Windows 3.11

It all started when I found my 'Ultima Collection' CD in my games binder; none of the games (Ultima I - VIII) will run under Windows XP- so I tried to figure out how to get them to work!

After a while, I decided on Microsoft Virtual PC.  I setup a VM and configured DOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (I had to dig up an old S3 driver to get more than 16 colors!). 

After a while, I had wonderful Windows for Workgroups 3.11 up and running:

 

I installed The Iron Helix and Maabus, but I am still having problems getting any of the Ultima games to run!  The Ultima the Reconstruction website has some official and user created patches, but it has proven difficult.

I had to regress back to my old CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT tweaking days:

DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=EMM386.EXE /NOEMS
DEVICE=CDROM.SYS /D:CDROM01

It looks like I may need to work with the old SoundBlaster settings to get them to work as all the Ultima games appear to run independent of Windows (probably the same issue I am having with NovaStorm and the Crusader Games).

I will have to see if there are Windows 3.11 compatible drivers for my current hardware (GeForce for Win3.11?); maybe a 'bare metal' install may be a little more reliable than the VM world (at least for gaming).