If using old hardware ask in Marvin. Marvin, the Paranoid Android

80486DX2 wrote:

I tried on my 386 and 486 machine, the result is the same on both. Both have a freshly installed MS-DOS 6.22 on it.

Funny things are:
1. Earlier the was no error message, I was able to launch the game on both machines

So the error message appeared after re-installing DOS?

I'm not familiar with the game, but here's what I'd do:

• check the actual memory requirements for the game
• run "mem" in DOS to see how much free memory you actually have
• edit your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to free up some more memory if required
• since you're using MS-DOS 6.22, you can run "memmaker" to free up more conventional memory by loading stuff into high memory and/or enable EMS emulation

collector wrote:

If using old hardware ask in Marvin. Marvin, the Paranoid Android

Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't notice this isn't the proper place for this question. 🙄
Thank you for the link!

K1n9_Duk3 wrote:

So the error message appeared after re-installing DOS?

Yes, I remember, last year the game was OK on both machines. After re-installing MS-DOS I got the error message.

Thank you very much for the advices! Tomorrow I'm going to check them!

Moved to Marvin -> Software.

What memory manager are you using? Try with EMS, XMS, and just conventional. Phil's MS-DOS starter pack is preconfigured for all three if you want to make it easier:
http://www.philscomputerlab.com/ms-dos-starter-pack.html

Stiletto wrote:

Moved to Marvin -> Software.

I'm sorry I didn't post it in the wrong place on purpose. Thank you very much for removing it!

clueless1 wrote:

What memory manager are you using? Try with EMS, XMS, and just conventional. Phil's MS-DOS starter pack is preconfigured for all three if you want to make it easier:
http://www.philscomputerlab.com/ms-dos-starter-pack.html

To be honest, I didn't configure anything, I just installed fresh MS-DOS 6.22 on these machines (from original disks).

I ran mem.exe, as K1n9_Duk3 suggested, it seems there isn't enough memory for the game. Please, take a look at on this screenshot.

I tried out something: I didn't attach the mouse, so its driver wasn't loaded and the game started. Here's a screenshot about the memory when the mouse isn't attached.

So, the mouse driver uses 17K conventional memory and the game doesn't start.

I modified the autoexec.bat file this way:

1LH C:\MOUSE.COM

but it didn't make any difference.

Well, at least now I know that the problem is with the memory management/setting.

Thank you very much for the link! Seems to be very useful!

Well I'm glad you could get it to work.

593k of free conventional memory is a lot. I think the biggest amount of free convontional memory I've seen on actual hardware was around 602k, but 593k should be enough for most DOS games. I think you could still free up some more memory by running "memmaker". That "C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /X" line at the top of the second photo indicates you haven't done that yet. MemMaker changed my autoexec.bat to load SMARTDRV.EXE into high memory. Not sure how much memory you would gain from that, though.

As for the mouse, I recommend the CuteMouse driver (a.k.a. CTMOUSE.EXE) - google it. That mouse driver worked perfectly fine for me. It automatically loads itself into high memory and only takes up about 3-4k of memory in total (less than 1k of conventional memory). So it's definitely worth a try if your mouse driver takes up 17k.

Maybe he probably needs ems

I'm happy to announce, that the problem is solved!

K1n9_Duk3, thank you for recommending MemMaker. Yes, I didn't use it when installed MS-DOS.

When I read Davros's comment, I remembered that before the fresh MS-DOS installation, EMM386.exe was loaded. So, I put it in the config.sys file and the game works!

Thank you very much for all the comments and suggestions! I learned a lot from them! 😎