MS-DOS Game Preservation

[zodiac]

I know that this is off topic, but does anyone know if there is any level of activity preserving .img files for MS-DOS games? There is very little that I can find, especially in comparison to all the efforts on the Amiga.

I know that there is a Dos Collection (i.e Exodos), but the majority of that collection does not include original floppy disk images.

It appears that most of the original software is going to be lost to history. Thanks!

[stevsurv]

Checkout archive.org. They have many img files of older dos games.

For some reason it looks like the site has display problems when I went on today.

[Mrz]

Originally Posted by zodiac

It appears that most of the original software is going to be lost to history. Thanks!

don't worry everything is going to be lost to history
you,me, your family etc
The AMiga games will be lost in 40 or 50 years when all the old fans will be died
or do you think that people in 100 years will care about some buggy games from an old computer? nope

just imagine the numbers videogames that can be created in the next 100 years
everything will be so numerous will occupy as much size as nobody will care about preserving anything

[zodiac]

Originally Posted by Mrz

don't worry everything is going to be lost to history
you,me, your family etc
The AMiga games will be lost in 40 or 50 years when all the old fans will be died
or do you think that people in 100 years will care about some buggy games from an old computer? nope

just imagine the numbers videogames that can be created in the next 100 years
everything will be so numerous will occupy as much size as nobody will care about preserving anything

This may very well be the most depressing response I have ever read. I appreciate your insight, but I encourage you to look at the world in a different light.

[Retroplay]

I assume TOSEC catalogues IBM disks ?

There's also MAME software lists, contains IBM 5150 & IBM 5170 .img and .dsk images.
If need be I could pack up all the images (complete as of MAME 0.205) and up them (temporarily) to my user folder on ftp.

[hiho]

There is a torrent out there for the "Total Dos Collection". It contains over 108GB of MS-Dos games. I'm sure that has to be a team effort.

[Mrz]

Originally Posted by zodiac

This may very well be the most depressing response I have ever read. I appreciate your insight, but I encourage you to look at the world in a different light.

my post was not depressing
is fact that today the amount of PC games from 1983 to 2018 is so numerous and complex that nobody have a list or something like that, imagine just 20 more years of games,will be more numerous than the stars
I encourage you to look at the world how it really is

[Amiga4000]

Well, zodiac referenced MS-DOS games not PC games.

I'm not one to go searching the web for MS-DOS games 'cause I own a couple hundred big box originals - and to be honest, I've not really found a source for old MS-DOS games that were exact images of the original disks. I have often wondered the same as zodiac.

[Mrz]

Originally Posted by Amiga4000

Well, zodiac referenced MS-DOS games not PC games.

MS-DOS games are PC games in the planet and galaxy where I live
I do not know if on your planet this is different

most of them can not be categorized in DOS or Windows because most of them run in both ie Quake, Rayman,Carmageddon, Descent etc

most DOS exclusive games can be found in the web only in cracked HD rips not in original floppy disks because it was the way they were disseminated at the time
however you can found some original non cracked DOS games in CD format
and that's all , there is to be satisfied with that there is no way to change

[jotd]

"will be more numerous than the stars" I doubt it since the number of stars has been estimated (how?) to 10**23...

But true, it's more difficult to find original uncracked/unzipped MS-DOS games. Probably because a lot of them had no physical protection (some had protections, I remember cracking Cadaver, and seeing a trackloader for Indiana Jones action game) so could be zipped.

And a lot of them also were HD installable, so it was more handy to install then zip the install than imaging the floppies.

I guess the fact that most amiga games weren't hd installable/most users didn't have HDs kind of helped preserve amiga original disk images.

[Pyromania]

@Mrz

There are tons upon tons of games right now on Smart Phones and other modern computers. More games than you could ever have time to play. That said I personally still enjoy playing Amiga games sometimes. When I have time to play games it will usually be Amiga games. Most MS-DOS games don’t excite me but that’s my personal opinion. Even though they don’t interest me, I think they should be preserved and emulated.

[Mikerochip]

Check out The Good Old Days.

http://www.goodolddays.net/

And their PC section: http://www.goodolddays.net/list/system%2C4/
They have a forum too.

But I also recommend, as someone already said, TDC the Total DOS Collection keep exact filenames and sizes and dates for files that were released as dos floppies.
http://www.totaldoscollection.org/

[Mrz]

Originally Posted by jotd

"will be more numerous than the stars" I doubt it since the number of stars has been estimated (how?) to 10**23...

how ?
was estimated by pure charlatanism , nobody knows how many stars exists

[Supamax]

Originally Posted by Pyromania

@Mrz

There are tons upon tons of games right now on Smart Phones and other modern computers. More games than you could ever have time to play. That said I personally still enjoy playing Amiga games sometimes. When I have time to play games it will usually be Amiga games. Most MS-DOS games don’t excite me but that’s my personal opinion. Even though they don’t interest me, I think they should be preserved and emulated.

I agree .

Originally Posted by Mikerochip

But I also recommend, as someone already said, TDC the Total DOS Collection keep exact filenames and sizes and dates for files that were released as dos floppies.
http://www.totaldoscollection.org/

I see their archive is not available to the public... or is it possible to find their program disk images somewhere/somehow?

[Pyromania]

Most MS-DOS games I tried kind of sucked.

[rygar]

Originally Posted by Supamax

I agree .
I see their archive is not available to the public... or is it possible to find their program disk images somewhere/somehow?

TDC is availabe without problem from torrent sites. Here is info what is included and what's still missing:
http://www.totaldoscollection.org/nugnugnug/
There's also hidden forum there

[idrougge]

Originally Posted by Amiga4000

Well, zodiac referenced MS-DOS games not PC games.

The only MS-DOS games are text adventures.

[zodiac]

Originally Posted by idrougge

The only MS-DOS games are text adventures.

Wow, what a tough crowd!

My MS-DOS Boxed collection begs to differ... Tie Fighter, System Shock, Lands of Lore, Master of Magic, Master of Orion, etc, those are some great text adventures.

[idrougge]

Those are MS-DOS games in the same way that Shadow of the Beast is an AmigaDOS game.

[zodiac]

Originally Posted by idrougge

Those are MS-DOS games in the same way that Shadow of the Beast is an AmigaDOS game.

Really? I have to run them all from a MS-DOS prompt on my 486 DOS 6.22 machine. It says it’s MS-DOS and the boxes list MS-DOS as a requirement. Hmmm... so what am I running?