GOG announcement: Master of Orion it is!

[Lonyo]

Still have MOO2 on disc, so I dont need this.
Interestingly, it works great under Windows XP. Better than many games made after it.
I think its my all time favorite with Imperium Galactica 2 a close 2nd, and Galactic Civilizations 2 a distant 3rd.
But IG2 doesnt fucking work right any more. I may seriously need to make a Win98 system just for a handful of games, like IG2 and Magic and a couple others.

If GoG got IG2 it would be awesome.
I think I have a CD copy somewhere, not tried it in ages. Wikipedia has some links to some patches for XP.

Agree on the old Win 98 system though. I've always wanted t make one so that older games are easy to play. Unfortunately I had a P3 600MHz but it got thrown out years ago. Really regret that now.

 

[shortylickens]

If GoG got IG2 it would be awesome.
I think I have a CD copy somewhere, not tried it in ages. Wikipedia has some links to some patches for XP.

Agree on the old Win 98 system though. I've always wanted t make one so that older games are easy to play. Unfortunately I had a P3 600MHz but it got thrown out years ago. Really regret that now.

If you dig around online you could probably find a P3 or P4 motherboard and CPU, maybe even part of a combo. Then you just need RAM to match. Get a basic turtle beach soundcard, cuz onboard audio from that era sucks.
A PATA hard drive, power supply that works with your motherboard. And I'm pretty sure if you dig around the internet you can get yourself Windows 98 for "cheap" :sneaky:

Would recommend a PS/2 keyboard cuz often that era of motherboards did not properly support USB keyboards during boot.

I think the biggest issue would be Win98 drivers for old hardware like your audio and video cards. If its in the original box you could use the CD, but as well all know, back then different versions of drivers did better and worse with various games. You would likely wanna update. Finding legacy drivers online might be a bitch.

But if you were careful with your money you could easily make a nice machine for 200 bucks or less. And theres plenty of dudes on Anandtech who could help you get your win98 games working under win98. Most of us remember the good old days fondly.

 

[Daverino]

I'm going to guess this means that MoO and MoO2 are going to get pulled from Abandonware sites. Too bad.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

does this support play by email or internet multiplayer in any way? I really don't know much about this game.

 

[Fox5]

Thanks guys

I did google it, but the 'problem' is you get locked into a wild goose chase sometimes or end up on some sites that look a little iffy.

I know the legality end of it is gray, but it would be super cool to have a Steam like service for the very old games like I'm looking for

http://www.hotud.org/

 

[Fox5]

Still have MOO2 on disc, so I dont need this.
Interestingly, it works great under Windows XP. Better than many games made after it.
I think its my all time favorite with Imperium Galactica 2 a close 2nd, and Galactic Civilizations 2 a distant 3rd.
But IG2 doesnt fucking work right any more. I may seriously need to make a Win98 system just for a handful of games, like IG2 and Magic and a couple others.

The proper way to play MOO2:
Dos version
Unofficial fan patches to fix Internet and bugs
DOSbox, with filters to upscale the graphics and make it look like a modern 2d game (sai2x and all that)

 

[Born2bwire]

Nope, stuff like that as the poster above me said, is pretty much abandon ware. It is a pretty gray area for legality and is a per title basis.

While I don't support downloading games you don't own, this is one of those rare instances where I'd say fuck it due to the age of it and since the IP is effectively dead. Try google with something like "download Heart of Africa commodore 64" I bet there are some ROM sites out there that would have it.

I just stick with a high-profile site like abandonia. It's not a clandestine way of getting the games and I figure if they weren't abandonware then whoever currently holds the copyright would be quick to get it pulled from the website. It's nice that distributors like GOG exists though. I'm also encouraged by the fact that more and more publishers are revisiting these older games, like Lucasarts, which will hopefully increase the availability of older catalogues or even the resurgence of old IP.

 

[daishi5]

Does the GOG version have the latest patches and fixes so they will run easily in 7? I remember always having trouble with sound and performance in XP with 2, and I would love to pay for a good fixed version of both.

 

[Jesusthewererabbit]

The great thing about GoG is that they actually do work to make sure that these old games actually work on new systems. Some of them, like the MoO Games are pretty easy, they just include DosBox. Others, like Interstate 76 which uses the Mechwarrior 2 engine and uses some rather strange AI, took them a lot more effort to get ported to newer operating systems than Windows 98. You also get support from them, which you will never get from abandonia or other places.

Does the GOG version have the latest patches and fixes so they will run easily in 7? I remember always having trouble with sound and performance in XP with 2, and I would love to pay for a good fixed version of both.

I've put a few hours into it, and haven't had any problems on Win7 x64.

 

[Magusigne]

Ill be buying this one soon. I love MoO..that and Masters of Magic as well!