By Michael Murphy (Murph) on Saturday, September 1, 2001 - 01:02 am:
Just got the newest CGM, and the CD included has the original version of Civilization on it! (Good news to me, since I haven't had the original since I lost the 5 1/4" disks it was on...) But, something's different than I remember...The overall look (more Windows-friendly), but something else, too. Maybe I just never played the Windows version. It's been too long to remember. Can someone shed some light?
Nevertheless, it's great to have this!!
By Jason_cross (Jason_cross) on Saturday, September 1, 2001 - 01:15 am:
The version on the disc is the original Civ of Windows. I'm not POSITIVE about the differences, but I'm pretty sure it's limited to the Windows interface stuff.
We figured that would amount to a lot less hassle than putting a DOS game on a disc in a world where every computer sold in the last year has Windows ME on it, and even very old machines need MoSlo to run a DOS program at the proper speed. =)
By Michael Murphy (Murph) on Saturday, September 1, 2001 - 01:20 am:
Hey, I think it's great! (Last time I tried to run the DOS version...well, it was pretty much a nightmare!) I'd never seen the Windows version -- not that I looked much.
Thanks for CGM for a great CD this month!
By Jason McCullough on Saturday, September 1, 2001 - 03:18 am:
A friend of mine swears up and down that WinCiv had a worse AI than the dos version for some reason. Other than that, it's a lot better than the dos version.
By mtkafka (Mtkafka) on Saturday, September 1, 2001 - 07:13 am:
CGM is just a winner. CGM is gold, the best. Putting one of the best games for free AND playable in windows? how should i just say, uhmm... nice going guys (and gals)!
BTW, did you guys have to pay some serious moolah to do this? or something?
etc
By Steve on Saturday, September 1, 2001 - 11:20 am:
>>BTW, did you guys have to pay some serious moolah to do this? or something?
Nah, we just asked. It's out of print and unavailable in stores, so they just gave us a standard distribution agreement with no money and no fuss.
By mtkafka (Mtkafka) on Sunday, September 2, 2001 - 07:06 am:
thats pretty nice of em. was it EA that allowed this or Microprose? ah nevermind, its pretty cool that they allowed this, wish more mags released the games of yester year on there mags. they do do that i think, but i just recently re subscribed, hmm im out of it.
btw chick, nice article on Civ and stuff, was good bathroom reading... harhar. I read the best in the bathroom btw... and no not playboy!
etc
By Dave Long on Sunday, September 2, 2001 - 11:16 pm:
Should have been Infogrames that they asked for the ability to distribute it...it's also a great way to promote your new iteration in the series with a FREE version of the original game.
--Dave
By Steve on Monday, September 3, 2001 - 05:42 pm:
We asked Firaxis about the possibility, they got in touch with Infogrames, and they said okay. They actually were the ones that recommended the Windows version (thank god).
And I found the PDF manual on some abandonware site... heh heh.
By mtkafka (Mtkafka) on Tuesday, September 4, 2001 - 05:28 am:
Maybe CGM should distribute more abandonware games like this. Like maybe do a retro issue with a buttload of classics ... Infocom games would be a good start! or maybe old Microprose as well. Sort of in rememberance of things past... like an old geezer nostalgia trip!
"in my day, we didnt have rant rant rant! And we LIKED it!"
etc
By Steve on Tuesday, September 4, 2001 - 01:58 pm:
PC Gamer already did that one issue, I think.
Not all companies would give approval, and frankly we don't want the support nightmare of putting a bunch of DOS games on the CD, some of which would require MoSlo...
By Anonymous on Tuesday, September 4, 2001 - 02:23 pm:
I wish you could download Civilization somewhere ...
By kazz on Tuesday, September 4, 2001 - 06:31 pm:
This could be a good thing for the Master Of Orion sequel coming out next year. Maybe get either the original of MOO2 on the CD.
By Steve on Tuesday, September 4, 2001 - 09:00 pm:
MOO2 would probably take up an entire CD. Once you hit the CD games, they take 100MB or more of your CD. You really need floppy-based games, and you need them to be Windows games. Not a common combo, unfortunately.
By Dave Long on Tuesday, September 4, 2001 - 10:49 pm:
One possibility for the DOS games is to provide a preconfigured shortcut for the game. It wouldn't work for everyone and right there I'd note that's the case in big, bold print somewhere. MOST people would be happy to get it and you'd probably end up with only a vocal minority that failed to get it to run. Evil Avatar would undoubtedly be one of those...
Jason's pretty good at simplifying technical stuff in his columns. I'd bet he could put together all the info needed to allow a DOS game to run on 95% of the PCs you shipped a CD to.
--Dave
By Jason McCullough on Wednesday, September 5, 2001 - 01:24 am:
Moo2 is only a hundred meg or two, actually.
By mtkafka (Mtkafka) on Wednesday, September 5, 2001 - 07:54 am:
Considering the size of demos and addons are about half a gig now, it would be coolto see Daggerfall which is 150mb and i have seen on abandonware sites. Might be a good ad for Morrowind and it would show the people who never played Daggerfall how... ahead of its time it was in certain ways.
Oh and add some Master of Magic too! maybe...
etc
By Roger Wong on Friday, September 7, 2001 - 01:01 pm:
Are there any Win32 DOS emulators?
By Ben Sones (Felderin) on Friday, September 7, 2001 - 04:08 pm:
"Jason's pretty good at simplifying technical stuff in his columns. I'd bet he could put together all the info needed to allow a DOS game to run on 95% of the PCs you shipped a CD to."
Yes! Make Jason do it. I really like that solution, and I suggest it often. =)