Post your DOSBox configuration. My copy runs properly.

I also have a copy that I was able to run in DOSBox correctly, but as the OP states, he is trying to run it in pure DOS on a Pentium 75 and not DOSBox.

Which EXE are you trying to run? As I recall, it has a bunch of them. And of course if you're not using an installation from original disks, it might be sensitive to the exact location from which you're trying to run the game.

Yes, I misread that post entirely. However, I suppose that the first question should be - did you get it to run in DOSBox? If not, then there might be a problem with the installation. If so, then it might be a problem with sound drivers or something.
There are only two .exes - one for the Ocean logo animation, and one for the game (which carries the copy protection).

Thanks for the replies. I figured somehow the game is conflicting with my Sound Blaster 16 ISA card (CT2770). Once the card is removed, the game works... I've tried some different IRQs and booting with F5, but no luck..

Gonna try my SB Pro (CT1330A Rev.4) next. I know very little about the specifics of this card.

I stumbled upon this just now. Seems legit. No, really!
http://sfprod.shikadi.net/old/games/simpson2.htm

At the copy protection screen, where you see Bart's head, type I NEED HELP SO LET ME SKIP THE HEADS..... to skip the heads and the copy protection, and to go straight to the title screen.

But then, that might just make it crash at some point after the copy protection scheme.

I've been trying to get this game working, running an original version. It runs from both floppy or HD but then blank screen after typing in the page number for copy protection. It works in dosbox.
First game I have that doesn't work on a 486 simply caused the presence of a ISA Sb16. Running with a ct2230, even without initializing the card with diagnose.exe and selecting no audio will still hang the game. Removing the sb16 from system and the game works.

Riikcakirds wrote on 2020-12-14, 16:02:

I've been trying to get this game working, running an original version. It runs from both floppy or HD but then blank screen after typing in the page number for copy protection. It works in dosbox.
First game I have that doesn't work on a 486 simply caused the presence of a ISA Sb16. Running with a ct2230, even without initializing the card with diagnose.exe and selecting no audio will still hang the game. Removing the sb16 from system and the game works.

I've spent the last hour trouble shooting this game. Here's what I discovered:

- if you use MS DOS 6.22 HIMEM and EMS386 and zero sound drivers loaded it runs
- if you use MS DOS 5.0 it locks up
- if you use Creative sound drivers it locks up (CTCU is enough to make it freeze)
- I tried with my MT-32 but without the sound drivers loaded I couldn't use SOFTMPU.
- If I try with my MT-32 WITH sound drivers loaded, I get a brief sound and I can see it's communicating with my MT-32 but after 2 seconds this stops and everything freezes.

Basically if I don't load the sound drivers, I only get PC speaker sound but the game runs fine. It seems the game really does not like Creative cards.

red_avatar wrote on 2023-02-09, 15:00:

I've spent the last hour trouble shooting this game. Here's what I discovered: […]
Show full quote

Riikcakirds wrote on 2020-12-14, 16:02:

I've been trying to get this game working, running an original version. It runs from both floppy or HD but then blank screen after typing in the page number for copy protection. It works in dosbox.
First game I have that doesn't work on a 486 simply caused the presence of a ISA Sb16. Running with a ct2230, even without initializing the card with diagnose.exe and selecting no audio will still hang the game. Removing the sb16 from system and the game works.

I've spent the last hour trouble shooting this game. Here's what I discovered:

- if you use MS DOS 6.22 HIMEM and EMS386 and zero sound drivers loaded it runs
- if you use MS DOS 5.0 it locks up
- if you use Creative sound drivers it locks up (CTCU is enough to make it freeze)
- I tried with my MT-32 but without the sound drivers loaded I couldn't use SOFTMPU.
- If I try with my MT-32 WITH sound drivers loaded, I get a brief sound and I can see it's communicating with my MT-32 but after 2 seconds this stops and everything freezes.

Basically if I don't load the sound drivers, I only get PC speaker sound but the game runs fine. It seems the game really does not like Creative cards.

I know this is an old post but I'm having the same problem. The only difference is that even when I don't load any drivers to dos, I still cannot play the game. I have the same problem on my 486 dos machine and my 86box emulated box. I have to remove the sound card from the machine which I really don't want to do. Any possible solutions for this? Thanks!

There are two releases of the game, one dated Oct 91 and another Dec 91. The latter is tagged REMOVED in the REMOVED

Running on DOS 6.22 in 86box, the non-a1 Oct release shows a blackscreen and seemingly freezes the machine when I run simpgame.exe; tried different boot configs but can't get it to work.

The a1 Dec release does work but not when using MIDI through the SB card. I suspect it's because the game uses intelligent mode MIDI. Basically either enable the standalone MPU-401 to get MIDI sound, or just disable MIDI altogether which makes the game switch to adlib/FM sound.

EDIT: I don't understand why it's not allowed to even mention the name of a database. These databases do not offer any files, nothing; they are completely legal. I did not provide any way or instructions to acquire any files.