benjamin s

I can imagine it would be a headache to get either Arena or Daggerfall
to run under XP. But I hear now that there is an "XP Patch" that fixes
some of the problems.

Personally, I do not have much trouble running either on my machines.
But then, I use either MS-DOS (v6.22 or v7.10) or Windows 98 SE. I've
got mine set up with separate partitions, too, so I can switch the OS.
Even my DOS partition is set up with a custom boot menu so I can choose
the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS setup. And with some optimizations I can
now run most any DOS game I want.

In any serious discussion of Windows software, I feel I should mention
AXCEL216 and his amazing website at http://www.mdgx.com. Truely, he is a
computer genius if there ever was one! Though reading his material takes
time and patience. The tips and techniques he provides allows one to
squeeze the most out of Windows and/or DOS and remove many bugs and
major annoyances.

Also, there are some very nifty UNOFFICIAL Service Packs available that
take care of some Windows 98 problems.

UNOFFICIAL Windows98 Second Edition Service Pack 2.1a (Freeware)
http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.html
"Microsoft has never released a service pack for Windows98 SE. But I
made a Service Pack for Windows98 SE users. It contains all Windows98 SE
updates from Windows Update site and more."

But really, if you plan on using this or any other Unofficial Service
Packs, then I recommend reading the relevant forum threads on:

MSFN > Unofficial Win98 SE Service Pack
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showforum=91

MSFN > 98 SE SP 2.1a, New Version of 98 SE Service Pack
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=61749

Also, if you upgrade that far, maybe you should consider the 98ME2SE
upgrade solution:

MSFN > 98 SE, transplants newer WinME system files onto Win98 SE
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=46349
MSFN > 98 FE + 98 SE + ME updates + patches + (hot)fixes
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=46581

Of course, for either of those you will need a full install CD for
Windows ME, as well as the full install CD for 98 SE. There are other
unofficial tweaks, upgrades and bugfixes too, of course. Info and
discussion on similar topics can be found MSFN (Microsoft Software Forum
Network)at www.msfn.org.

But when you're messing around with the OS like this all sorts of things
can happen. So you need to backup all the important stuff first. And it
may take several tries before you find a configuration you like or even
one that is stable. That is, with all programs running correctly, all
drivers functioning smoothly, etc. So, I often have a seperate partition
just for playing around with alternative OS configurations, tweaks and
"Service Packs." And when I do come up with an install I really like I
use the NORTON GHOST program from the NORTON UTILITIES suite to make a
ghost image of the partition. Then it's a snap to reinstall Windows,
should I find the need.

I have multiple partitions on my computers, allowing me to switch the OS
or a different configuration. IMO, having separate partitions for each
OS is almost essential as it's very easy to mess things up otherwise.
The only catch is that older OS's like Windows 3.1/95/98/ME are limited
to the first three PRIMARY partitions. Genuine DOS is even more fussy as
it HAS to be located on the FIRST Primary partition of the first drive.
And even then, the DOS partition can only be less than 1 GB or so. More
modern OS's like Windows NT/XP and Linux are much more flexible and can
either be located on a second drive or, in some cases, practically anywhere.

If you are going to use multiple partitions, you really need a
"Multi-boot Manager" program. There are several good programs like this,
but one I use the most often is this:

XOSL - VGA mode multi-OS boot manager
http://home.att.net/~short.stop/freesoft/boot.htm

BTW: Did you know that it is possible to change your XP system to give
it separate partitions so it can multiboot different OS's?

Of course, if you are going to be making separate partitions from your
hard disk, you would need some sort of Partition Manager program. A good
free example would be:

Ranish Partition Manager
http://www.users.intercom.com/~ranish/

However, creating and moving partitions is not for the faint of heart.
At least, for a drive with important data on it. Working with a blank or
spare drive is much safer.

Windows 95/98/ME can be a real pain to get it to run DOS games
correctly. Even when it works it will frequently run out of Conventional
Memory, the mouse drivers won't work, or there will be no sound/music.
There are workarounds, of course, but they are usually very complicated.
Explaining how to solve such problems would probably be an essay by itself.

One alternative you might consider is DOSBOX the DOS emulator:

DOSBOX
Publisher: http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1
OS Requirement: Windows 9x/NT/2000/ME/XP/2003
NOTE: Versions for Linux, OS/2, BeOS, Mac OS, & others are available!
License: Free (GPL)

"DOS CPU, Video + Sound emulator for Windows 9x/NT/2000/ME/XP/2003
allows playing old DOS games on Win32 PCs, highly customizable"

I haven't tried it myself. I'm still stuck using outdated machines and
older Windows. But from what I've read it can be difficult to get the
sound and other hardware drivers to work correctly in DOSBOX. And there
are reports of frequent crashes. Anyway, I feel more comfortable have a
separate partition of REAL MS-DOS - even if it requires the
inconvenience of rebooting.

Perhaps the easiest way to get an MS-DOS game to run smoothly might be
create your own custom boot disk for DOS. Of course, if you have a (3
1/4") floppy drive it's much easier to add the custom drivers (like for
sound card) and other customizations. But it's still possible to do that
with a bootable CD-ROM. (Although, that's more complication.)

Home - AllBootDisks.com-Providing Free Boot Disks from MS-DOS to Windows
XP - Download a boot disk now!
http://www.allbootdisks.com/

About a year or so ago I was able to download a hacked version of MS-DOS
called "Wengier MSDOS 7.1". This is the same version of DOS that's built
into Windows 98/SE. So, in theory, it's legal to download if you own a
legitimate copy/license to Windows 98 or SE.

Subject: Wengier MSDOS 7.1 Available for DL
http://www.computing.net/dos/wwwboard/forum/15867.html

cn-dos.net > MS-DOS 7.10
http://www.cn-dos.net/msdos71/index.htm

Anyway, it seems someone put a lot of legal pressure on these websites
and forced them to take off their download links. After several Google
searches, I still couldn't find a working download link. (WHY? It's not
like MS sells any DOS products anymore! They stopped support for DOS and
Windows 98/SE/ME altogether.)

However, I would imagine that there are plenty of download links
available through P2P (Peer-to-Peer) networks. (Almost anything can be
found there.) For those a person needs a P2P file-sharing client, of
course. Some examples:

eMule
http://emule-project.net
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emule

Shareaza
http://www.shareaza.com

Lime Wire
http://www.limewire.com