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The 11th Hour crashes after exit - help me troubleshoot

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First post, by MrRalphNLD

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I have the original 4-CD box of The 11th Hour and real hardware (DOS 6.22, Pentium 150 Mhz, 32Mb, SB16 ISA, S3 Trio64V+). The only 'unfixable' problem with the computer is playing The 11th Hour. The program starts, no issues, perfectly playable - but freezes the computer after I quit the game. More precise, when the main program v32.exe stops (if CD1 is not present - the game/graphics does not start, programs stops reporting the missing CD and computer freezes too).

What I tried already:
- With different memory configurations for EMM386
- Different mouse and cdrom drivers
- 4DOS or not
- Different sound settings (setsound.exe) for the game
- Back to BIOS defaults
- Different version of the game (including v32.exe) - current is 2.42

Executing v32.exe -v works without issues (just gives me the version number)

Does anyone have an idea what to toubleshoot further? Or at least how to determine what makes the computer hang after the game stops?

Thanks!

Reply 1 of 5, by eddman

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Share the content of config.sys and autoexec.bat. Also which exact release of the game, like US, EU, or other?

Reply 2 of 5, by MrRalphNLD

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eddman wrote on 2025-07-03, 21:51:

Share the content of config.sys and autoexec.bat. Also which exact release of the game, like US, EU, or other?

Thanks. The text in the disk.1 file reads 'build: August_14th_1995'. Bought it in Netherlands, but not clear on EU/US version on package. DOS4GW.exe is from 11/11/95 v 1.97 (size 265.396). V32.exe is from 6 Dec '95 version 2.42 (size 488.707).

Config.sys - tried different CDROM drivers, even QEMM 9.01

[Menu]
MenuItem M1, EMS/4DOS
MenuItem M2, NO EMS/4DOS
MenuItem M3, EMS/DOS
MenuDefault=M1,3

[M1]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM
DOS=HIGH,UMB
SHELL=C:\4DOS\4DOS.COM C:\4DOS\ /P /E:1024

[M2]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
SHELL=C:\4DOS\4DOS.COM C:\4DOS\ /P /E:1024

[M3]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM
DOS=HIGH,UMB
SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\ /P /E:1024

[COMMON]
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\CDROM\VIDECDD.SYS /D:OPTICAL
BUFFERS=40,0
STACKS=9,256
FILES=40
LASTDRIVE=F
FCBS=4,0
COUNTRY=031,850,C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS

Autoexec.bat - tried with/out Smartdrive, other mouse driver

@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $P$G
SET MTCPCFG=C:\TOOLS\MTCP\MTCP.CFG
SET INCLUDE=C:\CLIPPER\INCLUDE
SET LIB=C:\CLIPPER\LIB
SET OBJ=C:\CLIPPER\OBJ
SET PLL=C:\CLIPPER\PLL
SET TEMP=C:\TEMP
PATH=C:\TOOLS\WCD;C:\BATCH;C:\DOS;C:\TOOLS\COMPRESS;C:\TP\BIN;C:\CLIPPER\BIN;C:\NC;C:\NU;C:\TC\BIN
LH C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:OPTICAL /M:20 /E
LH C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE
LH /S C:\DRIVERS\MOUSE\CTMOUSE.EXE /R2

GOTO %CONFIG%
:M1
:M2
:M3
SET SOUND=C:\DRIVERS\SB16
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
C:\DRIVERS\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S
C:\DRIVERS\SB16\MIXERSET /P /Q
GOTO END

:END
CD C:\DA51
REM MAIN

Reply 3 of 5, by MrRalphNLD

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Not sure that it's a configuration issue. Same freeze happens with DOS 7.0 (W95) and 7.1 (W98) boot disk. Only on this game strangely.

Reply 4 of 5, by Harry Potter

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I'm sorry I can't help you out in this situation, but I may help you out with optimizing your memory layout. Do you want it?

Joseph Rose, a.k.a. Harry Potter
Working magic in the computer community

Reply 5 of 5, by MrRalphNLD

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After hours of toubleshooting, I got something. After the game, the computer does not freeze, but the keyboard does not work anymore. Unplugging / plugging the keyboard 'fixes' the issue. I tried a different keyboard, same issue. So 'something' disables the keyboard after the game. The only way to control the computer again is to unplug - replug the keyboard. Strange.

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