dynx86? dynamic core? if so then switch core to another one, or fiddle with the xms and ems memory commands.

Won't likely run fast enough to be playable without core=dynamic, but it's worth a try.

Other things to try:
- make sure you've got the latest patch (http://patches-scrolls.de/ is a great site for old game patches)
- try using dos32a in place of dos4gw

Switching to normal core did the trick, seems to be playable to me, but since the dynamic core crashes, i have nothing to compare to be sure 😀

Anyway, is this game supposed to crash with the dynamic core, or is it sort of a mac related issue? I can reproduce this issue with both a 0.72 and 0.73 dosbox compiled by myself and the 0.73 binary provided on the website.

Just curious, what would be the command you have in mind to fiddle with xms and ems? And how to replace dos4gw by dos32a?

Thanks a lot guys!

and i can't get the 1.30 patch to work, it's always complaining about a "error ept0036: old file not found. However, a file of the same name was found. No update done since file contents do not match." for the SHOCK.EXE file, the thing is the file is indeed there 🙁

Install it inside dosbox and stick to the EXACT mountings when playing or applying a patch.

That's pretty much what i did, or what i thought i did 😀

here's the commands i used:
imgmount d /Volumes/Downloads/future_shock.iso -t iso
mount c /Volumes/Downloads
d:
install

future shock was then installed in the games/shock directory

i put the patch in the games directory (tried with it too in the shock directory and the root directory with the same result)

c:
cd games
tfs130.exe

it asked me for the path to the future shock directory so i gave shock, and it's giving me the error i mentioned earlier.

Did i do anything wrong in the process?

Thanks a lot!

games\shock
maybe ?

nope 😀

the weird thing is before the patch tries and fails to update the shock.exe file, it succeeds in updating the readme file (in the same directory as the shock.exe file)...

aren't the files read only attribute?

try running the patch from a floppy

no i took care to put everything in the shock folder under read/write permission for everyone.

Sadly running the patch from a floppy doesn't help neither 🙁, but thanks for the suggestion...

I'll try to run this game and the patch tomorrow at work on my linux machine to see if i encounter the same issues I'm having here...

i suppose games's executable may be cracked and that's why it is not recognized by the patching application

On my linux machine at work, future shock is able to play correctly (same iso, same install), without having to switch from the dynamic core to the normal one and it's much smoother 😀 Seems to be a mac related issue 🙁

Will see about the patch later on...

[Edit] same issue with the patch though...

ben401 wrote:

Seems to be a mac related issue 🙁

That is half-way to finding a solution!

Unfortunately, only the Windows and Linux versions are built by the core DOSBox team. The Mac version(s) are supplied by various volunteers. Which compilers, which optimization flags, and which 3rd party libraries they use are unknown.

Like I said, the issue also appeared on the exec i built by myself. I didn't change anything in the code, just a simple ./configure followed by a make (like for all the libraries needed by dosbox), I couldn't really do much more 😁.

Anyway thanks to everyone and if someone wishes to investigate and need some more infos or some testing, I'd gladly help... It would be so much more convenient to play Future Shock at home rather than at work 😜

what are your machines ?
Is you linux machine 32 or 64 bit ?
and your mac ?

Here's what i got from the /proc/cpuinfo on my linux machine at work:
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 15
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4500 @ 2.20GHz
stepping : 13
cpu MHz : 1200.000
cache size : 2048 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 0
cpu cores : 2
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov
pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc arc
h_perfmon pebs bts pni monitor ds_cpl est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm

a uname -m indicates i686 which means linux 32bits if i'm not mistaking.

My mac is an iMac, intel Core 2 Duo 2ghz, with os x system 10.5.7.

Thanks and tell me if you need anything else 😀

A little more investigation on my side 😀

I'm actually able to play Future Shock in dynamic mode on my mac too 😀. When I start dosbox in dynamic mode and loads a future shock games created on a previous session (made with normal mode), it's loading correctly and I can play... until the next loading point, that is whether the next level, whether each time you enter a door (a "loading" text appears on the screen each time for both of them).

So I guess the problem can be narrowed by saying that the loading points (each time a "loading' text appears on the screen) make the game crash in dynamic mode on mac. In all other situations, the dynamic mode behaves correctly.

Was it helpfull, I'm not sure 😁, but who knows...