RPi3 Win 3.1/95 Emulation In DOSBox?

hooperre · 2 Mar 2017, 15:57

I read recently (I think on r/emulation) someone floating the opinion that a Windows 95 emulator is not necessary because PC's have compatibility mode. I understand that Windows has this function, but a few of my old games don't work with compatibility mode (Sonic CD is the one I want to play most). When I try to run it in DosBox, it gives the obvious reply 'needs to run in Windows.' When I use compatibility mode on my Windows 10 PC (Win95, 8-bit) after a few minutes it says it needs to close. I'll probably just grab the Sega CD version and roll with that. This isn't the norm, but it happens with some of my older games. ScummVM has been awesome for a similar game (Backyard Baseball).

Given ScummVM works wonderfully and Comparability Mode virtualization is hit or miss, I think that a Linux based Windows 95 emulator wouldn't be a horrible idea. Are there any roadblocks to something like this being made and, of course, would it be brought to Retropie?

herb_fargus · 23 Jan 2017, 20:53

@hooperre Emulationstation incurs overhead. So if you are emulating not only a whole different architecture (x86 vs ARM) and a game... I doubt there would be any gains on something as weak as a pi.

hooperre · 23 Jan 2017, 22:09

Thanks for the reply, @herb_fargus.

Ah crap, fair enough.

So really the only practical answer would be to try to get it running on something like Virtual Box, I'm guessing?

herb_fargus · 24 Jan 2017, 00:43

@hooperre virtual box actually has its own share of display and rendering issues. Possibly will run better but can have issues.

I have Sonic CD running on my windows 10 PC. I'll see if I can pull out my notes on how I got it running. Best bet is to try and find ports for systems you know that run (like Sega CD) or if you have to use virtual box it can function. Other idea is to find cracked exe versions that work on Windows 10 but have to be wary of viruses

hooperre · 24 Jan 2017, 00:53

@herb_fargus Thanks as always. No worries, I'll just roll with the Sega CD version.

backstander · 24 Jan 2017, 21:03

@hooperre
Sonic CD Fix (Works on Windows 10):
https://steamcommunity.com/app/200940/discussions/0/485622866448052179/

I think all you have to do is install DirectX in Windows 10.

hooperre · 24 Jan 2017, 23:07

@backstander Ah awesome. Thanks!

hooperre · 4 Dec 2017, 23:05

So looking around I found people emulating 3.1 and 95 games (even up to 98, but all my 98 games work on my Windows 10 CPU ATM) with DOSBox. Win95 seems like a challenge, but 3.1 seems like it wouldn't be too awful. Anyone done it successfully (Pi or otherwise)?

Sorry, I feel like I ripped off a scab re-opening this question.

backstander · 3 Feb 2017, 16:07

@hooperre

Anyone done it unsuccessfully (Pi or otherwise)?

I've tried installing Win 3.1 in DOSBox on my RPi3 (using RetroPie 3.7?) and ran a couple games and they played fine. It was a pain to get everything I needed before installing. I had find my old floppies and then load up my old Win XP computer with a floppy disk drive to get all the floppy images needed than I think I had to find a mouse driver for Win 3.1 which took about an hour of Googling and Trial & Error. I kept finding DOS mouse drivers instead of Win 3.1 drivers.

hooperre · 3 Feb 2017, 16:12

@backstander Alright, cool. Probably not worth it to play Math Blaster or 'play' MS Dogs. Haha.

backstander · 2 Mar 2017, 16:19

@hooperre

Alright, cool. Probably not worth it to play Math Blaster or 'play' MS Dogs. Haha.

Lol

I think the only games I could really recommend for Win 3.1 would be Star Wars: Yoda Stories (Wikipedia) and Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures(Wikipedia). I'm pretty sure that both of these games ran pretty well on my PRi3 with a USB mouse.

hooperre · 2 Mar 2017, 17:24

@backstander Have you gone through the seemingly arduous process of emulating Win 95? Maybe it would be more straight forward as things like mouse drivers may be easier to find. AFIK Win 3.1 is essentially a Dos application, so it streamlines pretty well.

backstander · 3 Feb 2017, 17:32

@hooperre

Have you gone through the seemingly arduous process of emulating Win 95?

I was going to try it but I couldn't find the power cable for my USB external CD-ROM drive that I was just going to plug into my RPi3 and then I totally forgot about wanting to do this and never revisited it. I guess I could just mount the ISO file of my disc but never tried that either. I watched a lot of YouTube videos of others installing Win 95/98 on a Raspberry Pi and it didn't seam like it would play any games very well.

If you try it, let us know your experiences!

hooperre · 2 Jun 2017, 23:35

@backstander Will do.

I've only seen people doing it on a Pi 2. Pi 3 probably won't be significantly better. What I would do to run Age of Empires on my Pi knows no limits. Once I get my build 'final' (never) I'll definitely be moving on to trying it.

edmaul69 · 5 Feb 2017, 06:00

Im gonna have to get windows 3.1 so i can play their version of solitaire and minesweeper. Plus i want to try out indiana jones.

edmaul69 · 2 Jun 2017, 01:23

@backstander can you tell me how to get sound working in windows 3.1 on dosbox on the pi. On both the pi and the pc i use the sb16win3x.iso (extracted to a folder on the pi) when i click on all the audio software stuff like the creative mixer it tells me that the .dll'are missing and the exe's are missing even though the sb16 folder and all of its contents are there and i cant get the windows sounds to work either because of this.

Edit: nm i figured it out. You have To install it all in a specific way for it to work with dosbox

edmaul69 · 6 Feb 2017, 17:04

@backstander how did you get windows 3.1 out of 16 color mode and into 256 colors. I tried to play indiana jones but cant because of that.

backstander · 6 Feb 2017, 17:39

@edmaul69
I don't remember having problems with the color mode when I had it installed. I don't have it currently installed on my RPi. You might have to Google Windows 3.1 in DOSBox color mode.

backstander · 6 Feb 2017, 18:58

@edmaul69
Okay, I remember installed a graphic card drive. I followed a tutorial but I didn't save it.

Here's another tutorial showing how to install the S3 video driver:
http://www.howtogeek.com/230359/how-to-install-windows-3.1-in-dosbox-set-up-drivers-and-play-16-bit-games/

edmaul69 · 2 Jun 2017, 20:03

@backstander i found a nice guide with links to all kinds of stuff for this. Had to install s3 in windows setup outside of windows gui because of it looking for s3 flat driver disk otherwise. Someone else had this issue so this was the way to fix that. Got the s3 video drivers installed, ibm joystick drivers installed, so my controller works in games and even in windows.