Old games playable with an Intel Atom

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Enigmatic_Oddity
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10 Aug 2008, 7:20 pm

Last month I bought an EEE PC 1000H which has the Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor, and although I don't really use it primarily for gaming it's nice to have some games on it, so I loaded it up with old favourites Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Jagged Alliance 2, Master of Orion 2, Half-Life, and more recent games like Deus Ex, Peggle, Uplink, Defcon, Darwinia, and Puzzle Quest. I even bought a game specifically for it, but I didn't like it (Diablo 2).

Anyone have any recommendations for games playable on this machine?



computerlove
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10 Aug 2008, 8:09 pm

Worms Armaggedon (a must on every computer)
Carcassonne H&G (I'm addicted to it)
The Rainbow Six series,
Ghost Recon 1 (not GRAW) and the expansions,
Splinter Cell 1 and 2
RtcW, there's a freeware multiplayer version
some of the GTA games
Doom III?

How's Deus Ex? My bro' bought it a couple of years ago, the disc must be somewhere...


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Enigmatic_Oddity
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10 Aug 2008, 8:46 pm

I hate Worms. I think you need someone to play with to enjoy Worms, the computer AI is too good. I always preferred Liero/Liero Xtreme, which is in real time.



MattD
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10 Aug 2008, 9:29 pm

Can you play games online?



computerlove
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10 Aug 2008, 10:49 pm

Enigmatic_Oddity wrote:
I hate Worms. I think you need someone to play with to enjoy Worms, the computer AI is too good. I always preferred Liero/Liero Xtreme, which is in real time.


you can always play against people in the Worms Armaggeddon servers


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Enigmatic_Oddity
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11 Aug 2008, 12:40 am

I'm not really interested in putting online games on there, since if I'm online it means I'm at home on my home network which means I might as well play it on my main computer.

Someone on irc recommended Galactic Civilizations 2 to me, I think I'll go with that since I've played the demo and it sure looked like a sweet take on the 4X genre to me. Will have to be limited to the core game though, the expansions seem to have heftier system requirements.



ToadOfSteel
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11 Aug 2008, 4:36 am

Enigmatic_Oddity wrote:
Someone on irc recommended Galactic Civilizations 2 to me, I think I'll go with that since I've played the demo and it sure looked like a sweet take on the 4X genre to me. Will have to be limited to the core game though, the expansions seem to have heftier system requirements.


I can vouch for Galciv2 as well. A large enough map can keep me busy for weeks...



SabbraCadabra
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11 Aug 2008, 2:03 pm

I can't think of any old games that will run on 1.6 gigs but not on a modern computer. All the games you've listed would run fine on a much more modern computer.

Unless you're saying that this IS your modern computer, and you're looking for newer games that it will run...in which case, it depends on what video card you're running. I had an old 1.6 that could just barely run HL2 at lowest detail settings (ran it well enough for me to beat the game), but ran DOOM 3 at like 3 FPS. Was running a GF4, don't remember which one...went through two different ones...one was much better than the other, but the fan was so freaking loud, I couldn't use it.

If it's the latter, I'd say just go crazy downloading demos ;)

If you like Jagged Alliance 2, I'd recommend the first two X-COM games (though these are VERY old, I don't know how well the rarer Windows versions run on whatever OS you're using, but you'll most likely need DOSBox to run the DOS version...haven't tried running it with VDMSound).

If you like Deus Ex (or even if you don't), you should check out the rest of the Warren Spector/Looking Glass catalogue. Ultima Underworld, Thief, System Shock...all great series. Both Underworlds and the first SShock will require hefty DOSBox trickery (VDMSound got me nowhere fast), I gave up and played them on an older PC in pure DOS. Thief 1, 2, and SShock 2 will most likely require Timeslip's ddfix patch ( http://timeslip.chorrol.com/ddfix.html ), especially if you're using an nVidia card. Thief 3 will require a video card that supports pixel shaders (2.0 I think?) I think anything newer than GF5 should support it, but I'm not sure...and I have no idea how playable it would be on 1.6 gigs. Arx Fatalis (unnoficially Underworld 3) should run without problems, but I can't promise anything. I'd say your main priorities should be Thief 2 and SShock 2 ;) Dunno if there's a demo of Shock2, and I don't know if the ddfix patch works on the T2 demo.


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Enigmatic_Oddity
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11 Aug 2008, 6:23 pm

Note this has integrated graphics, and an Intel Atom is not as fast at the same clock speed as a Pentium. Thus 1.6GHz on the Atom is probably really equivalent to about 900MHz on a Pentium III.

My main computer is a desktop PC with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo and NVIDIA 8800GT, so for the EEE I'm looking for games that I wouldn't normally play on my main computer given their age/lower system requirements.

I am interested in System Shock 2, but I don't think I'd be able to run it in DosBox at an adequate speed. Dosbox in my experience is pretty CPU intensive even for the oldest games. I was never able to play old Epic Megagames titles on my old Pentium 3 PC at full speed.

I'm also interested in X-Com. I've heard good things about it and have tried to play it in the past but found it hard to get into because it just throws you in the game without teaching you how to play.



SabbraCadabra
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12 Aug 2008, 4:40 pm

Enigmatic_Oddity wrote:
I am interested in System Shock 2, but I don't think I'd be able to run it in DosBox at an adequate speed.


You don't run it in DOXBox, you run it in Windows ;) If your integrated card is an Intel, you should be able to run Thief 1, 2, and SShock 2 with no problems. Only thing you might get is a texture error at startup, in which case you just enable a single line in one of the config files.

If you can't get X-COM to run in DOSBox, there's a Windows version at Home of the Underdogs. I think I tried it once, and it ran okay...don't remember.

As far as what other newer games you can run, if it's an Intel, they should have a compatability list on their website. I know there's one for the card my laptop has.


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SabbraCadabra
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12 Aug 2008, 4:57 pm

Enigmatic_Oddity wrote:
My main computer is a desktop PC with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo and NVIDIA 8800GT, so for the EEE I'm looking for games that I wouldn't normally play on my main computer given their age/lower system requirements.


Like I said before, I can't think of any games that would run well on 1.6 gigs but not something as modern as your main computer. If you're having speed issues with any 3D games, you can fix them right up by going into the nVidia control panel and turning on vsync. Also, a few games (I haven't run into very many) have problems with dual cores...just open the program, alt+tab out of it, ctrl+alt+del to the task manager, right click on the program, select "set affinity", and uncheck one of the cores. There's a way to make this permanent, but I don't know it off the top of my head.

There's the rare instance of games like Thief 1, 2, and SShock 2 that use the Dark Engine, that nVidia hate for some reason...but that ddfix fixes it right up. I've heard of one of the Alien vs. Predator games having a similar problem.

I've had terrible luck getting Interplay's Fallout 3 beta (Van Buren) to run on my computer, you might be able to get it to run on an Intel card if you're into that sort of thing.

Honestly, most of the games you're going to have trouble running are DOS games with timing issues (the Ultima series is a good example)...outside of DOSBox, you'd need something REALLY old like a 486 or maybe even older to get them to a playable speed...and even then, you might need MoSlo for a bit of fine tuning.

There are a few old Windows games that will run in Win95 but not 2000 or up, but the only ones that come to mind are Petz 2.

Personally, if I had a PC in my basement, I'd turn it into my own little sanctuary ;)


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Paddy789
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13 Aug 2008, 12:50 am

Total Annihilation



Enigmatic_Oddity
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13 Aug 2008, 3:23 am

I've played Total Annihilation to death, I loved that game to bits back in the day but I'm a bit over it now. Supreme Commander isn't as good for some reason I can't identify. So I don't really want to put TA on, as much as I liked it back then.

I've never been a fan of Fallout, I never liked the strictly turn based battles and the inability to control a party, even though yes I do generally like RPGs. Always felt like a watered down version of Jagged Alliance, which perhaps isn't really accurate since that's more strategy than RPG. I never really got into computer RPGs until Baldur's Gate, which had a lot more depth. I was thinking of getting Planescape since that seems to get rave reviews and I did love BG and BG2 a ton, which were made using the same engine and in the same D&D setting.

I had no idea System Shock 2 was for Windows! I always thought it was for DOS and thus stayed away from it since DosBox in my experience isn't that good. I will get cracking to find this game straight away! Thanks SabbraCadabra, I've always wanted to play this. I really hated Bioshock but had heard how good SS2's blending of FPS and RPG was.



SabbraCadabra
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13 Aug 2008, 1:58 pm

Enigmatic_Oddity wrote:
I've never been a fan of Fallout, I never liked the strictly turn based battles and the inability to control a party, even though yes I do generally like RPGs.


What kind of RPGs do you play then, if you don't like turn-based? I liked Fallout, but I didn't like it quite as much as the first game, Wasteland. Out of all the PC RPGs I've played, I thought that one was the most similar to console RPGs like Dragon Warrior. You get to make your own party, but it does have turn-based battles. It's from like 1983 though, so if you wanted to play it, you'd definitely need DOSBox.

Enigmatic_Oddity wrote:
Always felt like a watered down version of Jagged Alliance, which perhaps isn't really accurate since that's more strategy than RPG.


Well, I wouldn't say "watered down", but the turn-based strategy styled battles were always apparent to me. In fact, they made a game called Fallout Tactics that's purely TBS (never tried it, though).

Enigmatic_Oddity wrote:
Thanks SabbraCadabra, I've always wanted to play this. I really hated Bioshock but had heard how good SS2's blending of FPS and RPG was.


No problem ;)

I've only played the demo of BioShock, not the full version, but I really liked SS2. The graphics in it are pretty lame (even by 2002 standards), but you get over it right away.


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Enigmatic_Oddity
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13 Aug 2008, 5:52 pm

SabbraCadabra wrote:
What kind of RPGs do you play then, if you don't like turn-based? I liked Fallout, but I didn't like it quite as much as the first game, Wasteland. Out of all the PC RPGs I've played, I thought that one was the most similar to console RPGs like Dragon Warrior. You get to make your own party, but it does have turn-based battles. It's from like 1983 though, so if you wanted to play it, you'd definitely need DOSBox.


I loooove the Baldur's Gate series, Neverwinter Nights 2, Mass Effect, the later installments of the Wizardry series, and the aforementioned Jagged Alliance which for most intents and purposes is an RPG with strategy elements. I also enjoy a large number of console RPGs, Squaresoft/Enix titles mainly.

Oh, and having played a bit of Fallout 1 & 2 I can tell you that both run fine on Windows 2K/XP, neither ran on DOS to my knowledge.



SabbraCadabra
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14 Aug 2008, 1:47 pm

Enigmatic_Oddity wrote:
Oh, and having played a bit of Fallout 1 & 2 I can tell you that both run fine on Windows 2K/XP, neither ran on DOS to my knowledge.


The first Fallout has a DOS executable in addition to a Windows one, but I was talking about Wasteland, which Fallout is a spiritual sequel to.


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