You can boot real DOS in DOSBox, just as you are doing for other emulators, and then the installer will work. The problem is that the installer is trying to rename an open file -- DOS allows it, but the host operating system does not, and thus a local drive mount does not.

The version of the game I have here for testing runs without complaint, and I don't see the error message you refer to in the executable files, so perhaps you have a different version. I'd try copying COMMAND.COM from the Z: drive to the root of the emulated C: drive, if you haven't already, in case the game is not using the COMSPEC environment variable as it should.

ripsaw8080 wrote on 2021-02-09, 16:21:

You can boot real DOS in DOSBox, just as you are doing for other emulators, and then the installer will work. The problem is that the installer is trying to rename an open file -- DOS allows it, but the host operating system does not, and thus a local drive mount does not.

The version of the game I have here for testing runs without complaint, and I don't see the error message you refer to in the executable files, so perhaps you have a different version. I'd try copying COMMAND.COM from the Z: drive to the root of the emulated C: drive, if you haven't already, in case the game is not using the COMSPEC environment variable as it should.

Thank you for that information. I had never encountered or even considered that scenario .

Sorry if I have nothing useful to directly contribute, but I do have some questions that would improve my understanding and might possibly be helpful to others .
a) Why does running real DOS in DOSBox allow the installer to work ?
b) Is it because it implies the necessity of using a disk image instead of a local drive mount which bypasses the host OS file locking issue completely ?
c) If the answer to b is yes, and since using the IMGMOUNT is possible, AFAIK, with DOSBox's internal DOS, wouldn't using a mounted disk image rather than a mounted local drive be just effective a workaround for the installer ?

Again, sorry if the answers to these are blatantly obvious or based on ay erroneous suumptions, I am not the most proficient DOSBos user by any stretch of the imagination .

a) because DOS allows renaming open files, as I already mentioned.
b) yes.
c) quite possibly, but I'd have to test it to be sure, whereas I'm sure it will work when booting DOS, and since the OP doesn't seem to mind booting DOS in other emulators, well, there you go. 😉

ripsaw8080 wrote on 2021-02-09, 16:45:

a) because DOS allows renaming open files, as I already mentioned.
b) yes.
c) quite possibly, but I'd have to test it to be sure, whereas I'm sure it will work when booting DOS, and since the OP doesn't seem to mind booting DOS in other emulators, well, there you go. 😉

Thank you very much ! I will try to keep all this in mind if ever I encounter similar issues .

I already have it installing in DOSBox. Put the fix in my first post. The small COM file probably does something that allows the installer to change the file names.

My only issue now, is it won't play (regardless of how I install it.) I tried copying COMMAND.COM from Z:\ to C:\, To the Game Directory, and to every directory in the path. Still says it cannot load it. Probably because it's looking for a specific size, date, or some such 🙁