This year I decided to try to play some games that are gathering dust since my early BAAGing episodes when I first discovered adv. games in 2002 and had a 2nd hand 64MB with a 4MB video card( as you can see, I'm a "babe" when it comes to computer games)
Then I got a 512MB with 128MB video card to play the newer games-of course this machine is now outdated!

I managed to play Gabriel Knight-Beast within,and Broken Sword-Smoking Mirror, which ran fine on WINXP. I now have Dark Side of the Moon, Rama, Lighthouse,and Return to Zork left unplayed, but understand they won't play on XP. I still have my old computer but no room to set it up.

I now have a collection of newer unplayed games(about 11) that this computer will play and many more that I would like to have, but if I once again upgrade will I be able to play these games(ones from 2001 to 2007, for ex.)

How about you-do you have a collection of old, unplayed games? Do they just become museum peices with boxes that are fun to look at? How many computers will be necessary if we want to play older games? Just wondering

Hey man. This is just a heads up, but some of those "old" games that you never got a chance to play like Dark side of the moon and those others. Have you ever thought about trying to use an emulator? I'm assuming that those are supposed to run in either windows 95 or DOS. There are free emulators out there that enable you to run old games like that on windows XP or even Vista. However, I am not really encouraging you to update to Vista by any means, that is completly a personal choice, but you must beware that even after so long of Vista being released and with SP 1 out for it now, there are still many glitches and bugs in the system that need to be worked out. However with that said, not everybody experiences glitches and bugs with it, and thus why I say it is a personal choice. If you still want to upgrade your system, you could also go to a smaller computer shop, they are everywhere you just need to look for them. Then can usually put a computer together that has better specs for you for cheaper then Dell, HP, Compaq ect, then you could put XP on your new system as long as you have the disc, or you should be able to purchase XP from that computer store. Also when you get it from one of those computer stores try to do a little bit of research on it to make sure it has a bit of a reputation of good service and what not, some are at times in it for a quick buck and don't give warranties or anything. Plus then you won't get all the nag/trial software that comes with most prebuilt computers like Dell, HP, Compaq and all those. Either choice is just fine and I'm sure you will be happy either way .

However, if you are looking for a Direct X 10 machine then you will have to go with Vista.

Hi, bigmamma1

I have several that will not play at all on my new computer..
I have decided that I will never get them to play..

So they just sit on my shelf...Every once in awhile I get discussted & decide to give them away to someone that has the time to tweak them to play on their computer or maybe someone has an older computer that will play them...

I have shelves of the jewel cases of older games, out of their boxes, lined up on a former set of spice shelves. Most of them I haven't played yet.

I keep an old computer with a DOS configuration, just in case I do get to play them some day. Mostly I get comfort from looking at them.

I have and old 98 that will play most of the 95 games and some Dos. They gather dust because there is not enough time to play them all. If I would stop buying new games(not going to happen)I could get the olds ones played.

I have 3 computers (Win95, Win98, and XP) all hooked up with a KVM switch. I even buy used 21 - 22" CRT monitors, since I'd rather have them than the flat screens. I'm desperate to keep my older units in working condition, since I'm useless at the tweaking required to play these games on XP.
I have these unplayed older games waiting:

Alice an Interactive Museum
Ark of Time
the Arrival
Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble
Blue Ice
Cherokee Trails
China the Forbidden City
The Crystal Skull
Clandestiny
Daedalus Encounter
Day of the Tentacle
Deathgate
Egypt2: the Heliopolis Prophecy
Egypt Tomb of the Pharoah
the Feeble Files
Gag
Ghosts
L-Zone
Liath
Loom CD
Lost in Time
the Lost Mind of Dr. Brain
Martian Chronicles
Milo
Monkey Island 3
Monty Python a Complete waste of time
Nightlong
Nile: A Passage to Egypt
Piri
the Quivering
Realms of the Haunting
Riddle of Master Lu
Robot City
Sacred Amulet
Salammbo
Symbiocom
Titanic Adventure Out of Time
Torin's passage
Vampire Diaries
Versailles 1865
Vikings

Along with about 20 newer adventures.

colpet:
Could you tell me the name of your KVM switch - maybe a link to it somewhere or a picture.
Mine is about to go kaboom....!

I don't have many unplayed games. Only maybe one or two, that are really not up my alley, but I like to collect, lol.

Hi

I've been acquiring adventure games as they have been released for many, many years now but whilst an ardent player I'm not a compulsive "collector".
I always play each game I buy but I only keep those I know I will want to play again sometime.
[In part because it gets quite expensive and the sale of a game I know I won't ever want to play again helps finance the purchase of the next new release I know I will want to try ]

Having said that, amongst the games I DO own, I have accumulated well over 60 wonderful "old" and "very old " games - and I re-play them ALL on a sort of rota basis between playing new releases

[Which explains why I am usually behind everyone else in playing new releases ]

The oldest games my machines can handle are those that were released in the late 1980s early 1990s but of course those machines are themselves practically antiques now, so at present I am trying to persuade myself to learn how to use stuff like DOSbox.
Being technically useless, however, I know that without doubt I will find it a terrible struggle ....

Cheers.

Mad

This summer I finally came up with an answer to this old problem. I started visiting garage sales!! I found an old computer which ran windows 98. It had no printer or parafernalia, but I bought it very reasonably, spent several days cleaning out a bunch of 'bundled' programs, and use it strictly for old games. It's been more than worth the $25.00 investment and I finally got to play The Martian Chronicles, which I've owned for years.

I recently got patches so i can play the 7th guest and the 11th hour on windows vista but i haven't had to time to play them yet.

My switch is old too. Hopefully it'll hang in there a bit longer.
It's a Smart View Intelligent KVM IC-714-1. It takes up to 4 inputs.
Jo

Hello everyone-
thanks for all your comments-wow Colpet-you've got quite a collection there! Out of those, I've played Titanic( excellent story and reproduction of the ship) Blue Ice(great classical music and jazz but very strange game)Versailles( also excellent historical details and great characters)
Now I don't feel so bad about the few oldies I havn't been able to play yet.
I might just fire up the old 98 computer one of these days-but like Kazzmo, I am too busy playing the newer games and more and more look interesting, but so far this summer have resisted BAAGing impulses, except for the Adventure Collection-couldn't resist 5 games that I 've never played!

What's a KVM switch?.....

Wikipedia entry about KVM switches here. I've got one, but I think of it as "that thing that lets me switch between computers while using just one monitor." (I guess "KVM switch" is shorter.)

Coming into the gaming world late- I have a lot to catch up on- so at the very beginning I bought almost every game I could-- I have quite a list-- at least 180...check out my web page-- every now and then I get to pull one off the shelf--- but I keep getting side tracked by the new ones. I also have a Windows 95 and 98 that will help me when I get ready...

If you like old games but are not old enough to have played Zork (the original) it can be downloaded for free and definitely is an "experience". I loved the game at the time, no WT, no maps, no images, pure imagination and map drawing to be able to move around.

It can be played in XP since it calls DOS, I replayed it last year

mcc, it is NOT legal to download the game as you can see Here. Please remember that as a GameBoomer, you have agreed to not download games that are not legal.

Ana

Ana this is legal, as far as I understand, since it is Infocom itself which offers the download, more than 20 years old classic game. You could not buy a game like that anyway in an old floppy as it was sold at the time. I guess it is just like the demos that are offered for free downloads today.

I am sending you a PM with one of the Download pages, for you to check.

mcc, I'm afraid it is still not proven as legal. I have to stand by the statement in the link I provided.

Ana

Sorry Ana, I never intended to promote an illegal download. I bought my copy many, many years ago. Of course that game being in a 8" floppy could not be installed in any computer nowadays and so it seemed natural that it would be a free download particularly when it is offered by Infocom.

I understand mcc, but the site is not an infocom site. It is explained on the site here:

It is merely a fan site.

Ana

Oh my! This thread is like a walk down memory lane...I see some of my old friends on your lists of games. I sent most of my older games up to our son. There were nearly 400 of them. I had the old 5 1/4 floppys. Most of the Sierra Games on 3 1/2 floppys. He put them all up in his attic and has offered to build me a couple of older systems to be able to play them again. Maybe I will re-consider that offer now that you have reminded me of the wonderful games I would really enjoy again. He also suggested the switch that your speaking of. He tells me I could run several CPUs off of one keyboard, mouse and monitor.

By coincidence I'm replaying Rama currently after some six years, but I'm using an older computer for it on which I installed Windows ME so that the antique games will still work on it. However, this particular game has an alternative DOS version that, for all I know, may run under Windows XP or Vista in a DOS box. It may be worth a try. This actually works for Azrael's Tear (to get this year's plug in: still the greatest adventure game ever) and if something that old can be handled, perhaps Rama would too.

That's the way ***Inferno's setup for RAMA in XP*** works -- she used the DOS install.

Hello again everyone-
Thanks for the reminders that lots of folks out there in GB land have an interest in the old games-I have Rama, but never got around top laying it on the old machine, but I've heard that there is an "installer" to download for XP-has anyone tried that?