Author Topic: Anyone heard of PCem? Just found it. EDIT: Fork PCem, get 86Box (Read 3597 times)

jr2 · **on:** October 06, 2019, 01:23:24 pm

Was looking for an emulator that supported emulating old 3D graphics on virtual PC for Windows DOS / 3.x / 9x / XP -- this should help anyone trying to play (really) old games that don't have modern patches.

https://pcem-emulator.co.uk

What machine types & hardware are (currently) able to be emulated:

https://pcem-emulator.co.uk/status.html

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EDIT: 86Box seems to be a more capable fork of PCem, they recommend using their nightly builds.

Getting Started | Overview

You'll want
Latest 86Box nightly (Jenkins builds here if you don't want to compile your own)
ROMset (linked in the Getting Started page above)
86Box Manager

I've got a 486 with DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11 working at the moment, there were almost no issues -- easily fixed issue with HIMEM not being able to control gate A20. I had to change my CONFIG.SYS HIMEM line to

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DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /testmem:off /M:1 /cpuclock:on and added

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SET DOS16M=2 to AUTOEXEC.BAT -- not sure if the last was necessary or not. Solution was found here.

I'm going to keep experimenting with this and let you know how it goes (including MW3, but that will have to wait until my Desktop is set up, I'm currently using my laptop and just tinkering with virtual boxes. Fun to see all the old BIOS screens (heck even the mouse works in the ones with mouse support), hear the RAM test, Alt-Tab out to check which IRQ devices are set to when installing, (much easier than opening up an old PC case and checking DIP switches LOL) etc etc etc. Been too long. FYI, in case someone tries this and can't be arsed to search, cursor release from 86Box window is F8+F12.

Colonol Dekker · **Reply #1 on:** October 07, 2019, 01:07:05 am

Those 3D cards and sound cards........ Its like my youth just crashed into the future.

BlueFlames · **Reply #2 on:** October 07, 2019, 10:07:48 am

Let us know how it works out for you and what games you try it with.

I'm itching to get MechWarrior 3 up and running again, which is ludicrously hard on modern software and hardware, since it relied on a lot of early DirectX jank to do stuff like make gravity work.

jr2 · **Reply #3 on:** October 07, 2019, 02:02:40 pm

Quote from: BlueFlames on October 07, 2019, 10:07:48 am

Let us know how it works out for you and what games you try it with.

I'm itching to get MechWarrior 3 up and running again, which is ludicrously hard on modern software and hardware, since it relied on a lot of early DirectX jank to do stuff like make gravity work.

MW 3 eh? I've gotta set my desktop back up (just moved recently) and then I'll have to try that out and let you know.

News:

Author Topic: Anyone heard of PCem? Just found it. EDIT: Fork PCem, get 86Box (Read 3597 times)

jr2

Anyone heard of PCem? Just found it. EDIT: Fork PCem, get 86Box

Colonol Dekker

Re: Anyone heard of PCem? Just fuond it.

BlueFlames

Re: Anyone heard of PCem? Just fuond it.

jr2

Re: Anyone heard of PCem? Just fuond it.