Compatibility with old games

thesurefire

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Dec 15, 2003
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I recently found an old game I used to love to play, called mission thunderbolt. The disks were corrupt (no surprise they're 10+ years old), so I went onto google and found the company had gone under, but it was now available to download. So I got it, but now it wont run. I click the install icon and get a message that says:

"16 bit windows subsystem
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXE.NT. The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' To terminate the application."

Then It has a close button and a ignore button. Clicking either of them closes the window.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this?

TIA
 

OutdoorIdiot

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Feb 14, 2006
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There's a great utility called "DOSBox". I think it's downloadable for free off t'internet. It's sort of a "DOS emulator" i.e. it gives old software an environment to run in which is virtually identical to olde-worlde computers.

I use if for some of the Golden Oldies like the Ultima series of RPGs and generally speaking it's amazingly good, i.e. gets a lot of stuff working.

My copy came on the cover of a magazine, but like I say, I think it's freely available on the internet.
 

OutdoorIdiot

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http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/

There appears to be decent help on how to use it, i.e. a FAQ and a user community. I remember it isn't exactly straightforward to get it going. In particular, one you get a game running, I seem to remember that you need to change the emulation speed and/or FPS quite a bit, otherwise that game is too fast/slow or you get weird effects with sound... But that was over a year ago...
 

thesurefire

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Thanks guys I'll give it a whirl. The game im playing is mission thunderbolt, and I got it to work on XP pro, but XP home still is having problems (dont know why?) but its a great game and you guys should check it out if you like old style RPGs (not text but close)

google 'download mission thunderbolt' and check the underdog website.

Thanks
 

carrot

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Link to Home of the Underdogs
Personally, some of my favorite old-school games are the SCUMM point and click puzzle adventures -- Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Day of the Tentacle, Maniac Mansion... I do enjoy the very old text-based games like Zork, but I haven't completely finished one yet.

I believe XP Professional has better older Windows emulation support.
 

OutdoorIdiot

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Having just taken a look at the info about Mission Thunderbolt at Home of the Underdogs, I get the impression that maybe DOSBox is not going to provide a straightforward solution. The information at one point states that the game is for Windows 3.1, and at another point states it's for Windows 95 and above. The screenshot gives the impression it's running in a window, too.

Apparently you can run windows 3.1 "inside" DOSBox, there's some info on the subject here:

http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=9405

Looks like a great game though. I'll be downloading it and trying it out.

Carrot: You've just reminded me, I've still got the likes of "Fate of Atlantis" and "Day of the Tentacle" to look forward to! Really must get round to those...
 
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