D1/D2 on 98 vs XP

Jesus Freak · Post by **Jesus Freak** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 8:23 pm

I have the resources to put together an old 98 rig... in fact, I already have one. My questions:

- What are the benefits of 98 vs XP?
- What are the disadvantages of 98 vs XP?
- Is it worth going from 1600x1200 to whatever a 98 machine can do?
- Is it worth the hassle of spending the 20+ hours getting a 98 machine rig running well?

Thanks

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 8:43 pm

20+ hours? WTF. you doing that blindfolded? Shouldn't take you more than 5 to get it all done.

Only advantage os using 98 now is using the true D2 DOS. Otherwise with D2x-w32, it runs great in XP and most people are moving towards this.

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 3:10 am

JF,

the only advantage would be that you could run the original D2-DOS on that machine, and D2-3dfx, if you have a Voodoo gfx card (V1 or V2 for best results) in that machine.

Apart from that I can only see disadvantages - networking wise, updates wise, security wise, drivers wise, etc.

D2X-W32 does all that D2 does and then a lot more, and it does it better than D2.

Sirius · Post by **Sirius** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 3:53 am

It'll take 20 hours if you try strange and/or stupid things as per yours truly. But if it's a clean rig, agreed... you can get it running and playing D2 online in no more than 2 hours.

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 6:00 am

98SE Machine D1-D1x/D2_3dfx/D3 (Gameport Controllers)

XP Machine D2x-w32/D3 (USB Controllers)

I am not running D1x on my XP machine because it's USB support is VERY limited for what controllers I use

Sirius · Post by **Sirius** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 3:42 pm

...that would help.

kurupt · Post by **kurupt** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 4:30 pm

yeah, what bub said. i'm gonna try to put one together because for the life of me i cant get a 3d pro to work in windows xp but they work great in windows 98.

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 12:23 am

Yeah, D1x OGL needs some serious work done to it. 1.42 is the only build that doesn't CTD (other than one 1.43 build that the official d1x site had linked before they removed it...that one refuses to recognize my primary hat switch at all.), and I have to run it at 1024x768 just to be able to use my hat switch at all...but the damn thing doesn't read the fonts so I have to squint to read anything anyone says or read my indicators.

D2x-w32 runs like a DREAM, and honestly I haven't even looked back since I started using it.

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 1:55 am

kurupt,

to make a 3D pro work in WinXP, you need to assign it to the proper game port and apply the proper game port settings. I had problems because I have two game ports in my machine, and had used the wrong port address range (there are three to chose from), but with some help from the descentforum.de I got it to work. It pretty frequently doesn't get recognized at once by WinXP, but with some reinstalls in the sytem panel - game controllers dialog, WinXP recognizes it. A reboot helps, too. Anyway, before reverting to some pre-XP OS, or doing w/o the 3D pro, I rather take that on me.

Mikael · Post by **Mikael** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 4:05 am

I just put together this retro machine so that I can play Descent "the way it was meant to be played". Or atleast look and play like I remember it from back in the day. It just feels better to run it on an older machine...

I started out with an old P166 and ended up replacing most of the stuff (it's so cheap anyway!). Here's the setup:

MSI MS-5170 with Intel 430TX chipset
P200 MMX (@ 2.6V) with Intel heatsink from a Socket370 Celeron 700MHz
64MB SDRAM @ fastest timings
Cirrus Logic 5446 PCI 2MB
Creative 3Dfx Voodoo 2 12MB
SoundBlaster AWE64 ISA
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 40GB
Mitsumi 6x CDROM
Windows98 Second Edition

The AWE64 really makes those old Descent midi tracks sound awesome! Also, putting in a modern harddrive running at UDMA33 speed made it feel like a whole different computer. It's like a night and day difference compared to the old Seagate Medalist Pro 2.5GB that was used before.

Now, having a machine like this has the added benefit of being able to run pretty much any old DOS game without any hazzle. You're also pretty much guaranteed that the games won't run too fast.

It also seems as if the move from a P166 to a P200MMX provided for some extra performance in Descent 2 640x480. It's actually very playable now, which I can't really say it was before.