Qemu + Win 3.1 + Pandora = Civ 2!

[marovada]

I'm not sure if this has been done already, but my arm compiled qemu has finally done something right. I've installed dos, windows 3.1 and civ2. Here is a video of civ 2 running at a good speed without any overclocking (yep - qemu is fast!)



Before anyone asks, I can't get qemu to boot win 95 or 98. There seem to be bugs in the latest versions of qemu when compiled for arm. The only way to get win 95 or 98 working is to compile qemu 0.9.1 with gcc 3.x. This will probably require gcc 3.x cross compiler to itself be compiled for an arm target.

The relevant qemu files can be downloaded here: link

Instructions are also at that link. I can copy them here if anyone wants me to but they're lengthy so didn't want to take up too much space here.

I've installed qemu in usr/local on my machine but if you're worried on board flash space you can copy the files to an sd card so long as you tell qemu where the bios files etc are by using the -L option.

I can try other games on request if I have them but I won't have time to try a long list of them.

Enjoy

 

[WizardStan]

Myst and/or Riven please?

 

[marovada]

Myst and/or Riven please?

I don't have the original Myst games. GoG only has updated versions. Is there a demo of the original Myst?

 

[WizardStan]

The GoG version of Riven should still be Win3.1 compatible, but I don't want you to go buying something just to see if it may or may not work.

 

[marovada]

The GoG version of Riven should still be Win3.1 compatible, but I don't want you to go buying something just to see if it may or may not work.

I tried to install a dos/win31 cdrom driver to be able to play myst/riven but it crashes windows. I'm very frustrated with qemu. It will take a lot of work to get it working properly for arm and I'm not sure anyone other than myself cares anyway. If I decide to "continue the research" I'll give more games a go.

 

[Esn]

I'm not sure I understand what's possible, so I'll just ask... could Star Control 3 work, which needed the following hardware requirements:

System requirements MINIMUM HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS:
IBM or 100% compatible 486/66 MHz, 2x CD-ROM Drive, 8MB RAM, 5MB Hard Drive Space
Windows 95, or DOS 5.0 or Higher
Music: Sound Blaster & Compatibles, General MIDI Compatibles
Voice and S/FX: Sound Blaster and Compatibles
VESA Compatible SVGA Video Card
Microsoft Compatible Mouse

RECOMMENDED:
Pentium/60 MHz or Better
4x CD-ROM Drive or Better
65MB Hard Drive Space

OPTIONAL:
2 player Remote Hyper Melee: 9600 BPS or Faster Modem, Null Modem Connection, or IPX Compliant Network

 

[Pleng]

Unlikely, the doom demo indicates low 386 speeds. As low as a 386sx 16 or 25Mhz I would say.

 

[darkborn]

Helo, just a few links to find out original legal(!) Windows 3.1 games (and some other probably):
cd.textfiles.com (cd-rom copies)
The Wonderful World of Windows
The Oldfiles Hall of Fame

 

[marovada]

I'm not sure I understand what's possible, so I'll just ask... could Star Control 3 work, which needed the following hardware requirements:

System requirements MINIMUM HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS:
IBM or 100% compatible 486/66 MHz, 2x CD-ROM Drive, 8MB RAM, 5MB Hard Drive Space
Windows 95, or DOS 5.0 or Higher
Music: Sound Blaster & Compatibles, General MIDI Compatibles
Voice and S/FX: Sound Blaster and Compatibles
VESA Compatible SVGA Video Card
Microsoft Compatible Mouse

RECOMMENDED:
Pentium/60 MHz or Better
4x CD-ROM Drive or Better
65MB Hard Drive Space

OPTIONAL:
2 player Remote Hyper Melee: 9600 BPS or Faster Modem, Null Modem Connection, or IPX Compliant Network

I'm not sure if this is the game you're talking about. Here's a video:


All the fiddling isn't a speed issue - it's just that I don't know how to play the game and using the nub as a mouse takes getting used to.

 

[Prometheus]

If you'll please pardon my asking (I'm very curious), does this work with Windows 95, at all? I've long been curious as to how this would work with Jazz Jackrabbit 2, which is a Windows 95 title.

 

[Esn]

Thanks a lot!
Just to compare, here are some videos of it running normally:
Talking with Daktaklakpak
Space combat (not that great, but all I could find)

So it does seem like it runs a bit slow. Also, the character animations don't seem to be working, or the sound/music, though possibly because you used a version which didn't include them (music is actually all MIDI files, so presumably that would be harder on the CPU?).

 

[slaeshjag]

If you'll please pardon my asking (I'm very curious), does this work with Windows 95, at all? I've long been curious as to how this would work with Jazz Jackrabbit 2, which is a Windows 95 title.

From first post: »Before anyone asks, I can't get qemu to boot win 95 or 98. There seem to be bugs in the latest versions of qemu when compiled for arm. The only way to get win 95 or 98 working is to compile qemu 0.9.1 with gcc 3.x. This will probably require gcc 3.x cross compiler to itself be compiled for an arm target.«

 

[Prometheus]

^ Whoops! Thanks, I totally missed that somehow (I have no idea how). :blink: Do pardon me, please.

 

[marovada]

Thanks a lot!
Just to compare, here are some videos of it running normally:
Talking with Daktaklakpak
Space combat (not that great, but all I could find)

So it does seem like it runs a bit slow. Also, the character animations don't seem to be working, or the sound/music, though possibly because you used a version which didn't include them (music is actually all MIDI files, so presumably that would be harder on the CPU?).

I watched the videos and I see what you mean. I haven't tried sound because qemu compatible sound drivers need to be installed into dos. This can be done - I just haven't managed to do it yet. I guess playing it this way on the Pandora is slow except for the fact that I wasn't using any overclocking.

 

[Esn]

Thanks a lot!
Just to compare, here are some videos of it running normally:
Talking with Daktaklakpak
Space combat (not that great, but all I could find)

So it does seem like it runs a bit slow. Also, the character animations don't seem to be working, or the sound/music, though possibly because you used a version which didn't include them (music is actually all MIDI files, so presumably that would be harder on the CPU?).

I watched the videos and I see what you mean. I haven't tried sound because qemu compatible sound drivers need to be installed into dos. This can be done - I just haven't managed to do it yet. I guess playing it this way on the Pandora is slow except for the fact that I wasn't using any overclocking.

Yeah, it seems like it's not too far off from being playable, actually. The non-working character animations are an odd bug. If that's fixed, the screen would also need to be made fullscreen (since the resolution is 480px high), and maybe some overclocking or frameskip added (if Qemu works that way). Can .MID music files be played on the Pandora, or is that very CPU-heavy?

 

[marovada]

Yeah, it seems like it's not too far off from being playable, actually. The non-working character animations are an odd bug. If that's fixed, the screen would also need to be made fullscreen (since the resolution is 480px high), and maybe some overclocking or frameskip added (if Qemu works that way). Can .MID music files be played on the Pandora, or is that very CPU-heavy?

I'm pretty sure that with the right dos drivers and qemu settings, the sound would play. However, I'd guess that it would slow down the emulation.

 

[darkborn]

I haven't tried sound because qemu compatible sound drivers need to be installed into dos. This can be done - I just haven't managed to do it yet. I guess playing it this way on the Pandora is slow except for the fact that I wasn't using any overclocking.

If you gonna fiddling with DOS, you should try Uwe Sieber site: it has some great (imho the best) DOS/Win3(/win9x) tools/drivers
e.g. UMBPCI (hardware-UMB-driver for DOS and Win3x/9x); many other DOS/Win mouse/video/memory/cdrom drivers.

edit: Beside, for sound drivers you should check SBMIX aka SBPro mixer control (SB stands for SoundBlaster) from BTTR Software
"It may be required with some cards to hear anything under plain DOS, as some cards are initialized with zero volume."

Maybe you should provide more RAM memory to (virtual) Win: I remember that when I doubled ram to 32MB, speed was up to 200%
Please, look at this thread, it will explain e.g. how to make Win3 see more then 64MB RAM (up to 512+):
Max memory with win 3.11

 

[Esn]

Thanks darkborn!

I'll probably try to figure that stuff out one of these days.

Although in general, anyone who makes a nice GUI to make things easier for configuring Qemu on Pandora would have my hearty appreciation.

I'm pretty sure that with the right dos drivers and qemu settings, the sound would play. However, I'd guess that it would slow down the emulation.

Do you know what might be causing the character animations to freeze on the first frame?

 

[TitanUranus]

Is anyone still messing about with this? I have the very first floppy disk (about 15 disks I think) version of windows 95 somewhere, and I wonder if that would have more chance of running than the more common CD version. I've been meaning to set up Win95 in qemu on my netbook for ages, but it seems like a PITA. I really cant believe everyonw just lost interest in this after only a few pages of posts. I intend to try it out at some point - but I really hope someone with more brains than me is working on qemu for the Pandora.

 

[TitanUranus]

Thanks Alerino, I was going to try installing 95 in DOSbox, and while googling around last night I discovered someone had setup qemu. I was hoping there's be some nice speed advantages using qemu, but I guess until it's updated with the touchscreen hack and had a little bug fixing DOSbox is the way forward. Just out of curiosity, does the hacked 3.1 screen driver work in Win 95 in Winbox? I've got lots of messing about to do before I get round to trying it out though - there's almost too many things to do with a Pandora!

From what I tried in Dosbox so far I was very impressed, Speed was way better than I expected - my only gripe is that touchscreen doesn't work in Buzz Aldrins Race Into Space... which after I got running the rest of my night seemed to vanish in an instant. Star Trek Judgment Rites also ran very nicely. Red Barron looked great, but in my haste to play the game I installed the German version und ich sprechen kline Deutsch - nicht gut (scheiße - where's the umlaut?).

EDIT: maybe that should have been "Ich sprechen scheiße Deutsch."