The Joys of KernelEx - Part 1 - Games and Stuff

Channel:

Sutekh94

Subscribers:

4,540

Published on July 13, 2016 1:12:19 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGDN4vxEHyA

Game:

Undertale (2015)

Duration: 32:20

372 views

6

It's so strange playing games with 2016 dates in Windows 98SE... Anyways, welcome to the first part of what I am calling "The Joys of KernelEx" - a series that details my testing a crapton of games and other stuff made within the past several years that will run on a tweaked Windows 98SE install. Tweaked with KernelEx, that is. So, what exactly *is* KernelEx? Basically, KernelEx is an extension for Windows 98SE and ME that allows more modern applications to be run. The latest official version is 4.5.2, released in 2013, but an active community over on the MSFN forums is continuing development of KernelEx, bringing it up to version 4.5.2015.13 (as of this recording). You can get that version over here, but you will have to make an account on the MSFN forums: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173233-kernelex-45201513-updates/?page=14 (You would have to scroll down a bit until you see the post from June 22, which has a link to download KernelEx 4.5.2015.13.) I also used Kstub822, itself an add-on of KernelEx, for a good chunk of this video. Kstub822, as well as a few other KernelEx add-ons, are also available on the MSFN forum: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/157173-kext-diy-kernelex-extensions/

With all that out of the way, let's get to the games shown here in this video:

- FTL: For this one, I just copied the game folder from my main rig (under the steamapps folder) over to my Win98SE rig. No Steam required! Game does crash on exit, though. No compatibility modes were used.

- Spelunky Classic: This is the original (2008) version of Spelunky, and I think it's obvious that I suck at this =P. No compatibility modes, just the game as it is: http://www.spelunkyworld.com/original.html

- Tarogue: Now we get into some of the more obscure suff. This is an isometric RPG, free on itch.io, where you collect tarot cards, avoid hazards, and listen to some pretty cool music. Like before, no compatibility modes were used.

- panGEMic: Pretty simple, all you gotta do is collect all the gems and avoid the enemies. This one's another freebie from itch.io. No compatibility modes were used. I think it's worth noting at this point that I haven't tested any of these on a system without KernelEx.

- Vampire's Bit: Another really simple one - avoid the hunter, drink blood from the villagers. Easier said than done. This one was made for a game jam, and, like the last two games, is a freebie from itch.io. No compatibility modes were used.

- Undertale (demo): This bit is just a followup to my last video. Upgrading to 4.5.2015.13 made music work! You can download Undertale's demo from the official Undertale website: http://www.undertale.com/ No compatibility modes were used.

- Tomb of the Amazon Queen: Another game jam game and another freebie from itch.io. This one's a neat little first-person dungeon crawler that I can see myself coming back to! No compatibility modes were used.

Funny story: In the comments section of the last video, somebody actually posted a link to download a copy of the full version of Undertale, so I tested it. I would've thrown the result into this video, but all that happens is a crash when attempting to start it... Several other games I tried, such as Downwell, were like this as well. And, by the way, this is not a call to post a full version of whatever in the comments section, because I don't normally do piracy. What I DO hope this video does is bring more interest to KernelEx and, hopefully, interest in people testing games I don't have. Now, I think it's obvious that Windows 98SE can't run something like Fallout 4 if only because 98SE can't support something among the lines of a GTX 980Ti, let alone anything higher than DirectX 9.0c. However, a lot of simpler games, such as the ones shown in this video and future videos I'm planning, will run more-or-less without any ill effects. The next video that involves games running under KernelEx will involve games that don't run perfectly under KernelEx - they'll run, but there's a boatload of problems that accompany them.

In another MSFN thread, I saw where somebody mentioned that they got Five Night's at Freddy's 3 of all things to run under Windows 98SE. Wonder if the other FnAFs are like that as well... Again, that's up to you to test.

And, before I forget, here's the specs of the system I used in this video:

- Intel Pentium III, 933MHz
- Intel 810 chipset
- nVidia GeForce FX 5500 PCI, 256MB VRAM
- 384MB PC-100 SDRAM
- 120GB Western Digital HDD
- Integrated ESS sound card
- Windows 98SE/KernelEX 4.5.2015.13 & Kstub822

While a Pentium III is cool, it probably isn't the most ideal for KernelEx/Kstub822. You'd probably want something like a Pentium 4 or an Athlon 64 with a GeForce 6800 if you were to do a Windows 98 install with KernelEx, to maximize compatibility with newer programs.

Other Statistics