Windows Emulators/VMs and stuff

[drbockwurst]

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Hey everyone,

just joined the forum and thought about how I could contribute on this journey. 🙂

For many people it’s just not feasible nowadays to get exclusive old Hardware to install Windows 3.1, 95, 98 etc.., so usually VMs or Emulaltors are the way to go.
In my experience VMs for Windows are not that fun, there are at least two approaches that I would rather recommend:

DOSBox-Pure (Standalone or via Retroarch-Core)
or
x86Box (and before that was a thing: PCem)

What are your experiences in that regard?
Do you have other ways to use old Software?
Does someone need some help or tutorials setting up machines in the 2 Ways I mentioned?

Love to hear from you all! 😉

Cheers from Germany

[Watchful]

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Good topic!

Most of the Windows 9x and newer games, I’ve been able to get working on newer Windows, albeit sometimes with fan patches or ports. IME, DOSBox-X (DBX) can run both Windows 3.x and Windows 9x, with some effort. I’ve been meaning to try DOSBox-Pure with RetroArch for its rewind capability. DBX only has save states, and they don’t work well with complex games.

I recommend casual players try Windows 3 games directly on Archive.org.

Steam and GOG have pretty solid coverage of the Win 9x and XP eras, with only some Win 3.x games. For a comprehensive collection, ExoWin3x facilitates a proper game install, if you want saving and loading, as well as more performance. Just take care if you insist on combining with ExoDOS proper as I’ve found ExoWin3x works best as a standalone install.

• This reply was modified 1 month ago by Watchful.
• This reply was modified 1 month ago by Watchful.

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