You have to wait for several minutes at that point while the game tests the system speed, as described in the README.DOC file. Would be nice if it displayed a message to let you know what it's doing for so long. Anyway, you should use fixed cycles, and I suggest not pressing any keys or moving the mouse during the speed test.

I didn't experiment with it much, as it wears on one's patience having to wait, but when you re-run the game it seems like it often concludes that the system speed has changed, even when using the same amount of cycles as the previous run; meaning you have to go through the initial speed test all over again or just give up on the dumb game.

In a quest to get every dos game I can get my hands on working, I can't ignore any =) But it is good to know that the game works, even if the circumstances aren't ideal. Thanks ripsaw.

On a side note, with cycles set to 3000, it always takes a few minutes and then comes back to tell me that program has been terminated due to a change in computer speed. This has happened 3 times in a row.... so it hasn't started for me once yet.

Try increasing cycles to 5000 or 8000. It's kind of touchy, hence my suggestion about no mouse or keyboard activity. It may even be sensitive to timing variations caused by programs running in the background on the host.

this game is a dick.

for me it looks it works ok with cycles=30000
first long test passed, and later it always works quick.
i can also always use alt-f12 to speed up.
dynamic core works too
Markana2.exe needs to do its own test too

The initial speed test passes with 3000 cycles on my system, and in fact I've never seen it fail the initial test at any amount of fixed cycles. It's the "quick retest" of the previous speed that frequently fails.