I’ve got some DOOM WADs I have been meaning to play so I would probably grab Trench Foot, Total Chaos, and the sequel to Ashes 2063, Ashes: Afterglow with a portable install of GZDoom to play them.

After that I’d probably bring Star Trek TOS and a MOBI copy of Neuromancer by William Gibson combined with a portable install of VLC and Calibre in case the computer didn’t have applications that support the file format.


What about you?

I wanted to phrase this in a way where it isn’t a prolonged or desert island style question where the responsible idea would be to bring Wikipedia ZIMs and educational PDFs. It’s just an awkward amount of time to kill. The mid 2000s office desktop stipulation is just an additional challenge so you can’t just bring in a copy of Baldur’s Gate 3 or Cyberpunk 2077.


Edit: By mid 2000s I meant around 2005; the XP or Vista.

  • warlaan@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    Boy, this question hurts.

    For anyone above a certain age with kids below a certain age this isn’t a punishment or a challenge, this is A DREAM!! Heroes of might and magic 3, system shock 2, Anno (any version up to 1503), Morrowind, Civilization 3, Age of wonders shadow magic, Baldur’s gate 1 and 2…

    Whenever my wife finds the time she goes to her room to play Morrowind. She just got a new laptop and the first thing I did was install OpenMW and copy her save file.

    It goes without saying that you couldn’t finish any of those games in those 12 hours, except for System Shock 2.

    • the_third@feddit.de
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      9 months ago

      except for System Shock 2.

      No, at some point I’d make a very unmanly noise and Alt-F4 the fuck outta there.

      • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        9 months ago

        Ikr? It’s like, the perfect thing for a 12 hour period of time. I should just carry it around in my backpack (ive got the 4K blu-rays), you can’t go wrong with it. That and star wars (classics, prequels, and animated cartoons).

        Just gotta beat everyone to the nearest conference room and take over the projector.

  • Alice@beehaw.org
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    9 months ago

    MS Paint, an old clip art CD, and notepad. It’s time to make some unbearable personal websites

  • zod000@lemmy.ml
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    9 months ago

    12 hours isn’t really even that long, could probably bring just about anything, but I think Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri would be a great way to spend that time.

  • Nomecks@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    12 hours of trying to overclock a mid 2000s desktop as much as I can

    • Avg@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Memtest on a floppy and superpi or prime95, atitool on the drive, maybe a few games to benchmark? Can’t forget a soldering iron and defroster repair kit. 12 hours is not going to be enough.

  • spasticeightball@beehaw.org
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    9 months ago

    Emulators definitely should still run fine for GBA games I’d think. So there’s a lot to choose from already in that library. If not, then SNES. even a potato from the mid 2000s can run SNES games.

    Other than that, I’m thinking I would load up my entire calibre Epub library so I can read books. I have so many books I want to go through that I have collected over the years. Want to go through the entire Dune series for the first time among other books.

    I’m also quite certain a mid 2000s office PC can run VLC. I have many older series I have yet to watch still because I’ve been so busy. Stuff like The Shield or The Wire that I have downloaded but never got around to watching.

    I don’t think I would get bored without internet for 12 hours at all with all that media at my disposal. Even on a 128gb thumb drive, I can easily bring in 2-3 full 1080p tv series. Epubs and retro system ROMs take no space at all so that’d be easy.

    And if I get bored of all that media somehow, I’d just use an offline copy of wikivoyage to plan my next vacation.

    • mctoasterson@reddthat.com
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      9 months ago

      SNES 9x ran great on systems of this era. I spent days playing all the Megaman titles and save-scumming or scanning memory to make infinite health cheats.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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      9 months ago

      I’m currently listening to the Children of Dune audio book. That alone is 16h. I think Messiah was around 8h and Dune was around 12h. Basically, 12h is nothing.

  • klemptor@startrek.website
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    9 months ago

    Winamp with my favorite skin

    Entirety of my mp3 collection

    All 7 seasons of DS9

    All 5 seasons of Kids in the Hall

  • massive_bereavement@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    Dungeon Keeper, Diablo II, StarCraft maybe, Morrowind, Uplink, Civilization II, Sim City 2000 or 3000 (depends on what will run), quake.

    • Corroded@leminal.spaceOP
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      9 months ago

      I checked Steam to see the minimum requirements for Factorio and they are quite low. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be one of those games that seems like it wouldn’t be demanding but actually is or it slows down significantly as your advance further into the game

      • jivandabeast@lemmy.browntown.dev
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        9 months ago

        I’d say the requirements are accurate, it needs cpu to do the simulation stuff but I’m still a noob.

        Regardless, i think i could go 12hrs before crossing that threshold (if it does exist)