please recommend me

[delukard]

Hi let me introduce my self.

I am a console gamer that started to play pc games in 2005, i have played some games that i liked very much( BG2,GK3,HL,MTW, andMTW2, STALKER SOC best shooter i have played)

I'm looking into installing w98se(i have the vanilla 2E disk)

My main pc specs are the following,

AMD x4 630,4 GB ram,HD 4850,3x500gb sata 2, Audigy 2, and my OS are WXPx86 and W7x64.

I want to play some old games that don't run on xp and if they run they give problems.

My main goal is to build a dual boot 98se and xp with the following parts trying to keep a low power consumption

CPU'S

P4 2.0, P3 900mhz,Celeron 1.7,Duron 900mhz

.-For the p4 and the celeron i have a Motherboard that have agp4x And i have a gforce 4 ti 4400 128mb, a Vodoo 5 5500 128mb and a ati 9600xt 128mb

.-For the duron and the P3 i have a Pci only motherboard , but i have a Ati 9250.

.-For a sound card i have a CREATIVE AUDIGY .

So here are the questions

What build would you recommend for the following games considering a dual boot xp and 98se

.-Onmikron, System shock 2, Deus ex 1 and Deus ex IW,Unreal gold,Faust,Wheel of time,Sacred)

And the most important question is After installing W98SE

.-install Unofficial sp2?(where's SP1?)

.-Install official drivers from creative for the Audigy?

.-Whats the most stable Browser (Firefox ?)

Thanks for the help!!!

Edit , i can't find the audigy platinum drivers for W98SE can someone help me please?

Edited January 16, 2011 by delukard

[Tripredacus]

Audigy Platinum is kinda generic, since there were a bunch of different ones released with those two words in the name. Model number would be better (it is printed on the card itself) to determine which it is. I found that SB0090 and SB0162 work in Win98 with these drivers:

http://support.creative.com/downloads/download.aspx?nDownloadId=229

File Name : AUDRVVXD.EXE

This is a driver update of Sound Blaster Audigy for users running on Windows 98SE and Windows ME only.

This release is WHQL certified and includes support for the following languages : Brazil-Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and English.

This release has been tested on Sound Blaster Audigy (Model SB0090 and SB0162) and incorporates these features:

* Mute speakers when using headphones

* Headphone autodetection

* 96 kHz default switched to 48 kHz

Note: Please ensure that you have installed the Sound Blaster Audigy installation CD before you run this update (AUDRVVXD.EXE)

[LoneCrusader]

...

What build would you recommend...

By all means use the P4. I would choose the ATI 9600XT video card, but there are several NVidia fans here that may disagree.

If you want to use more than 512MB of RAM, I do not recommend the Unofficial Service Pack. I recommend RLoew's RAM patch instead. RLoew also has solutions for using hard drives >137GB if you plan to use one.

After installing 98SE, you should install DirectX 9.0c from December 2006. (This is the last version for Windows 9x and will probably be a requirement for the drivers of the newer Video cards you listed.) And, while optional, may improve compatibility with other programs - Internet Explorer 6 SP1. After that, it's all about your own personal taste in program selection.

Browsers.. Well, Firefox 2.0.0.20 is the last official Firefox for Windows 9x. This is what I use. I believe Opera 10.63 is the last official Opera for Windows 9x (Opera fans correct me if I'm wrong).

Edited January 16, 2011 by LoneCrusader

[delukard]

Thanks for all the help.

I have read some treads specially the pinned one about software.

I have 3 questions.

.-is there a software like task manager that tells me the ram,swap,and cpu usage?(the one on the list doe more things than that, like scann for virus, and tbh i prefer an AV to do that)

.-I installed the UOSP2, is 98tome recommended to install also?

.- and lastly any good games that run only on w98? lol

[Jolaes]

ad 1

Try Advanced Task Manager (ATM) and Process Explorer.

ad 2

Definitely. You can find many patches and fixes on MDGX's site that are more recent, more stable etc than SP2 so eventually 85% of Unofficial SP2 files will be replaced by newer ones. IMHO this means that one can safely skip SP2 entirely.

982ME and KernelEx are what you need on a faster system like a P4 or A64.

Keep in mind what LoneCrusader said; having more RAM than cca 1 GB and "large" HDDs (above cca 125 GB) mean that need to install other fixes. For RAM, you can go up to cca 1.25 GB with a free solution, anything above that calls for RLoew's Ram Limitation patch.

For large HDDs and onboard SATA controllers without Win98 drivers, you will need RLoew's TBPLUS package.

ad 3

Not in the scope of these forums I am afraid, but

there are some games which cannot run optimally (or worse, wont run at all) on any other Windows than Win95 / Win98 because they are hardwired to certain 9x specific files (WinG32, ancient Quicktime codecs, video card drivers etc.) For example, Warhammer 4k Chaos Gate was such a game. You should visit other -gaming- sites as well, although there might be people around here who can give you hints, too.

[delukard]

So the good way to install windows is this?

Clean install of W98SE + check site of sp2 creator and download fixes,(instead of complete UOSP2?

I ask this because i'm getting random freezes when i install something or using the internet(on xp on the same drive i can install anything and even game)

[Jolaes]

If your computer is otherwise rock-stable with XP and you can rule out hardware failures (all voltages, all I/O test readouts are OK, Orthos, Prime95 etc. can run at least for 2 hrs)

then try to find out what the problem is on Win98SE. If vanilla Win98SE works perfectly then most likely (one of) the upgrades cause(s) the problem. Install one package at a time starting with the one with the oldest files.

Maybe it is easier for you to do it this way:

1. install WIN98SE + all drivers

2. TEST. IF OK then make a backup

3. install Uo SP2 or SP3 beta 4

4. TEST. IF OK make a backup

5. install selected upgrades from MDGx's site. (btw he is not the author of Uo Service Packs).

Be careful here, many of them have specific prerequisites AND cannot be installed with certain upgrades already present.

6. TEST. IF OK make a backup

7. install 98SE2ME. (This is not only a vanilla ME transplant any more, it contains patched/upgraded ME system files as well.)

8. TEST... you know the rest

9. install KernelEx