YES! I was waiting for this... 😀

Having fun with that build...

Question: How do you run MS-DOS mode without any memory manager. So no HIMEM.SYS. It seems to be loaded by default, even when it's not in the CONFIG.SYS. Bootdisk the only way?

And another question. Installing the AWE64 drivers puts an entry into DOSSTART.BAT to run CTCM.

However, even after removing this entry, it still loads CTCM when going into MS-DOS mode. When checking DOSSTART.BAT again, the entry is back. So there is something that puts the entry back whenever I delete it.

Why? How?

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Question: How do you run MS-DOS mode without any memory manager. So no HIMEM.SYS. It seems to be loaded by default, even when it's not in the CONFIG.SYS. Bootdisk the only way?

DOS=NOAUTO in CONFIG.SYS. You can combine it with other parameters, like this: DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO

And, yes, the Soundblaster Windows drivers will walz over some files and rewrite them (e.g. CTPNP.CFG, which can be very annoying). Try to set the file read-only.

Ah that's how you do it! Wow, my goggle searches led me to nothing 🤣

What I ended up doing was just loading the W9xUP driver from the Creative website. It's very minimalist and doesn't do anything behind the scenes.

Looks like I'm set for shooting Part 3 tomorrow 😀

Off to bed. The video is almost uploaded and will go through processing. But here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQN4E9ODcQA

Very nice video! It's funny, I ended up putting together a Pentium II system together with a 3DFX Voodoo as well with Windows 95. 🤣

Though I AM looking forward to watching your video about configuring the system further! I would like to follow to try having a nice DOS mode here. 😀

Next part will be good 😀

We will not be touching the Windows AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS at all! Just a few power shortcuts and good to go. I found a lot of guides online about "how to configure MS-DOS mode" and they are all fundamentally flawed 😵

Is there a 7-Zip that works under Windows 95? Ot does it need some kind of service pack / runtime environment?

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Is there a 7-Zip that works under Windows 95? Ot does it need some kind of service pack / runtime environment?

There's this site where you can look for every version of a lot of programs (as far as I know they're not abandonware, just trial or free versions), and you can filter them by supported OS. Here's 7zip for Windows 95: http://www.oldapps.com/7zip.php?system=Windows_95

That's where I got the one I tried. It installs, but throws an error when running. I should have written it down. Will look at it again tomorrow when I do the DOS stuff.

Can't wait for installment #3 Phil - the meat & potatoes of the Win95 DOS piece. 😀

Building a MS-DOS / Windows 95 Hybrid Gaming PC with 3DFX Voodoo Part 3/3

Congratulations for the outstanding videos! 😀

Awesome video! Now I know what I will try with any Windows 95 machine I have. 😁

Thank you guys 😊

I actually enjoyed this Windows built a lot more than I thought I would! It works pretty well. I just been made aware that apparently Duke 3D crashes after I quit the game but on a fast CPU with a lot of RAM I don't expect everything to work without any dramas.

Also, for that mtrrlfbe.exe to work properly, you need a copy of csdpmi5b.zip:

http://sourceforge.net/settings/mirror_choice … sc/csdpmi5b.zip

I'd always pick a Celeron 300A over a Celeron 300, regardless of system. That L2 cache can always come in handy for Windows games and running late DOS games at high resolutions, and most motherboards give an option to disable it, thereby turning it back into a Celeron 300. Also, it is hardly even worth the label "overclocking" to run a 300A at 450MHz.

Oh, and if you don't want to be concerned with a decrease in video quality using the Voodoo passthrough, I would use a KVM switch. If you wanted a more overall EGA/VGA compatible system without introducing another 3D accelerator, an S3 Trio 64V card would be a good choice.

Finally, I think that using a current 2TB hard drive but only using less than 2% of a drive's capacity is wasteful. Since this is a gaming machine, not a critical machine (I hope), a much more modest, even if used, drive, is preferable.

Artex wrote:

Also, for that mtrrlfbe.exe to work properly, you need a copy of csdpmi5b.zip:

http://sourceforge.net/settings/mirror_choice … sc/csdpmi5b.zip

😊 Must have added this myself many moons ago. Thanks for pointing this out.

Great Hierophant wrote:

...

I use the CPUs I have lying around. You know to help people like Artex leave money in his pocket instead of spending more 🤣 On a 3DFX Voodoo a better CPU is going to make bugger all difference.

You missed the point about the "Time-Machine" aspect of this build and combining new with old technology. Sure anyone can use an old drive, I think we all know this and doesn't need pointing out. I even mentioned this specifically in the beginning when talking about storage. Maybe you missed this bit. But what if you don't have one lying around?

My videos show all sorts of options. In my videos I have used CF cards, PCI SATA controller, 2TB drives with capacity limites, 250GB and 320GB notebook drives, 640GB desktop drives, Microdrives, IDE to SATA converters. I never tell people that this is the "best" way, always try to talk about other options.

I also explained the image quality aspect in great detail. It's silly to want EGA compatibility on a machine like that. Its purpose was explained clearly in the first video. The Matrox is used because it has the strongest video signal. S3 cards are hit and miss in this regard. KVMs degrade the image quality as well. What do you think can pick-up more interference? A short VGA cable or two long ones? And how incontinent is it to have to switch between 2D and 3D with a KVM switch. Some games have the GUI on the 2D card as well What a user unfriendly solution.

In general I do not believe in one single "best" solution, but showing a range of paths to choose and people can then go with whatever option they see as the best, often determinant by what parts they have access to.