I recommend picking up the book Running MS-DOS which among other things explains DOS memory configuration.

I'm more of a KISS person rather than configuring such menus. Looks like you're in a situation without emm386.
I would rename config.sys to config.bak and autoexec.bat to autoexec.bak, and c:\windows\dosstart.bat (if it exists) to dosstart.bak.

then in c:\config.sys put
device=c:\windows\himem.sys
device=c:\windows\emm386.exe noems
devicehigh=c:\drivers\videcdd.sys /d:mscd000
dos=high,umb

then in c:\windows\dosstart.bat put
lh mscdex /d:mscd000
lh c:\drivers\ctmouse

when you "restart in ms-dos mode"from windows rather than rebooting and using F8 to get a command prompt, it will drop into dos and execute dosstart.bat automatically.

Did you try the "Expanded Memory" settings? These ones can load TSRs and part of DOS into high memory, saving precious conventional memory for real mode executables.

for dos, I'd not bother trying to load a CD driver + mscdex. that will save a bunch of memory.

"XM" should give you most free memory,

Well you kind of need a CD driver for CD games...

The XM options don't load EMM386 which means no UMBs. So a lot less conventional memory. They are basically only good for protected mode games that don't behave with EMM386 like Zone 66.

Now that Plasma mentioned Zone 66, the game refuses to start with any XMS driver loaded. CMC and CM options are the only ones that works and since the OP is running Windows 98, the DOS line in CONFIG.SYS should be like this:

1DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO

The NOAUTO parameter prevents automatic loading of HIMEM.SYS, IFSHLP.SYS, DBLBUFF.SYS and SETVER.EXE. Phil's MS-DOS Mode Super Easy PIF shortcut includes it.

The options also don't seem to include a NOEMS, now it doesn't normally hurt to have EMS enabled (unless using EMM386 at all is incompatible with games that do their own memory management), but it's 64k that can't be used for UMB and also splits the available UMB space into 2 smaller areas

It deliberately doesn't include NOEMS because there are games that do require EMS. Two examples: The Incredible Machine 2 is one that refuses to run without it and Monster Bash needs it for digitized sound effects.

Nevertheless, another configuration menu can be created using EMM386 with NOEMS parameter if more UMB is needed.

Gmlb256 wrote on 2022-07-03, 00:15:

It deliberately doesn't include NOEMS because there are games that do require EMS. Two examples: The Incredible Machine 2 is one that refuses to run without it and Monster Bash needs it for digitized sound effects.

Nevertheless, another configuration menu can be created using EMM386 with NOEMS parameter if more UMB is needed.

That's fair. I guess it depends on whether the OP being a "dos newb" just wants it to work in the maximum possible configuration or wants to dig into this stuff and understand it starting from the maximum conventional memory possible and then adjust things to make it more compatible with games. IMO it's not that insurmountable, just tedious.

Looks like archive.org has Running MS-DOS in their library. This is the book I personally used way-back-when to learn about this stuff. There's a nice description of DOS memory management starting on p. 431: https://archive.org/details/RunningMSDOSVersi … e/n431/mode/2up

It's realtively easy to get 620kb free conventional memory in DOS with mouse, sound and CD drivers installed just by loading most drivers into the UMB.

There is a file here on Vogons that I uploaded 10 years ago from some warez scene guy (a german - excuse his english) that pretty much explains everything very slowly and precisely. It's quite enlightening. It's in this forum somewhere under Dos Conventional Memory Tricks or something...

Take a looksee. It should solve all your problems for getting any game working if you can spare an hour or so to follow the guide.

It depends on the upper memory area. If there are additional ROMs (NIC, SCSI, etc.) then there will be less space available. EMS page frame takes away another 64K if enabled. But 600K should be possible on most 386+ systems.

I got the book, I will be reading up MSDOS basics, memory and drivers shenanigans, etc. Thanks for suggestion!

jakethompson1 wrote on 2022-06-30, 16:31:

I recommend picking up the book Running MS-DOS which among other things explains DOS memory configuration. […]
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I recommend picking up the book Running MS-DOS which among other things explains DOS memory configuration.

I'm more of a KISS person rather than configuring such menus. Looks like you're in a situation without emm386.
I would rename config.sys to config.bak and autoexec.bat to autoexec.bak, and c:\windows\dosstart.bat (if it exists) to dosstart.bak.

then in c:\config.sys put
device=c:\windows\himem.sys
device=c:\windows\emm386.exe noems
devicehigh=c:\drivers\videcdd.sys /d:mscd000
dos=high,umb

then in c:\windows\dosstart.bat put
lh mscdex /d:mscd000
lh c:\drivers\ctmouse

when you "restart in ms-dos mode"from windows rather than rebooting and using F8 to get a command prompt, it will drop into dos and execute dosstart.bat automatically.

Iris030380 wrote on 2022-07-08, 11:46:

It's realtively easy to get 620kb free conventional memory in DOS with mouse, sound and CD drivers installed just by loading most drivers into the UMB.

There is a file here on Vogons that I uploaded 10 years ago from some warez scene guy (a german - excuse his english) that pretty much explains everything very slowly and precisely. It's quite enlightening. It's in this forum somewhere under Dos Conventional Memory Tricks or something...

Take a looksee. It should solve all your problems for getting any game working if you can spare an hour or so to follow the guide.

I will check that out as well, thank you for your help!

I'm not sure it's helpful, but on my DOS 6.22 system, I use QEMM and let it do its thing, I have 629k free conventional, and enough EMS and XMS for games that need them. For Ultima 7 I use a bootdisk, haha.