The ones in the quote I was replying to
My understanding is that you run those games within Pocket DOS with the original disks.
Yeah you just use the dos version - thats the point of pocketDOS. Anything that runs in mcga 256 color, in general, will work.
It’s decent, but there are other options for certain games. Pocketsarien for old sierra stuff, pocketscumm for lucasarts, etc… so dont go nuts trying to get those games working in pDOS. pdos is good for games with no interpreter though.
uhm, OK, what am I missing. How on Earth do you install, e.g. WC on a PPC in order to run it under Pocket DOS?!?
uhm, OK, what am I missing. How on Earth do you install, e.g. WC on a PPC in order to run it under Pocket DOS?!?
Shouldn’t the Supreme Commander of a 31st century confederation of intergalactic spaceships be able to drop to DOS without asking a 20th century Irish primate like me for help? That’s like me asking an australopithecus how on earth he’s doing that amazing grub-fishing-with-a-stick thing.
Anyway, I actually haven’t had time to figure it out yet. It looks like you need to make disk images and then install it like a normal DOS program. My enthusiasm for the project has died out since I found out that Civilization still mysteriously doesn’t work. So I’m getting my turn-based strategy fix with a game called Warring States, which is kind of like Civilization meets Samurai and seems pretty neat.
Indeed, but such ancient arts are mind boggling. heh, coming from the guy who still uses 4DOS and 4TCMD from jpsoft.com, I can talk.
Anyway, I actually haven’t had time to figure it out yet. It looks like you need to make disk images and then install it like a normal DOS program. My enthusiasm for the project has died out since I found out that Civilization still mysteriously doesn’t work. So I’m getting my turn-based strategy fix with a game called Warring States, which is kind of like Civilization meets Samurai and seems pretty neat.
Thats what I was asking because I don’t see how you could install those games on the PPC directly nor via ActiveShit.
In fact, I don’t see how using images will work either. Unless you image them and copy to a CF card, drop to PDOS and install. I still don’t believe it, until I see a page that says it can in fact be done.
Okay, I’ve been fooling around with PocketDOS, not enough to get anything up and running but enough to think I got my mind around it.
The way it looks like it works is this: under PocketDOS, the contents of your Pocket PC arelisted on the D: drive. So if you use explorer to copy, say, the Wing Commander directory on your computer over to your Pocket PC, making sure not to convert the files in transfer, you can then get them running in PocketDOS. Or if you copy them to a secure digital card, you can access them on D:\SD_Card
I might give it a shot tonight and see if I can’t get something to work.
Yeah, thats it. You just copy them over,install to pc first, then take that dir and go to My Computer->Handheld Device-><storage card of your choice> and drop the whole dir there. No need for disk images and all that stuff. Try it with WC1, just to see something working, then once you’ve got it, start trying other games.
and no, xcom doesnt work… sadly…
And really try out pocketsarien and pocketscumm if you like old adventure games.
Right. And how are you supposed to play the game once you’ve done that? Its not like the PPC buttons will work.
Well, for those of us with keyboards for our Pocket PCs, there is that. There is also a virtual keyboard you can use. I believe the stylus works as an emulated mouse. Honestly, I can’t really imagine playing anything with it, but as a proof of concept, it is kind of neat.
I have the small Compaq keyboard which clips under my HP5455. But man that thing sucks something serious. I do need to get a neater foldable keyboard. Or sumthin’
The ppc buttons and stylus DO work for pocketsarien and pocketscumm, you still need the V.keyboard sometimes of course. And yes for pdos you use the virtual keyboard. It isn’t ideal, but it’s fine for non twitch games. It isn’t anything I use regularly, but it has been useful during awful airport situations, etc…
There is a really perfecto Elite freeware port too, although it was technically illegal and got foxed. It IS easier to control than Elite on pocketdos for sure though. I think someone worked it out and it’s going to be for sale or someone else with authorization is making one.
What games or types of games do you want to play on these anyways? I tend to go ebook crazy but not play the games often. I read my first actual paper book in a year and a half last week. It was weird having to use two hands to hold the book / turn pages. All the old games running on it is more of a novelty, I get them running, show them to people, we both say ‘neat’ and then I go back to reading.
Personally, I mostly play puzzle games on handhelds. Bejeweled, Text twist, stuff like that. The form factor’s perfect for that.
I’d love to see some good turn-based strategy games, though. Those could be implemented well on a handheld.
Derek,
The Think Outside Stowaway feels as good as an average laptop keyboard. Way better than the flimsy one Compaq sells.
Moore, do you still have the Elite port? I’d love to acquire it from you - I only found out about it after it was foxed.
Denny, did you hear about the Warlords 2 port coming to the Pocket PC later this year?
Not… Warlords 2 Deluxe, by any chance? With the editor? Good lord, that’d be enough to make me get a Pocket PC.
That or Fantasy General. Someone needs to do a Fantasy General port. Though I guess you’d have to lose the music, and that would be a bummer.
Why would you have to lose the music? My Axim is chock full of MP3s, and there are only like ten tracks, right? I’d gladly make the space–FG had awesome music.
Is there a significant quality difference between Warlords 2 and Warlords 2 Deluxe?
Just found this port of the old Bitmap Brothers game Speedball 2 for the Pocket PC. It is a hell of a lot of fun cybernetically enhancing your players over a season so you are able to perform that crippling, verterbrae gelatinating body blow to your opponent.
Not in the game, really, but it included the Scenario Builder that they sold as an add-on for Warlords II. That scenario builder was awesome–it even let you edit all the game graphics, so you could put together any sort of scenario/setting you could want.
I do, but I don’t think I still have the installer, or remember if it had one. So theoretically I could grab it off the pocketpc and email it, but it might not work if it installed from windows, I really can’t recall.
On speedball 2, I totally forgot about that, first game I bought for my ppc. It IS worth buying even on ppcs with poor controls since it’s actually fun to watch matches and you can choose to just manage a team and not have to deal with playing the twitch parts.