"C.E. Forman" wrote:
>
> Jim's oldskool.org is a good resource for suggestions on getting old games
> to run on modern PCs, but wouldn't it be great if there were also a database
> somewhere with solutions for problems with specific games (for people who
> don't have the room for a retrorig and need to run their games on their
> 500mHz+ machines)?
It would, wouldn't it? Many Abandonware sites have sections like these, but
they are sparse and/or incorrect.
> Say a user was having trouble getting, say, Day of the Tentacle to run, he
> got music but no voices. He could do a search on DOTT and find solutions
> other gamers have found, possibly patches coded by hardcore enthusiasts,
> etc. In the long run, this would save everyone the trouble of trying all
> the solutions that DON'T work, by giving them the ones that do. The
> database could include relevant specs of the problem machines and
> step-by-step answers.
>
> Underdogs is like this, to some extent, with their "fixed" versions of older
These "fixed" versions are nice, but always keep an original copy around! As
my recent demonstration with Month Python shows, many of the AB copies floating
around are incomplete. ALso, "fixed" versions rarely run on their original
hardware platforms after they have been "fixed". Just FYI.
> games. I'm thinking primarily early CD-ROMs here, which are too large and
> expensive bandwidth-wise to download, and no fun to play as rips. (I'm not
> suggesting the entire game be available for download, merely patches if any
> exist, and some troubleshooting info based on other players' experience.)
>
> True, you do miss the time-trip of playing on an older machine, but the
> majority of players aren't bothered by this, and like Stephen says there
> probably aren't enough of those old machines to go around anymore.
>
> Is there enough demand out there for something like this, would you think?
Yes, I think there's very much a demand for it. I think it would be cool. I
also think that I could expand a bit on my Old On New Guide, as about 40% of it
is more rambling and ranting than directly-helpful info. The two combined
would make a nice website dedicated to getting older games running on newer
machines.
Would anyone like me to build it?
I couldn't guarantee getting to it quickly, but I could get a framework running
very quickly after the DemoDVD project (www.demodvd.org) is done. I would link
the back-end to an SQL database, and use a RAD tool like Zope to develop the
front-end. I'm envisioning something like a submission screen with things
like:
title:
platform:
procedure:
comments:
The whole thing doesn't need to be elegant; just a simple form on the web where
people can contribute the above four things, and then look them up. Multiple
entries under the same title would be returned all at once for convenience.
This is simple.
--
http://www.MobyGames.com/
The world's most comprehensive gaming database project.
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