tin_can wrote:

..., and mounted the real A drive as the emulated A drive.

How?

Thanks for the very quick response!

By typing:

mount A "A:\" -t floppy

Hmm. That is the correct way to mount the diskette. But appearently the installer is not convinced that it is running from a floppy.

I did a search here, and it seems like some people is using a different type of emulator to run Monkey Island: SCUMMVM

http://www.scummvm.org/
Monkey Island

But that might just be for CD-versions. And, I don't know/use SCUMMVM 🙁

You could try installing Monkey Island without using DOSBox. Maybe then the installer will see that it is running from a diskette.

Could the installer be looking for a disk label?

umm.... are sure that "install c:" is the correct way of "firing up" the installer? try just "install" or "setup"

You could also try ScummVM as postet before. It has a rather easy-to-use interface, and the newest version should even ship with monkey island!

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. I spent far too many hours last night playing with this, and still have not managed to get it to work...

MiniMax - I have tried using SCUMMVM: it works fine with a demo of the game, but cannot recognise the files from the floppy disks as a game, presumably until they've been installed. I have done a search of the SCUMMVM forums and they seem to advocate using DOSBox to install the game!

I have also tried installing the disks without DOSBox, but it comes up with a DOS-like background that says much the same thing and disappears very quickly.

Something weird I have noticed is that there are two install files, both batch files, one called "install" and the other "_install". If I run the second of these without using DOSBox, it asks me to insert disk 2, which I do, then it asks me for the disk with the batch file. I put disk 1 back in again, which it then tells me is not formatted.

However, if I run the "_install" file from within DOSBox, the same thing happens up to when I insert disk two, where I get a dialog box saying the wrong volume is in the drive, please use 'MONKEY 1 XL'. I insert disk 1 again and click 'try again', and it hums and clicks for some time, before telling me that the installation was unsuccessful, and it may be because my hard disk is full, as it needs (all of!) 4.8mb. I have tried limiting the space of the C drive using the freespace command to 5, 8, 10 and 50 mb but the error still comes up.

collector - I'm sorry, I don't quite understand: what is a disk label?

cmw - "install c:" is what it says to do in the original manual. However I've tried simply putting "install" and "_install" (see above), and it makes no difference.

Sorry for the long post - just wanted to show you all what I've tried.

We LOVE detailed error reports and fault descriptions. Makes our work so much easier.

collector might be right about the label. When you insert the 2 diskettes, do you see a name (a label) for them in your My Computer window? Perhaps something like "MONKEY 1 XL" and "MONKEY 2 XL" ?

If so, try mounting the diskette in DOSBox with

Z:\>mount A "A:\" -t floppy -label "MONKEY 1 XL"

Those 2 INSTALL.BAT and _INSTALL.BAT files - are they big or small? If small, could you post the contents here?

Edit: Fixed spelling error 😅

It's been forever since I've install MI1 from floppies but couldn't you just copy all of the floppies into one directory and install from there?

Thanks, MiniMax 😊

No, it just says "3 1/2 Floppy (A: )". I have tried that anyway, but no joy.

"install" is 3.5 kB; "_install" is 1.5 kB. Sorry not to understand the language again, but what is a contest?

If I run "_install" without using DOSBox, it asks me to insert disk 2, which I do, then it asks me for the disk with the batch file. I put disk 1 back in again, which it then tells me is not formatted.

I have just realised that this was bit of an anomoly. What normally happens is that, once I have put disk 1 back in, the following entries come up:

A:\>echo […]
Show full quote

A:\>echo

A:\>if exist md2.lzh goto docopy2

A:\>goto try2

A:\>echo Please insert "Disk 2" in Drive
Please insert "Disk 2" in Drive

A:\>cd
A:\

A:\>pause
Press any key to continue . . .
Insert the diskette that contains the batch file and press any key when ready

It then goes into a loop where it keeps asking the disk that contains the batch file (disk 1) and disk two, alternately.

Thanks DosFreak

Gave that a go, but when it asks me to press any key after inserting disk 2 (I just press a key without inserting the disk), about a page worth's of command line typing comes up and disappears before I have a chance to read it, and it beeps quietly.

tin_can wrote:

Sorry not to understand the language again, but what is a contest?

He means "contents".

tin_can wrote:

It then goes into a loop where it keeps asking the disk that contains the batch file (disk 1) and disk two, alternately.

That's the way the DOS batch language works... You can copy the bat files onto the other disks to prevent it, though.

Kippesoep - thanks for that..... I have tried going through the loop as many times as possible in the hope that it is installing something, but after I've swapped discs nine or ten times it gets back to that thing where it thinks that disc 1 isn't formatted.

MiniMax - I've tried to attach the files, but unfortunately the forum says that 'the extension bat is not allowed'.

What about if you do not use DosBox? If you install the game in Windows by going through the command prompt?

you can rename them to txt.

DosFreak - I'd already tried just double-clicking on the files in windows (see above). I have just now tried going through the command prompt, and it looked good for a while, then it got back to that thing where it told me that I do not have enough disk space.

Qbix - thanks for that! Can you tell I'm new??

MiniMax - files attached 😎

hmm, why is it saying the attachments are 0 bytes?

I think we should focus on getting the game installed in host windows. There shouldn't be any problem installing there.

Can you post your "not enough disk space" error?

Bingo! Installed ok 😁

For the record, what it had been doing was saying that installation was unsuccessful, and that it may be because I did not have enough disk space; it needed 4.8 MB. Obviously I had way more free space than this; what I had been trying within DOSBox was to use the freespace command to limit the space on the emulated C drive, but this had no effect. When I got the same message from the command prompt, I assumed there was no way of doing the same kind of thing outside DOSBox.

However, what I hadn't noticed was that there was already a MONKEY.VGA file in my C drive, presumably placed there at some point during my efforts to get the thing going. After I deleted that, and simply entered "install c:" in the command prompt, the installation worked perfectly.

Now I shall go and check the game runs properly.

I am very grateful to all who have helped me out with this; I am sure that such questions must get irritating, but you guys have been a goldmine of information.

A last word about ScummVM, which I use intensively:
A game doesn't need to be installed, just browse ScummVM to a folder which contains the game data files and you're done...