What is Classic Games?
Classic Games is an archive of old games that are now unsupported by their publishers. The aim of many file download site is just to amass as many games as possible without paying attention to the games themselves. As Classic Games Develops. We will pay close attention to each individual title and pay our tributes to the developers of these great games. And hopefully amass a community following that share in our love of these classics.
The site has been designed so at every possible moment information can be gained on the game. For the avid enthusiast a more comprehensive page lists a good quantity of the games data. Don’t though rush in and download the games without paying due attention to what you are getting into to - these are classics and deserved to be treated with respect. Downloading all the games will only spoil the enjoyment of downloading one, playing it and then coming back for another and playing that. Hoarding the games will only dampen your enthusiasm for them.
Classic Games is all about interactivity - you may write your own comments on every game that is on Classic Games, join in the comments banter, write a review for one of the games - submit it to Classic and we will probably publish it.
As well as the games we are building up a steady collection of manuals, cheats and walkthroughs for all the games we have currently listed, any help in supplying more of these is greatly appreciated.
The GUI (Graphical User Interface) which every web page has is basically a database browser for Classic, so all the information you see is pulled directly from our fast MySQL database. This allows all the data to be cross referenced - so if you select a category you will see a list of the games in that category; select the game to see the game listing; select the developer to see the developers page and games that developed has created; select the year to view all games in that year. You will notice that when you say click on the year the year column is then substituted by the category column, so we give you all the relevant information at all times to find the games most suited to you.
What platforms and time periods are covered by Classic PC Games?We cover all software released for IBM PC and compatibles, from time immemorial (or at least from the beginning of PC gaming history, i.e. around 1978). This then includes many modern games that are not available for download, but available to purchase through our Partners. For these games we are adding as many Demos and related files we can find so make sure you check the Download section for each game you are interested in. We need these here to support the site and the huge bandwidth costs incurred. So please purchase games through Classic.
Is there a fee for using Classic PC Games?Yes, to cover bandwidth charges Classic now charges a fee. This fee allows us to dedicate more time to upload the games we have and collect relevant pieces of game data. It also allows our members to download the games faster as less people will be hoarding the bandwidth reserved for them. It is our intention to this site for free but until we amass enough revenue to do this then the fee will have to stay. We maintain Classic though as a non-profit site and all revenues go towards bandwidth and necessary costs.
Please read the Members FAQ for more infomation on joining Classic Games, click [HERE]
Why do you use ad banners?While we dislike ad banners as much as anyone, they are necessary as a source of revenue. We need to cover server and bandwidth costs. Because we use so much file storage space, free servers (e.g. Xoom, Geocities, and Spaceports) are no longer a viable hosting option for us as they offer too little spcae to store all the files we need for this site.
Although we need to display an ad banner, we try to make it as inconspicuous and unobtrusive as possible, and allow only advertisers who we believe are of interest to our visitors, we would appreciate it if you could click the banners from time to time to help us pay the costs of expansion. Some clicks are also necessary because advertising agencies can drop sites whose click-through rates are below industry-wide standard (currently 0.28%), or allocate banners with very low payout rates. Besides, you might discover a good product or site you never knew existed.
Are cookies required to use Classic PC Games?Cookies are required for logging into the site. They help Classic remember the login details and track the member so they may be able to download files from this site.
How can I download anything?Firstly you must be a member to download from Classic. Once you have joined then you will be able to download games from the game Download page (Click on the top tab saying Download). Simply click on the file size reading next to the item you want to begin the download. Also within the download section are Related Files. Related Files will give you files such as PDF manuals, maps, addon scenarions etc.
What are these .rar / .a0* files and how do I extract them?Like .zip, they are compressed file formats: .rar files are WinRAR format, and .a* files are ARJ--.
Please note that WinZip does not extract ARJ files automatically, unless you install ARJ as a helper program. Even so, it may not extract multiple ARJ files (i.e. those that end with .a00, .a01, etc.) unless you change the program options.
Also, most CD-rips come with an .NFO file, e.g. RAZOR.NFO and so on. These files contain instructions for unzipping, installing, and running the game, so read them when you see them. These rips were done by various groups, and although we don’t condone their actions, we are grateful that they did these rips, because otherwise games risk being lost forever.
In Windows, .NFO file looks like a file with magnifying glass on it). You CANNOT left-click to read it, since Windows will mistake it as a Windows info file and attempt to read it that way. Instead, open it from Notepad or a proper .NFO viewer.
Why am I getting very low download speeds?For a modem dial in connection you may expect speeds of around 4 kbytes/sec. For cable modems and DSL’s, speeds vary a lot. Usually they are around 20 kbytes/sec, depending on the load and your location.
When reporting slow speeds include at least the following:
- The download speed;
- The speed and type of your network connection;
- The speeds you get to other sites (and their locations, if known);
- Whether the speeds have always been this slow (or since when);
- Output of ping -n 10 to www.classicpcgames.com or equivalent;
- Output of tracert to www.classicpcgames.com or equivalent;
Please note that if your round trip time is high (>500ms) or there are a lot of lost packets (>15%) as seen from ping output, your problems are most probably caused by your ISP or their network connections.