"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel
Or will stuff in there load with and affect Win98 itself?
This one
Which game? I've never had trouble with mouse not working.
I can imagine a game complaining if it cant find the set blaster variable, but not specific drivers.
Not saying it isn't possible mind, dos games can be quite demanding at times.
Recently I have no Mouth but Must Scream. It doesn't like windows, but when I reboot in MSDOS7 mode the mouse doesn't work and there is no music (AWE64).
I then tried it another another pure DOS6 system with a properly configured autoexec/config.sys and an AWE32 and it worked.
Basically I would like to setup autoexec/config.sys like I do on my pure DOS machine, but not sure how it will affect Win98.
Since Windows 98 comes with DOS 7.1, if you create a boot menu, then you can boot straight into DOS and load all the relevant drivers and device drivers that you would normally load under DOS 6.xx as well.
Depending on your AWE32 model, if it is a PnP card, then you need to load CTCM as well - you do not need to load CTCU, since CTCM will "read" the configuration from a file called "ctpnp.cfg" in your Windows directory.
This file will be updated, based on the settings that is under Windows. If Windows installs with the default settings, then it should set up your card with the default settings of A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 (you can add this to your Autoexec.bat as a part of your "SET BLASTER" statement).
If you use conventional things in your Config/Autoexec (Himem, EMM, CD-ROM driver, mouse driver, sound driver, and Smatdrive), it's unlikely to have any adverse affects on Win98. All these drivers are not necessary for Windows, but Windows typically can recognize and avoid them, using its own drivers instead.
OK - so autoexec multiboot will kick in before Win98? Thats nice...so if I leave the default option to extended memory only that will be fine for Win98. And I can select the EMM/ctmouse/ctcm option for pure DOS.
And it is an AWE64 in my Win98 not an AWE32 - so in the DOS menu option, I will just run CTCM to load the setting from ctpnp.cfg that is set by windows?
> This file will be updated, based on the settings that is under Windows.
You mean Windows will update it or it will be updated by CTCM under DOS? I don't want to update anything under DOS that might affect windows later.
Essentially, yes. Windows will read the Config.sys & Autoexec.bat startup files first before loading.
It makes no real difference whether you have an AWE32 (PnP card) or AWE64, since they function the same under DOS.
CTCM will intialise your AWE64 under DOS. You can also run the Diagnose utility to ensure that everything is working properly.
Windows will update the ctpnp.cfg file. CTCM merely initialises the PnP card under DOS using the parameters as defined by CTCU (DOS 6.22 or earlier) or ctpnp.cfg (DOS 7.x).
Windows will update the ctpnp.cfg file. CTCM merely initialises the PnP card under DOS using the parameters as defined by CTCU (DOS 6.22 or earlier) or ctpnp.cfg (DOS 7.x).
Doesn't CTCM just always read ctpnp.cfg (which can be modified either by CTCU or by the Windows driver)? I think you can specify where CTCM should look for it by using SET CTCM= environment variable.
I sometimes wonder wats the difference between software configurable IRQ/DMA (diagnose.exe) and ISA PNP (ctcm.exe) - the both run a program that reads settings from a file/env and instruct the card what settings to use. So what's the difference really?
Windows will update the ctpnp.cfg file. CTCM merely initialises the PnP card under DOS using the parameters as defined by CTCU (DOS 6.22 or earlier) or ctpnp.cfg (DOS 7.x).
Doesn't CTCM just always read ctpnp.cfg (which can be modified either by CTCU or by the Windows driver)? I think you can specify where CTCM should look for it by using SET CTCM= environment variable.
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Yes, that is the case. I was just trying to simplify it for the OP, since CTCU doesn't run under DOS 7.x (unless you have a hacked version) as it "assumes" that you are running Windows 9x which will configure the card for you.
When I have Windows 9x installed with an AWE card, I prefer to just let Windows define the settings for me in the ctpnp.cfg file.
My experience has been that CTCM has the same problem as CTCU; they both check the WINBOOTDIR environment variable to determine whether you are under Windows. Maybe this bug affects fewer CTCM versions than CTCU versions, though.
So I hacked phils msdos starter pack to have a windows section, and added in CTCM to the DOS section. I copied ctpnp.cfg to another directory, changed the irq/dma/port to what I wanted, and then ran ctcm on startup and it seemed to work and tested. The game I was trying to run, Terra Nova, still had no success running under DOS though. I might have to actually play than one under WinXP using the normal GOG installer.
Sorry the AWE64 initialized fine - tested with Doom2 and all OK. The problem with Terra Nova was something to do with graphics modes...it asks to build a UniVBE driver but with/without it the screen doesn't render and I need to reboot.
And I was running CTCM instead of diagnose and also AWEUTIL /EM:GM without /S...
I don't advise the use of /EM:GM. The General MIDI emulation in DOS is far from reliable and only works with a handful of games anyways. Best to limit yourself to AWEUTIL /S so you can get working FM and AWE synth in games that support it.
Sorry the AWE64 initialized fine - tested with Doom2 and all OK. The problem with Terra Nova was something to do with graphics modes...it asks to build a UniVBE driver but with/without it the screen doesn't render and I need to reboot.
And I was running CTCM instead of diagnose and also AWEUTIL /EM:GM without /S...
"AWEUTIL /s" will just initialize your card's FM and AWE32 MIDI synth, and exit. The effect of initalization lasts until you reboot.
AWEUTIL without the /s switch will also install a TSR emulating MT32 and GM, depending on switches used. This may be useful, but it also takes precious conventional DOS memory.
I always had aweutil /s in my autoexec.bat. If a particular game benefited from GM emulation, I used a .bat file like this:
Where aweutil /u unloads the TSR part of the utility (generally possible only if no other TSR was loaded afterwards).
Since I put such a .bat file for all DOS games in their directories (the file being named !start.bat so it appears near the top in file managers) I don't really have to remember how to run a particular game and what additional tweaks does it need - it's always just !start.bat.
Interestingly Terra Nova worked fine on my DOS6/SS7 machine...with a much older graphics card that seemed to work well with UniVBE. The game has native support for AWE32 and the music sounded pretty darn good. This was an install from a CD burned from an image included in the GOG install.
If you use conventional things in your Config/Autoexec (Himem, EMM, CD-ROM driver, mouse driver, sound driver, and Smatdrive), it's unlikely to have any adverse affects on Win98.
Actually it DOES adversely affect Windows.
Namely, when you load DOS drivers, this may force Windows to use these devices via legacy BIOS/DOS interfaces only, rather than loading its own optimized 32-bit drivers.
In general, less is more in the autoexec.bat/config.sys configuration for Win9x.
The multi-boot is an excellent advice: use only minimal drivers and configuration when booting Win9x, and have a proper DOS config when you want to boot to the DOS prompt only.
Personally I wouldn't even use DOS 7.x at all for pure DOS, but install a multi-boot between Win9x and DOS 6.22.