/vr/ - Retro Games

MS-DOS is an operating system for various x86 based home computers like the IBM PC or the NEC PC-98.

>>6339687
>NEC PC-98
That was technically DOS/V, derived from the same codebase that eventually became MS-DOS, but quite different in some ways.

>>6339682

My Favorite:

> Civilization
> Command and conquer
> Railroad tycoon

>>6339704
DOS/V was a software extension for IBM-compatibles to add Japanese text support, it has nothing to do with the PC-98 which implemented Japanese characters via hardware.
PC-98 uses real MS-DOS. I has some differences from IBM DOS like the boot drive always being A: but it's still authentic MS-DOS.

>>6339682
Scortched Earth
Commander Keen
Indycar Racing
Chuck Yeager's Air Combat
Hardball
Maniac Mansion
Zork

>>6339719
>it's still authentic MS-DOS
Certainly not, and it reports itself as co-developed by NEC and MS. Again, same codebase, but not pure MS-DOS. You cannot install it on an IBM compatible, and you cannot install pure MS-DOS on the PC-98.

>>6339743
Since when is IBM the authority on MS-DOS?

>>6339750
'IBM [PC] compatible' = what people think of when they say 'PC'

>>6339682
Blizzard's Blackthorne

>>6339682

Lands of Lore
Jagged Alliance
Aces over Europe
Dune II

Gary Kildall should've been Bill Gates, sneaky Billy just bought the existing codebase from Seattle Computers which was called QDOS which in turn was a ripoff of CP/M, he then changed a few things and called it MS-DOS and conquered the PC OS market

>>6339682
SkyRoads.
System Shock.
Duke Nukem 3D.

and then Gary got his head smashed in a bar fight

>>6339761
And what's new? We all know MS was a fraudster in its early days.

>>6339768
poor bloke was an alcoholic the last years of his life

posting obligatory dospack:

https://mega.nz/#F!y1sRHSqb!iC34TYjpr5fWmDpAgSpybQ

check the readme under DOS Games for games included + simple instructions & thank me later

>>6339682
1/2

>>6339682
>>6339827
2/2

>>6339756
Why does that mean that only IBM compatibles can have MS-DOS and any MS-DOS running on non-IBM compatibles isn't real MS-DOS?

>>6339830
Don't you just love how the Bitmap Brothers fucked themself with the name Z? I mean you can easily remember it, but try finding that fucking game over a search engine. Worst of all, the poor game got raped with a pathetic, unfinished mobile port that ruins the controls, sound & ui and is now the only "official" way to purchase the game.

>>6339856
You don't understand the entire concept. Try installing a stock, end-user, boxed MS-DOS release on your PC-98 and see how far you get.

>>6339883
Which MS-DOS release? The whole thing got released for a variety of platforms. MS-DOS for IBM PCs isn't any more official than MS-DOS for Fujitsu FM-16.

This game played so fucking smooth holy shit

I'm glad I made the switch.

>>6339892
>MS-DOS for IBM PCs isn't any more official than MS-DOS for Fujitsu FM-16
The former is the only MS-DOS version that was being maintained solely by MS. Other versions had some OEM involvement, varying from minor modifications to massively reworked parts. Therefore, from a straight technical point of view: MS-DOS for IBM compatibles = pure MS-DOS.

>>6339682
Lands of Lore
Ultima Underworld
MechWarrior 2
Terra Nova
Sim City 2000
System Shock
Star Control 2
X-COM
Magic Carpet
Dungeon Keeper

>>6339940
Except that IBM was involved in the release of IBM PC MS-DOS hence why they were able to fork it as PC DOS.
The purest is Tim Paterson's 86-DOS

>>6339965
No wonder IBM was involved, somebody had to provide the brains. MS couldn't really do anything apart from stirring shit back in those days.

>The purest is Tim Paterson's 86-DOS
This.

>>6339758
>intro is soldiers being badass
>in the actual game you're a wimp and get rekt by aliens

>>6339924
Sadly it doesn't sound as good as the real thing

>>6339682
Abuse, Death Rally, anything by Apogee, Origin, id, or 3D Realms was really good, with the exception of Xenophage.
>>6339895
Abuse was super cutting edge for the time. Multi range mouselook and WASD in 1996 was insane. Not to mention the gameplay is superb. It is genuinely one of the best DOS games I've played.

>>6339682
Quake is my favourite DOS-game. Duke Nukem 3D my second.

>>6340039
When you look at Abuse, the main character is definitely inspired by the Predator, similar mask and all, furthermore the enemies look like literal aliens... funny how they never got sued.

pic related

>>6340024
True but at least it's a step up from soundfonts.

XCOM. Then OpenXCOM instead.

>>6339795
guys dont download this, its a virus

>>6340658
that pack has been around for a while, it's not a virus..

>>6339682
Descent and A.R.S.E.N.A.L.

>>6339895
I need to finally finish this. Played the demo a lot when it was new but lost track of it eventually. Still recommended it to people a few times.

Where can you even get these games anymore aside from the online freeware? Are people just sharing the ROMs or what

>>6340949
>DOS thread
>ROMs
The only ROM you gonna get here is a BIOS.

>>6340954
ok but still, how are these being shared

>>6340949
if you want to download them manually, theres archive.org, gamesnostalgia.com, myabandonware.com, or you can download precompiled packs (exodos, 4chan dospack)

>>6340967
Isn't that dubiously legal at best though? I got Tyrian off of myabandonware a while back because I knew it was freeware 100%, but other shit is a little less clear

>>6340979
i'd say archive.org and gamesnostalgia.com still have alot of games up for download that are being sold digitally as we speak on gog.com, so technically speaking that's illegal. myabandonware used to host alot of illegal games, nowadays they are re-directing to steam or gog for games that are still being sold online. Sometimes they call something abandonware when it's infact not, so it's all a bit of a grey area...

>>6339682
according to DOOM thread, more DOOM WADs and sauce ports.

I'll say Build engine games, and most of the Apogee software.

And MOO and MOM and HOMM1.

>>6340959
Easy.

>Is the game you want to play published by Atari/Infogrames/WB?
>If YES: Pirate
>If NO: Support the devs and buy it from a reliable source

>>6340994
>>6341006
What I'm looking for I already own on a different (older) system, and has been effectively demonetized for the devs because it's out of print/sold secondhand with no digital option

>>6339965
>>6339982
>Stirring poop
IBM are the dumbos who bought a 2nd-hand OS, that MS bought off some hobbyist dev, to power their enterprise business hardware and software.

They're no Xerox, who developed the first decent GUI... only to have applefags and bill gates steal it.

>>6341017
then i'd say just go for the 'illegal' download if you happen to find it, remember in the old days we basically didn't do any different (sharing floppy disks amongst friends at school), i dont think DOS games are under a big scope by authorities..

>>6341020
'Pirates of Silicon Valley'

>>6341037
Eh, I'll keep looking online. I agree that it's a grey area but best to play to the rules. Although, how can there be so many websites hosting this that aren't taken down immediately if it's even partially illegal?

>>6341043
I think it's A) because game companies nowadays don't give a fuck (if they still exist that is) about their 25 year old dos games anymore and B) because many games are stuck in copyright hell, where the original game designer switched publishers so many times through the years, it's hard to decide who has a right to what part of the IP

>>6341064
And it's all complicated by the fact that copyright lasts 100 fucking years in America. Longer than video gaming or modern computers have even existed

>>6340949
There are more DOS games listed on digital stores today than any other old platform, not to mention those that are freeware. Check GOG or Steam.

>>6341138
>than from any other old platform

Outside of Doom, the high mark was Betrayal At Krondor. Played it recently, and it still holds up.

Zork

I've had Fallout since I was a kid in 1997 and only learned within the last few years that it is a DOS game. If I was smarter as a kid, I would have run it directly from DOS to make the damn thing load faster. I guess that explains the grainy colors.

Behold, one of the lesser-known but greatest games of the era. Burntime.

Think Fallout/Wasteland-type post-apocalyptic scavenging, with an added zone-control strategy element. Build traps to catch rats for food, search and explore old wells and caves to find water. Hire goons, medics or engineers that can build stuff for you. Gain control over more regions to best your enemies and win the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X10EzscllQw

Alone in the dark 1
Eccstatica
Tomb raider 1
Doom
Blood
Duke Nukem

>>6339682
Most games by Apogee and Epic Megagames are pretty good anon:

Jazz Jackrabbit, Xargon, Jill of the Jungle, Duke Nukem 2, Rise of the Triad, Blake Stone, Realms of Chaos, Stargunner, OverKill, Major Stryker, Bio Menace, Electro Man, Commander Keen... all pretty good titles imo.

>>6339682
[List of FPS or Doom clones]

Doom-like games:

- Ultimate Doom
- Doom 2 Hell on Earth
- Final Doom
- Heretic
- Hexen
- HacX
- Chex Quest
- Strife
- Descent
- Rise of the Triad
- Dark Forces
- REKKR
- Quiver
- Mars 3D

Build or Duke-Like:

- Duke Nukem 3D
- Shadow Warrior
- Blood
- Tekwar
- Redneck Rampage
- Outlaws
- PowerSlave
- Witchaven

Wolf3d-Like:

- Catacombs 3D
- Catacombs Trilogy
- Wolfenstein 3D
- Spear of Destiny
- Blake Stone
- Planet Strike
- Corridor 7
- Isle of Dead
- Ken's Labyrinth
- Nitemare 3D
- Operation Bodycount

>>6341138
Do NOT buy dos games from steam.

>>6343676
Why not? I only downloaded God of Thunder and it worked fine.

>>6341151
uh, yea. not the german version.

>>6343703
not the other anon, but i agree, better not buy old dos games on steam.

it's literally not optimized in any way, just a re-packaged version with dosbox. you will basically spend too much money on something that already has been improved by community patches.

And how are you sure the money actually ends up in the hands of the original devs 25 years ago, and not some greedy publisher who currently owns the rights?

I remember TES Arena being fun.

>>6344584
i remember being a pain in the butt and grindy and ugly. also if you choose a magic-less build, you're pretty much dead.

>>6339827
>>6339830
this really. should have just permanently pinned this on the top
>mods not doing jebs.

>>6344698
We need the sticky to be updated with multiple system game recommendation charts.

>>6339682
>What were the best games
>all the gold box D&D games
>Red Baron
>Daggerfall
>Blood
>Tex Murphy games
>Gabriel Knight games
>Screamer
>Warcraft 1 & 2
>Myst
>7th Guest
>all of the Sierra Games
>all of the Maxis games
>all of the Ultima games
>all of the Might & Magic games
>etc etc etc

>>6344486
I mean, why Steam in particular? I mentioned GOG and Steam.

>>6339682
Found out about this not too long ago
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos_games?tab=collection

>>6346486
GOG games tend to have some level of compatibility fixes applied while older games on Steam are often dumped on the store with problems running on modern hardware never to be fixed. From my experience this tends to be the case with games released on Win9x and not DOS. With that said DOS games on GOG and Steam tend to be prepackaged with an outdated version of DOSbox but that is easy to fix.

>>6346709
Also check out the 4chan dospack, has all the best fixes and you don"t have to play out of the browser

https://mega.nz/#F!y1sRHSqb!iC34TYjpr5fWmDpAgSpybQ

The thing with playing on archive.org is you can't save game progress for later after closing your browser afaik

>>6339682
Battletech crescent hawk's inception

how can I play alien trilogy with music?

>>6349054
Buy the DOS version, get old hardware, hook up a SB 16 and configure the correct sound card ports in the installation menu. Sometimes that kinda shit doesn't work on DOSBox, so you need the real deal.