Originally posted by dust I'm having trouble getting Realms of Arkania 2 Star Trail to run on Windows XP.
It's not possible with Xbox, not compatible according to its site.

Well, you would have to modify it to become a basic PC and find a way of hooking up needed hardware, etc...

I tried VDMSound, properties, advanced, dos environment ( I put this in additional options: FILES=40 EMM=RAM ) […]
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I tried VDMSound, properties, advanced, dos environment
( I put this in additional options:
FILES=40
EMM=RAM )

I assume this was with the VLP file created when using the GUI LaunchPad...Why? It already creates EMS memory.

I've enabled EMS under VDMS. I don't know what further changes to make to VDMS, config.NT and autoexec.NT cos' I'm not sure how to too.

It might be your motherboard can't create it.

Create a file named GO.BAT and edit it to contain the single command MEM /C, then run it with VDMSound (right-click and choose Run with VDMS), it should report something like the following:

Conventional Memory :

Name Size in Decimal Size in Hex
------------- --------------------- -------------
MSDOS 13184 ( 12.9K) 3380
KBD 3296 ( 3.2K) CE0
EMM 176 ( 0.2K) B0
HIMEM 1248 ( 1.2K) 4E0
COMMAND 3152 ( 3.1K) C50
FREE 112 ( 0.1K) 70
FREE 633984 (619.1K) 9AC80

Total FREE : 634096 (619.2K)

Upper Memory :

Name Size in Decimal Size in Hex
------------- --------------------- -------------
SYSTEM 180208 (176.0K) 2BFF0
MOUSE 12528 ( 12.2K) 30F0
DOSX 34720 ( 33.9K) 87A0
FREE 256 ( 0.3K) 100
FREE 34336 ( 33.5K) 8620

Total FREE : 34592 ( 33.8K)

Total bytes available to programs (Conventional+Upper) : 668688 (653.0K)
Largest executable program size : 633712 (618.9K)
Largest available upper memory block : 34336 ( 33.5K)

4194304 bytes total EMS memory
4194304 bytes free EMS memory

20971520 bytes total contiguous extended memory
0 bytes available contiguous extended memory
16628736 bytes available XMS memory
MS-DOS resident in High Memory Area

Cut and paste your results from your command prompt, here.


BTW, if/when you do get it running, you'll find that you have a mouse problem. For that, go here

I'm sorry, could you tell me how to cut and paste from the command prompt? And I can't see the conventional memory part.

dust wrote:

I'm sorry, could you tell me how to cut and paste from the command prompt?

If it's "full-screen", shrink your command prompt down to a Window (Alt+Enter key). Click on the small icon at the top left of your command prompt window, slide down to Edit, choose Mark from Edit's SubMenu. Now press your left mouse button above the text you want to copy. Hold the button down while dragging the mouse down and to the right until a white box appears over all the text you want to copy. Release the mouse button.

Go back to the menu at the top-left of the window, slide down to Edit, choose Copy from Edit's SubMenu. The text will now be in your "Clipboard" in Memory. You can paste it into a text file or into a message post here, by either pasting using Ctrl-V or right-click and choose Paste from the drop-down menu.

Be aware that if you "cut" or "copy" anything after this text it's going to be wiped out and you'll have to copy it again.

This may seem complicated, but its actuall quite easy. It's just tedious to describe.

EDIT/UPDATE: Why did I type all that? I should've known better.
Same data was available here.

And I can't see the conventional memory part.

Use the scroll bar on the right side of the window to locate any text you can't find.

UPDATE: Alternative method: Change the text from:
MEM /C
to
MEM /C>MEMORY.TXT

Then run it with VDMSound. This will create a text file called MEMORY.TXT with the data inside it. You can then cut-and-paste from that text like a normal document.

NOTE: If you have two "Run with VDMS" options when you right-click on the file (and you should), choose the one with the little musical note.

I've got it, what do I do next?

Conventional Memory :

Name Size in Decimal Size in Hex
------------- --------------------- -------------
MSDOS 12080 ( 11.8K) 2F30
KBD 3296 ( 3.2K) CE0
HIMEM 1248 ( 1.2K) 4E0
COMMAND 3152 ( 3.1K) C50
DOSX 34720 ( 33.9K) 87A0
FREE 112 ( 0.1K) 70
FREE 600544 (586.5K) 929E0

Total FREE : 600656 (586.6K)

Upper Memory :

Name Size in Decimal Size in Hex
------------- --------------------- -------------
SYSTEM 200688 (196.0K) 30FF0
MOUSE 12528 ( 12.2K) 30F0
FREE 12256 ( 12.0K) 2FE0
FREE 36576 ( 35.7K) 8EE0

Total FREE : 48832 ( 47.7K)

Total bytes available to programs (Conventional+Upper) : 649488 (634.3K)
Largest executable program size : 600272 (586.2K)
Largest available upper memory block : 36576 ( 35.7K)

33554432 bytes total contiguous extended memory
0 bytes available contiguous extended memory
16628736 bytes available XMS memory
MS-DOS resident in High Memory Area

dust wrote:

I tried VDMSound, properties, advanced, dos environment ( I put this in additional options: FILES=40 EMM=RAM ) […]
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I tried VDMSound, properties, advanced, dos environment
( I put this in additional options:
FILES=40
EMM=RAM )

Ok, first of all try to use only the settings in the Compatiblity tab for EMS memory, instead of adding them to the Additional Options. This way we can be sure that the EMS setting is correct. Just mark the "Enable Expanded Memory (EMS)" check box and leave the default of 4096 kB in the Compatibility tab, then remove the "EMM = RAM" line from the Additional Options.

Looking at your log of "mem /c" it looks like either EMS is not enabled in your shortcut (strange, because the default is to have EMS enabled), or your motherboard dos not provide enough room for the EMS frame in the upper memory area. Since your log shows that you have UMBs available, I believe that this is really a problem with the EMS setting. Can you double check this?

Regards,

I used to max out the EMS at 16384 and some XMS enabled, set EMS to 4096 and XMS off, took out the EMM=RAM and it isn't working:

The message I get is:

Star Trail needs an installed XMS/EMS driver,
and a minimum of 688128 Byte free XMS/EMS Memory.
With at least 622592 Byte accessible as EMS Memory and
65536 Byte accessible as XMS Memory!

Your system only has 0 Bytes free EMS Memory and
941056 Bytes free XMS Memory.

Originally posted by dust I used to max out the EMS at 16384 and some XMS enabled, set EMS to 4096 and XMS off, took out the EMM=RAM and it isn't working

From what you've told us, it sounds like your motherboard might not be able to create EMS memory.

Try this. 4dems.zip from here has a file in called EMSTEST.EXE. If you run it from within a command prompt (by itself), it should look like this:

+---------------------------------------+ | EMS Test Program Ver 1.0 | | (c) 1992 4D Interactive Systems, Inc. | +- […]
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+---------------------------------------+
| EMS Test Program Ver 1.0 |
| (c) 1992 4D Interactive Systems, Inc. |
+---------------------------------------+
No EMS driver detected.

If you run it with "Run with VDMS" (with the musical note), it should report something like this:

Loading 'VDDLoader.dll'... +---------------------------------------+ | EMS Test Program Ver 1.0 | | (c) 1992 4D Int […]
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Loading 'VDDLoader.dll'...
+---------------------------------------+
| EMS Test Program Ver 1.0 |
| (c) 1992 4D Interactive Systems, Inc. |
+---------------------------------------+
An EMS Version 4.0 driver has been detected.
Page Frame = E000, consisting of 4 pages.
Number of apparent Free Pages = 256.
Number of actual Free Pages = 256.
Sucessfully allocated 1 page.
Sucessfully saved the mapping context.
Sucessfully mapped to physical page 0, testing memory now...Good.
Sucessfully mapped to physical page 1, testing memory now...Good.
Sucessfully mapped to physical page 2, testing memory now...Good.
Sucessfully mapped to physical page 3, testing memory now...Good.
Sucessfully restored the mapping context.
Number of EMS open handles = 2
EMS Handle Directory:
Handle Size Name
0 0
1 1 EMSTEST
Sucessfully freed 1 page.

Or you can use VDMSound with MSD.EXE from Windows 9x
It should show a memory map like this:

Legend: Available " " RAM "░░" ROM "██" Possibly Available "··" EMS Page Frame "PP" Used UMBs "UU" Free UMBs "FF" 1024K […]
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Legend: Available " " RAM "░░" ROM "██" Possibly Available "··"
EMS Page Frame "PP" Used UMBs "UU" Free UMBs "FF"
1024K FC00 ████████████████ FFFF Conventional Memory
F800 ████████████████ FBFF Total: 640K
F400 ████████████████ F7FF Available: 618K
960K F000 ████████████████ F3FF 633696 bytes
EC00 PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP EFFF
E800 PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP EBFF Extended Memory
E400 PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP E7FF Total: 20480K
896K E000 PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP E3FF
DC00 FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF DFFF MS-DOS Upper Memory Blocks
D800 FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF DBFF Total UMBs: 79K
D400 UUUUUUUUUUUUUUFF D7FF Total Free UMBs: 33K
832K D000 UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU D3FF Largest Free Block: 33K
CC00 UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU CFFF
C800 ███████████████· CBFF Expanded Memory (EMS)
C400 ████████████████ C7FF LIM Version: 4.00
768K C000 ████████████████ C3FF Page Frame Address: E000H
BC00 ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ BFFF Total: 4096K
B800 ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ BBFF Available: 4096K
B400 B7FF
704K B000 B3FF XMS Information
AC00 AFFF XMS Version: 2.00
A800 ABFF Driver Version: 2.77
A400 A7FF A20 Address Line: Enabled
640K A000 A3FF High Memory Area: In use
Available: 16239K
Largest Free Block: 16239K

DPMI Information
DPMI Detected: Yes
Version: 0.90

"Total UMBs" is probably the most important. If it's less than 64k, you have a real EMS problem. BTW way, if you don't have MSD, MSoft still has it available for download here.

NOTE: This has been discussed in detail before, here.

I get

+---------------------------------------+
| EMS Test Program Ver 1.0 |
| (c) 1992 4D Interactive Systems, Inc. |
+---------------------------------------+
No EMS driver detected.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

from both running emstest by itself and using VDMS.

Using msd, total UMB is 59k. I'll spend time looking through the link u posted.

Much thanks to everyone who helped out. School's reopening soon and I'm getting busy so I won't be working on running Star Trail anytime soon.

Originally posted by dust Using msd, total UMB is 59k. I'll spend time looking through the link u posted.

Definitely looks like your motherboard is the problem. 59k isn't enough to create EMS memory. Hopefully, you can shut off some BIOS options to gain a few Kbytes.

School's reopening soon

!!

... and I'm getting busy so I won't be working on running Star Trail anytime soon.

Maybe, by then, DosBox will be able to support it.

Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:

Definitely looks like your motherboard is the problem. 59k isn't enough to create EMS memory. Hopefully, you can shut off some BIOS options to gain a few Kbytes.

Nicht is right, your motherboard does not offer enough space in the upper memory area for an EMS frame. As he mentioned, take a look at your BIOS and see if you find any option that can free some memory areas. The best choice seems to be disabling support for USB keyboards at boot time, sometimes called "USB legacy device support".

Regards,

I disabled USB controller and could get the game running.

Hehe... I have no idea what disabling the USB controller disables though. I had to enable it again to logon to the net again.

I really appreciate everyone's help. I have to say thanks again.

dust wrote:

I disabled USB controller and could get the game running.

Hehe... I have no idea what disabling the USB controller disables though. I had to enable it again to logon to the net again.

We need some more info about this. What exactly did you disable? An option about "USB controller" in your BIOS setup or anything inside Windows?

About the network logon problem you mentioned, what USB devices do you have?

Regards,

It doesn't seem to be causing much trouble, I just have to restart and enable it again during startup to logon. I press F10 during startup, then disable USB controller. Keyboard and mouse are under it.

I checked it again, it's CMOS Setup Utility, then under Integrated peripherals I disable USB controller, and USB Keyboard support and USB Mouse support are under it.

It isn't much trouble disabling it for Star Trail and restarting and enabling it again for logging on the net.

Originally posted by dust I disabled USB controller and could get the game running.

Hehe... I have no idea what disabling the USB controller disables though. I had to enable it again to logon to the net again.

Hrmm...sounds like you did more than disable USB. You may have disabled an on-board Modem or LAN connector. Hrmm...

dust wrote:

It doesn't seem to be causing much trouble, I just have to restart and enable it again during startup to logon. I press F10 during startup, then disable USB controller. Keyboard and mouse are under it.

I checked it again, it's CMOS Setup Utility, then under Integrated peripherals I disable USB controller, and USB Keyboard support and USB Mouse support are under it.

It isn't much trouble disabling it for Star Trail and restarting and enabling it again for logging on the net.

Again, the problem you report about connecting to the net gives me the impression that you have some other USB device, maybe a network adapter or a modem, so let's break this into smaller pieces.

Usually, trouble with the EMS page frame is usually caused by BIOS support for USB keyboards. You disabled all USB support in your CMOS and you still could log on to your computer, so I'll assume you do not have a USB keyboard. In this case, if the options in your CMOS setup screen let you disable *only* the USB keyboard and mouse support, but leave your USB controller enabled, do this. It should free the memory needed by the EMS page frame and still keep your USB controller working for any other devices connected to it.

Regards,

Sounds good, I'll give it a shot.

Things are working fine now, thanks. Disabling USB support for mouse and keyboard is enough.

Hi everyone,

I managed to get Star Trail to run under windows XP with a dos shortcut and by adding a few lines to the auroexec.nt file I am even able to get the midi and sound effects to work with my SB audigy, although the midi is quirky and don't sound right sometimes.

The main problem I have now is in getting the mouse to work. It seems to be bieng seen by the program and works somewhat but not really. The pointer flickers and either moves all the way across the screen or not at all. I am using a MS emplorer optical on my USB.

Does anyone know of a fix for either the midi or mouse? I assume the lines I added to the autoexec.nt file are well knows, but if not please tell me and I will gladly post them.

I am running on a AMD 1.1Gig Athlon, ASUS A7V Mobo with 768 RAM, and WIN XP Pro fully upgraded DX9 and all that wonderfull security jazz.

Good Journeys
Prime-G1

Nicht Sehr Gut mentions a link to the solution in his 1st post in this thread.

Else wait for the next version of dosbox.
it will most like run the game as according to one of our beta testers it was one of the first games to run since we started beta testing the new release.