An interesting development:
I have just tried it in DOS mode, and the graphics do work, but the sound doesn’t! The app says I have 488k memory, btw.

Also, I removed the parts of the config.sys that you suggested, and it changed nothing.

You can put REM in front of the oakcdrom.sys line in your config.sys as well if you're not using your optical drive. Since you also put REM in front of the mscdex.exe line in autoexec.bat, I assume that is the case. That should give you a lot more conventional memory.

I’ll try that.

So, I do get more conventional memory, but it’s still not enough. Judging by the DOSBox version of the game, I will need 600K. In Windows, it’s 528k, and in DOS mode, it’s 558k

You shoukd put back the two lines in config.sys for more mem

Not necessary under Windows 98SE .

They are part of a standard install, not sure why they are not there

I was mistaken, Windows 98 SE loads himem.sys regardless of config.sys .

The config.sys and autoexec.bat were the ones in c:\ , right ?

Yes.

BliggyBlop wrote on 2020-04-25, 21:10:

So, I do get more conventional memory, but it’s still not enough. Judging by the DOSBox version of the game, I will need 600K. In Windows, it’s 528k, and in DOS mode, it’s 558k

You don't need 600K. MK2 will show you how much is available, but it will run with less (that's what the DOS extender is for). I believe your problems have a different cause.

Do you have any idea what it could be?

I will try to replicate your issue this evening .

OK, I tested it .

First it does not run properly in Windows for me either (I got some intro logos and an orangish occasionally flashing screen), and I do not think it is a RAM issue. Some DOS games require tweaks or flat out don't run properly or at all under Windows.
Second, I have no idea what the conventional memory indicator at the beginning of the game is supposed to mean. With 550K actual free conventional memory and 500 some MB of XMS, it shows 480KB conventional and 8MB XMS, but it works fine for me .
Third, to configure sound in the game, you need to press F10 and choose your sound hardware and resources . I have multiple different audio devices and all the ones I tried worked and gave me sound when configured in-game .

So in essence, the game seems to be working for you under DOS . To get sound, under actual DOS (not under Windows) you need to configure your sound hardware for DOS use and configure the game according to that configuration .

If you need help with your audio setup under DOS, please post what sound hardware you are using .

darry wrote on 2020-04-26, 01:13:

Second, I have no idea what the conventional memory indicator at the beginning of the game is supposed to mean. With 550K actual free conventional memory and 500 some MB of XMS, it shows 480KB conventional and 8MB XMS, but it works fine for me .

I guess it shows how much is left after it has loaded itself. I mean, you don't load it into high memory and once loaded, it has no idea how much memory was free before, it only sees what is free at that moment. As for XMS, 8 MB is probably the maximum supported by the internal memory manager it uses. Such limits were quite common.

derSammler wrote on 2020-04-26, 07:52:

darry wrote on 2020-04-26, 01:13:

Second, I have no idea what the conventional memory indicator at the beginning of the game is supposed to mean. With 550K actual free conventional memory and 500 some MB of XMS, it shows 480KB conventional and 8MB XMS, but it works fine for me .

I guess it shows how much is left after it has loaded itself. I mean, you don't load it into high memory and once loaded, it has no idea how much memory was free before, it only sees what is free at that moment. As for XMS, 8 MB is probably the maximum supported by the internal memory manager it uses. Such limits were quite common.

The 8MB makes sense as the likely maximum it can use, I too have seen that before .

The conventional memory indicator is neither the actual free conventional mem before loading the game nor is it likely the amount left after loading the game. If it is the amount allocated, then why does it not allocate all available conventional mem at launch time ? If it is the amount allocated minus some undisclosed value used by a loader or something like that, then why display the the value at all ? It just serves to confuse people that the 512K minimum free conventional mem requirement mentioned in the docs may not be respected, which would be untrue .

Wolfenstein 3D's memory indicator, for example, made much more sense .

Alright, so I’ll tell Win98SE to run it it complete DOS mode. I’ll come back if I can’t get the sound to work.

Also, I agree, the memory indicator is very confusing.

darry wrote on 2020-04-26, 10:53:

If it is the amount allocated, then why does it not allocate all available conventional mem at launch time ?

Because it's a stub loader that is executed first. It should display 512k or more free at that point for the main program to work correctly. With less, it may still work but with issues.

Okay, so, when I run it in dos mode, and I configure the sound card, it says “CANNOT INITIALIZE SOUND CARD”, even though I’ve got all the info right.

Okay, the sound “can’t initialize”. Here’s my sound card, according to my drivers:

Crystal SoundFusion PCI Audio Accelerator

It usually works fine when I select “Sound Blaster or 100% Compatible” when setting up DOS games.

It’s also built in to the motherboard.

MKII has problems under windows 98SE & from what I can tell needs pure DOS to work, which means you'll need sound card drivers that'll run under DOS, MK1 works fine though, MK3 also should work just fine.

I was literally trying to get MKII to run properly under 98se yesterday but no luck, game will launch but after logos the graphics don't show, get coloured screens and shadow of character in the character select screen.

DOSBox may just run it ok on windows 98se which I'll try now, it depends on your CPU etc though if it's strong enough, MKII isn't a massivly demanding game though.

Yes, that’s exactly the problem I was having! Please tell me how you fare with dosbox (and what version you use)

derSammler wrote on 2020-04-26, 12:41:

darry wrote on 2020-04-26, 10:53:

If it is the amount allocated, then why does it not allocate all available conventional mem at launch time ?

Because it's a stub loader that is executed first. It should display 512k or more free at that point for the main program to work correctly. With less, it may still work but with issues.

The README doc says required free conventional memory is 512KB . When run with 533KB free, for example, it says

DOS Memory = 499K
XMS Memory = 8192K

and runs fine . It is not complaining .

If devs meant "512K required in addition to our stub loader", they should have said so either on screen or the README . And even that would have made little sense as the user needs to know total conventional memory requirements .

So while I agree the "DOS Memory" shown is after the stub loader loading itself, I do not think that it means the program is low on conventional memory .