Recently, I've been trying to figure out how to set up Oracle VM VirtualBox to run Windows 98, as I recently bought some old PC games that don't run in DOS (and thus can't be run through DOSBox), but also fail to run on newer operating systems.

Now I actually found an video tutorial on how to set up Window 98 through VirtualBox, but what I wanted to ask was if there was anyone who had any experience with installing and running games through a virtual machine, and if they had any suggestions, tips, or stories to share.

Try booting Linux and run it iwth Linux DOSBox or Linux WIne ... you will be very surprised, how many old games work on Linux with Linux native DOSBox and Linux WIne!

The only real problem you'll run into is with games that use hardware rendering, especially if it used Glide or the like (virtual machines only support DirectX and OpenGL). You may be able to get such games working with a wrapper but failing that you'll probably have better results with the software-rendered or DOS version of the game.

Yes use VPC 2007 or Vmware Player\Workstation.

Also if the games work fine on the host then run them there.

^^This.

However, that being said, I have never had consistent luck running any Win 9X games on a virtual machine of any kind, so I usually end up going with this:

I took a look at the Linux Wine Application Database, and from looking at a few of the older games that show up on the list, it doesn't seem like it works that well, but it's worth a try. Plus, it gives me another reason to try out Ubuntu. Thankfully, the games I'm trying to get running don't require 3D, but thanks for the advice.

Another method I've heard is worth trying is to install Windows 3.1 through DOSBox, and then run the games from there. Has anyone ever tried this?

I haven't tried it myself because I'm not sure where my Win 3.x disks are, but they do have a thread about that over at VOGONs.

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

Thanks for the link. I actually forgot about the VOGON forums. That would probably be a better place to ask about setting up a virtual machine.

I did as well, but it was one of the first things to pop up when I googled it. I should look around to see if I have my Windows disks, because I need to either dump them to HDD or toss them.

Windows 3.x works great in DOSBox. It's a bit of a pain to get everything set up so I'd recommend backing up the install once you've got it sorted so you can easily roll back if something goes wrong.

You can also run Windows 9x versions in DOSBox but for best results you'll want a custom build such as Taewoong's. His builds also include save states, Glide support and various other fixes and improvements that aren't part of the official builds.

I ran Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire in an XP VM environment on Win7. It worked, though was very glitchy.

I want to try a Win98 VM at some point.

The fact is, virtual machine aren't designed to make old games run again, so your luck will be little at best. Well, except when virtual machines are designed for the exact purpose of playing games, of course (ScummVM,DOSBox)....

The only problem with VMs is hardware acceleration. I dont think there's direct3d/opengl support in win98 Guest.

You can use software emulation for D3D\OGL for 9x guests in Virtualbox\VPC\Vmware.
Mesa3D for OGL
Swiftshader for D3D8+

but you need alot of processing power.

and those games that require OGL\D3D8+ usually work fine on the host anywyay.

Hey I didn't know that, that sounds great! I don't mind if it requires too much processing power now to emulate D3D/OpenGL, as long as it removes concerns about running old Win9x era games on future systems (even non-Windows, yay!). To me it currently seems some old D3D games run or don't run due to D3D driver dependencies with new hardware (ie. an old game might work on new ATI hw but not NVidia, or vice versa), but that shouldn't be a problem anymore with software emulation, I presume?

Is the visual output the same with D3D/OGL emulation, as with real HW?