Wow madmatt you sure are passionate about getting that game to run 😉.

I do remember it running terribly on my 386 (which barely ran Doom well too) - I would personally have given up on playing this on a palm PC. I would really love a portable device that runs DOSBOX well but until it comes with a tiny keyboard and can at least run 486 games well I'm going to just sit and wait. I waited several years before games like Tomb Raider were at a playable level - it's all about hardware needing to mature to a level where it's possible at a level where the game is fluent and enjoyable.

Yeah, there's something about being a retrogamer - I don't have any game system newer than a PS2. And I mostly run PS1 games on it.
My PDA is currently set up with all my old faves - from Pocket Commodore 64 with hundreds of games, NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, pocket Game Boy Advance, the pocket PC port of DOOM, Quake Mobile, Red Sector, Cube, and PS1, albeit a little slowly. However, I also hear from one of the developers of FPSECE that there's a new, ground-up rewritten version of this PS1 emulator due out around XMas that's to have a 1.5 to 3 times speed boost - making it full console speed on my Axim. Since that's the case (hopefully), there IS a version of Tomb Raider that works with FPSECE - if you have a good PDA you may want to look at that! The DOOM port is free and full speed too, even on not-too advanced PDAs.

MadM@

After playing around inside ALL the settings possible in PocketDOS, I couldn't get Dark Forces to play any faster at ALL. So, I think I'm going to have to stop trying with that one... I know it may seem I gave up kinda quickly but I did try every setting and the entire readme. Even if I could somehow double it's speed it still wouldn't be playable with any degree of fun.
Which has brought me back to DOSBox... I'd really like to sort out what the game itself means by "module not created"!!! The latest version of DOSBox DOES start the install, meaning it MUST understand "protected mode" games, but as soon as it gets to the place where the graphics would actually start, the game itself comes up with that error... if I could find out just what the game is looking for, and provide it, I'm sure it would run better than PocketDOS. How MUCH better, I can't say of course...
In my limited understanding, (VERY limited), I think it could be several possibilities of what DOSBox is looking for;

Specific sound card?
Memory (of some type) location, ie hard disk?
Looking for VGA compatibility?
Hmmm... limited indeed.

Sound card is easy to eliminate, I'll just check requirements for the game and switch to that, or turn off sound emulation entirely and try it...

Other than that I'm stuck. Unless n0p ever decides to port 0.72, which doesn't sound too likely so far.

Actually, just one more thing. In PocketDOS, under "help -> system information" it only lists my CPU as a 400 MHz, no matter how I hack my PDA's CPU. That could be why it's sooooo slow. Can't imagine it'll help much though to even sort that out - I'm using their plugin to make it a 486 already anyway.

I'll just have to wait patiently and keep coming back here for news.

Cool site guys, and thanks for all your help!

MadM@

PS or I learn how to compile on my own...

MadM@

Dark Forces in DOSBOX stresses my Pentium M 2.13 GHz. I can't imagine any pocket PC CPU being able to remotely handle it. You might be able to play games meant for a 286, but that's probably about it. The CPUs in phones and PDAs are pretty basic, with little cache memory, limited integer performance and no floating point unit. By this I mean a Pentium II would blow one out of the water at the same clock speed.

You may be right... or at least it'll take a long time to do.
I've been considering a switch of portable machines to be able to handle games etc. I like the pocket pc, but the gap between size and computing power is closing rapidly, as well as price... I'm just trying to get the most out of my pocketPC while I have it...
Check out this link for example - http://www.oqo.com//store/shop.cgi/op/op_index.html
Not much bigger than a pocketPC, but running Windows XP... and therefore any version of DOSBox or other emulators... and they always drop in price eventually.
I just don't want a laptop I guess...

MadM@

hey that O2 is pretty cool. I'm not sure how well a VIA CPU will cope with DOS games though; they are pretty slow. Still much better than a cell-phone or PDA CPU.

I used to have a Sharp Zaurus. It had a 206 MHz Strongarm CPU. I never tried DOSBOX on it, but there were many good game engine ports. Stuff like ScummVM and PRBoom (Doom). I actually had software-based wavetable MIDI going through Timidity for Doom. That was amazing, but it did chug a bit. The Zaurus is Linux-based so people ported all sorts of things.

i've also seen similar machines available for around $800 US... still running XP or Vista... don't know anything about Vista...
You know stuff like this is just going to get smaller and cheaper!

MadM@

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/asuseepc.hmx
The ASUS Eee PC

Sweet!

MadM@

I might have been wrong about it being much faster. Sounds like it's clocked pretty low.

Small video presentation of the Asus:
http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/asus-eee-pc-4 … 7-32466960.html

http://eeepc.asus.com/en/product.htm

900 MHz CPU...

Here's whats supposed to be another good one, and for a good starting price (whenever it's released, could even be now...)
http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/07/samsung-q2-umpc-revealed/
with interactivity more like a PSP. Touchscreen, shows it running Vista, "full" keyboard, wireless internet - and rumors of being released for less than $1000
Basically, the day is here; just the prices need to come down further. Pocket sized machines are able to run anything a full computer can run; we're just paying for the micronization still.
Solid state memory, silicon embedded circuitry and multi-touch screens are just the beginning. I practically hear about new power conservation yet speed increases of hardware every week. I'm positive in the not too distant future an affordable pocket sized machine will run everything we retrogamers desire, and at speed, for a good price.
And DOS isn't going ANYwhere so long as there's retrogamers.
When I think about it, not too long ago, the Commodore 64 was the $#!. A whole 64K of memory!
Now, that machine emulator and EVERY SINGLE GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED WITH IT takes up about 3 Megs on my PDA, and is a free download. Hell, my PDA is more powerful than my desktop 4 versions ago. And advancements seem to be made at a more accelerated rate all the time!

The future's so bright, I gotta wear VR shades.

MadM@

One more PS about the "day being here" - screens can't get any smaller, or they can't be viewed. So we are already here.
The hardware behind them just needs to get stronger and smaller!

M

Don't get overexcited. There's still the one major issue that's been there since electronic mobile devices started - energy. Until the next large advancement step in battery/rechargeable technology, this will be the major problem for all high-performance electronic mobile devices.

Ah ha, but the last piece of technology news I heard on the radio is that coming soon to production is new circuitry and processors - and entirely embedded within silicon sheets, if I'm not mistaken. Slight computation gain (somehow) but with 90% less power needed and heat produced, for what already exists.
Still just around the corner. Batteries may not be advancing as fast as everyone'd like, but if the components require much less power and heat sinks to do the same jobs, they may not have to.

Looking for the link to that news story now.

MadM@

Marketing basic: "ride" an established technology till it's absolutely dead, and then, slowly and with high launch prices, start to push the already invented and developed next technology into the market.

Even if you read some news entry about new tech, it doesn't mean this technology will be available any time soon ("Vaporware", one of the basic principles of MS's sales and R&D). If the world would work that way, we would have no air pollution, no energy shortages, no starvation, and so on. The technology is there, it just isn't used. Why should companies invest resources in the production of new technologies, meaning new logistics and manufacturing processes, and possibly new risks, when they can still make a good profit with the "old" stuff, just by improving it slightly and cost-efficiently?

Well, you may be right.

MadM@

madmatt wrote:

Here's whats supposed to be another good one, and for a good starting price (whenever it's released, could even be now...)
http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/07/sams...-revealed/

The Samsung Q2 is already being sold as Q1 Ultra since May '07. Prices range from 749 $ (Amazon.com) to more than 1500 € 😕. I've just read it'll get a Core Solo upgrade (Santa Rosa core probably - http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/11/samsung-q1-ultr.html), which will run @1.33 GHz. I have to buy a new notebook soon anyway, so this will most likely be the one. 😁

BTW, the silicon embedded circuitry is already available in a machine my brother just got, a laptop - the one I heard about on the radio not too long ago. He says it's 50% faster than his old laptop benchmarks for CPU, and it does use far less power. So I guess it's not vaporware.
The thing is, everyone knows batteries have reached their limit in current form - exploding batteries in laptops etc. I guess they haven't dreamed up anything new since LiOn batts. However they also know that doing any better for small processors and speed and temperature etc. will sell - and $ will always be more pressing than energy.
MadM@