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------------------------------------------------------------ OS2.GAMES January 16, 1995 Version 2.1d ------------------------------------------------------------ ADMINISTRIVIA: OK, it's been quite some time since the last version of the list. My appologies for that, but I went for a time without internet access. Once again, my email address has changed. You can now reach me at gary.schrock@ssc.msu.edu. I've been monitoring comp.os.os2.games, and have been trying to save articles that contain info about running games, but I've undoubtably missed stuff, and I certainly missed stuff during the time that I was gone, so there are some definite holes in this, especially in the more recent game. This version of the list covers OS/2 version 2.1, 2.11, and Warp. The INF version hopefully will be out in another week or two. I'm also working on an HTML version. See below in the Where to Get Updates section for information about this. This list is really starting to get large, so if anyone has any suggestions for ways to format it so it's easier to find stuff, let me know. I'm also interested in trying to contact the various manufacturers of the games to try to establish a communication with them about this list. (Who knows, maybe we can get them to start taking OS/2 seriously). If anyone has information on how to contact them (preferably via Snail Mail, they might take that more seriously than email), I'd appreciate hearing it. I've listed the site eyelab.msu.edu a couple of times below. We're still waiting for it to take effect in the name server so at least for the first couple of days that this is out you probably won't be able to access it as that. If you have problems finding it with the name, try 35.8.64.179. Hopefully in a few days it'll be working normally with the name. My appologies to anyone who sent reports and had them bounce. ------------------------------------------------------------ INTRODUCTION: This file brings together in one place the information that you need to be able to optimize the performance of your DOS based games. Unfortunately, much of the information still is incomplete, so your help would be greatly appreciated. If you happen to know how to get a game working that isn't listed, or how to get one working that's listed as not working, or even if you know that a specific game doesn't work under OS/2 2.1, please mail me (gary.schrock@ssc.msu.edu) so I can include the information. If you are having problems getting a game to work, please feel free to contact me (gary.schrock@ssc.msu.edu) and I'll do my best to help you out. Note, I am still running version 2.11 of OS/2 as I haven't gotten a chance to get Warp yet. I believe some more dos/windows settings were added in Warp, but I haven't the slightest clue what they were. If someone wants to drop me an email note about it, please do so and I'll update the list. --------------------------------- FUTURE PLANS FOR THE LIST: A .INF version will be made available sometime in the relatively near future. A rough HTML version is done, and further work will be done on it as time progresses. Web site maintainers can email me for it, or you can peruse it at the site listed below in 'Where to Get Updates'. --------------------------------- REPORTING CHANGES: I'd really appreciate it if you would mail me any changes or additions to this list. Some of the things that would be appreciated when you do this are: -Your system setup (things like sound card, IRQ's). This will help me coordinate what works with what. -Please mail this information to gary.schrock@ssc.msu.edu A template you can use to supply this information is in the file SETFORM.TXT which should accompany this document. Under Warp it's also possible to save the settings out to a file, but the couple of outputs here I've seen looked incomprehensible to the eye. If someone wants to explain how to read it to me (or point out what I'm missing that's obvious), I'll gladly take submissions in that format too. --------------------------------- WHERE TO GET UPDATES: You can obtain the list from any of several ftp sites. It is typically stored on ftp-os2.nmsu.edu in the /pub/os2/32bit/info directory. This version is games21d.zip. You can also get it off my distribution site for it, which is eyelab.msu.edu in /os2. You can peruse the HTML version by pointing your web browser to http://eyelab.msu.edu/people/gary/os2games/ I've also started a mailing list that I will send out updated versions of the list on as they become available. This mailing list won't echo things that people send to it, it is only for the purpose of distributing new versions of the list (so traffic will be light on it). You can subscribe by sending email to: os2games@eyelab.msu.edu subject: subscribe I haven't set it up yet to send the current version on demand yet, but I'm planning on doing this. ------------------------------- GENERAL TIPS (READ THIS FIRST!): Read the README file in your OS/2 root directory. Also, check the manual for OS/2 2.1. Both of these provide information for running some DOS and Windows apps under OS/2. Read the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games FAQ. This is very important since it will tell you about possible problems when running the game even under plain DOS. If you can't find a copy of the FAQ in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.announce, email Jurgen Appelo, the keeper of the FAQ, but I don't have his email address currently. Also, look to see if a game-specific FAQ is available. Several games have these (Wolf3d, Civ, DOOM). If you have trouble installing the game under OS/2 and you are trying to install the game on a FAT drive, boot up plain DOS (via dual boot or the Boot Manager) and install it there. Sometimes a game (or other app) won't install for some reason under OS/2, but once installed they'll work fine under OS/2. If you experiance strange anomalies or incompatibilities of any kind (especially with older games), try booting a real copy of DOS from a floppy inside a VDM running under OS/2 and run the game in that DOS session. (See VMDISK in the Command Reference online docs for details.) Some games that require keydisks will only work this way. The following are the recommended base settings for running games under OS/2. If you have a game not listed in here, try these out and work from there to try to get it running. Dos Fullscreen: Check this option; Very few DOS games perform well in a window. DOS_BACKGROUND_EXECUTION: OFF (so it won't take CPU time when you switch away from it, and so you don't die while it's running in the background) DOS_HIGH: ON (more memory for those games that need it) DOS_RMSIZE: 640 DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT: 0 (most DOS games don't use DPMI memory) or DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT: 16 (more and more recent game use an extender which uses DPMI) EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 1024 (most games that use more than 640k use EMS memory. If you're playing an earlier game, you might not need this. Note also, many games may require more than this. Check the box that it came in) HW_ROM_TO_RAM: ON (copies ROM BIOS to RAM--several people have said that this improves performance on their machines) HW_TIMER: ON (very important, especially for games using soundcards) IDLE_SECONDS: 10 IDLE_SENSITIVITY: 100 (very important) KBD_ALTHOME_BYPASS: ON (although keep it off if you want to flip to windowed, such as to check walkthroughs, etc) VIDEO_FASTPASTE: ON (some people say this helps) VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION: OFF (leaving this on can cause some games to run far too fast, and other to run too slow) VIDEO_ROM_EMULATION: OFF XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 64 (needed for DOS=HIGH. If the game supports XMS memory, naturally you should raise this) For best performance close ALL windows and apps, especially other DOS apps, before you run the game. Leaving other apps open steals CPU time from the game, thus slowing it down. (Although it IS possible to do high speed downloads while playing games, I don't recommend it) Sometimes you just have to fiddle with the settings until it works well for you, which is why this list is put together. ------------------------------------------- SOUND CARDS: Sound cards are probably one of the leading causes of games not working under OS/2. The following are a couple of suggestions to help, but it's unfortunately all to common for them to be the culprit. Soundblaster cards: Somebody at Creative Labs decided that IRQ 7 should be the default. If your computer has an LPT1: (it probably does), you need to change the IRQ. I recommend IRQ 5, although it may not be free depending on your configuration. Make sure you have the BLASTER environment variable set, otherwise sounds might be cut off funny. (I think more recently Creative Labs realized that IRQ 7 was a bad choice and switched the default to 5). Roland LAPC-1: the default IRQ2 and 330 base address work fine. IRQ 2 is automatically mapped to IRQ9 on 386 and 486 computers. Pro Audio Spectrun-16: Make sure your IRQ's are set to something that is not used. Avoid 7,3,4 (I don't know what these cards can be set to). IRQ 5,2, and 10 tend to be free. You can load the PAS16's mvsound.sys by opening the DOS settings box, and adding a line to the DOS_DEVICE bos, such as: c:\proaudio\mvsound.sys d:3 q:2 The path and the optional parameters will vary of course. ----------------------------------------- SPECIFIC GAMES: Start with the base settings that were listed above, making sure to set EMS, XMS, and/or DPMI memory to what is specified for the game you are running. The idea here is to list as many of the games people are running as possible. If you are running a game, or having problems with one, PLEASE mail me so it can be added to the list (gary.schrock@ssc.msu.edu). A seperate section at the end of the list has been added to detail CD-ROM games seperately. If the game you are looking for is a CD-ROM game, you might want to try looking there first. Please note: If a game is listed as 'runs fine,' then it was tested by either the original maintainer of the list or by me (I do my best to specify which this is). 'Reported to run fine' means that people on the net have said that it runs. Most of the checking here was probably done under os/2 2.x. I believe almost all games that worked under it also work under Warp. I will try to note games where the only information I have applies to Warp. ACES OF THE PACIFIC: -Several people have reported this game to run fine. -Also note, there is a patch you may need which increases the screen update speed, so if the update speed is slow on your system you might want to try to find it. ACES OVER EUROPE: -The following modification to the default games settings have been recommended: DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT: DISABLED -Other than this change, the game is supposedly pretty easy to get running, but will not run if set to enabled, and hangs when set to auto. ADVENTURES OF WILLY BEAMISH: -Reported to run fine. AIR WARRIOR: -Make sure ou allocate enough DPMI memory (try at least 6, more if it still gives a memory error). ALADDIN: -A user reported having problems with the sound (it would periodically give something that sounded like a shotgun). I've also heard rumours that a lot of the Disney stuff has enough trouble running under Dos, let alone os/2. ALONE IN THE DARK: -Reported to run fine. Make sure you set DOS_UMB and HW_NOSOUND to off and HW_TIMER to on for the best sound production. ALPHABET BLOCKS: -Reported to run fine. ARCHON ULTRA: -I was unable to get this to run, but didn't spend much time on it. Anyone else try it? A-10 TANK KILLER: -Reported to run fine. ATLANTIS: -Reported to run fine. A-TRAIN: -Several people say they have been able to get the game to run in monocrome, with no sound. Nobody that I know of has gotten it to run in color. -Another user said that he used the Migrate Applications utility and was able to get music, sound, color all working fairly well. BARDS TALE: -Reported to run fine. BATTLE CHESS: -Reported to run fine. BIO-MENACE (Apogee): -Reported to run fine in a real DOS VDM. -Start this game with the /LATCHPEL command line switch to reduce jerky graphics. -The following changes to the default settings for a DOS VDM were supplied by a user: a. Turn DOS_BACKGROUND_EXECUTION Off. b. Turn DOS_HIGH On. (This may or may not already be set - double check.) c. Select DOS_STARTUP_DRIVE, and enter C:\VMB\DOS.IMG in the "Value" field. d. Turn DOS_UMB Off. e. Set DPMI_DOS_API to DISABLED. f. Set DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT to Zero (0). g. Set DPMI_NETWORK_BUFF_SIZE to One (1). h. Set EMS_FRAME_LOCATION to NONE. i. Set EMS_HIGH_OS_MAP_REGION to Zero (0). j. Set EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT to Zero (0). k. Turn HW_ROM_TO_RAM Off. l. Turn HW_TIMER On. m. Set IDLE_SECONDS to 60. n. Set IDLE_SENSITIVITY to 100. o. Turn INT_DURING_IO Off. p. Turn KBD_BUFFER_EXTEND Off. q. Turn VIDEO_ONDEMAND_MEMORY Off. r. Turn VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION Off. s. Turn VIDEO_ROM_EMULATION Off. t. Turn VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION Off. u. Turn VIDEO_8514_XGA_IOTRAP Off. u. Set XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT to 2048. BLAKE STONE: -Reported to work fine using the /noxms switch. BREACH 2: -One person has reported that he couldn't get the mouse to work, so he had to use the keyboard instead. CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN 3D: -This game can be real picky. Do not switch away from a session running this game, because it won't restore the screen right. -If you have a SoundBlaster and your sounds are getting cut off, check to make sure you are defining the BLASTER environment variable properly. -I was able to get the registered version to run fine, but the shareware one occaisionally would pause when I picked something up or got hit. -If you can't get the game to start up due to a conflict with LPT2, try starting the game with the /noss (undocumented parameter). (From Shawn Green, help@idsoftware.com) CHUCK YEAGER'S AIR COMBAT: -One user made the suggestion that when you are using the PC speaker for sound to start the game and allow it to go through the intro. Then do a test flight and hit a ^S to kill the sound. This stops the sound for future sessions. If you want digitized speech thereafter, you can turn it on during flights, but make sure you turn it off before finishing a mission. CIVILIZATION: -Get the most recent version of the game. I believe this is now version 5. -Always use fullscreen mode. (Tend to get divide by 0 errors if you try running it in a window) -Some people have had problems with running it in Adlib/Soundblaster where the game runs slow. A possible solution is to start the game in PC SPEAKER mode, quit, and run it again during the same DOS session with the Adlib/SoundBlaster Support enabled. This might fix that problem. (Note: I never had this problem with my SoundBlaster Pro) -A possible solution to the divide by 0 errors is to turn COM_HOLD to ON. I don't know that this works. Run it in fullscreen mode, that works, and windowed the game runs far too slow. CIVILIZATION FOR WINDOWS: -Runs fine in either full-screen or seamless mode. I recommend not running this version since it is very slow (nothing to do with OS/2 though). COLONIZATION: -Reportedly locks up. COMMANCHE: MAXIMUM OVERKILL: -This game tries to go into a protected mode, and I believe they use the VCPI standard for that. As a result, it WILL NOT run. -There have been rumors that if the makers hear enough interest they will come out with a patch that will fix this (or a replacement executable, something along those lines). COMMANDER KEEN 3: -Reported to run fine. COMMANDER KEEN 4: -Reported to run fine, but you can't switch away from the session or the screen will get messed up. CONQUERED KINGDOMS: -One person said they couldn't get it to run because the mouse pointer gets lost. Anyone get this one to work? CONQUESTS OF THE LONGBOW: -Reported to run better with VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION set to ON. CURSE OF THE AZURE BONDS: -Runs fine. (original maintainer) DAGGER OF AMON RA: -Reported to run better with VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION set to on. DARK FORCES: -Create a dos full screen session with at least 8 or 12 megs of DPMI memory. Open the session, and then run it from the command line. (That makes two of these that won't start from the desktop, what's up with this?) DARKLANDS: -Runs fine. If the into runs jerky, you can try turning your VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION to ON (normally it should be set OFF for this game, so make sure once you've seen the intro you quit and change this setting back) Note: I thought the intro was slow whatever I did. I've never seen the game under DOS, so I don't know how it is normally. -Make sure you get the most recent version, which at this time is Version 7. I had problems running earlier versions. DARKSEED: -The copy protection wants to do something 'illegal' to the a: drive, and OS/2 catches it and stops it. -A couple of possible solutions: -There are a couple of cracks for this game, you could try one of these to see if it removes this check. -A user said he managed to get it to run by booting a real version of DOS under OS/2, but that the digitized sounds need to be switched off. DARK SUN: -Starting it from an object on the desktop appears to give an "unable to open window" error. This error reportedly goes away if you open the full screen dos session and start the program normally. DAY OF THE TENTACLE: -Reported to run fine. DESCENT: -Works great, including sound. Will also run in a window (although it is definitely slower there). If you switch from window to full-screen, the screen doesn't come up right, but hitting tap to bring up the map will fix it. -This game runs better for me under OS/2 than it does under Dos. I've got a system that's at the lower end of the playability realm for Descent. DINOSAUR ADVENTURE: -Reported to run fine. DINOSAUR DISCOVERY KIT: -Reported to run fine. DOOM: -Id includes a list of recommended settings for Doom under OS/2, so I'd recommend looking into using those. Some people have reported that Doom ran better with the default games settings. -Version 1.2 of Doom will not work with sound enabled. Do not try this because it could cause your system to lock up. A patch is supposedly in the works to fix this problem. -The most recent version I've tried is 1.1, which ran fine for me. Doom can be a very picky game, and you may have problems trying to get it to run even under Dos. DRACULA UNLEASHED: -Uses a proprietary memory manager. In other words, it doesn't work. DRAGON'S LAIR: -Has some problems with the sound and video getting out of sync. The following was recommended to try to reduce this: Create a Dos Session with memory allocated so that it's somewhat less than you have physically in the system. Run something that's memory intensive to make sure the swap file has been allocated for the memory. Then run the fine-tuning mechanism that comes with the game. Then run the game. You might be able to run the game in future sessions without going through all this hastle. DRAGON WARS: -Runs fine (original maintainer). DRAKKEN: -One user reports that this game runs, but it crashes often with a contact your IBM rep message. Note, this was probably under the BETA of OS/2 2.1, so it MAY be fixed. (Anyone know?) DUKE NUKEM II: -Reported to run fine. DUNE II: -Reported to run fine. -One user did have a problem where it would eventually hang after first losing the Soundblaster sound, and another user also said he couldn't get the digitized sounds working correctly either. EARTHSIEGE: -Works with digitized sound, but supposedly doesn't like to play music without giving errors. One suggestion was that if you don't have generic MIDI support, configure it to use general MIDI for the music. (Apparently you HAVE to have music setup in order to have sounds). ELDER SCROLLS: ARENA: -It'll supposedly work. At least, as well as it ever worked under Dos, which isn't exactly saying much. I always had problems when I casted a spell - it would crash at that point. ELF: -According to one user, there are problems with this game. -Wasn't that specific? Anyone know more? EL-FISH: -Works with a few quirks. Will not render (animate) fish in the background. Causes a DOS session crash after exiting (But you were closing the session anyways, so isn't too serious). ELFLAND (ver 1.1): -Reported to run fine, except you can't switch away from the game (traditional screen messed up problem). EMPIRE DELUXE FOR WINDOWS: -Reported to run fine. EPIC PINBALL: -I haven't gotten this to work acceptably for me, although several people apparently have. Here's the settings one of them sent me: AUDIO_ADAPTER_SHARING: REQUIRED DOS_FILES: 40 DOS_UMB: OFF DPMI: AUTO, set at 4MB EMS: AUTO frame, set at 4MB HW_ROM_TO_RAM: ON IDLE_SENSITIVITY: 100 INT_DURING_IO: ON XGA_IOTRAP: OFF VIDEO_FAST_PASTE: OFF VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION: OFF VIDEO_ROM_EMULATION: OFF VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION: OFF XMS: 4MB, 32 handles -I've tried the above, and the sound still didn't work, and it was still too slow and too jerky to play. I do know that many people are getting it to run though. -I got an opportunity to try running it over break under dos and had the same problems with sound, so it appears the sound problem might not be OS/2 related. The slow moving board does appear to be related to OS/2. ERIC THE UNREADY: -The original maintainer of the list has this to say: This game crashed about a dozen times during play. OS/2 reported several reasons for the crash, including trying to access a nonexistant FPU and trying to issue a command that's not supported by the 386 instruction set. I didn't try runnning it under a real copy of DOS booted in a VDM. I got the settings to a point where the last half of the game wend without a single crash; These settings were: COM_HOLD: ON DOS_HIGH: OFF DOS_UMB: OFF DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT: 0 EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 0 HW_ROM_TO_RAM: ON HW_TIMER: ON IDLE_SECONDS: 30 IDLE_SENSITIVITY: 100 VIDEO_FASTPASTE: ON VIDEO_ONDEMAND_MEMORY: ON VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION: OFF VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION: ON XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 0 I ran the game in regular VGA mode. Crashing seemed to happen while music was changing themes. INT_DURING_IO seemed to have no effect. The music and digitized sounds & voices worked superbly under OS/2 (except for the crashing). ETERNAM: -Reported to run fine. EYE OF THE BEHOLDER I: -Runs fine (original maintainer). EYE OF THE BEHOLDER II: -Reported to run fine. EYE OF THE BEHOLDER III: -Moving the IRQ on a SB card from 5/7 to 10 supposedly fixes a sound problem, although many games do not work with the IRQ set to 10. -I've been informed that the PAS cannot be set to IRQ 10, so this won't help those of you that have that card. -I've been told that the sound card problem is similar to what was occuring in the original release of doom, which was being cut off after a couple of minutes. This is a bug (feature?) of OS/2, which doesn't like the DMA being on for more than 2 minutes. F15: -One user said that the key disk protection caused OS/2 to generate an illegal instruction. Booting real DOS in a VDM didn't help. F15 STRIKE EAGLE 3: -Reported to run fine by several people (DOS_UMB to OFF, and give the game at least 64k XMS and several MB EMS). F17: -Reported to run fine. FALCON 3.0: -First step is to make sure you have the latest revision level. I believe this is level 'D'. -There have been several reports of a sound error when it tries to read sound.bnk (I had this error). The solution is supposedly to delete sound.bnk, then go into the CONFIG screen and reenable the sound. This will produce sound, but the voice you hear will be messed up. One person believes this to be an HPFS problem, as when he installed on a FAT partition the problem wasn't there, but when he moved it to an HPFS partition the problem occurred. -I never managed to get the game to work (I gave up). I had the sound.bnk problem, but the above solution did not work for me. FORGOTTEN REALMS UNLIMITED ADVENTURES (SSI): -If running with a SB type card, it runs for a while and then locks up. Turning off sound is supposed to fix this. FORMULA 1 GP: -Works, but if you add the ftp'able upgrade to add head-to-head modem support you can't do head-to-head. It supposedly won't access the modem under OS/2. FPS FOOTBALL: -Reported to run, but was a little jerky. This might be fixable by fiddling with the settings. FPS FOOTBALL PRO: -Hangs or bizzarre crashes when using the Soundblaster. Select Adlib sound by using the -A option to get by this. FRONTIER: ELITE II: -Reported to run fine. -I ran this once, and it ran, but I didn't play it long enough to be sure myself. FUN SCHOOL TEDDY: -Reported to get randomly occuring horizontal bars. GABRIEL KNIGHT: (SIERRA) -Reported not to run at all. GALACTIX: -Reported to run fine, though the person said his joystick (a Gravis Gamepad hooked to a Soundblaster Pro port) tended to lose sync and would drift. GLOBAL DILEMMA: -One user reported the following: "Well, here's one for the 'better DOS than DOS department: I just noticed that 'Global Dilemma', which ran just fine on my Compaq 386, won't run on my new 486; the AMI Bios doesn't seem to like the way the game addresses the keyboard. That's under real DOS-5. In a DOS task under OS/2 it runs just fine." GOBLINS 2: -Whenever the game tries to play digitized sounds the system crawls and the sound gets distorted. GUNSHIP 2000: -Reported to run fine, although one use said that it would not install onto an HPFS drive. The solution is to install onto a FAT drive and copy the files to the HPFS drive. HARDBALL 4: -Reported to run fine except for sound, which is screwed up. HARPOON GOLD: -Reported to run fine. HERETIC: -Everything except the sound works (the usual ID software problem). HONG KONG MAHJONG: -One person said it hangs at the opponent selection screen, but he found away around the hang, but didn't report how. HOYLE'S BOOK OF GAMES VOL 3: -Reported to run better with VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION set to ON. HUMANS: -Runs fine. THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE (SIERRA): -Reported to run fine by a couple of different people. INDIANA JONES (FATE OF ATLANTIS): -Reported to run fine by several people. INDYCAR RACING: -Use DPMI memory -Problems with digitized sounds have been reported INDY 500: -Reported to run fine. IRON HELIX: -Supposedly will give a GPF when you scan for DNA. This problem might not be related to OS/2, so you can give the program a shot. JACK NICKLAUS SIGNATURE GOLF: -One user reported it runs until his sinks the ball on the first hole, at which point the entire machine freezes. -Another user responded that the game works fine for him with the sounds turned off. JET FIGHTER II: -This game is extremely ill-behaved. Apparently there are a couple of versions of this, one of which can run under memory managers. You'd need this one to have any chance. Here's the suggestions one user made: 1) JF2 uses all the video memory (A000-B7FF). Exclude all of it. 2) Disable video retrace and video emulation in DOS settings notebook. 3) Disable DPMI, XMS, EMS memory allocation. This will speed things up. 4) If you have a DX2-66, you must start the game in non-turbo mode to load. JILL OF THE JUNGLE: -Runs fine (original maintainer). JOURNEYMAN PROJECT: -Reported to run fine in a Win-OS/2 session. -The user who reported this said that he had to hack the installation program because it kept crashing. KING'S QUEST IV: -Reported to run fine. KING'S QUEST V: -Runs fine (original maintainer). KNIGHTS OF LEGEND: -Runs fine (original maintainer). LANDS OF LORE: -Moving the IRQ setting from 5/7 to 10 supposedly fixes a sound problem. The problem here is that many games don't work properly with an IRQ of 10. -I've been told by another user that he was able to get the sound to run fine even on normal IRQ's, but that you have to adjust the sound levels to max volume with one of the mixer tools for MMPM to be able to hear it (apparently plays very quietly). LEGENDS OF VALOUR: -Reported to run fine, although text scrolling is a little fast. -I've run this fine. LEISURE SUIT LARRY 3: -Reported to run fine. LEMMINGS (also see Lemmings 2): -It is important to have this game configured with HW_TIMER=ON, VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION=OFF, and to have it configured to run in a full screen session. You may have to install the game under plain DOS if you get a protection violation under OS/2 during installation. -One user reported that Lemmings wouldn't run except in a "Specific DOS" session, so give that a try if you have problems. Also, if performance suffers, or if you have flickering problems, try NOT running the game in "High Performance PC" mode. LEMMINGS 2: -This game uses a copy protection that does something that OS/2 prevents. A possibility around this is to find a crack that removes the check (although I couldn't even get it to install). -One person said that they had geoworks installed in a DOS box with the patches from ftp-os2. He then installed Lemmings 2 from the geoworks session and it worked. -Yet another person installed an ran Lemmings 2 by creating a VM boot image out of the install disk. You still have to leave the diskette in the machine, but only until the program starts up. Supposedly also works in a window this way. LINKS: -One user posted this: I have adjusted my Links settings and think that I have the best solution for running LINKS under OS/2. First, Migrate it. Next, instead of executing the file LINKS.BAT, use the SETTINGS to have it run GOLF.EXE with no parameters. As soon as the program starts, select SYSTEM and turn off ALL sounds. This last step will alleviate the slow down immediately after the swing as Links tries to create the sound even if HW_NO_SOUND is turned off. I also have HW_NO_SOUND set to ON and MOUSE_EXCLUSIVE_ACCESS turned ON. This seems to have the game working quite well for me in full screen mode -Someone else said it works fine for them in full screen mode with full sounds without having to do all of the above. LINKS 386 PRO: -You need the update for Links386 if you are running earlier than version 1.08 (I think that's the one). The current version is at least 1.11. If you need it, call Access or look on internet. LINKS110.ZIP (version 1.10) is available from wuarchive.wustl.edu in /mirrors/msdos-games/Patches. -You need to set the DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT high (8 megs should work) -With this patch, the game ran for me, but I couldn't get it to let me use my SBPro. After some checking, it appears there might be a bug with the way Dos boxes handle DPMI memory. Another user got the 1.11 patch and had it work after that. I tried 1.11 and it didn't work for me. -I might not have had the environment variable set in the dos box to tell it the settings for my sound card. One user reported that this might fix the problem (haven't dragged out my copy of the game to give it a shot). LION KING: -Install it under native Windows. Pray that you don't have problems with it there. If you get that to work, it might work under Warp. LOST ADMIRAL: -One person noted that this game will lose the mouse pointer under OS/2. MEGA RACE: -Reported to work fine. MAGIC CANDLE I: -Runs fine (original maintainer). MAGIC CANDLE II: -Reported to run fine, but you can't switch away and come back. MARTIAN DREAMS: -Reported to run fine. MASTER OF MAGIC: -Reported to run fine. -Make sure BLASTER is defined (if you're using a SB type). -Allocate at least 2700K EMS. MASTER OF ORION: -Runs fine. -A user reported that on some system configurations that the game will not run at all, or that switching away and back will cause the game to lock up at the next mouse or keypress. MECHWAR 1.12 (Shareware game): -Must be run Full Screen MIGHT AND MAGIC II: -Runs fine. If you have problems with the key disk being recognized, boot up real DOS in a VDM. MIGHT AND MAGIC III: -Runs fine, with the exception that the digitized speach at the beginning and end of the game will not work with a SB. -Also noted is that it runs faster on an HPFS drive than a FAT drive under DOS. MIGHT AND MAGIC IV: -Runs fine. (even the speech that I've found) -This refers to both Clouds and Darkside. MIXED-UP MOTHER GOOSE: -Reported to run fine with regular settings. MONKEY ISLAND II: -Reported to run fine. -You need to get updated *.IMS drivers. The ones that came with the game for the SB supposedly didn't work. MORTAL KOMBAT: -Set the DPMI memory relatively high (8 is probably good). -The user who reported this one says that he couldn't get digitized sounds to work. -Switching away from this one will probably hang the program. NHL HOCKEY (Electronic Arts): -Reported to work fine except for digitized sounds/speech not functioning. NOVA 9: -Reported to run fine. OUT OF THIS WORLD: -Reported to run, note: HW_TIMER needs to be set to OFF, EMS_MEM_LIMIT should be 0. This can be very slow with sound, so you might need to turn sound off. PACIFIC WAR: -Reported to run fine. PANZER GENERAL: -Reported to work fine by some, won't work by others (no settings were supported, the implication I've gotten is that they're using normal settings. PATRIOT: -Reported to run fine. PERFECT GENERAL: -Some people have had problems with it losing the mouse pointer, but others haven't. PINBALL DREAMS: -Reported to run fine. PINBALL FANTASY: -Reported to run, but slow and sound is distorted. (sounds like the problem I was having with epic pinball/silverball) -Recently people have been reporting this as not working. I have yet to see someone actually post settings that had it work, so maybe it doesn't. PIRATE GOLD: -Reported to run fine. POOL OF RADIANCE: -Runs fine (original maintainer). PRINCE OF PERSIA: -Reported to run fine. PRIVATEER: -Origin is up to their usual tricks. This one uses a proprietary memory manager, so it doesn't run OS/2. QIX: -One user reported problems with it, but gave no specifics. RAILROAD TYCOON DELUXE: -Reported to crash sometimes when saving. -I've also heard that this one runs too fast one some systems. READY SET READ: -Reported to run fine. RED BARON: -Reported to run fine, with the following notes: -Sound options may need to be set to Adlib if you run have a SB type card. Otherwise it could lock up. -Won't run in a window. RED STORM RISING: -Reported to generate a SYS3176 error, which is an illegal instruction error. RETURN TO ZORK: -Activision recommends that you do not run this game under OS/2. -They also have made available a list of settings they have been told work: DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT: 0 HW_TIMER: ON IDLE_SECONDS: 0 (These two seem odd to me) IDLE_SENSITIVITY: 75 INT_DURING_IO: ON VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION: OFF XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 4096 -Some sound cards tend to cause problems with running this, while others don't. I don't have a list one way or the other. RINGWORLD: -Reported to run fine. SCORCHED EARTH: -Runs fine, although if you switch away and back, you need to have it redraw the screen. Also, it ran kinda fast on my machine. SECRET OF THE SILVER BLADES: -Runs fine (original maintainer). SECRET WEAPONS OF THE LUFTWAFFE: -Reported to run fine. SENSIBLE SOCCER: -Reported to run fine. SHADOWCASTER: -The game crashes occassionally. The DPMI memory limit needs to be set to something higher than 2, but I don't know what. SHANGHAI II: DRAGON'S EYE: -Reported to run fine. SIEGE: -Reported to run fine. SILVERBALL (and EPIC PINBALL): -A user contributed the following change to allow this to work with a SB16 (he had the MMOS2 stuff installed): change the following line in the config.sys: DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\SB16D2.SYS 1 1 5 5 220 8 /N:SBAud1$ to DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\SB16D2.SYS 1 1 5 5 220 128 /N:SBAud1$ Note that the values that didn't change are related to your cards settings (IRQ, address, DMA), and may be different on your machine. This person also says that the Fantasy board also ran on his system with these settings. Unfortunately, sound was still messed up, but apparently is not an OS/2 problem. -I haven't talked to anyone who has gotten the Fantasy board to work. It locks the session up when you try to play it. -I haven't gotten this to work acceptably for me, although several people apparently have. Here's the settings one of them sent me: AUDIO_ADAPTER_SHARING: REQUIRED DOS_FILES: 40 DOS_UMB: OFF DPMI: AUTO, set at 4MB EMS: AUTO frame, set at 4MB HW_ROM_TO_RAM: ON IDLE_SENSITIVITY: 100 INT_DURING_IO: ON XGA_IOTRAP: OFF VIDEO_FAST_PASTE: OFF VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION: OFF VIDEO_ROM_EMULATION: OFF VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION: OFF XMS: 4MB, 32 handles -I've long since stopped playing this game, but have discovered one thing while home on break. Apparently the static that I was getting with the sound is not due to OS/2, but due to Epic Pinball/Silverball. SIMCITY: -Reported to run fine; For use in a window, turn MOUSE_EXCLUSIVE_ACCESS to ON. SIMCITY 2000: -Contrary to many reports, this DOES run under OS/2 according to their tech support. -Read the readme file to see if there's anything specific about your setup. -Set XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT to 5000KB Set MOUSE_EXCLUSIVE_ACCESS to ON -to run, type: SC2000 NO_MEM_CHK NO_INTRO SIMEARTH: -Reported to run fine. SIM-LIFE: -Reported to run fine. SIMHEALTH: -Reportedly generates and exception error if you touch the keyboard. SOLAR WINDS: -One user reported that he couldn't get it to run, although he wasn't sure if it was an OS/2 specific problem. SOLITAIRE'S JOURNEY: -One user reported that the mouse cursor behaved funny. It would leave black blocks or extra mouse cursor images. -There is supposed to be a fix that brings the program version up to 1.03. The fix addressed mouse incompatibility problems, and apparently this fixes the above problem. SPACE HULK: -Reported to run fine. SPACE QUEST 4 & 5: -Runs fine, although digitized sounds get messed up. -There's a fix for 4 with OS/2, but I don't know what it does, I've never tried it. SPEAR OF DESTINY: -I got it to work fine. Make sure you have VERTICAL_RETRACE_EMULATION set to OFF or else it hangs. SPECTRE: -Reported to run fine. SPELLCASTING 101 and 201: -Reported to run fine. STAR CONTROL: -Reported to run fine. STAR CONTROL 2: -There were a few bugs with the original versions that crashed dos, so make sure you have a more recent version. I don't know of any updates available. -The copy protection would crash the system on me. My solution was to run the TSR crack. -Also, the only way I was ever able to get this to run was with the /s:silent parameter when you run the game. STAR TREK: 25TH ANNIVERSARY: -Reported to run fine. STAR TREK: JUDGEMENT RIGHTS: -Reported to run fine. STELLAR 7: -Reported to run fine, although you might not be able to use a Soundblaster. Rumor has it that Stellar 7 is hard coded to use IRQ 7, which conflicts with LPT1. -Dynamix says that the game supports IRQ 3 or 7 (which conflict with LPT1 and COM2). STRIKE COMMANDER: (Origin) -Origins screwey memory manager. Will not run under OS/2 as a result. STTNG Interactive Technical Manual: -Won't run. STUNT ISLAND: -Several people have said that this program crashes, although one user says that he has played the game a lot without any crashes. STUNTS (Broderbund): -Reported to run fine full screen and windowed. SUPER JEOPARDY: -One user reported problems with the timer. He set the clock for 20 minute rounds but they only lasted 5 minutes. SVGA AIR WARRIOR: -Set the DPMI memory up to 4 or 6. Uses the DOS4GW extender, and apparently this extender causes really jittery joystick control under OS/2. TASK FORCE 1942: -Reported to run fine. TERMINATOR 2029: -Bethesda Softworks says it will not run under OS/2. -Another user reported: Use default settings for the programs, with the following changes: DOS FULL SCREEN DOS_HIGH: ON DOS_UMB: ON INT_DURING_IO: ON VIDEO_8514A_VGA_IOTRAP: OFF XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 64 -Starting with the default games settings was reported to provide erratic devices. TEST DRIVE 3: -Reported to run fine. TIE FIGHTER: -Some people have said that it runs without sound, but that enabling it will cause it to crash after a short period of time. Others have the sound working. Appears to be a sound card dependancy again. TRISTAN PINBALL: -One user said that when he tries to run this game it randomly crashes, sometimes to the point of rebooting. -Another user reported running it with the standard games settings worked fine. TUNNELS AND TROLLS: -Runs fine (original maintainer). ULTIMAS 4 and 5: -If you have problems with keydisks not being recognized, boot a real copy of DOS in a VDM. ULTIMA 6: -Runs fine (original maintainer). ULTIMA 7: -Won't run. It uses it's own memory manager. ULTIMA 8: -Origin finally moved away from their funny memory manager, but they say that the game will not run under any multi-tasking system. ULTIMA UNDERWORLD: -Will not run in a window. -The digitized speech in the intro won't work reliably. If you want to see it, configure the game for no sound, read the intro, change it back to play the game. -If you can't get it to run, try this: 1) Set the game to start minimized with background execution OFF. Start the game and WAIT until all disk activity stops (10-15 secs or so?). Then switch back to the game. 2) Set the game to start in a windowed DOS session. The game will look garbled, but wait until you see the blue title screen come up. Then switch to full screen with ALT-HOME. If the keyboard doesn't respond after this, tap the ALT key to unstick it. ULTIMA UNDERWORLD II: -See Ultima Underworld if you have problems starting/running this. -The sound will only run for 5-30 seconds before stopping. Going into the sound option in the game and turning them off and on again will cause them to come on for a while again, but they won't last. UNDER A KILLING MOON: -Won't run. IBM and the company that makes it both apparently know about it and it's supposedly being worked on. V FOR VICTORY: -Reported to run fine. VELIKIYE LUKI: -Reported to run fine by a couple of people, while another person has said that it generates an illegal instruction error. WARCRAFT: -Reported to run fine by some with the standard dos settings, although some people have also reported that it crashes after going through the demo. WAYNE GRETZKY HOCKEY 3: -Will not run. (I seem to recall this one being in the manual for OS/2, or the readme for the beta service pack). WELLTRISS: -Reported to run fine in a full screen session. WHEEL OF FORTUNE: -Reported to run fine. WING COMMANDER I-II: -Supposed to run fine, including the speech pack. -Sometimes during battle the digitized voices might "stick", try hitting the ESC key. WING COMMANDER ACADEMY: -Reported to run fine, although it seems to crash more often than under DOS. WINTREK (for Windows): -One user reported that this game doesn't work under Win-OS2 because it requires Win 3.1. Anyone try this with OS/2 2.1? WIZARDRY 7: -Runs fine except the digitized sounds don't work. -Sir-Tech was supposedly working on this problem, and was supposed to send out information to people who were put on a mailing list by calling them. Anyone hear anything about it? Give Sir-Tech a call at 315-393-6644 (9-5PM EST) if you want to find out about it. WOLF3D: -Listed under "Castle Wolfenstein." WONDERLAND: -Runs fine (original maintainer). WORLD CIRCUIT v1.05 with modem update: -Reported to run fine, but you can't use modem play. Reported to generate an invalid 386 instruction if you try. WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION: -According to one user there were problems with this game. X-COM: -Reportedly works at least without sound. X-WING: -Runs fine. -Some reports of problems with digitized sounds ----------------------------------------------------------------- CD-ROM GAMES: CYBERIA: -Has problems with loading stuff from the CDROM, causing the sound and images to jump. FATTY BEAR'S BIRTHDAY SURPRISE (CDROM): -DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT to 4 IDLE_SECONDS to 0 -Reported to run fine. GUNSHIP 2000 (CD-ROM): -Use default settings for the programs, with the following changes: DOS FULL SCREEN DOS_HIGH: ON DOS_UMB: ON INT_DURING_IO: ON VIDEO_8514A_XGA_IOTRAP: OFF XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 64 -Starting with the default games settings was reported to provide erratic devices. KINGS QUEST 7: -Reportedly works fine under Warp. Will ONLY work under Warp, since it uses Win32S. IRON HELIX (CD-ROM): -Reported to run fine. LITTLE BIG ADVENTURE: -Dies after displaying the DOS4GW message. (The demo supposedly worked). MANTIS XF5700 (CD-ROM): -Use default settings for the programs, with the following changes: DOS FULL SCREEN DOS_HIGH: ON DOS_UMB: ON INT_DURING_IO: ON VIDEO_8514A_XGA_IOTRAP: OFF XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 64 -Starting with the default games settings was reported to provide erratic devices. MYST: -Ok, some people have supposedly been getting this to work by doing the following (at least under Warp): Install QuickTime for windows 2.0 and allow it to remove all old Quicktime files (do this under native windows). Install Myst under Warp. Replace TIMER.DRV in \windows\system with TIMER.DRV from os/2 2.11 (good luck finding that). Make sure the session is running in enhanced mode. Change the system.ini file. In the [timer.drv] section, add TimerMax286Res=20 and TimerMax386Res=20. Raise the DPMI limit to something like 16 megs. OUTPOST: -Some people are getting it to work, some not. PANZER GENERAL: -Reported to work fine, but see the non-cd section for further info. PGA TOUR 486 GOLF: -Someone reported that they couldn't get it to work with sound, but didn't actually say that it worked without sound. PUTT-PUTT GOES TO THE MOON (CDROM): -DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT to 4 IDLE_SECONDS to 0 -Reported to run fine. REBAL ASSAULT: (CDROM) -The following settings have been suggested to run this: DOS_UMB=OFF DPMI_DOS_API=ENABLED DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT=6 DPMI_NETWORK_BUFFERSIZE=10 EMS_FRAME_LOCATION=NONE EMS_LOW_OS_MAP_REGION=0 EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT=0 HW_TIMER=ON INT_DURING_IO=ON VIDEO_*=OFF/NONE XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT=4500 -Also try increasing the default size of your swapfile. 7TH GUEST: -Rumor has it that to get digitized speech you need to set the SB to IRQ 10. Note, this setting may cause problems with other games. -I've seen conflicting reports on whether this runs or not, although it's also rumored that the place that wrote it used OS/2 on their development machines. SHERLOCK HOLMES (CD GAME): -won't run under OS/2. Uses a funny memory manager. STELLAR 7 (CD-ROM): -Use default settings for the programs, with the following changes: DOS FULL SCREEN DOS_HIGH: ON DOS_UMB: ON INT_DURING_IO: ON VIDEO_8514A_XGA_IOTRAP: OFF XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 64 -Starting with the default games settings was reported to provide erratic devices. SYSTEM SHOCK: -Reportedly works fine, except if you change the resolution away from the default, and then move the mouse, the session will crash. WING COMMANDER: -Reported to run, but with no sound. WING COMMANDER III: -The official story from Origin is that it probably doesn't work, but most people seem to be getting it to work without too much trouble. Make sure you allocate a fair amount of DPMI memory. -An interesting side point: Some of the "off-brand" processors (such as Cyrix) have problems running this under Dos. The problems often seem to go away when run under OS/2. -You also might want to try adding the /I parameter to your cdrom driver if it's supported. Performance tends to be better. The other solution is go out and get a SCSI cdrom that's not running off a sound card. X-WING COLLECTORS CD: -You have to set by hand the values that are in the migration database of warp for the non-cd version. Supposedly works fine if you do that.