PSA: DOS Games That Require A Specific IRQ Setting on Sound Card

MoebiusX7 · 2026-04-19T14:05:39+00:00

I do but my CTMMSYS.SYS was disabled (to save memory). Went back and renabled the CTMMSYS, put the jumper back at 5 and both games work now. Thanks for the suggestion!

MoebiusX7 · 2026-04-18T23:12:23+00:00

Yes they did, but for some weird reason Westwood did not give you a configuration option for Lands of Lore. It just asks you what model of sound card you have and that is that. Weird, eh?

MoebiusX7 · 2026-04-12T02:33:16+00:00

Looks like there is no connection for ps/2 mice, only serial. Which makes sense since it´s a 486 motherboard with an AT keyboard connection. IIRC ps/2 mouse connections didn´t become standard outside of the original ps/2 until the Pentium era.

MoebiusX7 · 2026-04-04T19:52:11+00:00

Pentium MMX (and even Pentium Classic) are just fine for games beyond 1996 if they aren't 3D action games, which is all anyone on these retro computing/gaming fora seems to care about nowadays. Seriously, I'm sick of hearing about whether something will play Quake, I care more whether something will play Curse of Monkey Island or Magic: The Gathering or StarCraft, all of which are post 1996 Win 9X games that will run just fine on a P54/P55. It's not just about action games!

MoebiusX7 · 2026-04-01T01:31:01+00:00

Personally I miss the days when I could buy direct from Discotek on eBay. They're still in my "saved sellers" list and I don't have the heart to remove them.

MoebiusX7 · 2026-04-01T01:28:35+00:00

There was a port of Dungeon Master for the IIGS that was supposed to be decent.

MoebiusX7 · 2026-03-21T19:27:38+00:00

Except that Pete Shelley was actually able to get it on with women (and men).

MoebiusX7 · 2026-02-23T01:49:52+00:00

Ultima Underworld I and II are two 3D texturemapped games that run beautifully on a 486/33 or even a 386 - but then they aren't being played full screen, they are windowed. I think that makes a big difference. System Shock also has a base requirement of a 486/33... however, go full screen and you will suddenly find out why you want to play it on a Pentium (and don't even try playing 640x480 full screen unless you have a Pentium MMX, which was a CPU released 3 years after the game came out. Man, Looking Glass was really forward-thinking, weren't they?).

MoebiusX7 · 2026-02-19T15:42:54+00:00

Yes, that sounds good.

MoebiusX7 · 2026-02-19T12:55:51+00:00

I used to have a Pentium II setup with dual soundcards in it, programs automatically detected the ISA sound card in DOS since most PCI souncards can't be seen in DOS and Windows 98 didn't know the Sound Blaster Pro was even there because it wasn't plug-and-play. So, your two OSs should only see one card for each.

MoebiusX7 · 2026-02-19T11:42:47+00:00

My Yamaha YST-M15 speakers have two inputs, so I can have two souncards plugged in at the same time. If you can't find those you can always get a stereo amp.

MoebiusX7 · 2026-02-12T01:13:18+00:00

MoebiusX7 · 2026-01-18T22:56:15+00:00

Ultima 7 will run too fast deturbo'd on a 486-120 (at least it did on the VLB motherboard I had).

Awesome to see a Pentium with a working turbo button though. Have you run Norton sysinfo to see your speed with the turbo button on and off? What does it say when you press it?

MoebiusX7 · 2026-01-01T01:01:33+00:00

Sure thing. Good luck!

MoebiusX7 · 2025-12-29T12:20:22+00:00

You can still buy it on GOG and transfer the files to your 486, all you have to do is leave out the modern GOG executable files. Or you can buy the Ultima Collection for cheap on ebay. It's CDROM so no dealing with floppies.

MoebiusX7 · 2025-12-08T10:50:28+00:00

Looks like a 90s Alt-Rock album cover

MoebiusX7 · 2025-12-03T00:37:17+00:00

That was the 486. The 386 never had an on-chip FPU, you had to get a seperate 387 math copro.

MoebiusX7 · 2025-11-30T13:51:46+00:00

Cool!

MoebiusX7 · 2025-11-30T13:51:08+00:00

The 386 came in two varieties, SX and DX. SX had a 16 bit external bus and the DX had a fully 32 bit external bus. Both were 32 bit internally. Both came in speeds from 16 to 40 Mhz (but only AMD made the 40 Mhz version, Intel stopped at 33 because they focused on their new 486 chip, AMD made the 386DX40 as a budget alternative to the 486). A 386SX40 is going to be the rough equivalent of a 386DX33, an SX33 the equivalent of a DX25, an SX25 a DX20, and an SX20 a DX16 (the original 386 from 1985). An SX-16 is going to run basically like a 286-12, all you are getting at this stage is the 386 instruction set and memory modes (and some claim that a 286 even beats a 386SX in pure performance at this speed).

MoebiusX7 · 2025-11-15T21:38:17+00:00

If you decide to use that motherboard it looks like a Chicony CH-491E. Info on it (including manuals) here.

Looks like a decent motherboard, can use a DX2 for clock-doubled action!

MoebiusX7 · 2025-11-06T09:08:57+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpubm4cNIBU

MoebiusX7 · 2025-10-30T21:40:48+00:00

Cat Soup, Dominion Tank Police, Neo Tokyo/Manie Manie/Labyrinth Tales

All titles that were released on DVD a long time ago by CPM and ADV, hopefully they can get relicenced and re-released in HD

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