change smartdrv to lbacache.

dr.zeissler wrote:

change smartdrv to lbacache.

But I have MS-DOS 6.22, not FreeDOS...

Malvineous wrote:

@Scandy: If you're using DOS 6.22, try running MEMMAKER...

Thank you!
It is sufficient to run MEMMAKER once, or should I place it in the AUTOEXEC.BAT?

I alway use "keyb" and "lbacache" from freedos with msdos622

So I suppose should I copy those files from FreeDOS CD to MS-DOS directory?
What are the advantages?

Just add

1DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE I=B000-B7FF RAM

to your CONFIG.SYS. Then change the "DISPLAY.SYS" loading line to

1DEVICEHIGH /L:1=C:\DOS\DISPLAY.SYS  CON=(EGA,,1)

You can also add the " /L:1" to the GSCDROM.SYS line.

Oh, and in AUTOEXEC.BAT I always add the "/E" command line option. This will knock over 10KB of conventional memory usage for MSCDEX. Also add "LH " or "LOADHIGH=" to the beggining of the KEYB line. And do move the SMARTDRV line to the end of the file, so it will cache CD-ROMs as well. I can usually get well over 600kB of free conventional memory using Microsoft's own utilities instead of copying things from FreeDOS. The only thing I do replace is MS's own MOUSE.COM (not included with DOS anyway) and replace it with CTMOUSE 1.9 (2.0 and 2.1 have caused me trouble in the past).

Run MEMMAKER once and it rewrites both AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS to load things optimally for your system. Manually loading things high like alexanrs suggests works fine as well - MEMMAKER will do this for you too, but it can better guess how much memory each driver needs and (in theory) allows more of them to be crammed into UMBs as it passes options to the LOADHIGH process to influence its behaviour.

Just re-run MEMMAKER if you change hardware/drivers to keep things optimised.

Thank you so much for all your advices.

Aside from getting things work, I'd like also to understand and learn from your experience, if you agree.

So, also according to this scheme:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOS_memory_management

...Monster Bash should run into the Conventional Memory, but there is not enough space. So I need to free some CM space loading as much as possible on HMA.
At the same time, Monster Bash will need also EMS (Extended Memory in the scheme) to store sound effects.
Am I right?

Thank you!

dr.zeissler wrote:

I alway use "keyb" and "lbacache" from freedos with msdos622

I also use HIMEMX. No compatibility problems so far!

After MEMMAKER Monster Bash works like a charm! I also enabled EMS so I get both music and sfx from my sound blaster compatible card! 😀
I've noticed that some games recognize automatically the sound card, while others don't, so I suppose I should enable it in CONFIG and AUTOEXEC (and then run Memmaker again).
I'd like also to pair a good MIDI sound card to better enjoy music, like AWE32 or Roland MT-32.
I have at my parent's house an unused GEM WS2 Midi Expander, maybe it could be somehow connected to my retro PC?

Thanks

Glad to hear MEMMAKER worked! You may find games don't recognise your card because you don't have the BLASTER environment variable set. The utilities for your sound card should be able to set it for you, or if you know what resources it is using, you can set it manually, e.g. add this line to AUTOEXEC.BAT:

1SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 T6 P330

This is for an SB16 or compatible. You don't need to re-run MEMMAKER after this because it's not loading a driver, just setting an environment variable. If you're not sure what the values mean, it's probably best to let your sound card's utilities set it for you so you know it's right, otherwise it can cause games to misbehave or crash as they try to access hardware you don't have or look in the wrong spot for it.

Just to be clear you freed conventional memory by loading things into UMBs (upper memory blocks) which are similar but different to the HMA. The HMA is like a "special" UMB that only one program can use, and it's nearly always used by DOS itself.

Thank you very much for the explanation!
About the soundcard: I remember port, IRQ and DMA but I don't remember the other parameters, so I'll check the example files with the drivers downloaded here.

I'm still undecided about changing VGA (I could get a S3 Trio 64V PCI for a good price, to avoid the scrolling problems and Crystal Caves stripes) and soundcard to enjoy good MIDI soundtracks (I don't know if completely substitute the ESS with a Sound Blaster AWE32, or simply add a second sound card only for MIDI).
But probably I'll enjoy what I have for now! 😉

You could get a game that autodetects the card and shows you the parameters. And if your sound card has a wavetable header you could get something like a new Dreamblaster S1 or X1.

alexanrs wrote:

You could get a game that autodetects the card and shows you the parameters. And if your sound card has a wavetable header you could get something like a new Dreamblaster S1 or X1.

Even if it doesn't have a wavetable header, the adapter boards are not too expensive.

Interesting, but I'm a bit confused, also after reading some articles on the Net: what is, in short, Dreamblaster? It can be paired with my ESS 1868? Or will allow me to use my GEM WS2 for MIDI soundtracks?
Thank you, I'm very interested.

EDIT: my sound card should be this in the first post: ESS AudioDrive (ES1868) - a surprisingly good ISA sound card
...so I'm even more interested! It seems to have a wavetable header, so I suppose I could buy a Dreamblaster S1 and a cable adapter to be ready-to-go. Am I right?

Dreamblaster S1: http://www.serdashop.com/waveblaster
Dreamblaster X1: http://www.serdashop.com/DreamblasterX1

It is a little board that you plug into the sound card that extends its functionality to add General Midi capabilities. It is basically a single-board MIDI module.

alexanrs wrote:

Dreamblaster S1: http://www.serdashop.com/waveblaster
Dreamblaster X1: http://www.serdashop.com/DreamblasterX1
It is a little board that you plug into the sound card that extends its functionality to add General Midi capabilities. It is basically a single-board MIDI module.

Thank you very much!
Here's my Sound Card:

The long connector at right should be the wavetable header, right?
If yes, I'll buy the Waveblaster S1!

Thank you!

If you mean the 40-pin heaeder on the far right then no - that is not the wavetable header. But your card does have it: it is the 26-pin one nearer the CD audio cables or the edge of the card further from the ISA slot itself.

By all means look for Phil's video review about the Dreamblaster S1 on YouTube - there are clips there showing how some games sound with it.

I've seen yet Phil's video review and I suppose it will be a good improvement over the bare ESS 1868F... but unfortunately still I hadn't chance to test DOOM on it (nor I can find some audio comparison on Youtube. Unfortunately my retro PC is not in my house, for now, but in my parent's house).

So the connector is that under the red-black-grey cables? Great, thank you!

Yep, that is the one.

I found this video, but its only the first DOOM level.

alexanrs wrote:

Yep, that is the one.

I found this video, but its only the first DOOM level.

Sorry, my English is very bad so there was a misunderstanding. 😊
As my retro-pc is still at my parent's house (you know... room...) I meant that I had no time to test my ESS 1868F with Doom, and I'll be able to do it only during next weekend.
Nevertheless I'm tempted to buy the Dreamblaster S1 blindly, I suppose it will be a good improvement for MIDI...