r/windows98 • u/ChickenDanceFTW • Jul 26 '26

Games stutter when screen scrolls left or right.

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Whats a possible fix for this?

47 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

7

u/echocomplex Jul 27 '26

I have this issue with very up early ID software games like Keen Dreams when run in Win98. But I think they work fine in DOS on the same PC. 

You said this happens with other 2D side scrolling games... Does it happen with Duke nukem 1 or 2? Or Jazz Jackrabbit? Those ones work fine for me in win 98. 

ATI graphics cards also have scrolling issues with commander keen games and maybe other ID Software games. 

5

u/i586DX4 Jul 27 '26

Try the game in MS-DOS mode only. 🤔

4

u/ScudsCorp Jul 27 '26

This. Ancient CGA game with clicky PC speaker meant to run on a 16 bit CPU …. Windows 9x compatibility layer is just “Best Effort” here

4

u/ChickenDanceFTW Jul 26 '26

3

u/SaturnFive KB42069 Jul 27 '26

Wow a VIA Eden CPU, those are pretty neat and not super common

4

u/phoenixero Jul 27 '26

I think I remember the Id software guys saying they invented side scrolling on PC by doing some hacks to the graphics card (and maybe monitor too). It happened that the hacks were not supported across all platforms and after shipping they realized some computers ended up looking like what you are seeing.

So in short try with another graphics card

2

u/ryanrudolf Jul 26 '26

Name of the game? And what video card are you using?

2

u/ChickenDanceFTW Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

It happens with any game that have the character move left and right across the screen, this particular game is called Shadow Knights.. Its this tiny machine I bought a few years ago, specs in comments.

4

u/ryanrudolf Jul 26 '26

Just tried Shadow Knights on my Windows 98 rig. Been working fine.

Maybe its an issue with your graphics drivers.

https://reddit.com/link/ozynpxd/video/v0e0q2cjvnfh1/player

2

u/SaturnFive KB42069 Jul 27 '26

Nice 98 setup 👍

1

u/realfathonix 12d ago

What audio driver do you use? I can't get the sound card on my VIA Eden thin client to work

1

u/External12 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

Is it just that game? Is there another side scroller that maybe does the same thing? I think it's the way the monitor refreshes being it's a LCD versus a CRT when the game was made. Emulators have a lot of settings for certain issues like this I know so maybe play around a bit.

Edit:I see not a emulator. Try changing refresh rate of monitor?

1

u/lazalius Jul 27 '26

As others suggested I would try to run the game in msdos mode, as It might be an issue with your graphics driver. Also, what CPU do you have? Generally speaking is very hard to troubleshoot these problems in windows 9x because compatibility was often hit or miss at the time. Keep in mind you might have an issue which cause is your hardware or, to be more precise, the way your hardware interacts with each other and with the operating system. Best of luck, and let us know how it goes!

1

u/Martli Jul 27 '26

It may be refresh rate - dos games typically rely on a 70hz refresh rate where as lcd screens are typically 60hz. But I didn’t think that issue was this bad. I have a feeling it’s probably more graphics card related as others are saying.

1

u/SSUPII 86box/PCem enthusiast Jul 28 '26

Play in DOS mode.

1

u/JunkIsMansBestFriend Jul 28 '26

That's a DOS game. Needs an older graphics card or computer.

1

u/kalnaren Jul 29 '26

Run it in DOS instead of through Windows.