Use DOSBox?

Hmmm... I didn't do any DOS memory management for a looong time (and i'm glad about that), but you could try FreeDOS. The FreeDOS memory drivers seem to be pretty sophisticated, but i can't say anything about game compatibility.

You could also use the config.sys menu system.

DOSKEY isn't needed for gaming.

post your startup files.

Farfolomew wrote:

Anyone know why AU30DOS won't play nice with EMM386?

Maybe the remaining UMBs are not big enough for the driver to fit?
Try to optimize UMBs with the LOADHIGH /L and /S parameters or unload some unnecessary drivers.

Farfolomew wrote:

Anyone know why Privateer 1 and Dark Forces crash when using UMBPCI? Is there any UMBPCI switch I should try using?

AFAIR Privateer uses a weird DOS extender/memory manager. Probably this one is incompatible with UMBPCI.
UMBPCI only has one switch (/I) to define free address ranges in case the automatic detection fails. Don't use it if you don't know exactly what you're doing - otherwise you may encounter some nasty surprises.

I kinda posted this last night when I was dead tired. I was getting fed up not coming across any leads on Google or here, so I just decided to post real quick without a terrible amount of troubleshooting. Anyways, while I still havn't fixed any of the problems originally posted, I have found a work around by just not loading any upper memory manager period. I can still get ~585K of conventional memory free and still have CD-ROM, mouse support, and AU30DOS loaded. It's not an ideal solution, but at least I can play Privateer without EMM386 now (it only needs 570K of conv memory free). I don't notice any slowdowns running the game with the bare minimum conv memory; seems it just needs it to launch the game, then it uses XMS apparently. Anyways, Dark Forces seems to want 580K, so I can't load DOSKEY. Not a biggy.

Maybe the remaining UMBs are not big enough for the driver to fit?
Try to optimize UMBs with the LOADHIGH /L and /S parameters or unload some unnecessary drivers.

That's the weird thing though. When use EMM386, I checked the UMBs and the largest executable one was 26KB. So, AU30DOS.COM should have been able to load into it, since it's only 23KB. I think AU30DOS just refuses to work with EMM386's UMBs. AU30DOS is a realmode driver, so might it not like EMM386's weird virtual mode it switches the computer to? I'm just curious if anyone has gotten it to load high with EMM386. I've tried the RAM and NOEMS option, both nogo.

What do the /L and /S switches do for LOADHIGH? I wasn't aware there were any switches for that command.

Apparently DOSKEY didn't like being loaded after my mouse and cdrom provider, thus the reason it wouldn't LOADHIGH. (despite mem/d/p reporting the largest UMB size big enough for DOSKEY to fit into). Anyways, I fixed that problem by loading it first.

Now it's just AU30DOS refusing to LH with EMM386, and UMBPCI's instabilities, both of which are minor issues. Just curious if anyone has tackled these oddities before 😀

don't use EMM386 and UMBPCI at the same time. emm386 can provide UMB's if you use the "RAM" parameter.

I would love to use just UMBPCI, as that allows me the most Upper Memory, but alas, Privateer 1 and Dark Forces refuse to run properly with it, so i'm forced to use EMM386.

really with protected mode games you should just try to get rid of memory managers entirely. Give the game's extender full reign over everything. Origin's games seem to be particularly picky.

Just reading the UMBPCI site is enough to keep me away honestly. I see "don't use it without a good reason" at least twice on there. 😀 Just asking for instability and incompatibilities, especially with games that either want free reign or expect HIMEM/EMM386..

Post your config.sys/autoexec.bat if you're having problems getting enough free RAM. I'm sure plenty of people here can make just about any config work even with just EMM386.

wd wrote:

I would love to use just UMBPCI, as that allows me the most Upper Memory, but alas, Privateer 1 and Dark Forces refuse to run properly with it, so i'm forced to use EMM386.

as you can see, it's not happening. it can't be done. OP needs to drop UMBPCI and run only EMM386 with "RAM" parameter for the two mentioned games.

as you can see, it's not happening.

That's what he's trying to figure out, if there are special parameters to either
driver that allow special features, a reason why the games don't work/workaround
for that etc.
Obviously he already figured out that emm386+umbpci is no choice.

More information about what is in your autoexec.bat and config.sys could be important to help trim out use less garbage. Also post the output of mem/c/p.

Can't you use a boot disk? Like suggested, load doskey only when you need it. You complain about memory but waste it. Optical drives aren't needed for the games and that can be cut out or reduced to 1. The mouse driver can also be dropped if it isn't used.

Try getting a hold of the proprietary cd-rom/dvd driver that works with a wide range of devices that I believe Freedos used to recommend on their site (can't seem to find it atm). It is no longer on the manufacture's site (not that I can remember the manufacturer offhand), but you can find it from a driver site. The driver is vide-cdd.sys and some other files. The self extracting exe that contains the driver is called apicd214_doscdromdriver.exe. It uses 5,024 bytes total for however many drives that use it if it is compatible.

If you haven't tried them...

1) Shsucdx is a mscdex (cdrom/dvd controller) replacement that uses 5,808 bytes with one drive and 8,240 bytes with two drives.

2) Cutemouse is a nice mouse driver but didn't work right in the Dark Forces demo when trying to control the character last time I checked(not sure about retail). It uses 3,104 bytes. I can't think of anything else it doesn't work with.

3) FreeCOM is a COMMAND.COM replacement. I'm not sure how this compares in memory usage.

4) Jemm386 is a EMM386 replacement, uses 192 bytes, and is supposed to be faster. It might work better.

5)HimemX is a XMS memory manager that can replace Himem. I'm not sure how this compares in memory usage either.

Privateer has screwed up sfx and speech in dos if you have too much ram so it may not be decently suitable on the machine for normal play.