Back in April 2024, I have started my research on how to get Lemmings games to run under modern hardware and Windows 11 24H2. I did however halt it in favor of other pressing issues! Now is the time to resume it and write down my findings for the afterworld!
My research started with finding the wonderful RGB Classic Games Lemmings Page!
Especially the availability chart really helped me out big time!
Let’s start with:
“Lemmings Paintball” from the “Let’s Go Crazy With Lemmings” collection.
The hint from 11 years ago to change the desktop resolution to 640 x 480 is no longer viable in a world where the minimal resolution for Windows is now 800 x 600. There are more elegant solutions nowadays.
There is also no “No CD Patch” so keep your original copy handy when the desire hit to play this game.
Actually, the very viable DXWnd community broke off a whole discussion about running this issue, and despite research on this issue, stopped on 2022-01-16, there is a config available that does let you play the game stretched.
However, in Win 11 24H2 particularly, the solution is very finicky, as it does not work as soon as one of the avi videos of the game plays (e.g. the intro!) at which point the main window stays in windowed mode and only when the intro is skipped in the right moment and the missing permission dialog of DXWnd is prompted well in time, I could get the main window to run in borderless Fullscreen. It worked for me 4 times, after which it always resulted in one of the following two error messages:
The solution in Win11 24H2 is considerably straight forward and easy indeed!:
Setting the compatibility settings of “LEMBALL.EXE” to the following:
Next up is “Lemmings for Windows” from the “Let’s Go Crazy With Lemmings” collection.
This 1995 Windows release based on the original DOS release is installing and working just fine out of the box, it also scales nicely on my 2K screen resolution with no hiccup, nothing to see here, time to move on.
Hold on, there is one little thing: The online help does not work anymore as the .HLP format is no longer supported in Windows 10 and 11. The solution here is to copy the old “winhlp32.exe” from a Windows XP installation (as newer versions require Internet Explorer to be present to work). I took one from a WinXP 64bit installation I have on another HDD. Use Unlocker to rename the old Windows 11 version to something like “winhlp32.exe.bak” and then copy it from the root of the Windows XP installation to the root of Windows 11’s folder.
Next up is “Lemmings 3D“, this can be either the standalone version or the one from the “Let’s Go Crazy With Lemmings” collection.
This config is based off the latest DOSBox version to date, i.e. 0.74-3
Common places on the internet describe specific cpu cycles to be used for certain CPU speeds and using CD Audio in combination with General Midi.
This is no longer the case.
Instead, the currently best config for DOSBox 0.74-3 for Lemmings 3D is:
CPU Cycles=max
sbtype=sb1
In the game setup, select CD Audio = No
Any other config will cause the sound to stutter and the game to run slower than necessary
Next up is “Lemmings 3” from the “Lemings 1-3 neon edition” collection, also known as “All New World of Lemmings” in Europe.
This requires the same DOSBox configuration as Lemmings 3D above, quote:
CPU Cycles=max
sbtype=sb1
However, CD Audio cannot be disabled or else you have no music.
Take note, that the game has a long history of not running well in DOSBox at all. It is playable, but you will have some crackling noises during gameplay.
Next up is “Lemmings 1” from the “Lemmings 1-3 neon edition” collection, which unfortunately I could not get to work with working music, not even by lowering CPU cycles. It is a known fact that some versions of this game do not work with music in DOSBOX. It worked when I tried it with another version of the game!
Also, the official DOSBox has a graphic glitch after the main menu of Lemmings. For a glitch free experience, I highly suggest using DOSBox SVN DAUN instead.
As for “Lemmings 2” from the “Lemmings 1-3 neon edition” collection, the following sound config was required for the sound to work:
sbtype=sb1
oplemu=compat
For the game itself, it had to be installed and as sound hardware, soundblaster had to be selected for music.
for CPU cylcles
cycles=max
was required, or else the game would crash during the intro.