Retro, RETRO Gaming on Solus? From CD rom?

blackeys1098

Lutris works with my 20 year old games. But my 90's games? Not so much. Risk II, Mechwarrior 2, Full Tilt Pinball.... nope.

Am I using the the wrong program? Lutris tends to freeze when I introduce these games and I'm not sure if there's something else I should be using to unwrap these mummies.

I've got an F-ton of 30 year old discs that I want to play, most of which are pre-2000 -- so how do I get them to work?

Staudey

So you're using this Lutris function to add the games?:

blackeys1098

Staudey

Yes. Using Lutris to install it and they either run into an issue on the install or complete the install but give me an error saying something along the lines about it not being installed.

The difference seems to be the games for XP or later are fine, earlier than XP are an issue.

blackeys1098

Staudey

That's the option I use since I'm installing the game direct from the factory CD. I create a folder for the game to install into and then run the install executable. Risk II (2000) for instance will open the install gui, goes through the standard steps of selecting the C drive install directory, install and done. Then when I try to run it I get an error.

Other games like Mechwarrior 2 (1995) cause lutris to freeze before the actual game installer opens.

I'm relatively new to wine. Do I need to manually configure it to each specific program beforehand? I believe I set it to default to XP; do I have to manually change it to windows 95 or something?

stalebrim

blackeys1098 Can you give an example of a game? Has it got a readymade Lutris script?

RAinb0wStAr9938

blackeys1098 The games from earlier than XP are an issue because the Wine emulator emulates Windows NT but Wine doesn't emulate Windows 9x.

Staudey

Stay on topic please, guys!

blackeys1098

RAinb0wStAr9938

Is there a program to use for pre XP games? Something in between dosbox and Wine?

ReillyBrogan

RAinb0wStAr9938 I just want to point out that the name WINE is an acronym for Wine Is Not an Emulator.

From the website:

Instead of simulating internal Windows logic like a virtual machine or emulator, Wine translates Windows API calls into POSIX calls on-the-fly, eliminating the performance and memory penalties of other methods and allowing you to cleanly integrate Windows applications into your desktop.

ReillyBrogan

blackeys1098 the unfortunate reality is that there's no single good solution here. For each individual game you'll need to check whether there's something in Lutris for it or whether it'll work with with DOSbox. For some games you may even have to resort to running the game in a Windows 95 or 98 VM (ISOs for both are readily available on the net).

You should check to see if Good Old Games (GOG) sells that particular game. They typically bundle compatibility patches for modern systems into their game installers which are more likely to work in Lutris (this option will save you from hunting down such patches/fixes yourself).

RAinb0wStAr9938

blackeys1098 Not that I know of.

Cloak

I have a couple of P4 machines to run Win98 etc. Nothing beats real H/W although Dosbox is acceptable.

mw42815

another option is to see if you can find either a copy of Windows 98 or 95 on a CD (you may have one if you own so many old games) or online .iso and then install a virtual machine in virtualbox or gnome boxes etc..( both are in the Solus software centerr). and then play or install the games you want to play. one other possibility is dual booting say windows 98 and solus linux but i am not certain how or if that wiould work . i have never tried it. I have successfully dual booted solus linux with Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 . maybe someone else can help you dual boot . good luck;

Teggs

I remember Mechwarrior II as being a DOS game, not a Windows game. If I was going to try running that again, I would start with Dosbox. I haven't actually tried it, though. Good luck.

tgorzka

If it's DOS games, DOSBOX is the first choice. In DOSBOX you can also include an e CD and install from it