That's because the PC platform was always a broken mess (and one of my pet theories is that this "mindset" of a broken platform has leaked into the software developed for PCs).

Running games on any non-PC machine (like the Amiga or Atari ST) generally didn't require any tinkering.

Of course this "broken mess" also led to a higher level of innovation in the PC world which eventually left the Amigas and Ataris behind, basically the original "move fast and break things" platform ;)

Oh yes! I had forgotten the tiresome collection of labelled boot disks, and the trial and error to create a combination which would work for a particular game.

Do I skipping loading the CD-ROM drivers for this one, or the sound card drivers?

Do I want extended memory or expanded memory or both or neither?