The "what.exe" is a known issue. You'll have to copy the game files manually instead of using the crappy what.exe and batch file.

As for Debug.....Why don't you use the DosBo debugger?

I think some of this has been addressed in CVS.

The batch file and "What.exe" are not crappy. They work just fine under Windows 9x and MS-DOS. I checked if they would work under Windows 98 and they did.

When running the batch file under Windows XP using "Cmd.exe" or "Command.com" outside DOSBox, the batch file responds when I select a language and game version, in DOSBox it does not respond. Which seems to make it a problem with DOSBox.

For some reason the batch file still does not work in XP when using "Cmd.exe" or "Command.com" ("Directory Creation Error" or something like that.) but, that is unrelated to DOSBox.

btw: what is the "CVS", h-a-l-9000?

EDIT:
DosFreak, what debugger I use is not the issue here. Microsoft Debug does not work properly in DOSBox and I think it should.

CVS is the system used to organize DosBox and other GPL software.

You can download a CVS build of DosBox from my signature.

The what.exe issue is a known issue, and I seem to recall that Qbix has no plans to address it. What.exe does not work in DOSBox nor the Win2K/XP NTVDM (Windows command prompt) because it stores the result in an environment variable (a bad way to do it - they should have used an error code instead). I believe that both DOSBox and the NTVDM give each program a separate environment space (inherited from the parent program?). For NTVDM this is undoubtedly a security measure, but I'm not sure why DOSBox behaves this way (maybe it simplifies things?).

At any rate, I learned that you can go into the individual games' directories on the CD and install them to the hard drive using INSTALL just like with the floppy versions.

EDIT: I take it back. It looks like Qbix fixed something relating to this in the CVS a while back, so try a CVS build and see what happens.

HunterZ wrote:

The what.exe issue is a known issue, and I seem to recall that Qbix has no plans to address it. What.exe does not work in DOSBox nor the Win2K/XP NTVDM (Windows command prompt) because it stores the result in an environment variable (a bad way to do it - they should have used an error code instead). I believe that both DOSBox and the NTVDM give each program a separate environment space (inherited from the parent program?). For NTVDM this is undoubtedly a security measure, but I'm not sure why DOSBox behaves this way (maybe it simplifies things?).

At any rate, I learned that you can go into the individual games' directories on the CD and install them to the hard drive using INSTALL just like with the floppy versions.

EDIT: I take it back. It looks like Qbix fixed something relating to this in the CVS a while back, so try a CVS build and see what happens.

I think that whether any one thinks "What.exe" stores the user's choice in a bad or good way is irrelevant. It works in any DOS based operating system and if DOSBox is supposed to emulate DOS, the badly written (in your opinion) programs should also work in DOSBox...

BTW:
This is not about not being able to install the game.

Peter Swinkels wrote:

I think that whether any one thinks "What.exe" stores the user's choice in a bad or good way is irrelevant. It works in any DOS based operating system and if DOSBox is supposed to emulate DOS, the badly written (in your opinion) programs should also work in DOSBox...

Then our opinions differ.

DOSBox will not fix broken games.
We provide a system that adheres to the DOS standards.
If some application is bugged and runs because the bug doesn't show up on a certain dos version. then we will not fix it. Fortunately there aren't that many games broken by design(and running by pure luck). We've collected only a handful over the years that we work on DOSBox).

(and yes this is a lot wider then your thing, for example many people would like that we make Master of Magic more stable. Which we won't. The game is just bugged from itself.)

Qbix wrote:

Then our opinions differ. […]
Show full quote

Peter Swinkels wrote:

I think that whether any one thinks "What.exe" stores the user's choice in a bad or good way is irrelevant. It works in any DOS based operating system and if DOSBox is supposed to emulate DOS, the badly written (in your opinion) programs should also work in DOSBox...

Then our opinions differ.

DOSBox will not fix broken games.
We provide a system that adheres to the DOS standards.
If some application is bugged and runs because the bug doesn't show up on a certain dos version. then we will not fix it. Fortunately there aren't that many games broken by design(and running by pure luck). We've collected only a handful over the years that we work on DOSBox).

(and yes this is a lot wider then your thing, for example many people would like that we make Master of Magic more stable. Which we won't. The game is just bugged from itself.)

That's too bad. Well there's nothing I can do about it if you aren't going to fix it. But, I still would like to say a few things:

I'm not asking you to fix the program "What.exe". It works under DOS and therefore it adheres to DOS standards in my opinion and I think that if DOSBox is going to emulate DOS properly I would forget about my opinions of what DOS' standards are supposed to be.

Really, what you seem to be saying is: "I feel the program is badly written and does not adhere to the standards I think DOS should adhere to and don't care whether it worked under DOS." I think there is a difference between a bug that causes a program to work poorly even under DOS and something that doesn't adhere to your standards but still worked fine under DOS. Where did you get these standards?

Or did I completely misunderstand you now? Well like I said if you aren't going to fix it, there's nothing I can do about it... Not that it really matters in this case any way.

its not a game so , its not a priority i guess

I allready fixed what.exe a long time ago.