Duke Nukem 3D Atomic on PCem - very long load times and stuttering/hitching in DOS mode \ VOGONS

Duke Nukem 3D Atomic on PCem - very long load times and stuttering/hitching in DOS mode

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First post, by eddman

Posted on 2023-03-04, 15:45

eddman Offline

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Joined: 2020-02-21, 23:02

I've set up a machine with a PMMX 200 and Windows 98 SE.

Under windows duke3d spends just ~3 seconds on the loading screen the first time, and subsequent launches are ~1 second.

However, in DOS mode, it takes ~25 seconds and there are major stuttering/hitching in the menu demo and while playing. PCem's emu speed is 100% during all stages, so it's not that.

I use "Restart in MS-DOS mode" and these are the boot parameters:

1config.sys
2
3DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\VIDECDD.SYS /D:OPTICAL

1autoexec.bat
2
3LH MSCDEX.EXE /D:OPTICAL
4LH C:\DOS\MOUSE.COM /p4

I've also tried Phil's custom PIF file, but the results are the same. Any suggestions?

Reply 1 of 3, by leileilol

Posted on 2023-03-06, 10:40

leileilol Offline

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Duke3D needs SMARTDRV loaded for fat32 partitions under dos environments.

long live PCem

Reply 2 of 3, by eddman

Posted on 2023-03-06, 22:36

eddman Offline

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Rank: Member
Posts: 359
Joined: 2020-02-21, 23:02

leileilol wrote on 2023-03-06, 10:40:

Duke3D needs SMARTDRV loaded for fat32 partitions under dos environments.

Thank you. It works great now.

Reply 3 of 3, by eddman

Posted on 2023-03-10, 13:56

eddman Offline

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Posts: 359
Joined: 2020-02-21, 23:02

Alright, after looking into this a bit further, it seems the issue manifests when buffers is missing in the config.sys , or is set too low.

With a buffer of at least 40 the game runs mostly fine and smartdrive is not really needed (it can shorten load times even more though). There are still occasional hitches, however higher values can pretty much get rid of them.

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