SentaiBrad Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Not off hand. DirectX was used for everything though, especially games, but was packed in with a version of Windows 95. Windows 95 If I remember didn't fully utilize 32bit applications. Hell it was only in XP for legacy support and that was almost a decade later. If it is a game that is 16bit but not on DOS, it most likely uses DirectX. It is probably more of an issue with non 16bit applications, but virtualaztion still doesn't work well with 16bit. DirectX is just one problem of several with getting games to run. See: SpoilerThe first version of DirectX was released in September 1995 as the Windows Games SDK. It was the Win32 replacement for the DCI[4] and WinG APIs for Windows 3.1. DirectX allowed all versions of Microsoft Windows, starting with Windows 95, to incorporate high-performance multimedia. Eisler wrote about the frenzy to build DirectX 1 through 5 in his blog.[5] Initial adoption of DirectX by game developers was slow.[6] There were fears that DirectX could be replaced as WinG had been, there was a performance penalty in using Windows over DOS, and there were many die-hard DOS programmers.[6] DirectX 2.0 became a component of Windows itself with the releases of Windows 95 OSR2 and Windows NT 4.0 in mid-1996. Since Windows 95 was itself still new and few games had been released for it, Microsoft engaged in heavy promotion of DirectX to developers who were generally distrustful of Microsoft's ability to build a gaming platform in Windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I remember Fury 3, which ran on Windows 3.11 and Windows 95. (It was actually a complete copy of Terminal Velocity for DOS.) I remember it using something called Win32s, and the install taking years on Windows 3.11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Win32s I'm guessing the lines were somewhat blurred at that point in a lot of cases. Also, I believe that was before the first official version of DirectX. Though I don't know if Win32s or DirectX are related or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Jason Carr said I remember Fury 3, which ran on Windows 3.11 and Windows 95. (It was actually a complete copy of Terminal Velocity for DOS.) I remember it using something called Win32s, and the install taking years on Windows 3.11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Win32s I'm guessing the lines were somewhat blurred at that point in a lot of cases. Also, I believe that was before the first official version of DirectX. Though I don't know if Win32s or DirectX are related or not. I believe DirectX took over for Win32. The wiki I got that excerpt from talks about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Cool, that's a fun read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 http://microsoft.wikia.com/wiki/DirectX#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Yeah, I had stumbled on the Wikipedia article myself. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garbanzo Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 SentaiBrad, I still think all the games you're concerned about are 32-bit. Fury 3 for example - if it used Win32s, then it was a 32-bit game. All the 16-bit Windows games in my collection are along the lines of what came in the Microsoft Entertainment Pack series - Chips Challenge, Tetravex, Jezzball, Ski Free, Kye, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 garbanzo said SentaiBrad, I still think all the games you're concerned about are 32-bit. Fury 3 for example - if it used Win32s, then it was a 32-bit game. All the 16-bit Windows games in my collection are along the lines of what came in the Microsoft Entertainment Pack series - Chips Challenge, Tetravex, Jezzball, Ski Free, Kye, etc. So then DOSBox. If you can get it to run with DOSBox then the virtualization software conversation is pointless. Granted, it is a form of virtualization, but its highly specialized. VMware or VirtualBox just have general problems running 3D intensive programs. If its a Windows application with no DOS variant then it has a high propensity to not want to run in one of those virtualized environments. Until someone creates a very similar piece of software like any one of the emulators out there that just happens to be running a very specialized version of Windows 98 or XP, or these software companies really beef up gaming software compatibility then this is going to be an area that is very hard to get to play unless you buy an older PC. Also, I did say that the DirectX problem is most likely a 32bit application issue. It's probable to not be exclusive to 32bit, however the second you need to emulate Windows 98 or XP the level of compatibility immediately drops regardless of what the problem is for any given game. DirectX was just one of a few main problems that I pointed out. Some newer stuff is easier to run in these environments. Like I said in a previous post I got Diablo 2 to run at one point for testing. The more sophisticated a game to get running though the more the performance is going to suffer anyways. So then you drop back down to Windows 95/98 era games then we're back to DirectX incompatibilities, 3D acceleration incompatibilities. Sound drivers, keyboard drivers, mouse drivers. Everything has to be emulated. There are some games that don't care what version of Windows you're on. I got Clock Tower to run last night perfectly fine except for that it was in a small Window. Same with Dino Crisis previously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Something I want to point out about my paragraph about essentially an Emulator with a specialized version of Windows 98 and XP. The main reason it hasn't been done very well is because there is no open standard to Windows 98 or XP that is ready for use like there was for DOS. That is how DOSBox exists, otherwise Microsoft would have stopped DOSBox a decade ago. So another reason one doesn't exist in a great form could also be the fear of a lawsuit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 I found something cool in Windows 10. See my post here for info. It has to do with 16 bit applications. https://www.launchbox-app.com/forum/monkeys/windows-10-tweaks-tricks-and-community-sharing-please-read#p4893 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamyk2000 Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 I am confused. I can install and run Diablo 1 and 2 on windows 7 with no issues at all? And had none with both games on XP either... As a matter of fact, XP was the OS I played both games on to begin with? Of course my XP was 32bit, but my Windows 7 is 64bit. Edit:Oh, I see. Xp virtual machine. My confusion. A bit tired here sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Not to mention Diablo 1 and 2 are 32bit applications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rampancy Posted June 19, 2019 Share Posted June 19, 2019 well some 32bit games had 16bit installers so maybe thats the confusion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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