I removed the contents of autoexec and config.sys for a basic boot. The game ran when I rebooted after deleting it all. I made backups though.

Thanks yall for the help so far. So the game plan is to decrease the number of loaded drivers on bootup?

Precisely. Now try it with just
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H7 P330 T6
LH C:\DRIVERS\CTMOUSE.EXE /R2

Uhh...I don't know why you're not getting UMBs at all. 🙁 Try adding "I=B000-B7FF," "HIGHSCAN" and "RAM" to EMM386.EXE's command line. If you get something, maybe there's still hope. Then, you can try QSETUP to install QEMM then OPTIMIZE to optimize your configuration. If you choose a manual optimize and there's not enough memory, it will offer to try Stealth mode. Tell it to do so. You can choose either Frame mode or Mapping mode. Frame is more likely to be compatible, while Mapping frees up more memory. If you chose Mapping, QEMM also has to try more configurations. After these, come back with the report.

Harry Potter wrote on 2024-07-04, 22:33:

Uhh...I don't know why you're not getting UMBs at all. 🙁 Try adding "I=B000-B7FF," "HIGHSCAN" and "RAM" to EMM386.EXE's command line. If you get something, maybe there's still hope. Then, you can try QSETUP to install QEMM then OPTIMIZE to optimize your configuration. If you choose a manual optimize and there's not enough memory, it will offer to try Stealth mode. Tell it to do so. You can choose either Frame mode or Mapping mode. Frame is more likely to be compatible, while Mapping frees up more memory. If you chose Mapping, QEMM also has to try more configurations. After these, come back with the report.

I'll try this tomorrow.
Bit burned out on memory management today...
I learned hella about how dos drivers work though. I never knew this stuff before!
We shall get Blake Stone working yet!

feda wrote on 2024-07-04, 22:17:

Precisely. Now try it with just
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H7 P330 T6
LH C:\DRIVERS\CTMOUSE.EXE /R2

I'll try this too

Just use this: https://www.philscomputerlab.com/ms-dos-starter-pack.html

Harry Potter wrote on 2024-07-04, 22:33:

Uhh...I don't know why you're not getting UMBs at all. 🙁 Try adding "I=B000-B7FF," "HIGHSCAN" and "RAM" to EMM386.EXE's command line. If you get something, maybe there's still hope.

Seconded. It's strange to see no UMBs at all when EMM386.EXE RAM is used in Config.sys.

badmojo wrote on 2024-07-04, 22:58:

Just use this: https://www.philscomputerlab.com/ms-dos-starter-pack.html

I've been using the DOS starter pack the whole time. It's awesome

dr_st: The same happened to the Win98SE tower I got several months ago: I specified every useful switch to EMM386 except "I=B000-B7FF" and got no UMBs. 🙁 After applying the switch, I got 32k UMBs. NOEMS helped but at the cost of EMS. I looked into QEMM's MANIFEST and found 64k that EMM386 didn't detect, but only the first 32k worked: the upper 32k locked the system. 🙁 QEMM helped. Unfortunately, I can't get UMBs or EMS from Windows. 🙁

I added the extra commands to the emm386 line in the config.sys but it doesn't seem to have helped.

feda wrote on 2024-07-04, 22:17:

Precisely. Now try it with just
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H7 P330 T6
LH C:\DRIVERS\CTMOUSE.EXE /R2

I'll probably try this now.

Well...as a last resort, somebody online told me that the DOSBox emulator can work under Win98SE. DOSBox is a DOS emulator for Windows and other platforms. I don't remember the URL, but you should find it by Googling "dosbox emulator." I hope this helps. BTW, what are your current configs?

badmojo wrote on 2024-07-04, 22:58:

Just use this: https://www.philscomputerlab.com/ms-dos-starter-pack.html

This pack is likely the cause of OP's memory issues, and the reason he was told in another thread to get rid of it and learn the commands to create his own custom config.
Re: PC apparently goes between DOS and Windows

The starter pack from Phil was targeted at MS-DOS 6.22. It simply comes with CuteMouse and modified configuration files for beginners as many of them aren't knowledgeable enough to make a menu which are the best way to handle multiple scenarios with DOS games.

There is also a version for Windows 9x here that can be adapted by copying the configurations found within the PIF file.

This is what mem /c /p should look like when

1DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE I=B000-B7FF HIGHSCAN RAM

is correctly applied. Lots of stuff gets moved to upper memory.

feda wrote on 2024-07-05, 13:17:

This is what mem /c /p should look like when […]
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This is what mem /c /p should look like when

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1DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE I=B000-B7FF HIGHSCAN RAM

is correctly applied. Lots of stuff gets moved to upper memory.

637k free... That sounds awesome.

Can I see what a proper config.sys or autoexex would look like for my situation?

I only have 517k free.

Cursed Derp wrote on 2024-07-05, 13:26:

Can I see what a proper config.sys or autoexex would look like for my situation?

CONFIG.SYS:

1[COMMON]
2DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO
3FILESHIGH=30
4BUFFERSHIGH=10
5STACKS=9,256
6FCBSHIGH=4,0
7LASTDRIVEHIGH=H
8
9[menu]
10menuitem=EMC, Expanded memory + Mouse + CD-ROM
11menuitem=XMC, Extended memory + Mouse + CD-ROM
12menuitem=CMC, Conventional Memory only + Mouse + CD-ROM
13menuitem=EM, Expanded memory + Mouse
14menuitem=XM, Extended memory + Mouse
15menuitem=CM, Conventional memory only + Mouse
16menuitem=WIN, Windows 98
17
18menudefault=EMC,10
19
20[EMC]
21INCLUDE=EM
22DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\VIDECDD.SYS /D:MSCD0001
23
24[XMC]
25INCLUDE=XM
26DEVICE=C:\DRIVERS\VIDECDD.SYS /D:MSCD0001
27
28[CMC]
29INCLUDE=CM
30DEVICE=C:\DRIVERS\VIDECDD.SYS /D:MSCD0001
31
32[EM]
33DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
34DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE I=B000-B7FF HIGHSCAN RAM
35DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\SETVER.EXE
36
37[XM]
38DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
39DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\SETVER.EXE
40
41[CM]
42DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\SETVER.EXE
43
44[WIN]
45DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
46DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
47DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\SETVER.EXE

AUTOEXEC.BAT:

1@ECHO OFF
2SET TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
3SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
4SET PROMPT=$p$g
5SET winbootdir=C:\WINDOWS
6SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
7SET SBPCI=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\AUDIO\DOSDRV
8SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H7 P330 T6
9IF "%CONFIG%"=="WIN" GOTO WIN
10C:\DOSDRV\SBLOAD
11C:\DOSDRV\SBINIT.COM
12GOTO %CONFIG%
13:EMC
14LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD0001 /E
15GOTO EM
16:XMC
17:CMC
18C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD0001
19:EM
20:XM
21IF NOT "%CONFIG%"=="CMC" C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE /X
22:CM
23REM CuteMouse doesn't need LH as it gets loaded into UMB automatically
24C:\DRIVERS\CTMOUSE.EXE /R2
25GOTO DONE
26:WIN
27C:\WINDOWS\WIN.COM
28:DONE

I reduced the number of BUFFERS to make disk caching utilities more effective and added an option to start Windows 98. 😀

Note that I don't know if there are any ROM chips in regions that could be used for UMB and the EMS page frame.