My P99 Green Machine -- Retro Build

[toddfx]

I present to you my ultimate Project1999 gaming machine! One of my hobbies is collecting older hardware and building machines to run period correct games and software. So with the launch of Green, I of course took that as a perfect opportunity to put together something new for my EQing pleasure.

http://i.imgur.com/G1dABPml.jpg (https://imgur.com/G1dABPm)

http://i.imgur.com/gcb3QAtl.jpg (https://imgur.com/gcb3QAt)

The original dream was to use all hardware from 1999, which meant a Pentium III based system. After two months of testing various configurations however, I was never able to defeat an apparent patch file incompatibility or achieve realistically playable performance when testing on other servers. I stepped it up to a Pentium 4 based system using hardware from 2001, which is fine with me since it's still within scope of the server's timeline. It's likely even a blessing in disguise, since maxing it out is the only way to claim ultimate P99 gaming machine status!

Here's what she's running:
Pentium 4 1.5GHz, ABIT BD7-RAID motherboard, 1GB PC2100 RAM (2x512MB), NVIDIA Quadro2 Pro (GeForce2 Ultra) graphics card, Turtle Beach Montego II Quadzilla Aureal Vortex 2 sound card, Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 80GB 7200RPM HDD, and Kenwood UCR-411 52x TrueX CD-ROM. I do use modern PSUs in all my builds though; in this case a Corsair SF450.
(specs also listed here (https://i.imgur.com/xIxjoGZ.png))

http://i.imgur.com/Bp2nsxol.jpg (https://imgur.com/Bp2nsxo)

http://i.imgur.com/neNxssRl.jpg (https://imgur.com/neNxssR)

http://i.imgur.com/Aosx5q2l.jpg (https://imgur.com/Aosx5q2)

http://i.imgur.com/pMSAoBnl.jpg (https://imgur.com/pMSAoBn)


The Dell case is a slightly dated model for the hardware I've installed, but it holds a special place in my heart as it's the Dell chassis style that I first played EverQuest on back in the day. The 21" Dell Trinitron monitor is also the monitor I was EQing on in the late 90s, early 2000s. The keyboard is an IBM Model M, and the Microsoft mouse has a ball in it. The speakers are a pair of Altec Lansing ACS90s.

http://i.imgur.com/i4dlhhol.jpg (https://imgur.com/i4dlhho)
The other box in the background is my Windows 98 Voodoo2 SLI machine. Under the desk is a 2006 AMD Quad FX machine and a 486 MS-DOS build which is a work in progress. There are others as well, let me tell you!

I'm running Windows XP here out of necessity, but have skinned it to look a little more like Windows 98. EverQuest needed a little company on this perfectly good P4 gaming machine, so I installed a few of my favorites that would of been right at home on a desktop in 1999. I'm tempted to install other games up through 2001, but for now I really wanted to keep it at least LOOKING like a 1999 machine would have at EverQuest's launch.

http://i.imgur.com/NBldlwOl.jpg (https://imgur.com/NBldlwO)

http://i.imgur.com/H8Sw6lfl.jpg (https://imgur.com/H8Sw6lf)

http://i.imgur.com/DJA41Lsl.png (https://imgur.com/DJA41Ls)

The performance is...adequate. Certainly feels classic I'll give it that! Surviving the initial chaos of launch might be a little rough, but it (usually) gets 30(ish) FPS at 1024x768 when just walking around zones. I did some stress testing on Blue in heavily populated areas and it would definitely drop, but held up well enough (Fraps screenshot here (https://i.imgur.com/NGj1q43.jpg)). Definitely playable. I haven't spent much time tinkering with optimization yet either, as I only just now barely got this put together after burning so much time trying to get a Pentium III system working.

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you my latest hairbrained EQ related project. It's not practical and not particularly cheap, but as with all my builds it was a ton of fun running through all the research and treasure hunting involved in tracking down each individual component to create something specific. If you're here playing EQ for nostalgia's sake, I don't have to explain to you the nuances of computers from this era (and older). Using original hardware today for a purpose like this just adds yet another layer to that warm and fuzzy feeling when the EQ theme song plays. Thank you Nilbog, Rogean, and the entire team for this ongoing experience!

P.S. If you have the space, treat yourself to a CRT! Above all else, playing EQ at 1024x768 on a proper CRT is just perfect.

[Kapyong]

Wow :)
A real sound card.
Even an awesome 21" FLAT Trinitron !

Authentic EQ heaven.

[gnomishfirework]

Haha. That’s great. A vodoo card is what I played eq on originally.

I might break out my CRT monitor, which I played eq on originally (though 2001-2002 so probably late period). It would capture the feel without the performance issues.

[Baa]

Real dedication right there!

[Madbad]

fucking awesome!

[El-Hefe]

I’m so fucking jealous.

Nice work.

[Hokojin]

This is amazing!

[toddfx]

Glad you guys are digging it

P.S. I haven't forgotten how to build an old computer but I HAVE apparently forgotten how to post images correctly. It's working fine in Firefox, but in Chrome it seems you have to right click and "Open link in new tab" to access the full res images. Left clicking won't do it, on my end anyway.

[Glasken]

This is a modern relic. I am truly jealous of your build. Good luck and godspeed in your adventures!

[Baler]

that's a beautiful pc you got there.

[BlankDiploma]

I love the build!

Not to throw cold water on your aspirations, but have you tested Blue with advanced lighting enabled? It's forced on on green and I suspect you may have... issues.

[Zaar2k]

This is great!

Where's the 56k modem, btw?

I was running EQ on Pentium MMX 233 and VooDoo 3 card. FPS dropped in big Kunark and Velious zones. And was completly outdated with luclin models. I believe they were released before the actual Luclin release. The old world worked fine though.

Also I had to always stare at walls when playing cleric to keep FPS high enough to time my heals. :)

[Izmael]

Double floppy drives <3

Also the mouse pad seems to be from the correct era.

[Coridan]

Awesome, my only recommendation is to swap out the nVidia for a Voodoo3

[Sinistria]

AWSOME!

Thats the spirit!

Is that mouse with a ball you have to clean up every 2 days? :D

[Mblake81]

I present to you my ultimate Project1999 gaming machine! One of my hobbies is collecting older hardware and building machines to run period correct games and software. So with the launch of Green, I of course took that as a perfect opportunity to put together something new for my EQing pleasure.

http://i.imgur.com/G1dABPml.jpg (https://imgur.com/G1dABPm)

http://i.imgur.com/gcb3QAtl.jpg (https://imgur.com/gcb3QAt)

...

P.S. If you have the space, treat yourself to a CRT! Above all else, playing EQ at 1024x768 on a proper CRT is just perfect.

Nicely done, Toddfx

https://i.imgur.com/gmBke0d.gif

[Mblake81]

Here's what she's running:
Pentium 4 1.5GHz, ABIT BD7-RAID motherboard, 1GB PC2100 RAM (2x512MB), NVIDIA Quadro2 Pro (GeForce2 Ultra) graphics card, Turtle Beach Montego II Quadzilla Aureal Vortex 2 sound card (https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=45668), Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 80GB 7200RPM HDD, and Kenwood UCR-411 52x TrueX CD-ROM. I do use modern PSUs in all my builds though; in this case a Corsair SF450.

http://i.imgur.com/NBldlwOl.jpg (https://imgur.com/NBldlwO)

If you're here playing EQ for nostalgia's sake, I don't have to explain to you the nuances of computers from this era (and older). Using original hardware today for a purpose like this just adds yet another layer to that warm and fuzzy feeling when the EQ theme song plays.

My apologies for double posting your thread, I didn't have time before leaving the house this morning to post more than a +rep gif. This was my favorite time in PC gaming by far (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9n9fE_DeTE), thank you for sharing. I wonder where sound would be today if Creative & MS Vista had not killed it off. 5 star thread and friend request sent.

Load up some UT99 (https://youtu.be/fEv6IB2TRAQ?t=148), Thief (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXe5cXtZ5KU), Deus Ex (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWdCqXzaHoU) and Mechwarrior 4 with a Sidewinder Pro.

[deezy]

this is amazing

[Chortles Snort|eS]

https://i.imgur.com/xxp3Dby.jpg

[Llandris]

This is amazing

[solleks]

wow dude, you nailed it that is awesome!

[Dolalin]

Thumbs up from me.

[zodium]

powerful classic energy

[Vexenu]

How far are you willing to go for true period accuracy?

Will you watch only 1999-2000 era TV shows in the background while playing? On a 19" CRT television of course. Will you wear baggy JNCO jeans while playing? Will you communicate with other players in game while referencing only 1999 pop culture and events?

Let's find out how deep this rabbit hole goes.

[Forsh]

Man, I was running EQ on a 700mhz machine.

[Barantor]

That's just too rad. A+

https://i.imgur.com/WHbk61K.gif

[darkreap]

I didn't see a phone cord stretched across the house. Not classic!

[YmirEQ]

I pulled out my Voodoo 3 video card, my body is ready.

[whitebandit]

How far are you willing to go for true period accuracy?

Will you watch only 1999-2000 era TV shows in the background while playing? On a 19" CRT television of course. Will you wear baggy JNCO jeans while playing? Will you communicate with other players in game while referencing only 1999 pop culture and events?

Let's find out how deep this rabbit hole goes.

Everquest and I love Lucy/Family Feud re-runs -- Name a better combination, ill wait.

[Mblake81]

Everquest and I love Lucy/Family Feud re-runs -- Name a better combination, ill wait.

Everquest with TechTV programs like the Screen Savers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF_EPm565aQ).

edit: link (https://youtu.be/huyzCJvS6UQ?t=25)

[soronil]

OP please download green beta and make sure the night darkness shaders don't kill your perf / cause weird graphics glitches! This is a cool project but i think the guys working on classic darkness took some liberties assuming modern hardware

[Znakebite]

Mad Props!
Mountain Dew cans, Pizza boxes, Combo wrappers, Hot Pocket sleeves... EVERYWHERE!

[eqgmrdbz]

This is definitely PCMASTERRACE worthy. :D

[Jibartik]

Oh my god this made my LIFE!

https://i.imgur.com/i4dlhho.jpg

[Yorkshire]

That is seriously impressive! I love that idea!

[toddfx]

How far are you willing to go for true period accuracy?

Will you watch only 1999-2000 era TV shows in the background while playing? On a 19" CRT television of course. Will you wear baggy JNCO jeans while playing? Will you communicate with other players in game while referencing only 1999 pop culture and events?

Let's find out how deep this rabbit hole goes.

I'm not gonna lie, another retro computer project I've been wanting to try is connecting to the web via a 56k modem. I still have mine. There are guys on YouTube who show how it's possible in this day in age. When I finally get around to that, you better believe I'll be testing EQ on it.

Everquest with TechTV programs like the Screen Savers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF_EPm565aQ).

edit: link (https://youtu.be/huyzCJvS6UQ?t=25)
NOW we're talkin! This would absolutely be classic for me.
Great idea actually.

I love the build!

Not to throw cold water on your aspirations, but have you tested Blue with advanced lighting enabled? It's forced on on green and I suspect you may have... issues.
OP please download green beta and make sure the night darkness shaders don't kill your perf / cause weird graphics glitches! This is a cool project but i think the guys working on classic darkness took some liberties assuming modern hardware
Thanks guys, definitely something to look out for. Fortunately I have indeed been testing on Green, and have run into no major red flags just yet. Gets between 15 and 45 FPS depending on what's on the screen. Definitely anticipating some bogging when the population spikes. Screenshot in Green with FPS counter (https://i.imgur.com/DJA41Ls.png)

Haha. That’s great. A vodoo card is what I played eq on originally.

I might break out my CRT monitor, which I played eq on originally (though 2001-2002 so probably late period). It would capture the feel without the performance issues.Awesome, my only recommendation is to swap out the nVidia for a Voodoo3
Heck yeah voodoo3! I still have mine as well. Also played on a NVIDIA TNT RIVA2 at some point. During the course of my testing for this project, I tried numerous cards including Voodoo3. It does work! I only tried it with the Pentium III machine though, never with this P4 machine I ended up with. I should indeed give it a shot.

A few of the cards I tested for this build:

Nvidia GeForce2 GTS 32MB (April 2000)
Nvidia RIVA TNT2 16MB PCI (March 1999)
3dfx Voodoo3 3000 16MB AGP (April 1999)
Asus V7100 Geforce2 MX 32MB AGP (June 2000)

http://i.imgur.com/OoHm84Ql.jpg (https://imgur.com/OoHm84Q)

http://i.imgur.com/EizjLpbl.jpg (https://imgur.com/EizjLpb)

I landed on the NVIDIA Quadro2 Pro (i.e. GeForce2 Ultra) from March 2001 because it was the best match to the Pentium 4 CPU I ended up with, both performance and date wise.

At one point I also picked up a really neat BFG Nvidia GeForce 8400GS 512MB DDR2 PCI from 2007 which is one of the fastest and latest GPUs you can get on the PCI interface. My reason for briefly trying it was to gain access to modern drivers, which was a path I went down during my troubleshooting of a Pentium III based machine that didn't end up working out. The 8400GS is supported all the way up to Nvidia WHQL driver version 340.52 from 2014, but it was no use! My issue was definitely CPU or chipset related.

[zaneosak]

Puts the rest of us prep work to shame. That's amazing, haha.

[uygi]

If I could have one wish, it would be to get my old 286 back. Dual 20MB MFM hard drives, VGA graphics, it was a beast...

[Maelstrom]

https://i.imgflip.com/2gsg4w.jpg

[Gustoo]

Most of my gaming in this era was done on a voodoo 5 5500 it was an elite build with a similar viewsonic 19 inch display which was over the top huge compared to anyone else at the time. With a 1ghz thunderbird processor. It was maximum excellent. Before that we had a pentium 3 with MMX technology!!

Got 22 inch CRT's later.

Nice retro build

[Vexenu]

Could also read one of those old 90s era PC Gamer magazines during downtime. The ones that were like 400 pages and came with a CD full of demos.

[Mblake81]

Could also read one of those old 90s era PC Gamer magazines during downtime. The ones that were like 400 pages and came with a CD full of demos.

https://i.imgur.com/8yehPpI.jpg

Edit: Oh yeah, don't forget some Starsiege: Tribes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HM8GakowX0)

[AgentEpilot]

Good old CGW made down time in any game go by faster.

[Bazia]

im playing green on my old e-machine

[SunDrake]

A+

[oldhead]

Wow :)
A real sound card.
Even an awesome 21" FLAT Trinitron !

Authentic EQ heaven.

I marked the middle of my 21" trinitron with a sharpie. Just a little dot for FPS games.

[Aalderon Crystafire]

Beautifully done, Todd. I also love to collect and play with retro PCs. I have the same Dell, which belonged to my cousin and was originally a Pentium II 300mhz. My own first PC, an XPS R450 that our family bought at the end of 1998 has a slightly different case design and came equipped with a Aureal Vortex 1 (Turtle Beach Montego), the rather new nVidia RIVA TNT as well as the fastest CPU at the time, a Pentium II @ whopping 450mhz.

Despite that, Dell shipped these with pretty barebone drivers and having no concept of what a GPU driver even was I thought our video card was trash when it could only run Half-Life in software rendering. We got a Diamond Monster 3D II (Voodoo 2) that XMas and installed it -- I was playing Everquest the following June in Glide @ 800x600. I've since rebuilt this machine, maybe I'll take some pictures some time.

I also have ...

-Diamond Monster Voodoo 1
-Voodoo 3 2000 AGP
-Voodoo 3 3000 an AGP as well as PCI with the original box with Everquest screenshots on the back!
-Voodoo 5 PCI with the box.

For CRTs I have a brand new old stock 17" Philips 107E monitor -- one of the shortest depth CRTs ever made but it caps out at 1024x768 or 1280x1024 for 5:4 aspect ratio. I also have a 22" behemoth Diamondtron Mitsubishi Pro that goes up to 2048 x 1536 at 86 Hz and still has better colors than any LED/LCD I've owned.

My collection also includes two Tandy 1000s, a socket 7 Pentium MMX, a flex slot-1 rig that can do 286 to Pentium III speeds and rocks two sound cards -- a SB Pro 2.0 for OPL3 and an AWE64 Gold which feeds my Roland Sound Canvas!

Finally, I have an OP Windows 98 rig running a S939 AMD 4000+ , a Aureal Vortex 2 A3D and an FX5900 Ultra. My current daily driver is a Ivy-E Bridge CPU and the fastest Kepler based card so in addition to Windows 7 it has the fastest officially supported Windows XP hardware -- Titanium X-Fi for that EAX as well.

[QFuzzle]

This is amazing. Such dedication! Also, very well articulated posts, sir.

[toddfx]

Beautifully done, Todd. I also love to collect and play with retro PCs. I have the same Dell, which belonged to my cousin and was originally a Pentium II 300mhz. My own first PC, an XPS R450 that our family bought at the end of 1998 has a slightly different case design and came equipped with a Aureal Vortex 1 (Turtle Beach Montego), the rather new nVidia RIVA TNT as well as the fastest CPU at the time, a Pentium II @ whopping 450mhz.

Despite that, Dell shipped these with pretty barebone drivers and having no concept of what a GPU driver even was I thought our video card was trash when it could only run Half-Life in software rendering. We got a Diamond Monster 3D II (Voodoo 2) that XMas and installed it -- I was playing Everquest the following June in Glide @ 800x600. I've since rebuilt this machine, maybe I'll take some pictures some time.

I also have ...

-Diamond Monster Voodoo 1
-Voodoo 3 2000 AGP
-Voodoo 3 3000 an AGP as well as PCI with the original box with Everquest screenshots on the back!
-Voodoo 5 PCI with the box.

For CRTs I have a brand new old stock 17" Philips 107E monitor -- one of the shortest depth CRTs ever made but it caps out at 1024x768 or 1280x1024 for 5:4 aspect ratio. I also have a 22" behemoth Diamondtron Mitsubishi Pro that goes up to 2048 x 1536 at 86 Hz and still has better colors than any LED/LCD I've owned.

My collection also includes two Tandy 1000s, a socket 7 Pentium MMX, a flex slot-1 rig that can do 286 to Pentium III speeds and rocks two sound cards -- a SB Pro 2.0 for OPL3 and an AWE64 Gold which feeds my Roland Sound Canvas!

Finally, I have an OP Windows 98 rig running a S939 AMD 4000+ , a Aureal Vortex 2 A3D and an FX5900 Ultra. My current daily driver is a Ivy-E Bridge CPU and the fastest Kepler based card so in addition to Windows 7 it has the fastest officially supported Windows XP hardware -- Titanium X-Fi for that EAX as well.

Awesome!! Thanks for sharing. Amazing collection. I'd love to lay eyes on a 22" 2048 x 1536 CRT. The color of my Trinitron has it's moments, but it has an over-bright issue that is common on these models apparently.

Very cool video card collection, especially the Voodoo3 box with EQ screenshots! I have my original Voodoo3 2000 PCI box that my dad bought for us back in the day. No longer have the card though, unfortunately.

I too had this Dell model with a Pentium II as my first Windows PC experience. My father bought it when I would of been I guess 9 or 10. Before that, I grew up playing on our Amiga 2000, which I still have but unfortunately not with me at the moment. I moved cross country a few years ago and couldn't take it with me at the time, so it is waiting patiently for me to retrieve it and return it to it's full glory.

OH and I'm super jealous of your Roland Sound Canvas! Getting a proper midi setup is a dream of mine. What are your favorite games to play with it? Is there a midi version of the EQ theme song!?!?

[cd288]

I missed this post when it was made and just wanted to say this is incredible lol

[Enshadowed]

This is awesome. I would never, ever do this... but I applaud the dedication!

[DOPE]

Can't believe there hasn't been more love for the keeb… CLACKLIFE!

[ansar]

Wow, that looks like the exact system I bought from Dell in 2000. I think I paid around $3000 for it. Hobbies are expensive :)

[Tenagra]

I want this now. What a blast to the past.

[Issar]

This is awesome. I would never, ever do this... but I applaud the dedication!

This was exactly my thought. I definitely appreciate effort and I think it's a cool project. That being said, I can't manage having equipment in my house that is dated even 5 years. I love EQ for EQ, but I'm not huge on nostalgia. Probably seems weird when talking about a 20yr old elf sim...

[Vormotus]

You should submit this into youtube and make a how to video and a small playthrough, Id gladly watch it from the comfort of my own home! AMAZING JOB!

[Baler]

Can't believe there hasn't been more love for the keeb… CLACKLIFE!

DOPE welcome back, glad to see you posting. Your signature gif is iconic :)

[joshd]

This is actually awesome.

This would be cool to try but I admit I do like being able to play EQ on p99 in one window while playing wow with my wife in another window and watching Netflix or youtube in a third. Cant do that on a 2000 era PC lol

[TanDemain]

/clap

[Pozzey]

Fantastic work but second machine confirms boxing. Reported.

[Swish]

OP, do the lights dim when you turn it on? <3

[Mblake81]

Maximum PC year 2000 (https://books.google.com/books?id=zwEAAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=twopage&q&f=false)

Computer Gaming World year 2000 (http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_189.pdf)