https://www.retro-exo.com/win3x_M.html
Just an FYI. Apparently somebody went through the trouble of gathering all the old games for Windows 3 and making them work in some OS. I've not downloaded this yet because I don't have a torrent client but I thought perhaps you or Debi might be interested in that it's vintage software.
Win 3.x Games
Re: Win 3.x Games
You can laugh, but I have SAVED on my Hard Drives, every game Windows ever made, including the DLL files they needed.
Trouble is, many won't run on a modern computer, not even in compatibility mode.
However, like you found, someone had modified a few of them, so they will run on newer computers, and at the proper speed.
You do have to download their Windows DOS and 3.0 emulator, or their 95/98 emulator at $19.95 each.
And they only work on Windows 7 machines, possibly on Windows 8 machines.
The time I stumbled on their website, they only offered Windows emulators for Windows 7.
But their game downloads are exactly like the ones we played, and at the speed they used to run at.
Especially the closing animations at the end when you won.
Debi used to love to play Jezzball, and became an ace at playing it too.
I even have the full copy of that with both the sound and DLL files.
Know anybody with a SoundBlaster 16? hi hi.
Trouble is, many won't run on a modern computer, not even in compatibility mode.
However, like you found, someone had modified a few of them, so they will run on newer computers, and at the proper speed.
You do have to download their Windows DOS and 3.0 emulator, or their 95/98 emulator at $19.95 each.
And they only work on Windows 7 machines, possibly on Windows 8 machines.
The time I stumbled on their website, they only offered Windows emulators for Windows 7.
But their game downloads are exactly like the ones we played, and at the speed they used to run at.
Especially the closing animations at the end when you won.
Debi used to love to play Jezzball, and became an ace at playing it too.
I even have the full copy of that with both the sound and DLL files.
Know anybody with a SoundBlaster 16? hi hi.
Re: Win 3.x Games
As I noted I did not download what that link is offering. It seems to be free, but I really don't know. I'm not interested in connecting to the torrent network so that I may never know what those guys are truly offering. It seems as if they have a totally functioning package, and they don't mention prices.
I don't doubt that you saved all those old games, but I think that every one of them starting at the Windows 95 level needs to be registered. The stand alone dll's are not enough to get them to work, even if you had the right hardware. And, I did have a SoundBlaster card up until I moved down here to Missouri. LOL I tore apart the computer that used it and sent it to the recycle facility.
I don't doubt that you saved all those old games, but I think that every one of them starting at the Windows 95 level needs to be registered. The stand alone dll's are not enough to get them to work, even if you had the right hardware. And, I did have a SoundBlaster card up until I moved down here to Missouri. LOL I tore apart the computer that used it and sent it to the recycle facility.
Re: Win 3.x Games
If I had a dime for every computer I took to our recyclers, and/or the computer guy, I could probably by a new computer, hi hi.
Actually, it was the cabinets and steel parts I took to the recyclers. The boards, power supplies, and cards all went to the computer guy. He often gave me a credit on them toward my next purchase.
The original owner had a guy who salvaged the gold and other things from them. But he only did them in like batches of a hundred or more boards at a time. I do know he got more than just gold from them too. I'm sure he got the copper, aluminum, and other metals, plus what he could glean from the boards he could resell.
I got many of them to work through WINE or Play on Linux on my other older Linux computer.
Like Freecell, I actually like the Windows version much better than the Linux version.
And Spyder, both are about the same Windows version or Linux version.
I play both of those nearly every day while waiting on something.
Hard to install and old game that asks for a specific sound card, or one designed for only CGA monitors, hi hi.
Even so, I keep them on my backup hard drives.
Back when I was using Windows I kept a file of every DLL that came down the pike, saved in a folder named ExtraDLLFiles.
There were many games back then, that were often missing a DLL file to make them work.
And if it told me which one was missing, I could go to my Folder and make a copy and put it in my working DLL file.
Many programs could work with the DLL file saved right in the folder with the game too.
I remember when Debi got a new XP computer, and she loved to play Jezzball.
She said she had no sound when playing Jezzball, so I checked her game file and sure enough, no sound folder in it.
So I dug back into my old IDE drives and found Jezzball complete with sound files and special graphics files too.
Put them on her computer and she was happy as a lark.
But since Windows 10, and moving back to Windows 7, she no longer plays that game, she has others she likes now.
Plus, she buys hundreds of games a year from Big Fish Games, hi hi.
Actually, it was the cabinets and steel parts I took to the recyclers. The boards, power supplies, and cards all went to the computer guy. He often gave me a credit on them toward my next purchase.
The original owner had a guy who salvaged the gold and other things from them. But he only did them in like batches of a hundred or more boards at a time. I do know he got more than just gold from them too. I'm sure he got the copper, aluminum, and other metals, plus what he could glean from the boards he could resell.
I got many of them to work through WINE or Play on Linux on my other older Linux computer.
Like Freecell, I actually like the Windows version much better than the Linux version.
And Spyder, both are about the same Windows version or Linux version.
I play both of those nearly every day while waiting on something.
Hard to install and old game that asks for a specific sound card, or one designed for only CGA monitors, hi hi.
Even so, I keep them on my backup hard drives.
Back when I was using Windows I kept a file of every DLL that came down the pike, saved in a folder named ExtraDLLFiles.
There were many games back then, that were often missing a DLL file to make them work.
And if it told me which one was missing, I could go to my Folder and make a copy and put it in my working DLL file.
Many programs could work with the DLL file saved right in the folder with the game too.
I remember when Debi got a new XP computer, and she loved to play Jezzball.
She said she had no sound when playing Jezzball, so I checked her game file and sure enough, no sound folder in it.
So I dug back into my old IDE drives and found Jezzball complete with sound files and special graphics files too.
Put them on her computer and she was happy as a lark.
But since Windows 10, and moving back to Windows 7, she no longer plays that game, she has others she likes now.
Plus, she buys hundreds of games a year from Big Fish Games, hi hi.