MS DOS games, compatible with XP?

Hey all, I've just downloaded THIS INCREDIBLE GAME, which is intended to run on MS DOS.  I remember on my old old computer (Windows 98, I believe), the Shut Down menu had an option for "Restart in MS DOS mode."  But, Windows XP doesn't have that option!  I'm so sad.  I want to play this game soooo badly, but I can't get it to work.  Someone help me. :'(

DOSbox ~

I have no experience with it though ;_;

You may want to google around for a GUI to it.

[edit] graphical user interface~ so instead of typing in silly commands to open games and stuff you can just click buttons etc to load games :3

DOSBox, yes. However, it runs really, really slowly, so beware. Even at top stats, I could only get Arena to run at 2 FPS.

Okay, thank you!  I will putter around Google for that DOSbox.  Thank you so much!  Now I can't wait to get home and play Princess Maker 2!!

Okay, I'm feeling really stupid.

I have downloaded both the game and DOSBox.  I've read through the DOSBox readme file and tried a million billion different commands.  But, I can't get it to actually play the game!!  Is it me?  Am I doing something wrong?  What I need is for one of you to tell me, step by step, what needs to be done in order to play this game.  Usually, I can figure this stuff out on my own, but this is just leaving me completely clueless.  It's not doing much for my self-esteem.

Help!  *cries*

I dont know why it wont work for you... are you running XP? The game is XP compatible.
I was running it eariler

Whenever I tried that before, it just made a blank screen show up, and nothing happened.

BUT!!
I found an online tutorial and was able to figure it out for myself!  Hurray.  DUDE, Princess Maker 2 is, like, the greatest game I've ever played.  I just spent the last two hours playing it.  Seriously, guys, disregard the girliness of it and PLAY IT.  NOW.

Exactly what is "IT"?

Why, Princess Maker 2 of course!

I was hoping more for an elaboration but okay.

I played it for like ten seconds.... you make up a name, and you pick a daughter name/age.
Then you make a princess I suppose

THIS INCREDIBLE GAME

All of the info you'll ever need is right there, in the link I gave in the first post.

You play as a guy who saves the kingdom, and as a reward the gods give you a ten-year-old daughter.  Gameplay consists of scheduling her activities every month.  Stats are increased by sending her to school (which costs money), and money is gained by sending her out on a part-time job (which requires the stats gained from school).  As you can imagine, there's a fair bit of strategy involved.  On top of all that, both school and work increases her stress level, so vacations and free time are also a fairly chunky portion of gameplay.  Beyond that, the fun parts of the game are wandering around the castle and talking to people (which requires Refinement, earned in school, or else people won't talk to you), and Adventuring (which is surprisingly similar to tradition RPGs, including turn-based battles... Strength and Magic are, of course, learned in school).  The game ends on her 18th birthday, when she chooses a profession (depending on her skills) and leaves your care.

IT'S SO FUN!

A complete guide, including a list of ending professions, is available here.

If you're telling soo much, it must be good, i'm going to try this thing.
and thx for the dosbox reminder guys, i almost forgot bout it.

It's tough to get into the groove of in the beginning, because you don't have a lot of money to send her to school and she sucks at her jobs.  Eventually, though, you settle into it and it becomes the most freakin' addictive game you'll ever play.  Has hella replay value, too, seeing as there are 70+ different endings.

I've played through twice already.  My first princess became an Artist and married a wizard.  My second (which I cleared earlier today) became a Martial Arts Instructor and married a knight.  In my next file, I'd like to see if I can get her to be a magic-user of some sort, ideally a Court Wizard.

I even got DragonMagna to play it a bit.  He made her fat by feeding her too much, and she eventually became a delinquent because he made her too stressed out.  See?  This game's got something for everybody.  There are infinite different ways to play through.

Wow I'm gonna try this game lmao. Wonder what else you can do besides makeing her fat.

I can't beieve i'm liking it 

As she gets older, you unlock more jobs.

Wow I'm gonna try this game lmao. Wonder what else you can do besides makeing her fat.

You can make her work in a "sleazy bar" or cabaret.    One of the ending profession categories is "Concubine."

A Quick tutorial for those who are still trying to get it to run:
1. Go ahead and get yourself a copy of DosBox here and install it.
2. Download Princess Maker here and unzip the folder to your C:\ Drive. (You should end up with C:\pm2)
3. Run DosBox and type the follwoing commands:

Code: [Select]

mount c c:\pm2

Code: [Select]

c:

Code: [Select]

pm2.exe

4. Enjoy <3

Oh and if you want sound, run the PM2WINST.EXE and change your settings.

Princess Maker 2 is seriously one of the most awesome games ever. Shame on you all for having not played it sooner.

DAmn , im really liking it OO

Thats because raising little girls is awesome.

Hurrah!  Tell all your friends about it, too. 

Please share with me your endings, too.   

ok i forgot to tell this but for me sound doesnt come, even after i tried EVERYTHING
ps- i do microphone as speaker is bad AND princess maker 2 works for me WITHOUT dosbox, though i played WITH dosbox today
so tell me guys

I did what Crank said and couldn't get the sound to work either. It would be nice to have sound, but I'm fine without it.

There are no sound effects, only music.

I did this:
From the folder where all of the PrincessMaker2 files are, double-click on the file named PM2WINST.  Configure the sound settings so it plays as a MIDI.

The battle themes are pretty chill.   Adventuring gets some weird-crazy bgm, though.