[XxtraLarGe]

I'm sort of old school when it comes to gaming, and I have several older games I'd still like to play from the Mac OS 9/X cross-over days. Lots of games either don't play, or don't play properly under classic in OS X, and won't play at all now with the Intel Macs. Games I'm thinking of primarily are Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Icewind Dale, Diablo 2 & expansion, HOMM 3, Majesty, Sacrifice, Warcraft 3, Unreal, Unreal Tournament, etc., mostly low-end games by today's standards. I'm looking on eBay, and there's a lot of selection out there for all-in-one machines. I'm thinking of either an 500-600 MHz iMac or a 700-800 MHz eMac. The goal here is to have an inexpensive game machine, light internet usage would be a bonus. I have wireless in my house, so that's not a problem. So my friends, what I'm asking for is thoughts & experience with any of these games on these systems. Any input would be appreciated!

[QuantaCat]

uhhh, theres a patch for Unreal Tournament 99. I can play it on my MBP.

[Bartleby]

I know that Baldur's Gate II, Diablo II, and WarCraft III all have OSX installers. As I recall, BG II took some shenanigans to install properly, though.

I can't speak for some of those games, but I ran Diablo II and Baldur's Gate II on an old beige box G3 for quite awhile. Slow, but it worked. Icewind Dale, HOMM3, BG1, and Majesty all ran well enough, and this was at 233 MHz IIRC. Can't comment on Unreal, though.

[bookman]

I have a 600 mHz iMac that handles all those games quite nicely - the eMac might be a better option for the G4 and the 32 MB of vram. I'm sure the desklamp iMacs are pretty cheap now too and would make nice OS 9 game boxes.

[XxtraLarGe]

QuantaCat, on February 6th 2008, 02:58 PM, said:

uhhh, theres a patch for Unreal Tournament 99. I can play it on my MBP.

That's like 1 game. I know many of these can play in OS X. I've tried it. Some games play perfect in classic, others don't. Cut scenes in Summoner don't play properly, and cut scenes in Vampire the Masquerade don't play at all in game. Also, this is my fall-back computer for gaming when my wife wants to use my PowerBook for burning movies in iDVD, etc.

[JGuy80]

You might try this out. http://uneasysilence...e/2006/08/7352/ There is a version this guy has made that runs os 7.5 perfectly. Here's the version - http://macwp.com/files/SS-WP%201.1.zip

[Douglas]

XxtraLarGe, on February 6th 2008, 11:48 AM, said:

I'm sort of old school when it comes to gaming, and I have several older games I'd still like to play from the Mac OS 9/X cross-over days. Lots of games either don't play, or don't play properly under classic in OS X, and won't play at all now with the Intel Macs. Games I'm thinking of primarily are Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Icewind Dale, Diablo 2 & expansion, HOMM 3, Majesty, Sacrifice, Warcraft 3, Unreal, Unreal Tournament, etc., mostly low-end games by today's standards. I'm looking on eBay, and there's a lot of selection out there for all-in-one machines. I'm thinking of either an 500-600 MHz iMac or a 700-800 MHz eMac. The goal here is to have an inexpensive game machine, light internet usage would be a bonus. I have wireless in my house, so that's not a problem. So my friends, what I'm asking for is thoughts & experience with any of these games on these systems. Any input would be appreciated!

Hello fellow OS 9 Gamer!!

Here is what I did and what I recommend to others...get A Blue & White G3!!! I have a 400MHZ G3 (overclocked to 500mhz) that I absolutely love and it runs all my old Mac games just perfect! I have installed a "3dfx Voodoo 5" video card in it and a "Wired4DVD" card so I can watch dvd movies. It currently has 512Meg of RAM (expandable to 1 gig!!) and this has been just fine for all my older games. The Blue and White G3 was the LAST Powermac to have an onboard adb port for the older joysticks and also both of the newer usb and firewire ports..the best of both worlds! Also since so many people are using os X and want a G4 for that the Blue & White is pretty darn cheap at this point.

As far as your eMac consideration...BEWARE..BEWARE..BEWARE! A LOT of these machine have the notorious "defective erupting capacitors" that destroy the motherboard (in fact Apple had an extended eMac warranty because of this). I just had to pull the hard drive out of a friend of mines eMac and transfer it into an external case because his eMac capacitors had ALL spewed electrolyte on the motherboard...it was a hideous mess.

Trust me, get a Blue & White G3..it's cheap, easy as hell to expand, and a really fun machine to play with!

Have fun!!!!!!

Douglas

[Jude]

I'd suggest getting something with at least a 32 MB graphics card. For Warcraft III, especially, a G4 500 with at least a 32 MB AGP graphics card or you may run into graphics glitches. Although Diablo II, Warcraft III and Starcraft all have updated OS X patches and/or installers at blizzard.com, I know there are many cool games that don't and that need OS 9 to run properly (like Deus X).

Make sure whatever you buy comes with the original install disks, because some of the last OS 9 bootable Macs could not install OS 9 from a separate install disk but need to use the install disk for that particular Mac (or directly copy over an already installed OS 9 system folder).

Jude

[Tetsuya]

XxtraLarGe, on February 6th 2008, 12:48 PM, said:

I'm sort of old school when it comes to gaming, and I have several older games I'd still like to play from the Mac OS 9/X cross-over days. Lots of games either don't play, or don't play properly under classic in OS X, and won't play at all now with the Intel Macs. Games I'm thinking of primarily are Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Icewind Dale, Diablo 2 & expansion, HOMM 3, Majesty, Sacrifice, Warcraft 3, Unreal, Unreal Tournament, etc., mostly low-end games by today's standards. I'm looking on eBay, and there's a lot of selection out there for all-in-one machines. I'm thinking of either an 500-600 MHz iMac or a 700-800 MHz eMac. The goal here is to have an inexpensive game machine, light internet usage would be a bonus. I have wireless in my house, so that's not a problem. So my friends, what I'm asking for is thoughts & experience with any of these games on these systems. Any input would be appreciated!

all on a MacPro:

Baldur's Gate 2 runs fine under OSX (though sometimes you have to make a folder for it if the installer borks out) and you can run BG1 through 2 with BGTutu. Mine ran totally fine (and looked nicer) until i got to Data files that were corrupted off of bad CD's.

Diablo 2 and Throne of Bhaal both run great. You may have to run them windowed, but they still run completely fine. I still play from time to time when i want some mindless blast-em action, though Hellgate: London has lately filled that void.

Warcraft 3 also runs fine on my Intel Mac, as does The Frozen Throne, though honestly, i really hated that game (a MASSIVE step down from the playability and fun of Starcraft, IMO) so i dont play it much.

you cant play the original Unreal (well, you can, getting to that...) in OSX but you can play UT99 just fine with the Beta OSX patch - and it runs great for me. (140fps or so maxed out with the GeForce 7300..) There is a fairly simple Mod that lets you run the original Unreal files in UT99 to play the original game - works great too.

honestly, id try an MDD G4 if i were you. (one of the first series, that could back-boot into OS9)

I have one, but it is starting to be in sad shape (i think the HDD controllero n the MoBo went.. but it still boots and runs great froma Firewire drive!) but it would suit all your needs admirably. Get a Dual 1Ghz machine, and get a TV-out adapter for it (you can retrofit a G5 Radeon 9600 into the machine with 2 pieces of tape and 20 seconds of your time, for about 30 bucks) and you can use it as a Digital Video player too, (outputs in 1920x1080 to the HDTV in the basement, when plugged into the DVI-in port) and watch any movies or music on your machine right into your home entertainment system. Still surfs the web fast, does email, etc, at fast speeds. Also, great for emulators and interactive games. I use mine for Stepmania as well, and the PS2-USB adapter lets me use by Dual--shock 2's for my emulators. You really cant go wrong with the MDDG4s.

[XxtraLarGe]

Tetsuya, on February 11th 2008, 12:28 AM, said:

honestly, id try an MDD G4 if i were you. (one of the first series, that could back-boot into OS9)

What's an MDD G4?

[cactusjoe]

XxtraLarGe, on February 11th 2008, 11:39 AM, said:

What's an MDD G4?

Mirror(ed) Drive Door.

[Tetsuya]

http://search.ebay.c...f...&category0=

i dont really know how to use the URL tags, sorry.

but that is a list of MDD G4's on sale on eBay.

theyre *substantially* faster than a Blue and White G3, have more video card options (pick up an OEM G5 Radeon 9600, tape over 2 pins with masking tape, and you're good to go, probably for 30 bucks or less), and are still fast enough to play digital video, run some of the more strenuous emulators, and surf the web/email at zippy speeds.

[PeopleLikeFrank]

Tetsuya, on February 11th 2008, 04:12 PM, said:

http://search.ebay.c...f...&category0=

i dont really know how to use the URL tags, sorry.

but that is a list of MDD G4's on sale on eBay.

theyre *substantially* faster than a Blue and White G3, have more video card options (pick up an OEM G5 Radeon 9600, tape over 2 pins with masking tape, and you're good to go, probably for 30 bucks or less), and are still fast enough to play digital video, run some of the more strenuous emulators, and surf the web/email at zippy speeds.

There's a button that does the tags for you.

I've been thinking about trying to resurrect my QS G4. If I can find a replacement motherboard for it cheap-like, then it might be worth it. I sold everything else a while ago except the case and CPU, but have an extra HD and optical drive kicking around, so I would need a MB, video card and RAM.

[XxtraLarGe]

Of course, this may all be academic by now anyway. I was in Best Buy yesterday, and had a compulsive urge to buy a cobalt blue Nintendo DS Lite. They were flying off the shelves, and I wanted to grab one before they were all gone. Still, it's a pretty nice chunk of change, so I should prolly clear it with my wife first, else I'll have to bring it back. Still, the thought of being able to play Civilization ANYWHERE is overwhelmingly tempting!

[Janichsan]

XxtraLarGe, on February 12th 2008, 05:18 PM, said:

Still, the thought of being able to play Civilization ANYWHERE is overwhelmingly tempting!

Until then, you could play Age of Empires or 1701 AD ANYWHERE, just to satisfy you mobile strategy gaming need. Very recommendable.

[XxtraLarGe]

Janichsan, on February 12th 2008, 11:26 AM, said:

Until then, you could play Age of Empires or 1701 AD ANYWHERE, just to satisfy you mobile strategy gaming need. Very recommendable.

Doesn't look like 1701 AD has been released on this side of the pond yet. Looks cool though!

[Douglas]

Tetsuya, on February 11th 2008, 01:12 PM, said:

http://search.ebay.c...f...&category0=

i dont really know how to use the URL tags, sorry.

but that is a list of MDD G4's on sale on eBay.

theyre *substantially* faster than a Blue and White G3, have more video card options (pick up an OEM G5 Radeon 9600, tape over 2 pins with masking tape, and you're good to go, probably for 30 bucks or less), and are still fast enough to play digital video, run some of the more strenuous emulators, and surf the web/email at zippy speeds.

Those *are* nice machines, but If you're talking about running old OS 9 games, they are also *quite* a bit more expensive than a used Blue & White G3. My 500 MHZ Blue & White runs all of my older classic software and apps really fast. It is nice to have access to an AGP port on the newer machines, although my Voodoo 5 hasn't seemed to choke on my PCI slot with anything yet!

Either way, for the games you have listed "any" machine that boots classic from the Blue & White G3 up will work great for you!

Douglas

[Eric D.V.H.]

XxtraLarGe, on February 6th 2008, 01:48 PM, said:

I'm sort of old school when it comes to gaming, and I have several older games I'd still like to play from the Mac OS 9/X cross-over days. Lots of games either don't play, or don't play properly under classic in OS X, and won't play at all now with the Intel Macs. Games I'm thinking of primarily are Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Icewind Dale, Diablo 2 & expansion, HOMM 3, Majesty, Sacrifice, Warcraft 3, Unreal, Unreal Tournament, etc., mostly low-end games by today's standards.

Of the games you've mentioned, the following run natively under OS X (with latest patch links):

• Baldur's Gate II: SoA
  
• -On the one hand, it's very difficult to install on OS X and had performance problems on a fully loaded 733Mhz PMG4. On the other hand, you should already be going through a lot of trouble during installation because playing it without the fanmade fixpacks (Baldurdash at least, get them here) is an exercise in futility on any OS, and I had performance problems under _OS 9_ on the same machine. Even if the program sucked, it's still an awesome game.
  
• Icewind Dale
  
• -Runs under OS X. I don't have this game, but it probably works about like BG2 .
  
• Sacrifice
  
• -I haven't played this either.
  
• Diablo II/LoD
  
• -Excellent update, it even works alongside the OS 9 version, sharing profiles and stuff perfectly. It does crash every once in a while, so remember to save. You can use the OS 9 installer or a new OS X-only installer, and it'll download updates whenever you log onto BNet from either OS.
  
• Warcraft III: TRoC
  
• -This one didn't just ship with OS 9, OS X and WinDOS installers on the original disc, the newest patches are universal binary and don't even support OS 9 anymore.
  
• Unreal Tournament (unfinished beta)
  
• -This is a partly completed re-port that has a lot of bugs, but it works very well when it's functioning properly.

While I don't have an 80x86 machine , I'd imagine that all of these also run under Rosetta.

Although the rest don't run natively under OS X, they all work quite well under Classic:

• Baldur's Gate/TotSC
  
• -However much validity the complaints this port received when it came out may have had, the fully patched up version I got bundled with TotSC plays like liquid silk under OS 9 and Classic on any Mac. The original game's buggy scripting still shines through though, so remember to pick up the 3rd-party fixpacks here before starting a game.
  
• HoMM 3
  
• -I've played this under Classic and it seems to work fine.
  
• Unreal
  
• -I never bought Unreal, but games using its engine (Ah, Deus Ex...) run perfectly under Classic. Unreal Tournament and its engine licensees always work perfectly under Classic for me too (Rune Coop, entrail slashing fun).
  
• Majesty
  
• -I played a LOT of Majesty on GamerAnger, and once replayed the entire campaign under Classic with iTunes running in the background (Friend's 17" iMac G4 700Mhz) and experienced no difficulties. 'Shame the devs cancelled Majesty 2 to make that bomb of a Playboy game.

While I have never personally run across any machine or video chipset that can't use Classic's integrated RAVE-in-OpenGL wrapper, if you can't get RAVE to work under Classic, try OpenGLide, a Glide-in-OpenGL wrapper.

If you can't run Classic, there's SheepShaver (an OS 9 emulator that can run on 80x86 Macs and under 10.5). I've only dabbled lightly with SheepShaver, and while it works fairly smoothly, it is clunky to set up and doesn't support hardware video acceleration (so no GLIDE/RAVE/OpenGL apps). If you've got an OS X-only PPC Mac (Which it sounds like you do) but can't run Classic because you installed 10.5, consider installing a copy of 10.4 or something on another drive or partition, I've still got a copy of 10.1 on my 3rd HDD for those stubborn apps (not for Classic though, I'm using a 1.25Ghz MDD G4, the fastest OS 9 Mac ever made, with a GF4Ti, the fastest OS 9 GPU;)) and have never had any interference or problems with it.

XxtraLarGe, on February 6th 2008, 01:48 PM, said:

I'm looking on eBay, and there's a lot of selection out there for all-in-one machines. I'm thinking of either an 500-600 MHz iMac or a 700-800 MHz eMac. The goal here is to have an inexpensive game machine, light internet usage would be a bonus. I have wireless in my house, so that's not a problem. So my friends, what I'm asking for is thoughts & experience with any of these games on these systems. Any input would be appreciated!

If you really want to get a spare machine, here's the key things to choosing a spare OS 9 machine for games:

• 100Mhz memory bus, minimum. PC-66 SDRAM does not cut it.
  
• AGP, PCI graphics are a titanic bottleneck.
  
• If you're getting integrated graphics (all-in-one, laptop, etc...), you need GeForce2MX/Radeon 7500 minimum. Upgradable machines can be dealt with as needed, but crummy integrated graphics are forever.

Once you satisfy that, practically anything will do. Used Macs are filthy cheap now too (-$200 for G4s is common, -$100 for many G3s isn't too hard), a quick spin through eBay turned up a $109 Buy It Now 700Mhz eMac, any amount of real effort would do even better (Is anyone else amazed that you can get a $4000 Mac II with several proprietary $10000 NuBus workstation cards for about $10-$20 now?).

Eric,

[ukimalefu]

http://source.bungie.org/get/

[Cobra]

I love some of the old games just as much (if not more) as new releases, and it's a pity Classic was dropped although I personally could never use it having an Intel Mac. I tried using SheepShaver to run one of my very fav Mac oldies, Night Trap and found it pretty CPU intensive, and couldn't quite run it properly although close with just a little sound skipping.

On that note, if anyone is interested in selling any old Digital Pictures FMV games like Night Trap (mine is loose without a box) or Double Switch, let me know.