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-   -   The Lazarus Project; or, getting old ain't for sissies! (https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=114450)

donut 05-16-07 10:42 PM
Good find Onkel,return to base @ your discretion. Get UBI to communicate it's in there best interest.:know:

Tchocky 05-17-07 03:11 AM
Fond memories of my Pentium 150Mhz, ahhh

T'was a good machine, with all you could desire. Sort of

May keep my 1.83Ghz Core 2 Duo though :)

SUBMAN1 05-17-07 10:14 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neal Stevens
Well, for a diversion, I have decided to pull my old 1995 Pentium 100 with Win95 out of the closet and thrust it back into action, playing Aces of the Deep, Silent Steel, Wolfpack, Silent Hunter I, and other pre-millenium subsims.

It has not been turned on in over 3 years, so of course when I plugged it in, it won't run. First, it tells me there is a 127 System Board Error
then it goes to the Set-up Utility menu and there are three other errors waiting:

161 Bad CMOS Battery (how could it be naughty, it's been asleep 3 years?)
163 Date and Timer Incorrect
1762 Configuration Change has occurred

Ok, so if I exit the setup utility, I get a black screen with a simple white diagram of a floppy poised to enter a drive, with an insistent flashing error suggesting I press F1. Now, I have seen this before, I think it meant the old fella cannot access the hard drive or the Win95 OS. Probably forgot where it put it...

So, I suppose I need a new CMOS battery, and I better check the hard drive connections. Tomorrow I will start Googling, but in the meantime, I was wondering about your experiences with something like this. A really old PC, being rudely jerked out of its blissful slumbers...

Neal
AHh...You don't even have an old Pentium 2 or 3 sitting around that could play this game (Thinking from a responsiveness side more than a speed side)??? I seem to keep all this old stuff. My oldest working system is a PIII 700, but if you dig in my box of old forgotten parts, you would find a ton of old CPU's. Digging in here, I see 3x PII 400's, 1x PIII 450, 1x PIII 600, 1x Celeron 366, and 1x unknown Pentium hidden under a fan I don't feel like prying off! Seems to be a couple GB of old forgotten RAM in here too.

Hahaha! I found a Voodoo 1 card! Orchid!

-S

Onkel Neal 05-17-07 10:29 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ASWnut101

Ha! You cheated though! You still should build up your other computer, link the two CPU's together, and power galore! (or maby fried hunks of silicon galore!). I had my insparation in you, and you gave up! (I am planning on building my own computer for the first time, once I make my move to Atlanta) :cry: :cry:
Yes, I certainly took the easy way out :) But I still plan to keep working on the Aptiva IBM, I wanna see what goodies I left on those two hard drives.

Tonight! Seawolf SSN-21 ! Man, does that bring back memories... I had to make a boot disk just like the old days to config the EMS memory to get it to run. But that's all it took. Restart with the boot disk, naviagte with DOS prompts, and bingo--moody synth music, crew voices, smoking hot 256 colors. I remember you could not go any faster than half speed with the Towed Array deployed, and if you armed a torp, you had to fire it within 8 minutes or the nav battery would run down and you had to reload. Great game!

Tomorrow night: Silent Service II :yep:

Skybird 05-18-07 01:17 AM
If you need the discs for Red Storm Rising, I think I have the Amiga version somewhere - but no more Amiga. That one i played a lot.

Onkel Neal 05-19-07 01:31 AM
Tonight, I brought Wolfpack back to life (no sound, though :(). Anyone here ever play Novalogic's Wolfpack?

I'm picking up a Soundblaster 16 card off ebay, will try to see if that will rememdy the sound woes.

Wim Libaers 05-19-07 06:56 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neal Stevens
Oh, boy. Better than ever. Ok, no luck with the old IBM. So, today as I was driving to the Bar-B-Que joint for lunch, I saw a little electronic repair shop, hiding between a hair salon and a pet food store...

... I felt a pull in the Force... and I veered into the parking lot. I went in and this place was piled high with TVs. There was just this narrow little path to the counter. In the back was this fellow and he came to the front when he saw me. I asked him if he had any old computers, by chance. He said, no, not really. I said I was looking for an older computer. He said, well, he had one in the back, but it was really old.

He brought out a Compaq 4504. I asked if it worked and he said it did, so I told him to get a monitor and power cord and let's have a look. As we were plugging it in he said he was pretty sure it was at least a Pentium 200 mhz with Win 98. Now that it appeared I might buy an old junker, he was still trying to keep me interested.

I said, "Windows 98? Awe, I was hoping for one with Windows 95."

He arched an eyebrow and couldn't resist. "Why do you want such an old computer?"

I leaned forward, locked eyes, and after a pause told him, "Research. Let's leave it at that."

The PC powered up, and by golly, it was Win95! Pentium 200. I checked the sound card, ES1887, no Soundblaster Live :yep:

Memory? A whopping 16MB, yes, that's MEGAbytes. Kneel before me:arrgh!:

Aww, yeh-ah. Threw $40 at the man and sped home. Hooked it up, loaded Command Aces of the Deep, and we're in business. :rock:

So, next up, Wolfpack!
But if you're considering Subwar 2050, this one will be too fast ;-)

For the other PC, perhaps some connectors have corroded or moved a bit. Disasembling and reassembling everything might help. Also check for signs of damage or leaks on capacitors.

ChristopherT 05-19-07 07:18 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neal Stevens
Tonight, I brought Wolfpack back to life (no sound, though :(). Anyone here ever play Novalogic's Wolfpack?

I'm picking up a Soundblaster 16 card off ebay, will try to see if that will rememdy the sound woes.
I've got Wolfpack Neal, but I used that on my old IBM XT clone (20mb HD!). I don't think I've ever gotten to work on my current system. (P2 Celeron, 300 mhz, Win98, 4gb HD.) I think I'll try it tonight and see what happens. I got SSN21 to run fine in Win98 without a boot disk, I'm curious as to how the DOS side of your Win95 machine might be configured.

Christopher

Edit: I got Wolfpack to play okay under Win98, but it's a tad fast for a good game.

Onkel Neal 05-19-07 08:49 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChristopherT
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neal Stevens
Tonight, I brought Wolfpack back to life (no sound, though :(). Anyone here ever play Novalogic's Wolfpack?

I'm picking up a Soundblaster 16 card off ebay, will try to see if that will rememdy the sound woes.
I've got Wolfpack Neal, but I used that on my old IBM XT clone (20mb HD!). I don't think I've ever gotten to work on my current system. (P2 Celeron, 300 mhz, Win98, 4gb HD.) I think I'll try it tonight and see what happens. I got SSN21 to run fine in Win98 without a boot disk, I'm curious as to how the DOS side of your Win95 machine might be configured.
I'll have to look at the stock autoexec and config files but I think it says NO EMS or something.

Update: I loaded Grey Wolf: Hunter of the North Atlantic and played a couple missions, then Silent Hunter I. The intro movie does not work but the game plays great!

Then I got fancy and installed Fast Attack. The intro movie for this one plays, but then the screen goes black.... and no game :( So, the lucky run comes to an end, I'll have to roll up my sleeves and see what I need to do to get FA working.

Let's review, so far the SUBSIM Legacy machine has:

Command Aces of the Deep
Seawolf SSN-21
Wolfpack
Silent Service II
Greywolf
Silent Hunter

I have to get Fast Attack working then I'll tackle Great Naval Battles, Clancy's SSN, Das Boot, Silent Steel, and Fighting Steel. My goal is to have the most pre-2000 naval and subsims running on one machine in the world.:|\\

Neal

ChristopherT 05-20-07 07:18 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

I'll have to look at the stock autoexec and config files but I think it says NO EMS or something.

Update: I loaded Grey Wolf: Hunter of the North Atlantic and played a couple missions, then Silent Hunter I. The intro movie does not work but the game plays great!

Then I got fancy and installed Fast Attack. The intro movie for this one plays, but then the screen goes black.... and no game :( So, the lucky run comes to an end, I'll have to roll up my sleeves and see what I need to do to get FA working.

Let's review, so far the SUBSIM Legacy machine has:

Command Aces of the Deep
Seawolf SSN-21
Wolfpack
Silent Service II
Greywolf
Silent Hunter

I have to get Fast Attack working then I'll tackle Great Naval Battles, Clancy's SSN, Das Boot, Silent Steel, and Fighting Steel. My goal is to have the most pre-2000 naval and subsims running on one machine in the world.:|\\

Neal
The only ones on that list I don't have are Clancy's SSN and Silent Steel. All the GNB's, Das Boot, Silent Hunter, Greywolf, and Fighting Steel work fine under Win98. For SS2 make sure your sound card has an Adlib chip on-board. My machine lacks that hardware so SS2 uses the PC speaker. (My XT did have a SB card with an Adlib chip on it and the sound was very good.)

Christopher

Hitman 05-20-07 08:08 AM
Great memories!:rock:

I kept my first laptop computer purposedly to run the older games. It is a Celeron 366 (Pentium III era) with 64MB RAM and a 4MB SVGA video card (No 3D capabilities:cry: ). OS is Windows 98SE. One of the best things it has is the small size, only a 12,5 inch screen, but it has a vga output so I can connect it to any monitor.

Installed on it and running flawlessly are:

-Command Aces of the Deep
-Silent Hunter 1 CE
-Great Naval Battles IV and V
-Panzer General II
-Pacific General

I heartly recommend anyone this way of keeping old classics alive: An old laptop is the best space-saver and since you don't need to update the hardware, you can pick the one that just meets your requirements. Should be lots out there to buy second hand for incredibly low prices:up:

Major Johnson 05-20-07 09:33 AM
Neal, did you try reseating the memory on your old machine?? Maybe even replace it?? That might speed things up a bit. Also you might want to try to up the RAM a bit anyway. Can never have too much!

I have an old Compaq 1780. P100. Came with 95 but I loaded 98 on it. Being in the computer field I happen to have access to a lot of spare parts and in my travels I've picked up a lot of simms and I maxed it out. It was my Dad's and I keep for sentimental reasons. I actually got it back from someone I had sold it to like 10 years ago! My mom thinks I'm crazy. Anyway, it was the only computer that would play this old flight sim called Dawn Patrol that I spent hours on back in the day. Seems that the onboard video was one of the few compatible with the game. It is a labor of love though. :) I got it up and working about a year ago was able to load the game but there was no sound. I haven't started it up since. Saving it for a rainy day, or maybe retirement!! :lol:

Onkel Neal 05-20-07 11:24 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitman
Great memories!:rock:

I kept my first laptop computer purposedly to run the older games. It is a Celeron 366 (Pentium III era) with 64MB RAM and a 4MB SVGA video card (No 3D capabilities:cry: ). OS is Windows 98SE. One of the best things it has is the small size, only a 12,5 inch screen, but it has a vga output so I can connect it to any monitor.

Installed on it and running flawlessly are:

-Command Aces of the Deep
-Silent Hunter 1 CE
-Great Naval Battles IV and V
-Panzer General II
-Pacific General

I heartly recommend anyone this way of keeping old classics alive: An old laptop is the best space-saver and since you don't need to update the hardware, you can pick the one that just meets your requirements. Should be lots out there to buy second hand for incredibly low prices:up:
Very good idea, laptops can be stowed making them very portable :yep:
I guess I have been ingrained with the concept that laptops do not make good gaming machines, but that has changed, especially for running retro subsims.

Ultimately, my secret project will end up like this. Right now I am concentrating on the game installation and config, but when I run out of old subsims to add and have them all running, I'll start Phase Two. I can't think of a better piece of furniture than a Subsim arcade machine standing in the corner of my office :D

http://www.subsim.com/graphics/1_1can1.jpg

Onkel Neal 05-20-07 11:27 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Major Johnson
Neal, did you try reseating the memory on your old machine?? Maybe even replace it?? That might speed things up a bit. Also you might want to try to up the RAM a bit anyway. Can never have too much!

I got it up and working about a year ago was able to load the game but there was no sound. I haven't started it up since. Saving it for a rainy day, or maybe retirement!! :lol:
As you know, from my example, you should fire it up every few months at least. I have ordered a 32MB ram chip for it from a PC company ($9.95), and a couple of old soundcards off e-bay ($14 and $3). I'll mess around with it for a few months, seeing what combination works best.

Cheers!
Neal

ChristopherT 05-20-07 05:56 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neal Stevens
Ultimately, my secret project will end up like this. Right now I am concentrating on the game installation and config, but when I run out of old subsims to add and have them all running, I'll start Phase Two. I can't think of a better piece of furniture than a Subsim arcade machine standing in the corner of my office :D
How about a working 1968 Midway Sea Raider coin-operated submarine arcade game? That would definately be a close second to your project! :D

Christopher

Bubblehead Nuke 05-20-07 06:34 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
If you need the discs for Red Storm Rising, I think I have the Amiga version somewhere - but no more Amiga. That one i played a lot.
If you have the workbench disks, you can get WinUAE (windows Amiga Emulator) and play those old Amiga games. That is what I do here. I play my old amiga version of Red Storm Rising, and Silent Service on my PC with that. They have WAY better sound and graphics compared to their PC versions of the same era.

Speaking of emulators, why try and resurrect all these old machines? I understand the technical challenge, but if you are looking for the older OS's for a compatibility issue just get Virtual PC from Microsoft (free download) and install the older operating system and play from that. I have Tom Clancy's 688I and it will not play on ANYTHING but Windows 95. I have a small install of Windows 95 (only 80 megs virtual hard drive) just to play that ONE game.

Onkel Neal 05-21-07 07:17 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChristopherT
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neal Stevens
Ultimately, my secret project will end up like this. Right now I am concentrating on the game installation and config, but when I run out of old subsims to add and have them all running, I'll start Phase Two. I can't think of a better piece of furniture than a Subsim arcade machine standing in the corner of my office :D
How about a working 1968 Midway Sea Raider coin-operated submarine arcade game? That would definately be a close second to your project! :D

Christopher
Yeah! If I can find one. If not, I could replicate the cabinet for my project.:hmm:

Onkel Neal 05-22-07 01:22 AM
Hey, I just noticed the game images on this page seem to be the exact arcade game I played when I was a kid. Of all the arcade machines, this was my favorite. It was electro-mechanical, I really liked it.

http://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/searaid6.jpg

MarkShot 05-22-07 09:34 AM
Just curious ... with the ease of use of DOSBOX why people prefer to build and maintain entirely separate machines for old games?

I currently have: AOD, SHCE, RTD, RT1, and BRD running under DOSBOX 0.70 with very new hardware using a secondary 20" CRT which is mainly used for running low res old games. Aside from the simplicity of only having a single system to deal with, you get all the benefits of Window's game play (ie: read email while patrolling) that isn't really available under true DOS. Also, getting the right number of CPU cycles is much easier under DOSBOX, since you can just adjust this by hand. On a multi-core machine with multiple monitors, you can even play multiple games at the same time on different displays with different processors such that they don't even interfere with each other.

Just curious what's the atraction of PC time machines from the 1980's? Thanks.

Hitman 05-22-07 12:06 PM
Well the CAOD version (Win 95) will not play under DOSBOX, and the increase in resolution (640x480) pays off when you play for some hours, as the DOS version's low res gets annoying and tyring for the eyes quicker. As for SH1, I get it to run well in DOSBOX, but never so fast at time compression as in an older Win98 system. 2048x constantly kicks back to lower levels, and when you have little time to play like me, that is something to consider.

Plus the laptop I have is a very small item, takes almost nil space and is portable:up:


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