That's weird. Might be your monitor. What happens with Keen Dreams?

it's not your monitor. Try running keen with /COMP instead of setting the option.

https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/

Check this chart. LCD vs CRT monitor does have an effect on Keen sometimes.

However I don't think that's the issue here, since the chart says "serious display problem" for Diamond Stealth 3D 2000.

Maybe try a video card that is compatible with Keen according to that chart.

The real issue here is why the game won't load for you after saving the "SVGA compatibility mode" setting. That setting exists to fix your exact problem, and it should in no way stop the game from loading

maxtherabbit wrote on 2022-04-05, 20:30:

The real issue here is why the game won't load for you after saving the "SVGA compatibility mode" setting. That setting exists to fix your exact problem, and it should in no way stop the game from loading

For this I'd like to see the autoexec and config

I made some tests
so It's not something with the "SVGA compatibility mode"
on Win 98 game always work.

In DOS, sometimes stuck Loading.. Please wait.
I checked, and if I touch or click on my mouse, game starts!
I have tried it a couple of times. When it's stuck on Loading, I can't press any key on my keyboard.
Also ALT+CTRL+DEL won't work, and also Num Lock wouldn't respond.

So I guess it's something with the mouse/drivers on DOS only...

Can you post your autoexec and config?

yes
autoexec.bat

C:\WIN311\ESSCFG.EXE /A:220 /I:5 /D:1 /E:0 /B:330 /J:E !
C:\WIN311\ESSVOL.EXE /V:8 /L:8 /W:8 /M:0 /C:8 /S:8 /A:8
@if exist c:\checkmbr.exe c:\checkmbr quiet (Validate MBR, not a TSR)

LH /L:0;1,45456 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /X
@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g

PATH C:\DOS;C:\NC;C:\DRIVERS\MOUSE;C:\WIN311

LH /L:0;1,3328 /S C:\DRIVERS\MOUSE\CTMOUSE.EXE
SET TEMP=C:\DOS
LH /L:1,27952 MSCDEX /D:MSCD001 /V

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P330 T5
C:\DRIVERS\AUDIO\UNISOUND\UNISOUND.COM

NC

----------------------------------------

Config.sys

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
BUFFERS=15,0
FILES=30
DOS=UMB
LASTDRIVE=G
FCBS=4,0
DEVICE=C:\WIN311\ES1868.COM ! /A:170 /I:C
DEVICEHIGH /L:1,12048 =C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
DEVICEHIGH /L:1,11264 =C:\DRIVERS\CDROM\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:MSCD001

REM out Smartdrive, the CD drivers, ESSCFG, ESSVOL, and ES1868.COM and then see if it works.

Your sound card should only require initialization to work properly. You can use UNISOUND for the initialization and SBMIX to set the volumes.

It is best to use MENU in your CONFIG.SYS for this type of thing, so you can select the configuration you need at boot time.

CTMOUSE should be REM'ed too (it is better to go "barebones" while discarding TSRs) and the BLASTER enviroment variable are wrong for that ESS sound card. It should be A220 I5 D1 T4.

I changed the
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P330 T5
C:\DRIVERS\AUDIO\UNISOUND\UNISOUND.COM

to

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P330 T4
C:\DRIVERS\AUDIO\UNISOUND\UNISOUND.COM

I've remarked the lines:
REM C:\WIN311\ESSCFG.EXE /A:220 /I:5 /D:1 /E:0 /B:330 /J:E !
REM C:\WIN311\ESSVOL.EXE /V:8 /L:8 /W:8 /M:0 /C:8 /S:8 /A:8
REM LH /L:0;1,45456 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /X
REM LH /L:0;1,3328 /S C:\DRIVERS\MOUSE\CTMOUSE.EXE

Do I need to remark this in the config.sys?
DEVICE=C:\WIN311\ES1868.COM ! /A:170 /I:C

I haven't noticed any differences. Keen works ok now.
I want to use my mouse in DOS, so do I need the use this in the autoexec.bat or in a different file? LH /L:0;1,3328 /S C:\DRIVERS\MOUSE\CTMOUSE.EXE

Also, what does SMARTDRV.EXE /X do? I've read it create a disk cache in the RAM.
Do I need it if I use a CF card?

UNISOUND is used to initialize the ESS sound card, so ES1868.COM can be REM'ed unless you use the IDE port that it has. CTMOUSE must be always in AUTOEXEC.BAT and SMARTDRV is used for disk caching into RAM as you said it. Try at least removing REM from CTMOUSE and see if Commander Keen still works fine.

The /X command line switch in SMARTDRV is to disable write caching for reliability reasons. CF cards are much faster than regular HDD as they lack moving parts but it is still bottlenecked by the IDE transfer speeds.

Don't bother with ES1868. As for CTMOUSE you can just run LH C:\DRIVERS\MOUSE\CTMOUSE -- those switches might be what was messing up Keen, who knows.

Yes, Smartdrive creates a disk cache in RAM. It will speed up disk access some, but you will only really notice a difference in Windows. If you already have a CF card, I wouldn't bother.

keenmaster486 wrote on 2022-04-12, 16:24:

Yes, Smartdrive creates a disk cache in RAM. It will speed up disk access some, but you will only really notice a difference in Windows. If you already have a CF card, I wouldn't bother.

Even running doom or compiling in turbo c shows a difference.

furan wrote on 2022-04-22, 18:35:

keenmaster486 wrote on 2022-04-12, 16:24:

Yes, Smartdrive creates a disk cache in RAM. It will speed up disk access some, but you will only really notice a difference in Windows. If you already have a CF card, I wouldn't bother.

Even running doom or compiling in turbo c shows a difference.

Yes, the purpose of disk caching solutions is to improve loading and response times as RAM access is much faster and the CF card is still bottlenecked by IDE controller transfer speed despite lower latency than real HDD.

Smartdrive doesn't help enough with loading times in stuff like Doom to warrant the extra memory usage in my opinion.

The OP isn't trying to compile code.