DOS / Windows 3.x Drivers for TNT2 ?

[tnandy2]

Like many others, I have a shelf filled with old PC games. I played them on whatever hardware I could budget back in the day. A couple are so old they refuse to run on "recent" operating systems like Windows 98SE. Now that obsolete hardware and operating systems are really cheap, I'm building the gaming computers I could only have dreamed of when those games were new. This time I want to play without low framerates limiting the experience.

I think a 32MB TNT2 ought to be more than enough to handle any game where Windows 95 is the latest O/S listed in the system requirements. Most that old need 4MB or less. According to the drivers download page, a RIVA 128ZX (wish I had one) supports Windows 3.x. I did not see any DOS drivers currently available for any hardware. Has anyone ever written a DOS or Windows 3.x device driver that would take advantage of the capabilities of a TNT2? If not, is there some way to fake it out or am I stuck with standard VGA? I don't mind the 640 * 480 resolution so much, it's the 60 Hz that makes my eyes cross.

If there is no such thing, what's the most advanced nVidia chipset for which there is an available DOS device driver? I'd appreciate any suggestions or comments.

[sharangad]

I dunno about Win3.1. However DOS can use any resolution without a driver. There's something called the VESA BIOS Extensions ( version 2.0 and up ) which'll let DOS games ask the graphics card what resolutions and refresh rates and colour depths it supports and can use those modes and do graphics independently of the graphics card manufacurer.

However, most old DOS games don't know about VESA. Some games do like DOS Quake 1 and should work fine under DOS. However, this game is available for Windows with enhanced OpenGL graphics, so you proly won't want to play this under DOS.

[Banko]

TNT2 never used Win 3.x, use Windows 95 for your DOS playing.

[saturnotaku]

I use DOSBox to play titles that will not work on Windows 98. I've used the emulator on both Windows 98 and XP and it's worked great on all games I've tried.

[tnandy2]

DOSBox was recommended on another forum where I posted a similar request. It certainly bears examination. Thanks for all the responses.