hi folks, i'm trying to play alone in the dark on my DOS 7.1 CDU but I can not make it, it's strange because i didn't do anything special, i installed from cd and then i launched indark.exe but it gives me attached error.
I also attached the output of mem
First of all that MS-DOS 7.1 distribution is unofficial, being bundled with third party software. A "proper" MS-DOS 7.1 comes from a installation of Windows 95 OSR2 or Windows 98.
Second, could you display how CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT are set?
Which configuration menu are you using to load Alone in the Dark?
Is latest version of SHSUCDX installed which improves compatibility? If not, you could get it here: http://adoxa.altervista.org/shsucdx/. Otherwise I suggest trying to run the game with MSCDEX.
You don't need DIAGNOSE and CTCU for that AWE PnP card initialization since CTCM already does it. All of this can be done in AUTOEXEC.BAT once you removed CTCM from CONFIG.SYS:
@Gmlb256 thanks for advices, I do it immediately.
coming back to my problem, i already use latest shsucdx you have linked and i also tried with mscdex...
Seeing again the first picture that you posted, MEM doesn't show the message that XMS memory was used to simulate EMS memory which usually happens if EMM386 is loaded with that version of MS-DOS.
Seeing again the first picture that you posted, MEM doesn't show the message that XMS memory was used to simulate EMS memory which usually happens if EMM386 is loaded with that version of MS-DOS.
Can you provide a right link where i can download it...? please 😉
Seeing again the first picture that you posted, MEM doesn't show the message that XMS memory was used to simulate EMS memory which usually happens if EMM386 is loaded with that version of MS-DOS.
Can you provide a right link where i can download it...? please 😉
No, I can't provide you a link for legal reasons. The sole exception to this rule are JEMM386 and JEMMEX. 🙁
At least you could try running the game using EMM386 with EMS memory enabled as I noticed that some games doesn't work correctly with a different EMM and remove that /MIN=0 parameter from the second configuration menu.
Update:
Tried with REMOVED, same results...
Applied all your advice (and more) but no progress here...
DOSLFN, SHSUCD, HIMEMX, JEMMEX, JEMM386, they are at the latest version available
I'm going crazy!
Perhaps with a CD-ROM driver other than VIDE-CDD.SYS could work?
In many cases that one works fine, but it isn't the ideal one for all CD drives.
Edit: I have now noticed that you already tried with XCDROM.SYS, try with OAKCDROM.SYS or GSCDROM.SYS instead which are more compatible but consumes more memory when loaded.
Last edited by Gmlb256 on 2022-05-08, 18:41. Edited 1 time in total.
try a bog standard 6.22 boot disk with cd-rom drivers installed and see what happens?
also I do not see on the box any EMS requirement , all it states that is needed is 575kb of conventional ram so this could easily be achieved with no tricks
Ok, a big step forward, with dos7.1 default autoexec and config Alone in the dark CD version now work:
autoexec.bat
1@ECHO OFF 2PROMPT $P$G 3SET DIRCMD=/4 4MODE CON RATE=32 DELAY=1 5MODE CON CP PREPARE=((850)C:\DOS71\EGA.CPI) 6MODE CON CP SELECT=850 7LH KEYB IT,,C:\DOS71\KEYBOARD.SYS 8LH KILLER 9LH DOSKEY 10LH C:\DOS71\DOSLFN\DOSLFN /Z:C:\DOS71\DOSLFN\CP850UNI.TBL 11LH MSCDEX /D:IDE-CD 12REM LH SHARE /L:30 13REM LH NLSFUNC 14REM LH SMARTDRV 15LH CTMOUSE 16REM For compatiblity purpose: 17LH CTMOUSE > NUL 18ECHO. 19REM For locking volumes to enable "direct disk access": 20CALL LOCKDRV.BAT 21BREAK ON 22LFNFOR ON 23ECHO Now you are in MS-DOS 7.10 prompt. Type 'HELP' for help. 24ECHO.
Quite interesting that the SHELL line was causing the trouble when attempting to run the game. Wondering if that environment variable size was the root of the issue.