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DOS not enough memory

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First post, by atom1kk

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Hi, i have installed a cd dos driver and after that i get in some dos games ( in windows 98 dos mode) not enough memory.

I remember that it could be solved with himem.sys.

Thx

Reply 2 of 10, by Jo22

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atom1kk wrote on 2022-08-06, 08:44:

I remember that it could be solved with himem.sys.

Yes, that's right. By default, Windows 9x does remove Himem.sys and EMM386 from config.sys.

So if you press F8 (?) when you boot the PC and choose DOS prompt in that boot menu, they're missing.
That's unlike the MS-DOS 6.x standard installation.

To fix this, you can add them back.
Run "Sysedit" in Windows 9x or use a text editor (notepad, edit).
Add to config.sys these two lines (at the top) :

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\EMM386.EXE NOEMS

If you need EMS, change NOEMS to RAM.

Edit: That's just the basic thing.
The tips of Intel486dx33 are a fine extension to this.
Optimizing DOS memory is kind of a sport in its own reign. :)

"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

//My video channel//

Reply 3 of 10, by Gmlb256

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Jo22 wrote on 2022-08-11, 16:29:

By default, Windows 9x does remove Himem.sys and EMM386 from config.sys.

If DOS=NOAUTO switch isn't set, HIMEM.SYS will get automatically loaded after everything in CONFIG.SYS is parsed if the DEVICE line for HIMEM.SYS isn't set.

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Reply 4 of 10, by Ringding

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Jo22 wrote on 2022-08-11, 16:29:

So if you press F8 (?) when you boot the PC and choose DOS prompt in that boot menu, they're missing.
That's unlike the MS-DOS 6.x standard installation.

IIRC, it was holding Ctrl down for Win98.

Reply 5 of 10, by atom1kk

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Thx for the support but i saw that himem and emm are already added, any other possible solutions?

Reply 6 of 10, by Gmlb256

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Did you set DOS=HIGH,UMB line prior HIMEM.SYS and EMM386? Are both the DOS CD driver and MSCDEX (in AUTOEXEC.BAT) being loaded high using DEVICEHIGH and LH respectively? I will show you examples on how you set this in case.

In CONFIG.SYS (I put VIDE-CDD.SYS as we don't know which CD driver are you actually using):

DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVER\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:CDROM0

In AUTOEXEC.BAT:

LH C:\WINDOWS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:CDROM0

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Reply 7 of 10, by TehGuy

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Gmlb256 wrote on 2022-08-14, 14:34:
Did you set DOS=HIGH,UMB line prior HIMEM.SYS and EMM386? Are both the DOS CD driver and MSCDEX (in AUTOEXEC.BAT) being loaded h […]
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Did you set DOS=HIGH,UMB line prior HIMEM.SYS and EMM386? Are both the DOS CD driver and MSCDEX (in AUTOEXEC.BAT) being loaded high using DEVICEHIGH and LH respectively? I will show you examples on how you set this in case.

In CONFIG.SYS (I put VIDE-CDD.SYS as we don't know which CD driver are you actually using):

DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVER\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:CDROM0

In AUTOEXEC.BAT:

LH C:\WINDOWS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:CDROM0

As OP is using the DOS attached to Win98, you can take the LH from autoexec and put it in the config.sys via INSTALLHIGH

[DOSINIT]
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\TEAC_CDI.SYS /D:MSCD001 /S:4
SHELL=C:\4DOS\4DOS.COM C:\4DOS\ /P
INSTALLHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001 /M:15
INSTALLHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\CTMOUSE.EXE /R2

Here's what's currently handling that jazz in my config, for example. I don't think it functionally changes anything, but does keep a lot of config confined to a single file

Win98+DOS: C3 Ezra-T 1.0AGHz / P3-S 1.26GHz, 128MB RAM, AWE64 + Orpheus + Audigy 2 ZS, Ti 4200, 128GB SD card
Win XP SP3: C2Q 9650, 4GB RAM, X-Fi Titanium, GTX 750
PowerMac G4 QS 800MHz + GeForce4 Ti4200, OS 9
PowerMac G5 DP 1.8Ghz + ATi x800 XT, Leopard

Reply 8 of 10, by Jo22

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INSTALLHIGH.. I remember that. Boy you're really into exotic stuff, aren't you? 😁👍

There's just one thing I would like to add:
Loading a CD-ROM driver into UMBs (which are in UMA) can work fine, but it doesn't necessarily need to.

If it doesn't, weird things happen:
Drive not ready error, no files on D:\, files that appear to be corrupted if accessed..

Personally, I witnessed VIDE-CDD.SYS not working on some of my PCs, if loaded high.
Unlike the OAK CD driver, which is much larger, but more robust and more feature complete.

Maybe it's related to ISA DMA not always working here, not sure.

On systems using UMBPCI the ISA DMA issue exists, for example.
The PCI's Shadow memory, that's used for making UMBs, has issues with ISA DMA - on certain chipsets.
But that's not of any relevance here, since EMM386 works differently. It uses V86/386 MMU etc. The floppy controller uses USA DMA, too, by the way. It's just a side note.

Edit: @OP If errors persist, I really recommend installing QEMM 8 or 9 for testing purposes.
It's officially Windows 9x compatible and much better than EMM386.
If it works, it works okay, often. It also is more intelligent and can fix other issues (jerky timing, issues with VGA graphics) on a side effect.

Edit: Oh, and please keep in mind that CuteMouse isn't as superior or ingenious as people like to make it.
It's a bit overrated, like mTCP, I think.
CT focuses on small code, not elegance. The way it works is inferior to classic mice drivers.
It lacks things like smooth timing, a graphic mouse cursor etc.
It also isn't using different code paths, ways of handling a mouse (BIOS, direct).
CuteMouse never was made with 286-486 era hardware in mind in first place, also.
Or applications from that era.
It rather was designed for cheap PCs from the early 2000s running FreeDOS.
Like FreeDOS, it assumes things instead of doing actual probing. Which old drivers had to, because standards were still a floating target.

For best compatibility with Windows 2.x to 9x, MS Mouse driver 9 is recommended.
It also provides seamless integration with DOS windows in Windows 3.1x Enhanced Mode.
And takes care of lost packets, so that the mouse cursor will behave less erratic.

Otherwise, MS Mouse 6.24 or similar is good enough. It's much smaller.

Another good mouse driver is this one:

Re: How do you get a serial mouse working

If that's too big, this old one might do, too:

Re: CuteMouse not working properly

Good luck everyone! 🙂🤞

Edit: Never mind. I guess I was too chatty again. 😅

"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

//My video channel//

Reply 9 of 10, by TehGuy

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Jo22 wrote on 2022-08-18, 20:17:

INSTALLHIGH.. I remember that. Boy you're really into exotic stuff, aren't you? 😁👍

I didn't think it was exotic, haha. I wasn't even really old enough to really get into computers until late into XP's life, so my DOS stuff is just purely a mash of things I found on the internet over the past 2-ish years

Jo22 wrote on 2022-08-18, 20:17:

Edit: Never mind. I guess I was too chatty again. 😅

if ya hadn't then I wouldn't have been TIL'd into a different mouse driver option. Not surprising since slapping "microsoft" and "mouse" into the same search seems to yield much more results for MS's current offerings than an old driver. Just need to figure out where I put my set of blank 3.5" floppies so I can do some testing =3=

Win98+DOS: C3 Ezra-T 1.0AGHz / P3-S 1.26GHz, 128MB RAM, AWE64 + Orpheus + Audigy 2 ZS, Ti 4200, 128GB SD card
Win XP SP3: C2Q 9650, 4GB RAM, X-Fi Titanium, GTX 750
PowerMac G4 QS 800MHz + GeForce4 Ti4200, OS 9
PowerMac G5 DP 1.8Ghz + ATi x800 XT, Leopard

Reply 10 of 10, by atom1kk

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Hi sorry for the late answer but it didnt work.

Here is how my config and autoexec look

Than i tried to remove the cd driver and the game still says not enough memory, what could it be. Before i have installed the driver it worked fine
I found out, as soon as i put himem and ems into config sys i get out of memory error. Without them it works fine