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DamnthatDavid DamnthatDavid is offline
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Old May 13th, 2004, 04:39 AM        Not Enough EMS :(
So, while digging through a forsaken draw in my room, I found an old game from way back.
One of the first games on CD-ROM, designed to run in MS-Dos.
Warlords II...DELUXE
I was almost jumping with joy! I had found the game that had started me on Computer Games. An old School, Turn based, Stratergy game that is alot alike Risk, but cooler.
I popped it in, and tried to get it to run. But it seems I'm missing a key factor. Something called, Expanded Memory System.
A little thing the Software/Hardware Giants of yesteryear cooked up. Lotus-IBM-Microsoft.

Now, here my problem. EMS went out of style the minute people figured out how to have more then 1MB of RAM. So does anyone, in all your fast techno knowledge, know of any sort of program that can mimic the EMS, and provide me with a way to play my game?
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Old May 13th, 2004, 06:23 PM       
Probably not. It's the same reason why DOS games that used protected memory won't work anymore; XP allocated resources completely differently.

You might be able to get it to work in a DOS emulator or a Virtual PC machine, but if the game is that old, it will run too fast to be playable.

Get an old computer with DOS on it.
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Old May 13th, 2004, 09:17 PM       
I have one that still runs W3.1 would that work
I think is still have W3.1 too
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Old May 14th, 2004, 04:14 AM       
http://www.the-underdogs.org/guidedos.php you jersk

-willie
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Old May 14th, 2004, 04:46 PM       
Site is overloaded.
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Old May 14th, 2004, 08:39 PM       
well go to it when it's not then :/
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Old May 14th, 2004, 08:40 PM       
Quote:
HOTU's Guide to Windows XP Games
by bill22
Part 2
DOS Games
-Or-

"Help! If I can't get this old DOS game to work in XP in the next 15 minutes I'll die!"

The Boot Disk
Emulation
VDMSound
The batch (.bat) file
Misc. utilities
Speed
Everything is now perfect!

So you have an old DOS game? And you have Windows XP? And it doesn't work?

Thinking of throwing your computer away in disgust? Or doing "unspeakable things" to Microsoft executives?

Wait!

There are...

"steps"

...that can be taken...


The first thing you can do, is take a look at the Old Windows Games section of this guide. Everything there (except the adjusting DirectX setting, -and using the app. compat. tool to tell a DOS game that in is running in Win98 probably won't do much good) also applies to old DOS games.

Didn't help?

Then the second thing you need to do is get a large cup of coffee.

All set? Then away we go...


A. The Boot Disk.
Ah. The good old HOTU Faq Boot Disk. http://community.the-underdogs.org/p...s/hotuboot.zip

-The cure for many a problem.

It gives a good deal of conventional memory and starts up Expanded memory by default. It runs a lot of games without any changes.*

Make sure that you check out the included readme!.txt file for setup instructions.

*You will have to check and make sure that the set blaster line is correct for your system and you may need to add your DOS emulation tsr/driver to the boot disk's autoexec.bat file to enable sound.

Try setting up the game for no sound/music first to make sure that it works, and then play with the sound stuff.

-Or at least it used to be.

Windows XP has a feature that can make a boot disk useless: the NTFS file system. Almost all computers purchased with XP pre-installed come with a hard drive that uses the NTFS file system. If you upgraded yourself, what you have will depend on what options you chose when you installed.

To see how yours is formatted, start the "Computer management" administrative tool:

LClick on the "Start" button. Select "run" Type in: compmgmt.msc /s LClick on "ok"

Under the "Storage" section LClick on the "disk management" section.



Look (in the right hand pane) for your hard drive. Now look in the "File System" column.

If it says "NTFS", the only way you can use a boot disk is with commercial (and expensive) 3rd party utilities. http://www.sysinternals.com/

If it says "FAT32", you are in luck! You can use a Windows95/98 (i.e. DOS 7) based boot disk to play that old game! (Note: Don't use a boot disk that is based on DOS 6.22 or earlier. They only support the FAT16 file system and will not work with either NTFS or FAT32 formated hard drives).

The boot disk linked to above is basic, but you can find others at many sites on the Internet (there are almost as many boot disks as there are WinXP gaming guides). You can find some more here: http://community.the-underdogs.org/pub/bootdisks/


B. Emulation.
Actually that?s what XP itself does. It emulates DOS. The problem is that it doesn't emulate some things very well. But have no fear! There are alternatives. Commercial, shareware, and freeware?.

1. VMware: (commercial)

"VMware Workstation is virtual machine software for technical professionals. It lets you run multiple versions of operating systems simultaneously on a single computer. Quit wasting time configuring hardware, installing software, rebooting/reconfiguring systems. Spend more time developing, testing, and deploying applications and delivering support." http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop/ws_features.html

-I've never used this. But word on the ?net is that it is not as good (for running old games) as Virtual PC (below).

2. Virtual PC (commercial)

"Virtual PC for Windows allows you to create separate "virtual machines" on top of your Windows desktop, where you can install virtually any PC-based operating system including OS/2, Linux, Solaris, NetWare or other versions of Windows. Each virtual machine emulates a complete hardware system - from processor to network card - in a self-contained, isolated software environment, enabling the simultaneous operation of otherwise incompatible systems." http://www.connectix.com/products/vpc5w.html

-As you would expect with a product that costs $299.00 US dollars, this program is well documented, relatively easy to setup and use, and does what it is supposed to do. But it is not perfect. Some games don't work any better with Virtual PC than they do with just Windows XP.

But they have a free 30 day trial available at their web site, so you can try before you buy.

3. Dodge -beta: (shareware)

"The Dos Game Emulator. Allows the playing of many old but good DOS games that are unplayable under current versions of Microsoft Windows (especially Microsoft Windows 2000) due to the speed of today's computers or operating system incompatibilities." http://www.eliel.com/

-This program has a very nice GUI and is quite user friendly. But it is still beta and there are many things that are not yet implemented.

4. Dosbox -beta: (freeware)

"DOSBox is an emulator of a PC with DOS. The main focus of this project is emulating old dos games using the local file system for files. Does not support protected mode at this time. (I.e. if the game uses a DOS extender like dos4gw it isn't going to work). http://dosbox.zophar.net/

-Nice program. A bit further along than "Dodge". Make sure that you get the front-end (you have to scroll down on the download page or you will miss it) since that makes the program much easier to use. Works well for most pre-1994ish games. Does not support protected mode at this time. (I.e. if the game uses a DOS extender like dos4gw it isn't going to work).

5. Bochs -beta: (freeware)

"Bochs is a highly portable open source IA-32 (x86) PC emulator written in C++, that runs on most popular platforms. It includes emulation of the Intel x86 CPU, common I/O devices, and a custom BIOS. Currently, bochs can be compiled to emulate a 386, 486 or Pentium CPU. Bochs is capable of running most Operating Systems inside the emulation including Linux, Windows® 95, DOS, and recently Windows® NT 4. Bochs was written by Kevin Lawton and is currently maintained by this project." http://bochs.sourceforge.net/

This is recommended for intermediate to advanced users only. Powerful, but difficult to install and configure.


C. VDMSound (Sound and Memory Management)
If you are running DOS games in XP you will need this?.

"Maybe not today.
Maybe not tomorrow.
But soon.
And for the rest of your life." -Rick

http://www.ece.mcgill.ca/~vromas/vdmsound/

Go there.
Now.

And make sure that you get:

The program.
The front-end ?launcher?.
And Update 1

Read the documentation and the install instructions here: VDMSound Forum (and pick up the other minor updates) and then install.

There! Can you feel it? Just having those files on your computer has greatly increased the positive energy levels of the positrons!

[I know. It wasn?t nice of me to include such a funny joke. I promise I won't do it again, and that I will wait patiently until you pull yourself up off the floor].

Ready?

VDMSound's main function is as a Sound emulator, but it also has memory management features, and the ability to tweak/emulate some misc. DOS functions (cd-rom, joystick, network). It does a lot of really good things with old DOS games in XP. So let's take a closer look...

Let's see... How about an example?

You really want to play The Smurfs in Paris 3D. [And who wouldn't!]

You DblClick on smurfs.exe and...

It doesn't work!

----------------------

But wait!!!!

It's a bird! It's a plane!

No it's...

Underdog to the rescue!!!!

No! Wait a minute! That's from the wrong faq...

No it's...

VDMSound to the rescue!!!!

-----------------------

If you look in the "Smurfs" folder you will see 2 .exe files:

Smurf.exe and Setup.exe

RClick on setup.exe

On the menu that pops up you should see 2 new items

"Run with VDMS" and "Run with VDMS" (with a little music note icon next to it).



LClick on the one without the icon.

This will run the game's setup program with VDMSound?s default memory and sound values.

Just follow the setup programs prompts and select the defaults. Let it auto detect for sound and music and click "ok" to everything.

Now RClick on smurf.exe

LClick on the VDMS option with the icon.

Click on "Next" and then on "Finish" to use the defaults. This will create a shortcut that you can use to start the game later, and that you can edit to use the more advanced options.

A lot of old games work fine with the default settings, so it?s easiest to try it that way first, but?

This game still doesn't run. Hmmm...

Let's change some of the defaults:

RClick on the VDMSound shortcut you created for this game and select "properties". You should see this screen:



-It could be a memory problem:

[Note: If you get an error about "VPCI" memory, forget it. The game isn't going to work with XP. (Unless Virtual PC or Vmware can handle it)]

Are you getting some sort of "not enough memory" error?

LClick on "Advanced"

Which will bring you here:



LClick on "Compatibility"

And you will find yourself here:



Uncheck the box next to "Enable DPMI support (dosx)" so that it looks like the screenshot above.

"Ok" all the way out to save the changes, and re-run the shortcut.

If that doesn't help, you probably received a new error message about DPMI. So re-check the box next to "Enable DPMI support (dosx)" (to turn it back on).

Then try increasing the amounts of "expanded" and "extended" memory.

"Ok" all the way out to save the changes, and re-run the shortcut.

If that doesn't help, try decreasing (and/or turning off) the amounts of "expanded" and "extended" memory.

"Ok" all the way out to save the changes, and re-run the shortcut.

-It could be a video problem:

RClick on the VDMSound shortcut you created for this game and select "properties"

Check the box next to "Enable basic VESA support"

[-This doesn't actually have much to do with VESA, but it won't hurt anything either.]

"Ok" all the way out to save the changes, and re-run the shortcut.

-It could be a sound configuration problem:

Re-run VDMSound (no icon) on setup.exe and try one of the other sound card options. Manually set sound/music. Use the Soundblaster 16 option (at port 220 irq 7 dma 1 if it asks / Midi -MPU401 is at port 330).

Repeat as necessary with the other sound card options (220 irq 7 dma 1 should stay the same unless you manually change those values in the VDMSound shortcut).

If it still doesn't work, set sound/ music to none (if possible). And reset the shortcut to the default memory values and........

-It could be a "bug" in VDMSound's Launchpad:

RClick on the VDMSound shortcut you created for this game and select "properties"

LClick on "Advanced"
LClick on the "Troubleshooting" tab
Check the box next to "Custom Configuration"

And place this...

[VDMServicesProvider.config]
fixPOPF = 1

...into the text box. So that it looks like this:



"Ok" all the way out to save the changes, and re-run the shortcut.

-It could be who knows what:

If you are getting an error about the CD, check the "enable low-level CD-Rom support" box. If it's something about networking check the "enable low-level network support" box on the "Compatibility" tab. Try checking the "Cap DOS timer frequency" box on the "Performance" tab. Try the different SB DSP versions on the "Soundblaster" tab. Etc. Etc. Etc.


D. The batch (.bat) file
You have now entered the "I don't know what's wrong, but whatever it is it's not simple so let's see if we can narrow the problem down" part of the guide.

This section assumes that you have set the game for no sound/music (which usually, but not always eliminates sound as a potential problem). It also assumes that you are using a default VDMSound shortcut (which usually, but not always eliminates memory as a potential problem) on a batch (.bat) file to start the game.

Why a .bat file?

Because it allows you to run a series of DOS programs with the same VDMSound shortcut.

-Creating the .bat file.

Start up Notepad and type in:

Smurf.exe

Then "file" "save as"

"start.bat"

And make sure that it is saved in the same folder as smurf.exe (if it should end up as start.bat.txt, just RClick on the file and "rename" it).

When you DblClick on start.bat the game should start.

And then crash. Because you haven't changed anything except how the file starts. So let?s change some things....


E. Misc. utilities
[This section assumes that you extract the utilities and place them into the same folder as the game.]

RClick on start.bat and then LClick on the VDMS option (with the icon) to set up a default VDMSound shortcut. Then edit it to enable the VESA option.

-Now looking at the situation we are having with The Smurfs in Paris 3D. It is possible that there is a video/VESA problem. Let's see if we can fix it...

Open start.bat with notepad. And change it to read?

Nolfb.exe
Smurf.exe

And then save.

-Almost forgot. This is Nolfb:

"A TSR that patches the VESA driver by fooling DOS programs into thinking the VESA 2.0 linear framebuffer modes aren't supported. http://www.advsys.net/ken/build.htm

DblClick on the start.bat file shortcut and see if it works.

Still no luck?

Do you have a Nvidia video card?

Change your .bat file to:

Nolfb.exe
Vbeplus.exe
Smurf.exe

And then save.

-Almost forgot again. This is vbeplus:

"VBEPlus is a TSR (Terminate Stay Resident) program that adds new VESA resolutions to your video card. The resolutions it adds are fully user configurable. VBEPlus adds all the resolutions your video card does not support like the low res modes or 1280x960 in DOS." Works with most Nvidia cards. http://home.student.utwente.nl/r.mul...esh/index.html

-And while you are there: Check out his "Video problems" page for the UniVBE / UVBELib modified drivers...

"If the video card is not being recognized correctly, it might be caused by the fact that some games use a built-in version of univbe/SDD (UVBELib) and are not able to use the VBE BIOS from the video card. UniVBE generates a driver (univbe.drv) that contains video card specific code. If you have a video card that is newer than the version of UniVBE that is being used then there is a problem. This problem can be fixed by using a driver (univbe.drv) which is modified to use the BIOS of the video card. I have made modified drivers for version 5.1a, 5.2, 5.3 and 5.3a of UniVBE... http://home.student.utwente.nl/r.mul...ems/index.html

-A good clue on whether or not these will help. Is there a file in one of the game's folders called "uvconfig.exe." If there is place each of the modified drivers (in turn) into the same folder as uvconfig.exe and try starting the game (some experimentation may be required). Also try placing them in the game's main folder.

Still no luck?

Change your .bat file to:

Cscitech\univbe.exe
Smurf.exe

And then save.

[Cscitech\univbe.exe line will need to be changed if you installed it to a different folder]

-Almost forgot again (has anyone seen my cane?). This is univbe:

Scitech Univbe VESA Drivers (freeware)

"SciTech Display Doctor is a suite of utilities that fix the most common problems associated with Super VGA (SVGA) graphics cards. SciTech Display Doctor updates your graphics card to the latest standards so you can be sure programs will work correctly and will run as fast as possible on your system.? http://www.scitechsoft.com/products/...ee_titles.html

[Note: See the programs readme file to see if your video card is supported.]


F. Speed
1. The game is running! Hurrah.

But the game is way too fast! Boo. Hiss.

a) The slowdown utilities mentioned in the Windows section of this guide (you didn't skip over that did you?) should work fine.

-Or you can try...

b) SPEEDSET

"Behold! The new (and otherwise much improved) SPEEDSET. Now written in assembly from scratch, SPEEDSET takes up a measly 1280 bytes of memory. It also allows for infinitely fine granularity (well, at least 0,000015 granularity) for infinitely fine control over speed." http://vogons.zetafleet.com/showthre...e&threadid=368

[Note: Make sure you follow the links and get version 1.0.2]

Back to the .bat file to use it:

Change your .bat file to:

Vbeplus.exe
Speedset -50
Smurf.exe

And then save.

You will have to play with the number to find the right value for your system.

-Or you can try....

c) VDMSound (remember that?)

RClick on the VDMSound shortcut you created for this game and select ?properties?

LClick on "Advanced"
LClick on "Performance"

Under the "DOS Scheduling" section, check the box next to "Cap DOS timer frequency"

And re-run.

2. The game is running! Hurrah. The game speed is just right! Hurrah! But the mouse is very slowwwww. Boo. Hiss.

This old PC Magazine DOS utility (mousectl.com) may help. http://www.minnemacs.com/sandbox/xp.html

You know the drill, put it into the start.bat file?..

Nolfb.exe
Mousectl.com 5,6,10,15,15,15,15,15
Smurf.exe

And then save.

You will have to play with the numbers (only the first 3 seem to have any effect) to find the right value for your system.


G. Everything is now perfect!
You can now play The Smurfs in Paris 3D for days at a time! Hopefully you will be able to get your other games running as well. But unfortunately, there are some games that just don't like WinXP.

This might be the time to look into buying that old Pentium120 or 486 and using it as a dedicated gaming machine.

Looking at my watch I see that I still have a few seconds left so I have time to add......


Good Luck!
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DamnthatDavid DamnthatDavid is offline
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Old May 16th, 2004, 05:25 AM       
wow, awesome. I had hit the link at school, and when I came home, forgot about it.

Quote:
"Help! If I can't get this old DOS game to work in XP in the next 15 minutes I'll die!"
They really know their stuff.
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