Not many games need more then 600KB of conventional memory. Are you trying to run from pure DOS or from within Windows? It also depends what drivers are you loading via config.sys and autoexec.bat.

But 20MB or more memory usually won't give you more conventional memory . Problematic is memory under 1MB and this is where memory managers come handy. I only use EMM386 when I need to. I only load necessery drivers and have more then 600KB of low memory in any case.

Switching the processor into V86 mode does incur a noticeable performance penalty on 386 & slower 486 systems.

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sorry for that atm i've managed (having tried pc dos 2000) to get 559kb Conventional memory using UDVD2 + SHCDX33F (if i unload shcdx33f i have 566kb) any ideas to further optimize?

Autoexec:

1SET BLASTER=A240 I2 D0 T4
2SET GALAXY=A240 I2 D0 K11 P530 T6
3SET SOUND=C:\SGBAS16
4C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE
5@ECHO OFF
6SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\DOS;%PATH%
7SET TEMP=C:\DOS
8C:\DOS\DOSKEY.COM
9
10c:\cdrom\shcdx33f.com /D:UDVD1

Config.sys

1DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE /DOUBLE_BUFFER
2DEVICE=C:\SGBAS16\DRIVERS\EEPROM.SYS
3FILES=60
4BUFFERS=10
5dos=high
6device=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
7device=c:\dos\emm386.exe ram x=a000-b0ff i=b100-b7ff x=b800-c7ff i=c800-d2ff x=d300-d3ff i=d400-efff x=f000-f7ff h=64 a=7 d=64
8DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
9
10LASTDRIVE=G
11DEVICEHIGH=C:\CDROM\UDVD2.SYS /H
12DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
13STACKS=9,256

(i use windows 3.11 for a few select games (simcity classic for windows, simtower, oddballz and dos for the rest of my games, but most of the games im pushing for as much conventional memory possible are Epic Pinball [needs 560kb] & The Adventures of Willy Beamish [which since was designed around early 286 machines, i guess needs 512kb Conventional memory] )

I use a simple boot menu that allows me to select what memory options I need. I made a video tutorial here: http://youtu.be/cIEq2hMUYhA

The menu and drivers can be downloaded from my website. I haven't come across a game that doesn't run...

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^^ Simple start-up files = simple life 🤣

This are memory optimised config.sys and autoexec.bat

1dos=high,umb
2device=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
3devicehigh=c:\dos\emm386.exe ram noems
4DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE /DOUBLE_BUFFER
5DEVICEHIGH=C:\SGBAS16\DRIVERS\EEPROM.SYS
6DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
7DEVICEHIGH=C:\CDROM\UDVD2.SYS /H
8DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
9LASTDRIVE=G
10STACKS=9,256
11FILES=60
12BUFFERS=10

1@ECHO OFF
2SET BLASTER=A240 I2 D0 T4
3SET GALAXY=A240 I2 D0 K11 P530 T6
4SET SOUND=C:\SGBAS16
5SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\DOS
6SET TEMP=C:\DOS
7lh C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE 1024
8lh c:\cdrom\shcdx33f.com /D:UDVD1
9lh C:\DOS\DOSKEY.COM

Use it and report what does MEM show.

Have you considered reading the documentation that comes with Epic Pinball? 😒 (It's the file named HELPME.DOC.)

To run this game under Windows, be sure to run the file "PINBALL.PIF" (not
the file "PINBALL.EXE"). This should would very reliably under Windows on
nearly all computers.

Also, many games in particular usually advised disabling "stealth mode" for QEMM, though I don't know offhand how to do that and you probably are better off using EMM386 instead, as previously suggested.