- mount /media/cdrom as drive D: in dosbox and install the game from there

Please post the full mountings for that step (you surely need a c-drive mounted
for the installation).
Also please provide details about your OS/dosbox version etc.

Ok, here's more information about my system and the things I've tried so far:

I am using Hal's Megabuild on Linux. I need that version in order to get more then 1024x768 for an old Windows 3.11 application. (See other thread.) And apart from the installation of Kyrandia it works very well. I installed other old games and none has given me any trouble.

My dosbox configuration (~/.dosboxrc) file looks like this:

1[sdl]
2fullscreen=false
3fulldouble=false
4windowresolution=original
5fullfixed=false
6hwscale=1.00
7output=opengl
8autolock=true
9sensitivity=200
10waitonerror=true
11priority=normal,lower
12mapperfile=mapper.txt
13usescancodes=true
14
15[dosbox]
16machine=svga_s3
17captures=capture
18memsize=16
19
20[render]
21frameskip=0
22aspect=false
23scaler=normal2x
24
25[cpu]
26core=auto
27cycles=auto
28cycleup=500
29cycledown=20
30
31[mixer]
32nosound=false
33rate=22050
34blocksize=2048
35prebuffer=10
36
37[midi]
38mpu401=intelligent
39device=default
40config=
41
42[sblaster]
43sbtype=sb16
44sbbase=220
45irq=7
46dma=1
47hdma=5
48mixer=true
49oplmode=auto
50oplrate=22050
51
52[gus]
53gus=false
54
55[speaker]
56pcspeaker=on
57pcrate=22050
58tandy=off
59tandyrate=22050
60disney=false

61
62[joystick]
63joysticktype=none
64
65[serial]
66serial1=disabled
67serial2=disabled
68serial3=disabled
69serial4=disabled
70
71[dos]
72xms=true
73ems=true
74umb=true
75keyboardlayout=none
76
77[ipx]
78ipx=false
79
80[vga]
81svgachipset=s3
82videoram=4096
83
84[autoexec]
85keyb gr
86mount c ~/.dosbox/drive_c
87mount d ~/.dosbox/drive_d
88c:
89cls
90

I will use bold fonts for all commands within Doxbox in order to tell them from Linux commands.

Method 1:

mount /dev/hdc /media/cdrom dosbox mount e /media/cdrom e: install.exe […]
Show full quote

mount /dev/hdc /media/cdrom
dosbox
mount e /media/cdrom
e:
install.exe

Installation only takes about 1 second, then the setup starts asking questions about the hardware. After confirming the answers once more the "error with main.exe" occurs, when "main.exe" is to be copied from the CD to the hard disk.

Method 2:

mount /dev/hdc /media/cdrom mkdir ~/.dosbox/kyra cp -a /media/cdrom/* ~/.dosbox/kyra/ dosbox mount e ~/.dosbox/kyra e: install.e […]
Show full quote

mount /dev/hdc /media/cdrom
mkdir ~/.dosbox/kyra
cp -a /media/cdrom/* ~/.dosbox/kyra/
dosbox
mount e ~/.dosbox/kyra
e:
install.exe

The result is the same as in method 1. It also doesn't make any difference if I chance the cdrom drive letter from "e:" to "d:", neither in method 1 nor in method 2. I can copy the file manually with whatever program I like: konquerer, Midnight Commander, cp command in a shell, rsync, you name it. Neither program complains about the file, which proves that the CD isn't broken.

If you need any more information, please let me know. In the meantime, I will try to play the game in ScummVM. I heard that it is supposed to work. I only need to figure out how to install the game within ScummVM. 😉

Use method 1, but create an empty directory on your real harddrive,
best in your home directory. Like ~/oldgames

Then use something like

mount c ~/oldgames mount d /media/cdrom d: install.exe […]
Show full quote

mount c ~/oldgames
mount d /media/cdrom
d:
install.exe

and install the game onto the emulated harddrive.

You might want to read through the guides on the guides forum at vogons.

After reading your answer it came to my mind that the "error with main.exe" could result from the dot in the directory "~/.dosbox" or the fact that there are subdirectories. After all, we're talking about DOS here. The directory "~/.dosbox" has been created automatically when installing dosbox for the first time, choosing the version that was included in the Ubuntu package pool.

I tried the steps that you mention there, but sadly it doesn't work. The "error with main.exe" remains. 🙁

I downloaded the newest version of ScummVM and Kyrandia runs perfectly now inside this virtual machine now. All it took to make the game run was copying the hole installation directory from CD to HD and tell ScummVM to use that directory. 😁

Nevertheless, I really would like to now what causes this strange "error with main.exe" and how NoWhereMan defeated it. What have you done differently than I have done?