SSI Games Discussion

[BoneSnapDeez]

I keep flirting with collecting the SSI games and have even bought a few. Problem is I dont have a PC that will play them and are really just dust collectors.

I'm assuming you mean you have no floppy drives??? Surely you have DOSBox.

You could "collect" the boxed games and then download the games themselves from abandonware sites or whatever to actually play them.

I actually used to own a couple of old Amstrad and Tandy PC compatibles with 5.25" / 3.5" drives but they were dust collectors and I eventually got rid of them. For 3.5" floppy games I just use a decade-old Windows XP Dell computer that still has an integrated floppy drive + DOSBox. For 5.25" games I can usually find a C64 version.

[noiseredux]

for 3.5" you can get a USB drive as well.

[Jmustang1968]

I keep flirting with collecting the SSI games and have even bought a few. Problem is I dont have a PC that will play them and are really just dust collectors.

I'm assuming you mean you have no floppy drives??? Surely you have DOSBox.

You could "collect" the boxed games and then download the games themselves from abandonware sites or whatever to actually play them.

I actually used to own a couple of old Amstrad and Tandy PC compatibles with 5.25" / 3.5" drives but they were dust collectors and I eventually got rid of them. For 3.5" floppy games I just use a decade-old Windows XP Dell computer that still has an integrated floppy drive + DOSBox. For 5.25" games I can usually find a C64 version.

DosBox means I just download them and dont own them. I mean my PC wont play the physical discs.

[Tanooki]

No it doesn't. DOSBox+abandonwaresite+OWNING an original does not mean you don't own it. It means you don't have the OS or the medium to run it natively is all. You still own it, you're just finding an alternative means to run it.

That's like saying since I've got Duke Nukem 3D, but it won't run in 64bit windows, so I use an OpenGL Duke client, that I don't own it. That doesn't make much sense.



Anyway seriously though on this SSi stuff. I get that some of their games are (to me) those reprehensible octagon grid turn based combat sims, want nothing to do with that. What else have they got that's pretty solid? I Know there are the D&D and spinoff type games, is that all?

[Jmustang1968]

No it doesn't. DOSBox+abandonwaresite+OWNING an original does not mean you don't own it. It means you don't have the OS or the medium to run it natively is all. You still own it, you're just finding an alternative means to run it.

That's like saying since I've got Duke Nukem 3D, but it won't run in 64bit windows, so I use an OpenGL Duke client, that I don't own it. That doesn't make much sense.



Anyway seriously though on this SSi stuff. I get that some of their games are (to me) those reprehensible octagon grid turn based combat sims, want nothing to do with that. What else have they got that's pretty solid? I Know there are the D&D and spinoff type games, is that all?

I know exactly what it means to own or not own something You weren't grasping what I was saying.

I want to have them if I will actually run the game off the medium it is on. If I am just going to download them and run off dosbox then I don't bother owning them.

[Tanooki]

Yeah and that I don't understand I guess. I see no fault in using DOSBox since it makes the modern computer run as if it were the dusty old relic needed to run the game, plus it will allow translation of using a modern USB device (mouse, joypad, etc) in the old environment too. There really is no drawback unless it's a rare game that just hates DOSBox still.

[BogusMeatFactory]

I think the argument is more that if you are collecting something, you should be utilizing the actual item. It is like buying up a bunch of Genesis games and then playing them on your emulator instead of on the actual Genesis.

To help with this, you can actually get a USB floppy drive to put the discs in and use DosBox to help make it playable on your modern PC. That way you are still using the physical discs. I do this a lot with games like The Elder Scrolls: Battlespire and Phantasmagoria 2 which have crazy issues that require me to use DosBox to get running effectively. Heck, my AD&D collection is on CDs which I use with DosBox to get working right. Still not quite the same as using a true blue old school computer, but not bad!

[fastbilly1]

I keep flirting with collecting the SSI games and have even bought a few. Problem is I dont have a PC that will play them and are really just dust collectors.

I'm assuming you mean you have no floppy drives??? Surely you have DOSBox.

You could "collect" the boxed games and then download the games themselves from abandonware sites or whatever to actually play them.

I actually used to own a couple of old Amstrad and Tandy PC compatibles with 5.25" / 3.5" drives but they were dust collectors and I eventually got rid of them. For 3.5" floppy games I just use a decade-old Windows XP Dell computer that still has an integrated floppy drive + DOSBox. For 5.25" games I can usually find a C64 version.

DosBox means I just download them and dont own them. I mean my PC wont play the physical discs.

Not necessarily. Lets take a look at this:

Thats Ultima IV running off a floppy attached to an android tablet with a mouse/keyboard.

Dosbox can be setup to run a floppy or cd, or a virtual floppy or cd if you want to make a backup. Im a bit rusty but I think it is as simple as MOUNT A A:\ -t floppy

I had a huge collection of pcs for a time - I was dancing around 50. But I realized that I dont actually need two dos machines and two win98 machines because Dosbox handles most of the titles well enough that it outweighed the crap dealing with maintaining that many machines.

To get back on topic though, I always knew SSI for strategy games. Panzer General, Star Command, Napoleon, and who can forget the line of WW3 simulations, of which I can only remember Norway 1985.

[Tanooki]

Bogus I get that, but you're making the point to someone who uses a Retron 5 and has his SNES and NES toploader shelved for safety. I'm totally fine running an emulator with real hardware(games) kind of like that android tablet image above this post. I totally could see getting a USB floppy drive, running DOS Box and having a go at it because it's still pretty well authentic not having to power up, maintain, and store useless very old PC hardware just for a 15-30 year old game.

DOS Box is a gem for me as I have various old games I snapped up through GoGames.com that uses it well and runs things natively to the point you can't tell it's an emulated 'fake' running the real stuff. I also have SCUMMVM too for that Indiana Jones Fate of Atlantis game of mine if I get the itch to play that one again.


On topic though about those SSI games I'm interested, just need to find something that works. I don't like turn based hexagon grid type stuff, and first person dungeon crawlers are a confusing turn off as I don't do pencil/paper maps for games. What options are left?

[fastbilly1]

I snapped up through GoGames.com

I think you mean GOG, formally known as Good old Games. GoGames.com is flash game site.