dpanter: You have to link the files directly for them to embed properly, and it would be nice to hide them with a spoiler tag so the post doesn't take up a whole page by itself.

Done, thanks :)

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With games that ran on DOS and Windows 3.11 I've found DOSBox to be great for perfect for scaling (using the integer scaling method where the pixels look chunkier and not blurred). I have no need to use a CRT screen for these older games now.

The problem area for me is certain games released from the Windows 98 to early Windows XP area (lets say between 1998 - 2003). Here's some examples:

X Beyond the Frontier
X-Tension
Medieval Total War (though I think a fix for Windows side now appeared for this)
Cueball World
Total Annihilation

To get these games running correctly, scaled without blurring, is a significant challenge in Linux. With Windows using NVidia Turing, you can now at least use integer scaling along with VMWare Player to run X Beyond the Frontier & X-Tension full screen without looking a blurry mess.

On Linux I've had some success using my NVidia 970 and the following command:

nvidia-settings -a CurrentMetaMode="DP-0: 2560x1440_165 {ViewPortIn=1280x720, ViewPortOut=2560x1440, ResamplingMethod=Nearest }"

This is allowing me to run games at 1280 x 720 and the pixels are scaled up to 2560 x 1440. Limitation of this method is it seems a bit of a hack. Everything seems to think you are still in 1440p resolution so fullscreen games aren't centred at all and my XFCE panel disappears off the screen!

You can still make it work in windowed mode. Run the games in the top left corner for full screen and none blurry scaling. Included some pics:

Spoiler, click me

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Things will be so much easier when NVidia supports 1600/2000 series integer scaling at the driver level on Linux. All of a sudden, scaling in Windows is an absolute dream.

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I bought Sim Earth years ago for the Amiga and this sounds pretty similar. I really couldn't get into it even though I gave it a fair old try.

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I love the X series and have been playing since the late 1990's. Two things are for certain though - all of their games are a bit of a mess at launch and they always fix the problems with patches. I'd say it'll take a good six months for things to settle down so here's hoping we wont see the linux version until spring at the earliest.

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I wonder why scaling options are so hard to implement on this type of game? I know dropping your resolution is one way of getting around it but that gives you a blurry screen that does my eyes in aswell :)

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I also loved Moo2 but remember the crushing disappointment that was Master of Orion 3. Great to have the option to play the new one in Linux, just hope it's worth playing!

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This is one game that has not aged well at all, the UI even at 4K resolution is massive and looks quite washed out because of stretching

Isn't this a good thing? Looking washed out isn't great but the fact that the UI scales/stretches at all needs applauded.

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