			A Brief Guide to Gaming
				 in
			     Windows 95

				by
		       James Wilson (aka Shade)
		         Cserve:  73651,2312









DISCLAIMER:  The author of this guide presents the following in the 
hopes that it will help those using Windows 95 to make the most of 
their gaming experience, or help those considering Windows 95 to 
get a better picture of what it’s capabilities are.  The following 
information was gleaned from about 4 months of regular use of two of 
the Final Beta Versions of Windows 95.  The system used for testing 
was a Gateway 2000 Pentium 90 with 24mb of ram, a quad-speed CD-ROM 
drive, a Diamond Stealth 64 2mb VRAM video card, 2 EIDE hard drives, 
a 14400 modem, and a 16-bit network card.  Differing systems may come 
up with differing results, the final commercial release of Win95 may 
behave differently from the Beta version.  In other words, this guide 
should not be considered to be the final word, but more like some 
handy advice from someone who has been there.  However, I must also 
mention that many of the results, barriers, and solutions I have come 
up with were echoed in the September issue of ‘Computer Gaming World’ 
in which they mention the setup problems they ran into with various 
games.  I have every reason to believe that Windows 95 will behave 
similarly on a variety of systems.






Index

  Intro

  1.  Me and Windows 95

  2.  The Tools of Win95
      
        I.  Shortcuts
             a.  What are they?
             b.  How do they work?
             c.  How do I make one?

       II.  The Properties Menu
              a. General Menu
	  b.  Program Menu
	  c.  Font Menu
	  d.  Memory Menu
	  e.  Screen Menu
	  f.  Misc. Menu

        III.  Running Games!
	  a.  Games that Just Run
	  b.  Win95 Tweaking
	  c.  MS-Dos Mode

       IIII.  Creating a Place for Your Games
	  a.  Creating a Folder of Games
	  b.  Adding Your DOS Games to the Start Menu
	  c.  Creating a Desktop Icon

  3.  Specific Cases

	Doom			Nascar Racing		Tie Fighter	
	Doom 2		        Full Throttle		Aces of the Deep
	Rise of the Triad	Wing Commander III	Lemmings
	Terminal Velocity	Magic Carpet		Epic Pinball
	Descent		        Hi Octane		Links386
	Dark Forces		FX Fighter		Witchhaven (demo)
	Heretic			Wings of Glory	        Simcity 2000
	Strike Commander	Master of Orion	        Mechwarrior 2
	Wolf			Master of Magic	        Uss Ticonderoga	
	X-com 1&2		Armored Fist		Apache (demo)
	Fade to Black (demo)


Intro



	This guide is for introducing people to gaming under Win95, 
what it’s like, some hints on how to do it, and to help you decide 
whether you should bother at all.  I’ll start off saying that:  WIN95 
IS COMPATIBLE WITH DOS APPLICATIONS!  INCLUDING GAMES!  This is not 
your Grandma’s Windows.  It has been specifically designed with gaming 
in mind.  With that said, I’ll get started.






                      *Me and Windows 95*
 

	Now I’m sure a great many of you out there have already formed 
opinions and stances on Windows 95.  If you are involved in any small 
way in the computer market than it is as impossible not to form such 
views as it is not to take a side on the OJ case if you live in America.  
Even if you don’t have an opinion on it, you do.
	I did anyway.
	Eight months back, around Christmas, when it was announced that 
Win95 would be delayed (yet again) until the end of the summer I had 
quite a few four-letter opinions.  I felt that it would be a travesty 
on the computer market, a idiotizing of computers to the point that all 
current users would be patronized just to please a few squeamish newbies.  
I felt that there so-called ‘death of DOS’ would be more akin to the 
death of computer gaming, at least the quality gaming that we knew and 
loved.  We’d all be reduced to the limitations of Windows, playing games 
that a ‘Super Nintendo’ could put to shame until the hardware got to the 
point that it could force the sluggish operating system to do something 
other than hang at every sound effect and GPF all the time.
	So you’ll probably be surprised to hear that when I had the 
opportunity to be a Beta Tester for Win95 a few months later I jumped 
at the chance.  But I’ll get back to that.
	Now you are probably waiting for me to start gushing all over 
the place.  Sorry, not going to do it.  Was Win95 the disappointment that 
I thought it would be?  No, it wasn’t.  Was Win95 everything I could have 
ever hoped of from an OS?  Almost.  I’m going to say it:  Win95 is an 
excellent, well thought out gaming platform.  I honestly wouldn’t be writing 
this if using Win95 didn’t change my viewpoint 180 degrees.  I have enjoyed 
Win95 a great deal, and it has made computing for me a much simpler and 
more efficient (productive?  NONONONONO!  I won’t use that word!  Never 
that word!) affair.  Gaming under Win95 is a dream come true.  But I don’t 
want to gush, I want you to read on.  Everything listed here are specific 
examples of what it is like to run games on Win95, what kind of time and 
tweaking it took me.  The pros, cons, and compatibility of it all.  Then 
and only then should you start to make up your mind as to whether my 
positive opinion of Win95 is well-founded.
	So why did I test Win95 in the first place?  Because I was curious.  
I wanted to let it prove that it could be my next operating system, the first 
alternative that I’ve ever truly had in the world of IBM-compatible computing.  
It brings new problems with it, but I think that most of that comes from 
trying to learn new solutions.  Anyone whose ever tried to make a boot disk 
for Wing Commander III will want to welcome Win95 with open arms.





                           *The Tools of Win95*


	The following section is meant to orient you with the tools that 
will become common to anyone using Win95 to play games regularly.  This 
section also contains the methods available for running games under Win95, 
and how to go about doing so.


I.  Shortcuts


	Shortcuts will probably be your most frequently used Win95 tool 
for DOS games.  A shortcut is exactly what it sounds like, a quick way to 
get to something, be that a folder, executable file (like doom2.exe that 
starts up Doom 2), or an actual document of some kind.  Shortcuts can be 
placed almost anywhere within Win95, even directly on the desktop.
	In techno-speak a Shortcut is a .PIF file.  Some users of Windows 
3.1 will be familiar with what a .PIF file is, but most of us aren’t (I only 
have a working knowledge of it).  Basically it is a series of instructions 
for the computer to follow to initiate a program.  In Windows 3.11 and earlier 
.PIF files were created using the .PIF editor, and were a little on the 
technical side to create.  
	In Win95 .PIF files are also called shortcuts and are as simple to 
create as pushing a button or two.  They are the main means you will use to 
start all your DOS games, as they are basically a set of instructions for 
Win95 to follow to get your DOS game up and running.  This can be as simple 
as right-clicking on the program you want and choosing the ‘create shortcut’ 
option and then just clicking on the shortcut you’ve created, or it could be 
as complex as defining an entirely custom Autoexec.bat and Config.sys 
specifically to run that program.  It usually falls on the simpler side, and 
I have not yet been forced to specify any custom configurations.  Shortcuts 
create their own settings when they are brought into existence, so it is only 
a matter of you scanning over its choices and deciding whether or not you agree.

	:)  Again, using Doom 2 as an example, if you wanted to set up a shortcut for
 	Doom 2 simply go to the Doom 2 folder using Explorer or the ‘My Computer’
 	icon and right click on the file that gets Doom 2 going, which is doom2.exe.
	It is typical for most DOS games to have an .EXE file to start them, although 
	some have a .BAT file.  If you are unsure just look in the games directory 
	for a file with the command name you type to start the game, followed by a 
	.BAT or .EXE extension.  This is most likely the file that starts the game.

	There are two primary ways of creating a shortcut.  The first is to right-click 
on the programs executable file as mentioned above, the other is to right-click-drag 
the program to wherever you want the Shortcut to be and then choose ‘create shortcut’ 
from the subsequent pop-up menu.  It is a very simple procedure that will only have 
to be done once to get the hang of it.

	:)  Say you want that shortcut to Doom 2 you’ve created to be right on your
 	desktop where you can get at it.  Well, just right-click and drag that doom2.exe 
	to your desktop, let the button go and then choose ‘create shortcut’ from the 
	menu that pops up.  Your shortcut will appear on the desktop and you’ll be 
	ready to go.


II.  The Properties Menu


	The Properties Menu is where you define all the variables that make up a 
completed Shortcut.  You can pull up your properties menu by right-clicking on the 
shortcut and selecting ‘properties’.  A box will pop up that contains several tabs 
that allow you to consult several submenus of the shortcut.  If this is starting to 
sound complicated don’t worry.  It’s not.  Most of the submenus are self-explanatory, 
and half of them you’ll probably never touch.  Some of the functions of these menus 
I have not used yet, so I will only skim over the purposes of these menus, for a 
complete listing of all the functions of these menus pick up the current issue of 
PC Gamer (current as of this writing 8/20/95, I believe the September issue with 
the Longbow attack Helicoptor on the cover).  It has an excellent article on Win95 
and gaming that explains extensively the functions of these menus.  Listed below 
are the menus and there general functions.

	-General Menu

	This menu gives you an extensive list of the files properties.  Since a 
properties menu can be pulled up for almost any file this menu will tell you the 
type of file, location, size, dates that it was created, modified and accessed, 
and attributes.  There is almost nothing on this menu that you can alter.

	-Program Menu

	This menu is used to define the command line that is used on the program 
to activate it, as well as define shortcuts to the file or program, batch files, 
and the state with which to begin the program running (in a normal window, as 
opposed to minimized or maximized).  This Menu also includes the ‘Change Icon’ 
button that allows you to change the icon that represents the shortcut.  There 
is also the very important ‘Advanced’ button.  This button brings up the ‘Advanced 
Program Settings’ which allow you to state that the program not be allowed to 
detect Windows (some DOS games will refuse to run if they detect Windows in the 
background), or that the program be run in ‘MS-DOS Mode’ (to learn more about 
MS-DOS mode see Section III “Running Games”).  This is also the place where you 
can specify a custom Autoexec.bat and Config.sys for programs that need special 
tweaking in MS-DOS mode.





	-Font Menu

	This is the menu where you choose what fonts are available to your DOS 
program.  It has little if no importance to gaming.

	-Memory Menu

	This is the menu where you define the amounts and types of memory to give 
to your DOS program.  I have never had to touch this menu, as Win95 configures its 
memory automatically, and will do so for your program when you start it.  If you 
have to play with the settings in this section try setting the extended (or expanded) 
memory to equal the amount of memory that you actually have available.  I’ve heard 
this solves many if not all memory problems.

	-Screen Menu

	This is where you define your screen characteristics.  The only thing that 
I ever modify on this screen is setting the window size to ‘full screen’.  Most DOS 
games will not run in a window on the desktop, so Win95 allows them to bypass the 
GUI and access the video hardware directly (this is a simplified explanation), 
running them full screen and pretty much the exact same way they would look and 
run in DOS.  Win95 will automatically switch these games to full screen when they 
are started up, but it is usually a good idea to go ahead and tell it to run the 
program like that from the beggining, as I have experienced that some programs 
relinquish there hold on the graphical interface while loading data to change 
from one section of the game to the other.  Sometimes this will cause Win95 to 
reclaim the display, and your desktop will appear momentarily while you wait.  
This tends to slow things down, and can sometimes even confuse games to the point 
that they will lock up.  Turning on the ‘full screen’ switch generally prevents this.

	-Misc. Menu

	This menu allows you access to several other functions including mouse, 
pasting, and screen saver options.  Most of this is not important for running DOS 
games, but three things are.  The first is the ‘Always Suspend’ button.  Turn this 
off.  I honestly don’t remember the exact reasons why, but having it on can possibly 
cause a little slowdown.  The ‘idle sensitivity’ lever controls how much and often 
Win95 will try to steal the CPU away from the game during idle time.  For maximum 
speed set the lever to the lowest selection possible.  The last function that you 
can use are the Windows shortcut keys, or hot keys.  The two important ones to 
remember are ‘CTRL-ESC’, this minimizes the program you are in and allows you 
access to your desktop.  The other is ALT-ENTER, which allows you access to the 
properties menu of the program you are in.

	:)  I’m sure all of you net-surfers will be jealous to hear that I often 
	use ‘CTRL-ESC’ to jump out of Doom or Tie Fighter so I can see how a 
	particularly long and boring download is progressing, or to check on 
	the status of a print job that is running simultaneously in the background.  
	Just one of the advantages of a good multi-tasking OS, and there’s no 
	slowdown in my game! (unless I’m printing AND downloading, then there 
	is a little drag).


III.  Running Games!

	Running games under Win95 is an easy prospect for the most part.  Over 
half of the games listed later in this guide needed little or no tweaking at all 
to run, but there are a few stragglers that demand to have there own way with things.  
For that reason Win 95 offers a few different ways that you can start games up.
	Of course the first option would be to play around with your settings.  
Shortcuts are easy to create, never forget, and are small enough that you can copy 
them at will, and basically mess around with them forever.  They are simple and menu 
driven to the point that no level of tweaking can match the pains of any one of dozens 
of potential DOS problems.
	But what if your game won’t run even then?  Well that is where MS-DOS mode 
comes in.  MS-DOS mode (also known as single-application mode) is a lot like what 
it sounds.  You exit Win 95, shutting down all programs running and start up your 
MS-DOS program all with a simple double-click on the shortcut.  Admittedly this 
takes longer than just starting a game right up in Win95, but not nearly as long 
as exiting Windows 3.1, moving to the right directory, and typing in the games 
start command.  And when you consider that you can specify your own configuration 
for every Shortcut that goes to MS-DOS mode you are saving even more time.  That’s 
right, the disadvantage to MS-DOS mode is that is has the limits of DOS, namely 
good old Autoexec.bat and Config.sys.  The days of Memory Managers are not over!  
It can be even MORE difficult to get a good amount of memory in MS-DOS mode.  I have 
been lucky enough that most of my memory intensive games have worked fine in Win95, 
but if you are having problems getting enough memory I highly recommend that you pick 
up a copy of QEMM, Quarterdeck’s excellent memory manager, and make sure that it is 
in your Autoexec.bat and Config.sys that are used to go into MS-DOS mode.  Don’t be 
too afraid of MS-DOS mode.  Win95 will take a prefab .sys and .bat and specify them 
as your working configurations.  These have worked very well for me and I have never 
had to modify them.
	The last option, for those who are having no end of problems, is to press 
F4 while you are booting the system up.  This will give you the option to go into 
an older version of DOS so that you can run your game the way it was intentionally 
meant to be run.  You must, however, reboot the system to go back into Win95.
	So Win95 offers a variety of ways, at a minimum of inconvenience, to play 
your games, one is sure to work.


IIII.  Creating a Place for Your Games

	This section contains a couple of hints that make your games easier to 
manage, and your HD easier to monitor.
	The way that I set my system up was I created a folder directly on my desktop 
by right-clicking on the desktop, moving over the ‘new’ option and then selecting 
‘folder’.  I then created shortcuts to all of my games in this folder, and renamed 
everything appropriately.  I then dragged this folder to the ‘Start’ button on the 
taskbar.  I now had a folder on my desktop that kept me a simple double-click away 
from a list of all my games.  This also allows me to monitor what is still sitting 
on my HD, better never getting played.  Nothing gets to hide in a back corner taking 
up precious space!  And if you don’t like that folder on your desktop, by dragging 
it to the ‘Start’ button you recreate the folder there were you can access your games 
through the convenient and omnipresent button.  You can then create a shortcut to that 
folder and place that shortcut on your desktop.  This will allow you to change the 
icon, since you can’t change the icon for just one folder, it’s an all or nothing 
deal, but you can create a shortcut that does the same thing.  These are just some 
suggestions.  There is almost no end to the degree you can go to customize your 
filing system.




                              *Specific Cases*



	This section deals with all of the games that I have personally tried on 
Win95.  They are listed below with a description of the actions that I had to take 
to get them running, as well as a listing of the estimated time it took to get the 
game up and running, and performance notes.  Most of these games were played fairly 
extensively, but a few have only been fiddled with.  I will indicate the games that 
have not been thoroughly tested.  So here they are in no particular order:


-Doom 1 & 2	I figured I’d start with an obvious one.  Doom 1 & 2 were as simple 
 Heretic-	to run as creating a shortcut or even simply double-clicking on there 
		.EXE files. Initial load time is a little slower, as well as loading 
		up the first actual level, but after that it runs superbly.  Every 
		bit as fast as it runs in DOS with no hang ups.
		Estimated Setup Time:  30 seconds

-Rise of the	Same deal as Doom.  It’s only a double-click away.
 Triad-		Estimated Setup Time:  30 seconds

-Terminal	Considering this game will basically be re-released as a Win95 game
 Velocity-	entitled ‘Fury3’ it better run well.  No tweaking at all, ran nice and
		smooth.
		Estimated Setup Time:  30 seconds

-Full		Full Throttle did not want to run initially because it detected Windows.  I 
 Throttle-	went into the ‘Advanced Program Settings’ under the Program Menu in its
 		properties sheet and told it not to detect Windows.  It ran perfectly after
		that.
		Estimated Setup Time:  3-4 minutes

-Nascar-	Nascar was the first real problem that I ran into.  First off, I had to 
		create a .BAT file so that I could start Nascar in high res (it requires 
		the command parameter -h attached onto the end of the normal typed command 
		line, i.e. ‘nascar -h’).  So I created the batch file ‘nascar -h’.  At 
		first it didn’t want to run (Win95 usually suggests MS-DOS mode when it 
		thinks a program won’t run well), but then I switched its screen option 
		to ‘full screen’ and this seemed to do the trick.  The problem was that 
		it seemed a little slow. My roommate said it was my imagination, but I 
		know my racin’ sim, and I like it fast and smooth.  I changed it to run 
		in ‘MS-DOS mode’ and it worked wonderfully with the configuration provided.  
		No slowdown whatsoever.
		Estimated Setup Time:  45 minutes including playtesting, 10 minutes of
		actual configuring.

-Tie Fighter-	Just run it.  It runs great in Win95.
		Estimated setup time:  30 seconds (getting tired of that)

-Aces of the	Another one that you can start right up.
 Deep-		Estimated setup time:  guess

-Magic		MS-DOS mode all the way!  It runs in Win95, but its incredably slow.
 Carpet-	It’s the only game I’ve run into that experiences such extreme slowdown.
		EST:  5 minutes

-Descent-	Spelunkers rejoice!  Descent (like most DOS Protected mode games) runs
		without a hitch.
		EST:  30 seconds

-Wing		Surely the mighty WC3 needs tons of configuring.  Right?  Big game like
 Commander	that?  Probably spend all night, if not all weekend trying to get it to run,
 III-		and then it would probably still run slowly.  It started up the first time, 
		ran every bit as quickly as it did under DOS.
		EST:  30 Seconds

-Links386-	While Links ran fine under Win95 I have never been able to get the sound
		to, well, sound good.  It is scratchy and loud and pretty much not
		discernable as anything other than loud scratches.  Running the game in
		MS-DOS mode solves this problem.  No custom configuration.
		EST:  5 minutes

-FX Figher-	I had to put this one in DOS mode, but  a friend of mine got it running
		great under Win95.  Forgot to ask him the recipe for that.
		EST:  5 minutes

-X-com 1&2-	Both UFO Defense and Terror from the Deep run very well in Win95,
		although set the screen options to ‘full screen’ as this is a game that has
		that screen problem mentioned in the screen menu section.
		EST:  3-4 minutes

-Wings of
 Glory-		MS-DOS mode, no special configuration.
		EST:  5minutes

-Mechwarrior 2-	Starts up ok, but likes to crash a lot.  Run it in DOS mode to avoid
		this.
		EST:  5 minutes

The Following Games all ran perfectly, with little or no tweaking or apparent slowdown
	
	Epic Pinball
	Hi Octane		
	Dark Forces		
	Witchhaven (demo)
	Simcity 2000
	Strike Commander	
	Master of Orion
	Wolf			
	Master of Magic	
	Uss Ticonderoga	
	Armored Fist		
	Apache (demo)
	Fade to Black (demo)



Outro



	As you can probably see, I’m very impressed with Win95.  I hope this 
guide will help everybody out there interested in gaming on Win95.  I can tell 
you it’s a blast.




*LEGAL NOTE*

This guide may be passed out freely.  If you bought this you are not a wise 
individual as no one I know pays me for my opinions.  If you distribute this 
guide it must retain the name of the author and its original content unaltered 
unless written consent is received from the author allowing any specific alterations.
