The answer is: don't use memmaker 😀
Load UMB driver(*) for your chipset (in config.sys). Devicehigh all devices in config.sys (you've already done that), and 'lh' everything in autoexec.bat.
You should have more conventional memory now.

(*)TLB memory manager is good candidate to try at first: https://github.com/86Box/86Box/issues/895

Don‘t use memmaker is a good one 😅👍🏻
Back in the day I used qemm, can‘t remember which version but it worked very well. I could run every dos game, even with a Gus Max.
I‘ll try TLB when I‘m back home again!

1) do you need EMS? If not, replace "RAM" in the EMM386 like by "NOEMS"
2) try to load the cdrom driver before the sound blaster drivers in config.sys

If your config.sys is now called config.txt that’ll be why the driver isn’t being loaded before being called by mscdex in autoexec.bat.

Rename config.txt to config.sys.

paradigital wrote on 2022-12-09, 16:36:

Rename config.txt to config.sys.

Those txt files were my backups .

I altered the config and autoexec, also ran TLB. That did work not 100% but obviously good enough: now mem reports 618K largest executable program size.

Thanks for your help!

PS: TLB couldn’t detect the SiS 85C496/97 chipset, probably too modern! 😅

Kouwes wrote on 2022-12-09, 19:06:

PS: TLB couldn’t detect the SiS 85C496/97 chipset, probably too modern! 😅

Try this one: SiS 85C496 mobo, UMB driver?
It works on keropis's board with the same chipset.