So, I finally got tired of waiting for GOG to get its act toogether, and I brushed of the dust of the CD-Rom case for the Blade Runner game. After some browsing on the internet, I found out it's actually possible to install and play it as if it was stil lyesteryear, and this stuff actually worked!

It got me quite excited and I was wondering if any of you have got old gems installed and working on your modern computers, but without GOG's intervention. It could also provide some inspiration for GOG on which games they should work on adding for those not lucky enough toh ave the software on cd-roms or floppies.

Aside from Blade Runner, I've also got GTA2 and Mafia (with original soundtrack) working like a charm. :-D

I also managed to get Blade Runner working last year, it's not that difficult though it did require about a hour of scrolling through websites and downloading certain patches and programs. ScummVM is very good and allowed me to play Monkey Island 3 (albeit with some struggling to get voice acting to work). I was on a role until Black and White, which unfortunately has that pirating protection prevents Windows 10 Computers from playing them. I want to get Neverhood up and running but preowned copies are SO expensive.

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Protip: dgVoodoo is magic.

It may seem so, but it's actually science.

Magical science.

Sure, like real fantasy.

Magic is really fantastical, isn't it? ^:)

Everything that exists only in our mind is fantastical! B-)

Tumblebugs (By Voxar)

You just have to trick it into either accepting WIndows NT, or fooling it to think something else is running.

Not going to make a long list of games here but some means and methods.

One reason to keep an old 32bit installation of Windows somwhere is so you can install 32bit games with 16bit installers. After having installed them you can then move the installation to your 64bit Windows installation. Remember the registery key(s) if appliciable! Also some .ini files and such the game may have put somewhere like root.

DgVoodoo is a saviour. Does GOG use it with any game? They should.

Wine is not only good to drink; it also might run your older Windows programs better than your Windows does.

Fiddling with DOSBox gives you a good understanding how it works. Not too hard to learn but some learning you must do.

That's not a fair thing to say imo. GOG would love to have Blade Runner here because it would sell like hotcakes; there are plenty of legal issues though.

The vast majority you can probably get working if you have the time, some technical know-how, and a decent search engine.

I occasionally loadup games in Dosbox if that counts.

edit:
I've played Blade Runner in the past, it's kind of meh tbh.

Even though I've still re-bought a lot on GOG for convenience / missing expansions, I'd have to say I actually had everything already running. If you know how / where to source "NoCD" patches or can install DOSBox / ScummVM yourself & tweak config files, then it's not that big an issue. There are lots of games I've had to "roll my own installer" / source NoCD's for anyway as they're still not on GOG (eg, Dune, Lemmings, Elite Plus, Heretic, Hexen, NOLF 1-2, Diablo 1-2, Age of Empires 1-2, Freelancer, Prey, Outrun 2006, Operation Flashpoint, and most things on GOG's wishlist including your Blade Runner).

Manually adding old adventure games to ScummVM is a no-brainer and needed for games still not on GOG (eg, The Neverhood). DOSBox defaults work well for most stuff, and manually creating links is as easy as "C:\Program Files\DOSBox\DOSBox.exe" pathtogame.exe -exit -fullscreen as a Start Menu shortcut.

Most CD-ROM games have NoCD's available. Many popular 90s games have been primarily fixed up by modding community (eg, Thief 1-2 / System Shock 2's "NewDark" / Tafferpatcher, Deus Ex's "Kentie's Launcher", etc). Other games actually run better in community made source ports vs GOG's default DOSBox package (eg, GZDoom for Doom 1-2 or Quakespasm for Quake 1).

Even with the GOG versions, some games still need patching for further bug fixing (eg, Morrowind Code Patch / Unofficial Bug Fixes) or adding widescreen, eg:-

- Commandos Behind Enemy Lines widescreen patch

- For Serious Sam FE & SE, go to install\scripts dir and edit PersistentSymbols.ini. Edit / add the lines:-
persistent extern INDEX sam_iScreenSizeI=(INDEX)1920;
persistent extern INDEX sam_iScreenSizeJ=(INDEX)1080;

- Sam & Max Seasons 2 & 3 are in widescreen, but Season 1 isn't. However, there's a TellTale Widescreen Patcher here that adds W/S to S1.

^ Just 3 examples of dozens of games where GOG doesn't add any widescreen patches, only compatibility patches. So if you want widescreen, you still need to edit them yourself. WSGF (WideScreen Gaming Forum) is the best resource for this stuff. Just click "GamesDB" and search.

Too many to name but heaps before Gog was even born as it ain't the master of games.