227435
>>10227772
>>10232679
>>10232863
>>10232963
>>10233214
Geez, that bad, huh? When was it when PC gaming got past the point where a faster CPU didn't fuck everything up for games made during a certain year?

>>10234170
Once games moved to Windows instead of DOS.

>>10232679
>Resident Evil 1 works like shit and crashes in Jill/Barry cutscene for the first undead.

PS1
>Resident Evil: True Director's Cut (Hack) PSX ISO (The original uncut FMVs from the Japanese version, alongside the full-color opening scene from the French and German Director’s Cut release. Original BGM and one with the OST from the DualShock ver.)
https://cdromance.com/psx-iso/resident-evil-true-directors-cut-hack/

Windows PC
>RESIDENT EVIL / BIOHAZARD / バイオハザード (new game has the same difficulty as the original Japanese PlayStation release, with the exception that Jill has no ink ribbons since she can save at any time)
https://archive.org/details/biohazard-mediakite
>Resident Evil 1 Classic REbirth
https://classicrebirth.com/index.php/downloads/resident-evil-classic-rebirth/
>Birth of BIO HAZARD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGODppfrJiA

>RESIDENT EVIL 2 / BIOHAZARD 2 / バイオハザード2 (Original is all JP difficulty, Arrange is all US difficulty)
https://archive.org/details/biohazard-2-sourcenext
>Resident Evil 2 Classic REbirth
https://classicrebirth.com/index.php/downloads/resident-evil-2-classic-rebirth/
>Resident Evil 2 Port COMPARISON
https://gamecom.neocities.org/Resident_Evil/Comparison/Resident_Evil_2/
>Resident Evil 2 Director Commentary with Hideki Kamiya [ENG/日本語]
https://youtu.be/OrPHNvgncpI

>RESIDENT EVIL 3 / BIOHAZARD 3 / バイオハザード3 LAST ESCAPE (Original is all JP difficulty, Arrange is all US difficulty)
https://archive.org/details/biohazard-3-source-next
>Resident Evil 3 Classic REbirth
https://classicrebirth.com/index.php/downloads/resident-evil-3-classic-rebirth/
>Resident Evil 3 Director Kazuhiro Aoyama Commentary Playthrough [ENG/日本語]
https://youtu.be/BUTVqP1l83M

DC
>Resident Evil Code: Veronica
https://cdromance.com/dc-iso/resident-evil-code-veronica-x-usa-2

GCN
>Resident Evil REMake (REMake Remaster was botched in almost every way)
https://cdromance.com/gamecube/resident-evil-usa/

>>10234186
Judging from the link an anon above posted, even under Windows there's games that fuck up if your CPU is too fast. Seems like the problem stuck around for quite some time.

>>10228913
Modern PC running PCem/86box should do fine, given your CPU is strong enough.

>>10232675
>being angry I'm right
amazing

>>10235089
I was using DOSBox for the longest time, but I've found it doesn't tickle my autism as much as I'd like. I WANT to suffer looking for correct drivers like in the good ol' days.

>>10234170
Around 1993, Doom was the signal that PC was no longer a jank machine.
It actually became uncommon after the 80s, the expected fix for most games is to slow down the CPU down to 8086 speeds. The Origin games with speed problems like Wing Commander are weird outliers, they want you to guess which model of 286/386 the developers intended it to be played on. Hidden CPU timing bugs in adventure games are just ass programming, a lot of those have official patches because shits broken.

>>10236832
>I WANT to suffer looking for correct drivers like in the good ol' days
This except unironically. I genuinely enjoy installing operating systems, software and drivers. There's something satisfying about it. Plus 86box allows me test tons of shit to satisfy my autism like seeing what running software on the lowest spec machine possible is like

>>10236943
I get a particular joy out of messing around with various generic drivers and old memory management programs to see just how much RAM I can free up on various 286-486 systems. People who say you can't go above 1MB of RAM on a 286 system and have it work haven't put in the effort. Upper memory blocks, extended and expanded RAM, all very much possible. The real fun comes when you aren't using VGA or EGA, and thus you can access a part of the upper memory block usually reserved for the VGA/EGA BIOS.
If you really wanna get technical with it, you can run a 486 system with a MDA video card, and use QEMM's DOS loader to force most of DOS into upper RAM in order to get an insane amount of conventional RAM free. Think about 630K free. Of course, there isn't any monochrome text game asking for that much, but it's doable.

>>10236943
>>10236965
powerful autism desu

>>10236824
>being angry I'm right

>>10237996
I'm glad you can read

>>10225469
The turbo button is useless on anything newer than an 286.

>>10234170
It never happened. Even today there are many games being released that _still_ fuck up in some way if you run them too fast.

>>10225469
>>10225757
>>10227453
I started with a 286-12 which became a 386DX-40, and in both configurations the computer of my youth the Turbo button was always engaged for the listed 12/40MHz. When it was untoggled they both ran at 8MHz. I often used my cousin's Gateway2000 P75 which did not have a Turbo button but had a Turbo LED which was always on to indicate that it was running at 75MHz. It seems weird to me that everyone else had a different experience with the Turbo button that only recently (current decade) do I hear that the Turbo button slows down computers which seems like some poorly perpetuate myth of the past.

>>10239578
Man, I have some old-ass rigs back in my folks' home. One's a 100 MHz AMD 486 IIRC, and the other's a 450 MHz PIII. I live way too far away now for me to ever see them again, though.

>>10239578
personally, I've been using and tinkering with various PCs for thirty years, and this is the first time I've ever even heard about a turbo button for a CPU

>>10240605
>tinkering with various PCs for thirty years
You mean tinkling on daddys computer chair? Turbo buttons were still pretty common 30 years ago. If you'd been old enough to reach the button without a booster seat you would have seen it.

>>10240605
We had a 386SX-25 and I sometimes used the turbo button when games ran too fast, most notably in wing commander (1 or 2, can't remember)
however that game went too fast with turbo enabled, and too slow with turbo disabled.

>>10227191
Not 8088 but the original version of Wolfenstein was much easier on 286, particularly bosses which you could just face up and gun down. Rate of fire or ai was probably the issue there too

>>10225760
rippen my sides

>>10225586
Too many. The turbo button existed specifically because of this problem in games and other applications.

>>10240365
Once in a while it may be worthwhile to visit family if you're still close. Like with retro games, it is nice to reconnect. I know my uncle still has that Gateway 2000 P-75 with the original speakers and monitor, left in disuse, and I hope to save up for my own place so I can house and restore that machine which I had fond memories with.

>>10240605
To my knowledge, it was for backwards compatibility with earlier 8086 machines. It mostly got phased out by the time Pentium 2s were around.

>>10232051
But it's a button and buttons must have pressable names or no one will want to use them. Do you want to call the nurse for your evening meds or do you want kick it into OVERDRIVE? That's pretty good desu. They should have called it the overdrive button.

>>10243004

>>10225469
don't do it! it's gonna slow down the pc to 10MHz!!!

>>10225556
Na, its a 33mhz/66mhz processor that CAN be 20/40 or 25/50 with motherboard jumper settings for software compatibility.
But the base clocks are ALWAYS 33/66mhz

>>10225586
Vast majority of CGA era games, and also quite a few EGA era games.