Optimal Qemu setup for StarCraft?


FaeMinx

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Well, I thought I would be brave and see if I can get my head around this.


And I appologize if this info is already available in the official Qemu thread - It's a massive thread and I *could* but really don't have the time to read through all of it.


First thing I would like to know is - Which version of Windows would be the best fit performance wise to play StarCraft on my CC 256mb Pandora?


I have my old copy of Win98SE with me but from what I've gleaned I should avoid it - rather going with straight Win98, Win95 or Win 3.1??
 
Win 3.1 is out of the question.. it won't be able to run Starcraft.


Windows 98 and 98SE will be slightly slower than Windows 95..


I think Ideally finding a copy of Windows 95 with all the latest Service Packs would be the best bet.
 
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Great thanks.


Once I've found myself a copy I shall return to this thread. ^_^


EDIT: Easier said than done... Haven't been able to find a place online to buy it yet. :(
 
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Indeed, win 3.11 is a 16bit OS, and starcraft needs 32bit.


I run it under w95. The rain program is needed because w95 uses 100% of the cpu, no matter what. Rain frees cpu cycles.


Contrary to TrashyMG, i don't think any OS update is a good idea.


I tried to install window NT, but failed (i don't remember at which point).


Running with a 1GHz OP is not much faster, and the game is still slower than it should be.


Also, it's better to launch Qemu from minimenu, as it uses less ram than Xfce.
 
Thanks Linux-SWAT... I'm going to ask around town tomorrow if anyone has a copy, otherwise will probably place a few bids on ebay.


Is it unplayably slow? What's the sound like? Does it stutter?


Is it worth me even doing this?
 
Well I only mention the Latest service pack to Windows 95, is because the initial version of Windows 95 doesn't have Fat32 support.. And from what I was told it's supposed to be a slightly faster than using fat16.
 
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There are videos of it. It is playable with sound, maybe a bit slow though but I played through the whole demoversion without problems.
 
Have you overclocked your Pandora?When yes what for MHZ do you use?


Putt Adlib off,choose 128MB Ram and add in optional Parameters:



Code:
-no-acpi -no-hpet -balloon-none

for little Speedups.


The Speed of your USB Stick is Important for loading Times and maybe you can use a faster Stick.


Have you installed the PCI-Bus stuff like written in Pandora Qemu Wiki?


http://pandorawiki.org/Qemu_for_Pandora


I dont renember the exact playable MHZ for the Game but you should overclock your Pandora to Minimum 900MHZ to Enjoy this Game.


Search in the Ingame Options maybe you can set your Grafical Options down and then it works faster too :)


Dont give up,the Game is realy playable on Pandora ;)


This Video was my first Testvideo with 950 MHZ

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wu5JrI1iLIk?feature=oembed
 
Ok.


I've managed to get hold of a Windows 95 cd.


I've formatted an 8Gb Class 4 MicroSD, created the usual folder structure and downloaded & placed Qemu in the 'apps' folder.


I then installed Qemu Manager 7 on my Windows 7 Desktop PC.


Within Qemu Version Control I installed Qemu 0.14.1


Now I'm unsure what to do next. Do I:

  • Now you can Use the "File/Create new Virtual Disk" Option

  • Choose the max Image Size and i recommend the qcow2 Image Format.


Your new empty Image is now in your QemuManager Folder named "Images". It will be selectable when you create a new VM.


... which seems I need to do but I don't know what max Image Size I'm supposed to choose?


EDIT: Well I left it at 10Gb.... does this matter?


But now while trying to create a Virtual Image I see I create an image for win95 here... so what size?
 
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Orientate you here :)


http://pandorawiki.o...indows_95_on_PC


I recommend a faaaast USB Stick and Fat32 Formated and your Images can be 3,5 GB Big when you want ^_^

Ok... 3.5Gb or a choice of 3 or 5GB ???


What is the size for?


And you say a USB Stick - I'm assuming that I will need the stick in order to install from that onto the SD Card?


P.s. I only have one usb stick (16gb) I have no idea how fast it is but it will have to do.
 
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SD Cards are mostly slow for Qemu Games,because the loading Times are longer.


I meant 3,5 GB (Fat32 can handle maximum 4GB Files) ;)


USB Sticks are often(not ever) faster than SD Cards because the Speed of the SD Card Reader in the Pandora is limited and over USB works it often very faster.


^_^
 
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Great! That's very clear to me now. ^_^


So essentially what I should do is find myself a fast 4Gb usb stick to use exclusively for Qemu.


How will I know if a usb stick is fast or not?
 
Ok, I'm stuck.


I'm at the point where I now want to install Windows 95 from the cd to my virtual machine.


I select the drive and press the play button.


I get:

Booting from DVD/CD...


576MB medium detected


Boot failed: Could not read from CDROM (code 0004)


Booting from Hard Disk...


Boot failed: not a bootable disk


No bootable device.

I then tried to make an iso image of the disc. ENG_CDFULL.iso


Selecting that instead of the cdrom drive gives the same results.


What am I to do?
 
You need a DOS boot floppy disk with CDROM Drivers enabled so you can get to the windows setup.The first couple releases of Windows 95 couldn't boot from the CD.. Well and actually most of the computers back then couldn't boot from the CD-Drive as it wasn't a feature in the bios.
 
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You need a DOS boot floppy disk with CDROM Drivers enabled so you can get to the windows setup.The first couple releases of Windows 95 couldn't boot from the CD.. Well and actually most of the computers back then couldn't boot from the CD-Drive as it wasn't a feature in the bios.

Uhm.... So how do I do that?


Edit:


I've downloaded a couple of win95 boot floppy images. So yes, it now boots.... but then how do I get it to read the cdrom?
 
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*bump*


I need help guys. The wiki doesn't describe what I'm supposed to do in the dos window in order to get it to load the cdrom and start installation.


What if the disc I've managed to get hold of is an upgrade disc?


http://gunkies.org/wiki/Installing_Windows_95_on_Qemu


*sigh* ... I wish I could find specific instructions to walk me through this... I have no idea how to reconcile the information that I've linked to with what I've been following here;


http://pandorawiki.org/Qemu_for_Pandora#Installing_Microsoft_Windows_95_on_PC
 
Well, you need a bootdisk that has a cdromdriver on it and loads it at startup.


When it started in to dos, you need to change the drive to the cdrom


Just type X:


Where X is the driveletter of your cdrom (you can see to which drive it is assigned on bootup when loading the driver).


After this just type


Setup.exe


And it should start the windowsinstallation.


Edit:


It was so common to install an operating system like this in the old days.


I have no clue how people don't know how its done. But well, there now are generations of PC users who never experienced the joys of dos ;)
 
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Well, you need a bootdisk that has a cdromdriver on it and loads it at startup.


When it started in to dos, you need to change the drive to the cdrom


Just type X:


Where X is the driveletter of your cdrom (you can see to which drive it is assigned on bootup when loading the driver).


After this just type


Setup.exe


And it should start the windowsinstallation.


Edit:


It was so common to install an operating system like this in the old days.


I have no clue how people don't know how its done. But well, there now are generations of PC users who never experienced the joys of dos ;)

This is where it doesn't work. In the Qemu manager I set my cdrom drive to f: (which it is)


but in dos I can only change between drive A: and drive B:


I've tried ALL the other letters.... :(


EDIT: Nevermind... it's drive R !! I didn't think to go that far.... jeez. Ok. Thanks ;)


Bah! It's never easy... I get thwarted instantly! Look:


qemu.jpg
 
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