Forget Minecraft. The Real Fun Is Found With Vintage BMW OEM Accessory Configurators.

Ever want to look back a couple of decades and pretend you’re configuring a brand new late 90s or early 2000s BMW? Now you can thanks to a couple of vintage BMW OEM accessory configurators you can download for free (I hate to describe them as “vintage,” but it’s distressingly accurate.)!

While they may lack the isometric feel and oddball adventures of Minecraft, these vintage configurators let you play with the color, options, and more for several models of older BMWs. Once cutting edge, two decommissioned configurator versions (3.3 and 12) were uploaded to the Internet Archive, a vast collection of online sites and programs available to everyone. Anyone running Windows can download the configurators and use them to configure a few select past models with a variety of accessories and features.

The Autopian website discovered these gems and did a full report here. After giving their fun article a read, I tested both versions and successfully ran them on my Windows 11 workstation.

Requirements: You will need to be running Microsoft Windows to use these. Macs and others can download the files, but they won’t run on non-Windows operating systems. The instructions indicate that either Windows 10 or Windows 11 should work.

1. Download the file.
   1. Download version 3.3 with this link. 3.3 is about 580 MB, which would fit on a burned CD.
   2. Download version 12 with this link. 12 is about 3.2 GB, which would fit on a burned DVD.
2. Open the .iso file
   1. Double click the file
   2. View the contents of the file, looking for “Configurator.exe”
3. Open or double-click on “Configurator.exe”
4. Override the Windows Security nanny
   1. In the pop-up window that states “Windows protected your PC,” click the “More Info” link.
   2. A “Run Anyway” button should appear.
   3. Click “Run Anyway”
5. That should start the software and present a language-selection screen. Select your preferred language and start having fun!

The screens that greet you will look pretty small window by today’s 4k screen standards. Those of us old enough to remember when computers still used CRT screens will experience another wave of nostalgia at the sight of the compact interface.

Select your language and just have fun! The interface is easy to navigate and does a good job of showing off the various options.

Version 12 has a slightly larger and more complex interface, but has more detail.

For version 3.3, you’ll be greeted with an Accessories Configurator screen, letting you see a wide variety of models and configuration choices. The 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, X3, X5, Z3, and Z4 are included along with subcategories of the models. You can play with paint color, wheel rims, interior, communication, and other options.

With version 12, you’ll have a slightly different interface, but most of the same models.

So enjoy a bit of time travel entertainment with these archived tools! And see! It’s much more fun than Minecraft. For a while, at least.