MS-DOS

Microsoft DOS (Disk Operating System) was the most widely used operating system worldwide until Windows 95 came out and supplanted it entirely. DOS was a keyboard oriented, command prompt based operating system. It was originally made for IBM by Microsoft to use on their business computers but quickly spread into use on computers of most makes and manufacture.

Windows originally started as a mere graphical shell for MS-DOS to compete with early mouse driven GUI interfaces appearing in Unix operating systems and the Mac OS before becoming a fully fledged operating system. Windows 95 marked Windows' start as a well known Gaming Platform. Windows enjoys a hearty backwards compatibility with Windows software, but often has trouble running software for the older DOS.

The Free program DOSBox allows Windows users to play their classic DOS Might and Magic games on their modern PCs with little configuration. This gives windows users access to the entire library of Might and Magic games. Due to its flexibility, it's the recommended choice of companies like 3D Realms for running older games.

DOS versions range from 1.0 to 6.22.

Windows 95, 98 and ME all had many DOS components still in them to try to maximize backwards compatibility with the OS.

Technical information about playing Might and Magic I-V on DOSBOX[]

• The first two games run very poorly on DOSBOX unless the amount of processor cycles is clocked very low, simulating the early PC processors they were designed for. Otherwise, since both games were never designed to throttle their performance in relation to the hardware (especially newer hardware), they will run too fast.
• The third through fifth games (including World Of Xeen and Swords Of Xeen) must also be clocked at specific speeds to run well, though due to their more advanced engines and greater resource use, the allotment is far higher due to their advanced capability compared to the previous games. The third game runs well with the processor cyces clocked somewhere over 4000, andIV/V/World of Xeen/Swords Of Xeen run well around 8000 cycles.