I had been asking GOG for some time now about the infamous gold box series from SSI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_box. Sadly for business reasons I am sure they can not tell me where they are in acquiring the rights to sell current versions of gold box.

The games and the journals needed to play them are on several abandonware sites but they all require dosbox and I have never used dosbox. So with so many gamers here in the gog forums I thought I'd poll the audience and see how hard it was to set up dos box on a windows 8 pc and run Champions of Kyrnn from gold box. Tips and suggestions couldn't hurt either.

DOSBox is ridiculously easy. If you've ever used DOS (especially 5.x or 6.x) then you already know how to use DOSBox.

Install your DOSBox games to C:\Games or something with a short and memorable path. Get DOSBox. Run it. Your first command will be "mount c c:\games" or whatever your install path will be for your games. Then change your directory to c, with the DOS command "c:" or even "cd c:\", then go into the subdirectory for the game you want to play, say, "cd poolrad" (remember that DOS, and by extension DOSBox, uses the 8 character directory limit), and run the executable. If the game is running slowly, ctrl-f12 (crap....fn-f12, maybe? definitely one of the control keys ctrl, fn, or alt, plus f12) will increase the cycles that DOSBox will use, making the emulated system faster.

Works on all of them. So, so easy.

SSI was acquired by Ubisoft. So I imagine they hold the rights to the Gold Box. There is a Gamefest version of this game made by Interplay from 2001 for Windows from MobyGames. They are owned by Gamefly. So if you want the series you might write to them. Here is some information you might find useful of you want to purchase the games.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/gamefest-forgotten-realms-classics The problem I had many years ago in running these games is that the core processor speeds have increased so drastically that they make the games unplayable. You may have to reprogram the code a little to put a huge loop in the software to slow down the game.

Not with current DOSBox. Everything runs fine on my i7-3770. I even add cycles for the more demanding programs like the Dark Sun games.

Nice "primer" on how to get started using dosbox Puppy.

And CatintheHeat thanks for that I had no clue Ubi picked up SSI - I always just assumed they ended up in defunct land. SSI and TSR - so sad those series of letter are no more :(

Golf box ssi games and eye of the beholder 1-2....please gog, make me happy.

appreciate the feed back all of you, hopefully I can now enjoy some good old game nostalgia

Using DOSBox could be simpler with a front-end. I tried D-Fend Reloaded and I liked it very much (BTW I have never used DOS, I made the transition from Amiga to Windows). If it worked for me, it can work for everyone.

I must have played Pool of Radiance about 6 or 7 days straight on my C64 the Christmas morning I got it. Was my first experience with all encompassing game addiction and my first original "hack" in discovering how to make arrow "bags". Ahhh childhood.

I also would love to see the series here. Frankly I have all the box and disks I am just far to lazy to figure out how to get them running. I even still have the PoR rune wheel... good stuff.

I've never played any of these. Are they really good?

I saw maybe 10 gold box games on 3 1/2" floppies in their original boxes and manuals and all at Goodwill for maybe $2 each. I wasn't in financial shape to buy them at the time, but I desperately wanted to. I love holding a piece of gaming history.

Edit: I was just looking at this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/AD-D-GOLDBOX-CHAMPIONS-OF-KRYNN-Vol-1-ORIG-BIG-BOX-RELEASE-CIB-IBM-PC-SSI-RPG-/261487350004?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item3ce1dc50f4

and it has 5 1/4" discs. Maybe that's why I didn't buy it. I have no way to run those. I wonder how many GOGers have 5 1/4" drives still. :)

I bought the gamefest disks for Windows and later realized they didn't come with manuals or the code wheels needed for PoR, CotAB, and Hillsfar, let alone any of the manuals. Thank goodness there is this website.

http://www.replacementdocs.com/news.php

Sucsess! I got Champions of Krynn up and running! One thing though, is there any way to make the screen a little bigger? I know resolutions were tiny back then but If I could just make the screen a little bigger it would be nice

Alt+Enter toggles fullscreen mode. You can adjust the DOSBox configuration file to have it start fullscreen by default and/or have a larger scaling size.

I would liked so much to see this on GOG, but with today's state of IP probably we never will. :(
Now it is enough not to able to secure rights to one picture or one song in the game and you are f***d.
Why is it better for IP owners to loose games like this to oblivion forever than get $5-10 from fans I will never understand.
Their behavior is real crime in my eyes as some of those games are true treasures.
What is the difference between book burning and forcing gems like this into oblivion?

At least they have sense enough not to go after abandonware sites, the only ones that keep legacy of companies like SSI, Microprose, Sierra, FTL, Psygnosis, etc. at heart.

I forgot (I get angry when I think about this).

Yes, these are IMHO best CRPG games ever and absolutely worth playing.
All of them:
- Pool of Radiance, Curse of Azure Bonds, Secret of Silver Blasdes, Pools of Darkness
- Champions of Krynn, Dead Knights of Krynn, The Dark Queen of Krynn
- Buck Rodgers: Countdown to Doomsday, Buck Rodgers 2: Matrix Cubed
- Gateway to Savage Frontier, Treasure of Savage Frontier

Yes, if you like tactical combat. They have some of the best turn based combat and encounter design of any CRPGs.
In addition the artwork is good, the graphics were good for its time and still holds up well (since it's rather cartoony 2D and not "realistic" 3D), and the stories are usually not too bad.