Running Old DirectX Windows Applications

[bertie343]

I have a couple of old Windows applications I want to emulate on my M1 Macbook Air. I already have Parallels set up with Windows 10 ARM, but I was wondering if there are any methods to run older Windows OSes like 95 or 98 so I can run old DirectX based applications.

I tired installing and running it within Windows 10 but it was super laggy and unusable. I'm thinking it had to with Windows compatability.

 

[leman]

You can try wine/crossover.

 

[Gerdi]

I typically have no issues with older games up to 20 years old under Windows 10/11 ARM.

 

[bobcomer]

I have a couple of old Windows applications I want to emulate on my M1 Macbook Air. I already have Parallels set up with Windows 10 ARM, but I was wondering if there are any methods to run older Windows OSes like 95 or 98 so I can run old DirectX based applications.

I tired installing and running it within Windows 10 but it was super laggy and unusable. I'm thinking it had to with Windows compatability.

There's really no reasonable way to emulate older Windows OS's on an M1 Mac. Parallels only runs Arm OS's. There's an app called UTM that can run older OS's, but the term glacial probably fits better than slow.

It would be better to buy an older Windows PC and use that for occasional gaming. (or an Intel Mac!)

 

[bertie343]

Yeah I was hoping to have some way to play 16-bit games on my Macbook Air while on the go. Usually there's always some way to achieve backwards compatibility.

 

[TrueBlou]

Temper your expectations a bit, though for old 16-bit games, it might not be so bad.

Other than the obvious one - Parallels, you could try DOSBox-X and Crossover from Codeweavers both of which have M1 support and are probably the best other options at the moment. There is another Win95 emulation project which is pretty darn impressive, but would more than likely be far too slow for your needs.

 

[bertie343]

I will try DOSBox-X. Parallels does not work, and I submitted a ticket with Codeweavers after I couldn't get an installer started for a 16-bit application and they stated, "The error 'module not found ' is typically associated with the app using 16-bit code which will not run on Catalina or Big Sur. Unfortunately 16-bit architecture is no longer supported in the latest MacOS. There is not an immediate solution for this specific app. This has nothing to do with the machine hardware itself but the MacOS. Apple simply do not support 16-bit code in MacOS and this is something we cannot fix."

 

[TrueBlou]

It's pretty good (depending on what you're running).
As a (huge) fan of retro gaming, the wife says obsessed, I say 80 odd systems is perfectly reasonable
I like to get in a bit of old gaming when I'm on the road as well.
DOSBox-X has been great for getting old games, such as A-Train up and running in an acceptable state on my M1 Air and Mini.

 

[swandy]

It's pretty good (depending on what you're running).
As a (huge) fan of retro gaming, the wife says obsessed, I say 80 odd systems is perfectly reasonable
I like to get in a bit of old gaming when I'm on the road as well.
DOSBox-X has been great for getting old games, such as A-Train up and running in an acceptable state on my M1 Air and Mini.

I had never heard of DOS Box X before this. Would it also run Windows applications? I have been trying to get an old program - Lotus Approach - to run properly on my M1 iMac. In Crossover and Windows 11/Parallels 17, the program will install, and open for me to see my various databases, but it gets screwed up on both methods when I try to go the print views and print something. Thanks.

 

[bobcomer]

I had never heard of DOS Box X before this. Would it also run Windows applications? I have been trying to get an old program - Lotus Approach - to run properly on my M1 iMac. In Crossover and Windows 11/Parallels 17, the program will install, and open for me to see my various databases, but it gets screwed up on both methods when I try to go the print views and print something. Thanks.

It might if you use Windows 3.1 and you have the version of approach for that.

 

[TrueBlou]

I had never heard of DOS Box X before this. Would it also run Windows applications? I have been trying to get an old program - Lotus Approach - to run properly on my M1 iMac. In Crossover and Windows 11/Parallels 17, the program will install, and open for me to see my various databases, but it gets screwed up on both methods when I try to go the print views and print something. Thanks.

As above, it will if you run it under Windows.

DOSBox-X is very versatile, here's a couple of sreenies, the first shows me running Approach under Windows 3.1 an the second is of Windows 95, because, well why not

I should mention that running Windows 3.1 is simple and straightforward. You can mount disks, folders and so on using the menus provided by DOSBox-X.

Windows 95/98/Me, not so much. I’m sure most of us here will have no trouble whatsoever with it. However, you lose access (for the time being) to the ability to quickly and easily mount disks and folders from the DOSBox-X menus.

Don’t worry, you can still use your old software, but it involves creating a config file to launch DOSBox-X, and subsequently Windows, from the command line.

With the configuration file, you can mount anything you like, before Windows is booted and get access to it from within windows just like any other external drive, or hard drive.

If however, anyone isn’t sure about how, I’m happy to share the (simple) steps needed and provide a copy of my config file to make life easy for you.

 

[swandy]

As above, it will if you run it under Windows.

DOSBox-X is very versatile, here's a couple of sreenies, the first shows me running Approach under Windows 3.1 an the second is of Windows 95, because, well why not

View attachment 1825897


View attachment 1825896


I should mention that running Windows 3.1 is simple and straightforward. You can mount disks, folders and so on using the menus provided by DOSBox-X.

Windows 95/98/Me, not so much. I’m sure most of us here will have no trouble whatsoever with it. However, you lose access (for the time being) to the ability to quickly and easily mount disks and folders from the DOSBox-X menus.

Don’t worry, you can still use your old software, but it involves creating a config file to launch DOSBox-X, and subsequently Windows, from the command line.

With the configuration file, you can mount anything you like, before Windows is booted and get access to it from within windows just like any other external drive, or hard drive.

If however, anyone isn’t sure about how, I’m happy to share the (simple) steps needed and provide a copy of my config file to make life easy for you.

I responded in another thread with what I consider very strange. I was trying to get Microsoft Links 2003 to run and was playing with various resolution settings in the game and in the properties for the program and must have also made changes in the resolution/scaling in Windows 11 itself. I uninstalled Links (to at least get it back to its original settings) and started playing in the Windows settings for resolution and scaling. And found if I have the resolution set lower than usual for a Retina display, I can get Approach to run perfectly - including switching to the various letter printing screens (where it would either flicker, freeze or the app would shut down). And as long as I set the resolution BEFORE I start Approach, it is still runs perfectly (at least for now). So one down - one to go (as I get Links to start, but it causes the Windows 11 ARM VM to go into Suspend mode about 99% of the times, especially when trying to go into the Options screen).

 

[4743913]

I have a couple of old Windows applications I want to emulate on my M1 Macbook Air. I already have Parallels set up with Windows 10 ARM, but I was wondering if there are any methods to run older Windows OSes like 95 or 98 so I can run old DirectX based applications.

I tired installing and running it within Windows 10 but it was super laggy and unusable. I'm thinking it had to with Windows compatability.

Dosbox-X is ARM ready. https://dosbox-x.com/

Edit: oops I see it was already mentioned.

 

[TrueBlou]

Dosbox-X is ARM ready. https://dosbox-x.com/

Edit: oops I see it was already mentioned.

Always worth mentioning it again, it’s an amazing piece of software. Windows 95 runs a lot faster in DOSBox-X on my M1, than it does in the old Windows 95 laptop I keep around for a few programs.

 

[4743913]

Always worth mentioning it again, it’s an amazing piece of software. Windows 95 runs a lot faster in DOSBox-X on my M1, than it does in the old Windows 95 laptop I keep around for a few programs.

This seems like the appropriate thread to mention this.

The developer of iDOS for iOS/M1 Macs is considering putting the .ipa on his git for sideloading in M1 Macs since Apple is jerking him around with their ridiculous nebulous rules in the iOS AppStore. It works great on macs and is a much nicer implementation than Doxbox-X. Keep an eye out for it. Of course if you downloaded the iOS version, you can continue to sideload it on M1 Macs.