4 ms·

Privateer was very tricky to run because it barely fit in 640k, and took a special config. I wonder if that makes it hard to emulate. It was the best of the w

Privateer was very tricky to run because it barely fit in 640k, and took a special config. I wonder if that makes it hard to emulate. It was the best of the wing commander series by far.

dwd 6y ago
Agree wholeheartedly, I recently came across a piece of graph paper in an old box with the systems and price histories for trading. The Righteous Fire add-on storyline was probably the best. I wrote my own AUTOEXEC.BAT/CONFIG.SYS menu to select the right config and sometimes run a different .BAT file again. Still have a version of it and pulled it up for nostalgia: Colonization, Warcraft, Doom2 (single and network modes) and SC 2000 were other options I had setup.
- petters 6y ago
  I did the same! Honestly don't remember how I figured all that stuff out without internet and stack overflow. Also, my friends would call me and ask for the secret code to start Doom. I'd begin: "cd doom2"....
  - Delk 6y ago
    I can't quite remember how those things were figured out either, but I think it was probably partially word of mouth. Games also had tips for memory configuration in their readme files or manuals. There was also at least one book I had at home that my father had bought that had all kinds of details on the workings of DOS (and PCs of that era in general).
    - dwd 6y ago
      The good old days of floppy disk swapping! I used to spend a bit of time browsing Computer & Game magazines at the local newsagency and library. I think some of what I picked up came from the likes of PCMag, C+VG and a lot of trial and error.
Delk 6y ago
In my limited experience, it has been easier to get a good bunch of conventional memory available in DOSBox (and out of the box -- no pun intended) than it was in MS-DOS. A freshly "booted" session seems to show 632k free right now. I can't remember ever getting that much free on MS-DOS, although my configs probably included cd-rom drivers and whatnot.

Privateer was very tricky to run because it barely fit in 640k, and took a special config. I wonder if that makes it hard to emulate. It was the best of the wing commander series by far.

dwd 6y ago

Agree wholeheartedly, I recently came across a piece of graph paper in an old box with the systems and price histories for trading. The Righteous Fire add-on storyline was probably the best. I wrote my own AUTOEXEC.BAT/CONFIG.SYS menu to select the right config and sometimes run a different .BAT file again. Still have a version of it and pulled it up for nostalgia: Colonization, Warcraft, Doom2 (single and network modes) and SC 2000 were other options I had setup.

petters 6y ago
I did the same! Honestly don't remember how I figured all that stuff out without internet and stack overflow. Also, my friends would call me and ask for the secret code to start Doom. I'd begin: "cd doom2"....
- Delk 6y ago
  I can't quite remember how those things were figured out either, but I think it was probably partially word of mouth. Games also had tips for memory configuration in their readme files or manuals. There was also at least one book I had at home that my father had bought that had all kinds of details on the workings of DOS (and PCs of that era in general).
  - dwd 6y ago
    The good old days of floppy disk swapping! I used to spend a bit of time browsing Computer & Game magazines at the local newsagency and library. I think some of what I picked up came from the likes of PCMag, C+VG and a lot of trial and error.

Delk 6y ago

In my limited experience, it has been easier to get a good bunch of conventional memory available in DOSBox (and out of the box -- no pun intended) than it was in MS-DOS. A freshly "booted" session seems to show 632k free right now. I can't remember ever getting that much free on MS-DOS, although my configs probably included cd-rom drivers and whatnot.