Minimum system for Ultima Underworld I

[polbit]

As the title suggests, what's a minimum system capable of playing the Ultima Underworld 1? Can I get away with 386SX and 16-bit VGA, or is it 386DX/486-level game?

 

[SomeGuy]

Not sure I ever tried that on a 386SX, but I seem to recall that it benefited a bit from a 486 over 386DX. Perhaps even a tad more on a Pentium 1, but much faster and the game develops an odd movement glitch. I would expect a 386SX to be sluggish.

Try it and see what happens

I recall attempting to run it on a 286, because why else would a game like that require EMS instead of XMS? It didn't work at all, I assume it must indeed have 386 specific instructions.

 

[T-R-A]

https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Ultima_Underworld:_The_Stygian_Abyss

386sx "should" work.... YMMV

 

[Trixter]

As the title suggests, what's a minimum system capable of playing the Ultima Underworld 1? Can I get away with 386SX and 16-bit VGA, or is it 386DX/486-level game?

It is a 386dx/486dx-level game. You can play it on something lower, but the performance doesn't make for an enjoyable game.

 

[polbit]

Thanks, only reason I asked is because I found myself with a 386SX mobo, but the only reason I would want to build it out would be to play the game, otherwise I have a Tandy 1000 TL/2.

 

[Trixter]

Well, you can't play Underworld with a Tandy 1000 TL/2 either

There are plenty of reasons to build out a 386sx-16 (playing with protected-mode programming is one), although my favorite is to play 3-D games that are playable on any 286 but could use an extra 25-50% horsepower to really shine. Stunts, Indianapolis 500, MS Flight Simulator 4, Interphase, F29 Retaliator, and all of the 3D games from Dynamix from the late 80s/early 90s (David Wolf: Secret Agent, Deathtrack, Stellar 7, Nova 9, Red Baron, A10 Tank Killer) run really nicely on a 386sx-16.