ZDoom running in Windows ME! 0.o

[Dragon Mech]

hello everyone.
i'm not sure if this is the proper place to post this, so feel free to hit me with a rocket after you're done reading this.

a few months ago i recived a copy of Windows Millennium and installed it on a early 1999 PC that i've had for YEARS. and last night, just for the fork of it, i decide to try ZDoom v2.7.1 out on it. it surprisingly worked!
there are a few minor issuse thought. most of which are very minor and related to being run on Windows ME and an onboard ATi 3D Rage Pro 2x AGP with 4MB of SD video ram (non-stock crosshairs don't work properly). but ZDoom runs good with low lag as long as i don't use any wads that are very graphic or processor intensive.
here are some specs of the computer that is running Windows ME and Zdoom:
OS: Windows Millennium
CPU: Intel Celeron Processor Code Name "Mendocino" @500Mhz, clocked at 501.2Mhz
CPU Package: Socket 370 PPGA
RAM: 384MB SDRAM (1x 256MB + 1x 128MB SDRAM DIMM modules)
Video: ATI 3D Rage PRO intergrated AGP 2x with 4MB video memory
Audio: SoundBlaster Live! Value
i know that ZDoom wasn't ment to be run on this old of an OS or hardware, but i am very happy that it does. well done guys( and gals if any).

[Blzut3]

Why ZDoom 2.7.1? 2.8.1 should work on Windows 9x. While 98/Me/NT4 isn't a priority, there hasn't been a reason to remove the little bit of support code that exists yet.

[Dragon Mech]

cool. i'll update it to 2.8.1 tonight.

[leileilol]

While 98/Me/NT4 isn't a priority, there hasn't been a reason to remove the little bit of support code that exists yet.

C++11 support with VS201X libraries (requiring XP SP3) seems to be a looming reason.

Can confirm 2.8.1 working on stock no-KernelEx no-FanUpdates WinME, but startup log window has no text (and would lead to blind errors). The same occurs on Windows 98.

What 2.8.1 DOES NOT work on...... is Windows 95. Installing evil IE4 affects this and moves you up to a kernel error

[Dragon Mech]

leileilol is correct about the missing text in the startup log window. but it's a very minor issue. but i would also like to thank leileilol for going the extra step of testing Zdoom on Win98 and Win95. i can also cofirm that Zdoom 2.8.1 works on Windows 2000 Proffesional SP4. but the startup log displays normally.

[MartinHowe]

Fascinating. I run a computer/electrical repair/refurb workshop for a charity and in our thrift shop downstairs, my little corner has a small "vintage computing" shelf. There's a Toshiba 4320 laptop with something silly like 64MB RAM and Win98SE and a massive 4GB!!!! hard disk ( ). I have shareware doom running as an eye-catcher just using the stock demos. Point is I used PRBoom as had no idea ZDoom would even run on that thing - will have to try it

[Blzut3]

C++11 support with VS201X libraries (requiring XP SP3) seems to be a looming reason.

What I will say is that 98/98SE/Me/NT4/2000 are no longer "tier 1" supported operating systems. That said C++11/14 doesn't hinder supporting these platforms at all since one can still build with GCC 5. Whether a legacy windows build is provided officially is up to Graf, but I do intend on making such builds available as long as the support code isn't ripped out.

GZDoom will not switch to building with MinGW for a variety of reasons. One good one being that since MinGW doesn't support catching VC++ exceptions there are some edge cases that aren't caught in such builds making them less user friendly. (Blame MinGW for this, since I believe Clang does or at least they state they intend to. But Clang is XP+.)

Maybe C++17 will be problematic, but we'll have to see when that time comes.

There are no plans to reinstate Windows 95/95B support since FMOD Ex doesn't target it and we'd have to use an older version of MinGW from what I've been told.

leileilol is correct about the missing text in the startup log window. but it's a very minor issue.

This is actually fixable. I don't remember if I found KernelEx had to be turned off in the properties dialog (seems unlikely since Leilei said stock) or if a specific OS compatiblity level had to be picked. But somehow I did get a working console.

[leileilol]

There are no plans to reinstate Windows 95/95B support since FMOD Ex doesn't target it and we'd have to use an older version of MinGW from what I've been told..

Can't be too much older. I had luck with GCC 4.7.2 with getting OA3 to work in Win95, most modern dependency being Winsock2


(OpenAL can't install/initiate on Win95 fyi, dunno about oalsoft)

[MartinHowe]

The Toshiba laptop sold this morning, so I brought down a Windows Me system and yes, ZDoom 2.8.1 ran fine on it.
I know it's been done by people here, but some things one really must see for oneself

(Though as mentioned, PRBoom for the demos)

[leileilol]

It's too bad newer mods relying on newer script feature cruft will never see the light on that beautiful, beautiful thing :'(

[Graf Zahl]

Well, too bad. If that was a requirement of developing GZDoom would be dead by now because my answer would be "I'm not jumping through those hoops."

[Blzut3]

It's too bad newer mods relying on newer script feature cruft will never see the light on that beautiful, beautiful thing :'(

Why not? http://maniacsvault.net/loosefiles/GZDo ... 170122.png

Figured out what it was I did to make the start up console work. Set KernelEx to specific compatibility mode for Windows XP.

And for the record the hoops thus far were fixing all the GL renderer MinGW compile errors and sprinkling "using OptWin32::GetMonitorInfoA;" in a GL file. The latter isn't needed for 98 IIRC, just NT4. (Not sure if the GL renderer works on 98 since I only have a Geforce 4 on hand, but it is compiled.) Issues to look into is a crash on exit (I think I documented this in my last round of MinGW fixes), and debug builds throw some assertions on startup in Windows 98 but everything seems to work fine ignoring them.

Here's the build if anyone else wants to try it. Note that it's a debug build so expect bad performance and note the issues in the previous paragraph: http://maniacsvault.net/loosefiles/gzdo ... 0170122.7z

[Rachael]

Would you mind forking or putting up a patch showing these fixes you did to make it work?

I know I have voiced my opinion in the past against directly supporting 9x, but I am still curious enough about it and it might even be possible, in the future, to build more versions for it. (I might even consider co-releasing GZDoom with these changes, if I have Graf's permission, or maybe even QZDoom built targeting a lower processor, since there are the ... eh, two or three people out there who would want this version. )

And also, I might learn a thing or two from it.

[Blzut3]

It's in the 7z archive.

[Rachael]

Oh, okay, thank you.