khill0 wrote:

So, what can I do to my MB to get it to make EMS available?

Ken, it seems that your motherboard and its built-in devices are using a lot of upper memory areas, leaving less than 64kB for an EMS page frame or UMBs. This problem seems to be rather common with some nVidia and ASUS motherboards, and has been discussed in some other threads (like this: showthread.php?s=&threadid=1916)

The only way to make some memory available for the EMS frame is to stop some device from using upper memory areas. The usual target for this is USB keyboard support. If you don't have an USB keyboard, chances are you can disable support for it in your BIOS and regain the memory area reserved for USB support during boot time. Other options include disabling support for RAID controllers, or some other built-in devices you do not use.

Before you start looking at your BIOS setup screens, can you tell us what kind of keyboard do you have? I dont't want to give specific instructions about changing your CMOS setup before knowing a little more about your configuration.

Regards,

Thanks for the reply, Major.

I have a standard, non-USB keyboard. However, I am reasonably certain that I have already disabled USB keyboard support in the BIOS. I will double check.

I don't use the RAID features of the controller on the MB either so I wouldn't mind disabling that if I could figure out how!

Ken

khill0 wrote:

Thanks for the reply, Major. […]
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Thanks for the reply, Major.

I have a standard, non-USB keyboard. However, I am reasonably certain that I have already disabled USB keyboard support in the BIOS. I will double check.

I don't use the RAID features of the controller on the MB either so I wouldn't mind disabling that if I could figure out how!

Ken

According to your motherboard manual, you can check the USB support settings in the Advanced settings page, under Integrated Peripherals. Make sure you disable "USB Legacy Support" and "USB Mouse Support".

The RAID settings are controlled by a different setup program. In the manual, the instructions say that you can press Ctrl-S or F4 during POST to get the RAID setup screen, but I couldn't find any option to disable it. Since the RAID functions work only on Serial ATA disks, you could check if the motherboard came if any other manual and/or CD that has more information on this.

Finally, a long shot would be disabling other peripherals like network interfaces (LAN ports) and 1394 ports, but these are less likely to reserve memory space for BIOS at boot time.

Regards

Originally posted by khill0 1830/Master of Magic

Don't forget that "Master of Magic" has the digital audio problem when you're running it on an NT OS:
showthread.php?threadid=113&highlight=Master+Magic
showthread.php?threadid=1094&highlight=Master+Magic
showthread.php?threadid=1766&highlight=Master+Magic

It's best to use DosBox for MoM. Don't forget to read the README that comes with it.

I don't know about 1830, but if it doesn't need "protected mode" then try that with DosBox as well.

MajorGrubert wrote:

According to your motherboard manual, you can check the USB support settings in the Advanced settings page, under Integrated Per […]
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According to your motherboard manual, you can check the USB support settings in the Advanced settings page, under Integrated Peripherals. Make sure you disable "USB Legacy Support" and "USB Mouse Support".

The RAID settings are controlled by a different setup program. In the manual, the instructions say that you can press Ctrl-S or F4 during POST to get the RAID setup screen, but I couldn't find any option to disable it. Since the RAID functions work only on Serial ATA disks, you could check if the motherboard came if any other manual and/or CD that has more information on this.

Finally, a long shot would be disabling other peripherals like network interfaces (LAN ports) and 1394 ports, but these are less likely to reserve memory space for BIOS at boot time.

Regards

Its been a while since I've looked at this but I got the urge to work on it again. I figured out how to disable the RAID - there is a jumper on the MB that disabled SATA. I also disabled the 1394 support. Still no EMS.

Any other suggestions? Maybe some new information has become available in the last five months? <g> Thanks,

Ken

I don't know if there is a way to move the EMS page frame, but you could try the b000:0000 address. It's usually used by monochrome vga modes. Correct me if i'm wrong.

khill0 wrote:

Its been a while since I've looked at this but I got the urge to work on it again. I figured out how to disable the RAID - there is a jumper on the MB that disabled SATA. I also disabled the 1394 support. Still no EMS.

Any other suggestions? Maybe some new information has become available in the last five months?

Ken, I believe you should try to run these games under DOSBox. The most important change in the last few months is the fact that DOSBox 0.60 supports several games that require protected mode, so you might get lucky with MoM and 1830. There are also some new forums here at VOGONS where you can get help on DOSBox.

Regards,

MajorGrubert wrote:

Ken, I believe you should try to run these games under DOSBox. The most important change in the last few months is the fact that DOSBox 0.60 supports several games that require protected mode, so you might get lucky with MoM and 1830. There are also some new forums here at VOGONS where you can get help on DOSBox.

Regards,

Major, I have tried to run 1830 under DOSBox. It worked OK under .58 but it locks up on me in .60. I guess I will go over to the DOSBox forum and ask about it over there.

I'm just disappointed that I can't get this to work on my new machine. I can still run 1830 very nicely on my daughter's machine (which has a less advanced MB - an ECS K7S5A Pro.)

Thanks again for your help.

Ken

use 0.58 instead of 0.60 then

Qbix wrote:

use 0.58 instead of 0.60 then

It works fine EXCEPT that it doesn't use MIDI. The music in the game is one of its best features. I'd prefer to use .60 because the MIDI works under .60.

Thanks!

Has DOSBox 0.61 fixed this problem?

I'm trying like crazy to get MOM running with sound on my a7n8x, but no luck. 🙁

I've tried just about every config on these forums for DOSBox 0.61 and VDMS. One post suggested running VDMS from _within_ dosbox, but there's no way to execute VDMS shortcuts in DOS, is there?

Specs:
XP Pro
ASUS a7n8x
SB Audigy 2

mom runs fine in dosbox 0.61

mom runs fine in dosbox 0.61

OK, can you tell me your configuration? (I.e. your install choices, port, DMA, etc.)

I've got Dune 2 running with sound in DOSBox 0.61. But I can't get sound while trying to run MOM. Why the discrepancy?

okay i've selected soundblaster pro later for music and sound effects
address 220
irq 7
drq 1

Using dosbox default settings.

Thanks for responding.

Turns out I had a bad version of MOM. Went to 'Home of the Underdogs' and got a new version, installed, and now it works! 😉

Added to EMS Guide.
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