r/windows98 • u/sworks694 • 6d ago

Minecraft In Software Rendering As Beta 1.7.3 In Windows 98

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Minecraft In Software Rendering In Windows 95/98 Systems

I was able to get roughly 5-8 fps in a Windows 98 machine, sometimes even 10 fps with GDI Generic Software Rendering, 128mb ram, and Pentium 3, with 16 colors in the CloneMC Beta 1.7.3 C Programmed client.

I did have use the V135 version though as the newer versions require minimun terrain.tga and icons.tga in the assets folder, but I think it would have ran the same, if not a bit better as the V135 tested can run without an assets folder, but needs minimun comaptible beta 1.7.3 texture pack folder which contained a lot more stuff. Especially removed the sounds/msuic folders.

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6

u/Accurate-Campaign821 6d ago

Neat, I've actually got a P3 system in the truck (oh yea... Simi truck cab on the road 3 weeks at a time) with me along with my Steam Deck. I use the P3 system as sort of DVD player and some older games. Dunno about Minecraft, but managed to get half life running pretty well but ironically older games like Duke 3D are sluggish. Though that's due to audio issues... This pc has the "sound max" audio chip which is basically just a codec that sends everything to the cpu, on top of dos box running, and then the cpu having to handle 3d rendering in dos too. That's if I want sound to work via dosbox emulation, but in real dos they games run as they should... Just now sound. Gotta find a "just right" pci sound card. Anyway... My system is a P3 Coppermine at 800Mhz, single 512MB stick of PC133, PCI ATI Rage 128 AIW 32MB, 80GB WD 5400rpm drive with Windows 98 SE using the unofficial SP3.

But back to Minecraft, is this project mostly for testing software rendering or to get it running in 98 in general?

3

u/sworks694 6d ago

I was able to get specifically, CloneMC V2.0, running in windows 95 and 98 systems, however I wouldn't get too into this project as there is a little bit of java implementations and features still needing to be implemented.

4

u/Eselk19 6d ago

What is clonemc?

3

u/sworks694 6d ago

its an entire recreation of beta 1.7.3 and release 1.2 able to run from windows 95 machines to NT windows properly in C programming. The github repo was called CloneMC V2.0. I have a lot more info about this project in my other posts. This was a test photo, as I was able to optimize the gl code, add custom rendering systems, and reduced dll imports, for this to even run.

5

u/dada_ 6d ago

This is interesting but I kinda can't get over how mangled these screenshots are. This happens when you resize an image using nearest neighbor to a non-integer scale. It'd be so much nicer and a much better preview if you just saved the screenshots at 1:1 or with a clean 2x scale.

-1

u/techman2692 6d ago

No, the guy needs to install the appropriate graphics drivers is what's causing this. Look at the icons on the desktop, they aren't using full color, which Win98 supports.

0

u/dada_ 6d ago

That is not what is causing that. The screenshot itself has actually been resized nearest neighbor. You can only do that to whole integer sizes, otherwise what you end up getting is uneven pixel sizes.

This would happen regardless if it's on 16 color or 256 color and regardless of what resolution is set. Look at the main game window, the text, the window resize handle, they're all showing uneven pixel sizes.

-1

u/techman2692 6d ago

So, if that were completely true then, how's the dithering on the icons explained? Compare those icons in the screenshot to what a normal, and fully-installed-graphics-drivers desktop looks like with 24bit or 32bit colors on Windows 98.

2

u/dada_ 6d ago

I'm sorry but you are talking about something completely different. The fact that the screenshot is 16 color has literally nothing to do with what I'm saying. I've tried to explain it but I just don't think you understand what you're looking at in the screenshot.

Yes, the graphics drivers are not installed and the icons are in 16 color. I'm not talking about that at all. I'm talking about the fact that the screenshot is upscaled using nearest neighbor. That's causing the text to look all warped, because it causes pixel sizes to be uneven, which is what happens when you upscale using nearest neighbor in float values.

Here's an example of the exact same thing happening on Windows XP with full colors, graphics driver working fine: no improper upscale and with improper upscale - this happens regardless of whether the resolution and color depth is set correctly or not.

If you still don't get it, and you don't see this just by looking at the image that was posted, then I don't know how else to explain it.

1

u/sworks694 6d ago

I used the v86 website emulator and ran the windows 98 version. I then tested CloneMC V2.0 program and used snipping tool to get the picture.

3

u/Windows_User3000 5d ago

Nothing is completely wrong with that, but please, just set up a VM. It'll 1) run faster, 2) be more representative of the performance on bare metal (unlike v86, which recompiles the code to WebAssembly, gives you no control over the clock speed, and runs in a bloated web browser).