List of CPU speed sensitive games
This is a list of games that do not run properly in some ways on CPUs faster than what was common than at the game's release. 1990+ for the most part, since before that, this was more often the case than not: As a general rule, games for IBM XT computers require a 8088 4.77 MHz to play right.
Some CPUs, for example AMD K6-2 and earlier Pentium IIs have selectable multipliers, which may help with achieving the lower speeds recommended for some of the games in this article. Additionally, disabling L1/L2 caches will slow down the processor as well, e.g. a Pentium III with disabled caches will be comparable to a 386. Setmul is a software utility by forum member gerwin that allows multipliers and caches to be changed/disabled and enabled without a reboot. For certain P54C Pentiums, it also allows manipulating Test Register options for further speed control.
Also, it is possible to use a slow 3D card to slow some of the games down, especially with the early proprietary APIs; a special case here are Rendition Vérité cards, since their slow VGA performance will also bottleneck DOS games using these modes. Finally, as a last resort one may try slowdown utilities such as CPU Killer and Mo'Slo.
For games with unlisted optimal CPU specs refer to the minimum requirements published by the developers.
DOS
| Game title | Symptoms with faster CPUs | Maximum suitable CPU | Fix available? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aces of the Pacific (1992) | Slippery flight controls | 486 25 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Alien Carnage (1993) | Runtime 200 error | P166? | Run TPPATCH on every .exe file, including harry*.-0 (except harry.-0), which are also .exe files |
| Alien Trilogy (1996) | Runs too fast on higher P3s | ? | |
| Alone in the Dark (1992) | Animations too fast | 386DX 33 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Betrayal at Krondor (1993) | glitching MIDI music / game freezes on startup | 486 16 for MIDI / 486 25 for Soundblaster | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Bubble Ghost (1987) | Runs too fast/slow | 386SX 16 | |
| Carmageddon (1997) | Runs too fast | ? | |
| Day of the Tentacle (1993) | garbled Adlib music | 486 16 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Descent (1994) | Runs too fast with ~higher PIIs | P233 | Increase resolution |
| Descent II (1996) | Normal game speed, but mouse sensitivity drops down on high framerates | P2 300? | |
| Double Dragon (1988) | Locks up before final battle and player 2 will have fewer moves | 8088 4.77 | |
| Duke Nukem II (1993) | With certain sound cards, Sound Blaster digitized sounds might not play | 486 16 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Dune (1992) | no speech | P2 333 | |
| Dyna Blaster (1992) | locks up | 486 50 | |
| Halloween Harry (1993) | See Alien Carnage | ||
| Hi-Octane (1996) | Speed problems | P100 | |
| Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1993) | garbled Adlib music | 486 16 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) | With Adlib sound "Runtime error R6003 - integer divide by zero" | 386DX 40 | For the the 256 color VGA version: "486 Upgrade" patch. For 16 color EGA version, on older CPUs with integrated L1 cache you can turn off the L1 cache to avoid the problem. |
| Jazz Jackrabbit (1994) | doesn't start ("Runtime error 200") | P133 w/o patch P200MMX w/patch | TPPATCH for Pentium MMX or reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride (1994) | Speed bug with one or two puzzles | ? | |
| Knights of the Sky (1990) | Runs too fast | 386SX 20 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Lemmings 2: The Tribes (1993) | Requires HDD smaller than 504 MB (CHS limit) or else the copy protection checksum calculated by the installer is wrong | ? | |
| Lotus III: The Ultimate Challenge (1992) | Crashes with invalid opcode error | P2 350 | |
| Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament (1996) | ? | ? | |
| Might & Magic III (1991) | Animations too fast | 486 16 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Might & Magic: World of Xeen (1994) | Flashing mouse cursor when hovering over game window, map, and char page | 486 40 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| One Must Fall 2097 (1994) | Runs too fast | 486 66 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Quarantine (1994) | Runs too fast on P3 | 486 33 ? | Use Slowdown, reduce clock speed or disable cache |
| Quest for Glory III (1992) | Garbled General MIDI | 486 16 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Red Baron (1990) | Joystick won't detect on Pentium MMX | P133 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| The Secret of Monkey Island (1990) | With Adlib sound "Runtime error R6003 - integer divide by zero" | 386DX 40 | For the the 256 color VGA version: "486 Upgrade" patch. For 16 color EGA version, on older CPUs with integrated L1 cache you can turn off the L1 cache to avoid the problem. |
| Garbled MT-32 music with fast CPUs | ? | ||
| Sid Meier's Colonization (1994) | Crashes with Integer Divide by Zero error with Pentium 200MMX | P166 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Sierra games | no sound card detection | P200 | |
| Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and The Time Rippers (1991) | Bugs every time a sequel police is on the screen | 386? | |
| Space Quest V: Roger Wilco -- The Next Mutation (1993) | unable to initialize audio hardware | Adlib-486 25 Gen. MIDI-486 16 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Star Control (1990) | FM sound malfunction | P150 | |
| Star Control II (1992) | ? | ? | |
| Syndicate (1993) | crashes at startup | P166 | |
| Terminator: Future Shock (1995) | too fast on high P2 | ? | SkyNET version |
| Test Drive III (1990) | Runs too fast | 386DX-25 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Theme Park (1994) | Runs too fast | 486 66? | |
| Thor's Hammer: The Trilogy (1995) | Inconsistent in-game speeds (turning around and opening doors very slow) | P3 600 | reduce clock speed or disable CPU cache |
| Toonstruck (1996) | Speed bug with one or two puzzles | ? | |
| Ultima Underworld (1992) | Keyboard movement too fast on fast Pentiums | 486 66 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Ultima Underworld II (1993) | Keyboard movement too fast on fast Pentiums | P60 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Ultima VI (1990) | Runs too fast, music distortion | 386DX 25 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992) | Runs too fast | 486 33 [1] | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994) | scrolls too fast, water animation too fast, but playable | 386DX 33 | |
| Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995) | Scrolls too fast with PII, but playable | P133? | Battle.net Windows version works fine |
| Warlords II Deluxe (1995) | Crashes on startup with fast CPUs | 486 66 | |
| Wing Commander (1990) | Runs too fast | 386DX 33 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge (1990) | Runs too fast | 386DX 33 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant (1992) | "Divide Overflow Flaw/Reboot" on Pentium processors | ? | Pentium reboot patch |
| Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams (1991) | Runs too fast | 386DX 25 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| Worlds of Ultima: Savage Empire (1990) | Runs too fast | 386DX 25 | Reduce clock speed or disable cache with Setmul |
| X-Com UFO Defense (1994) | Scrolls too fast/ Shots fired very fast, Still very Playable | P90 | Adjust fire/scroll speed to your liking, not always effective |
| Zool (1992) | ? | ? | |
Windows
| Game title | Symptoms with faster CPUs | Recommended CPUs | Fix available? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Betrayal In Antara (1997) | Day/Night transitions + movement too fast | P233 | GOG.com version works fine |
| Cossacks: European Wars (2001) | Runs too fast in multiplayer? | ? | |
| FIFA Football 2002 (2001) | Crashes to desktop | P4 2.0 | |
| Gex: Enter the Gecko (1998) | Lack of framerate limiter may cause the game to play too fast in certain situations | ? | |
| Grand Prix Legends (1998) | Runs too fast | P4 1.7 GHz | CPU patch for version 1.2 |
| Havoc (1995) | Too fast on late PII | P2 300? | |
| Hexplore (1998) | Crashes after a minute on fast P4 and above | P3 500? | Fix for Modern Systems |
| Imperialism (1997) | World map scrolls too fast | plays fine with patch | Patch 1.1 (slight scrolling delay added) |
| Interstate '76 (1997) | Broken physics? | ? | |
| Jane's US Navy Fighters 97 (1996) | Runs too fast | ? | Increase resolution; Jane's Fighters Anthology version works fine |
| Master of Orion II (1996) | Battle screen scrolls too fast, minor issue | P166? | |
| Monaco GP Racing Simulation 2 (1999) | Runs too fast | P4 2.0 | |
| Pro Rally 2001 (2000) | hangs | P4 2.0 | Install with [2], update to 1.1, [3], may not work with AMD FX CPUs |
| Sega Rally Championship (1997) | Direct3D version plays too fast | ? | |
| Silver (1999) | Timing issues with a certain bell puzzle on high P4 | P3 1.0 | GOG.com version works fine |
| SimCopter (1996) | Runs too fast/glitchy and crashes on P4 3.2 GHz/98SE | K6-2 350 | |
| Speed Busters (1999) | crashes | P4 2.0 | GOG.com version works fine |
| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Fallen (2000) | CPU throttling issues | ? | Use Direct3D renderer |
| Star Trek Generations (1997) | Runs too fast | ? | |
| Star Trek: The Next Generation: Klingon Honor Guard (1998) | Crashes to desktop in the "Advanced Options" menu, CPU throttling issues | ? | |
| Streets of SimCity (1997) | ? | ? | |
| TNN Outdoors Pro Hunter (1998) | ? | ? | |
| Unreal (1998) | erratic speed-up/slow-down | ? | See 3rd post here, and this launcher. |
| Unreal Tournament (1999) | CPU throttling, erratic speed-up/slow-down | ? | See main article for details. Also read here and here. |
| Wipeout 2097/Wipeout XL (1997) | Runs too fast | ? | supposedly available |
