Basically the BIOS does. Rest is in the DOS game itself.
If there are further requirements (like wrappers), they have to be copied/installed/setup manually in the game's directory.

Disruptor wrote on 2024-12-04, 19:56:

Basically the BIOS does. Rest is in the DOS game itself.
If there are further requirements (like wrappers), they have to be copied/installed/setup manually in the game's directory.

Right, okay. I'm not sure if I disabled onboard graphics in the BIOS. Although I don't think there are any options for the graphics card itself.

Disruptor wrote on 2024-12-04, 19:56:

Basically the BIOS does. Rest is in the DOS game itself.
If there are further requirements (like wrappers), they have to be copied/installed/setup manually in the game's directory.

Yeah, nothing looks to have been disabled in the BIOS. Only GPU options I can see there are memory allocation and type, which is AGP.

AFAIK, most early 3D DOS games do their rendering in software, as most PC graphics cards at the time didn't have a blitter, and those that did required the game to include its own support for it, as DOS doesn't provide blitter support.

Harry Potter wrote on 2024-12-05, 20:03:

AFAIK, most early 3D DOS games do their rendering in software, as most PC graphics cards at the time didn't have a blitter, and those that did required the game to include its own support for it, as DOS doesn't provide blitter support.

I see. So it can’t be a GPU issue with what I’m experiencing then; it’s clearly related to something else.

Harry Potter wrote on 2024-12-05, 20:03:

AFAIK, most early 3D DOS games do their rendering in software, as most PC graphics cards at the time didn't have a blitter, and those that did required the game to include its own support for it, as DOS doesn't provide blitter support.

That's right, though there's something to improve.
Some later 32-Bit DOS games use VESA VBE 2.x (VESA BIOS is an add-on to VGA BIOS).

And PCI graphics cards with VBE 2.x may support Linear Frame Buffer (LFB).
That means that the game can write images into video memory without need to use bank-switching all time.
(Some 16-Bit ISA SVGA graphics cards had a linear ftamebuffer, too.
They've used 15-16 MB region, I think. Some local bus cards may support LFB, too.)

Utilities like S3VBE20 (for S3 cards) can add VBE 2.0 compatibility and LFB support if the VBE BIOS stored in the ROM chip on the graphics card is older.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_BIOS_Extensions

Another BIOS extension was VBE/AF also. It added 3D graphics support to VESA VBE.
It never left development phase, but the famous Allegro library on DOS supported it.
So all 3D games using Allegro might have an advantage if a VBE/AF driver with hardware-acceleration is loaded.

https://shawnhargreaves.com/freebe/

Last but not least, there are DOS drivers for cyber helmets and virtual reality glasses (often using LCD shutter glasses).
The LCD-BIOS was a driver that allowed a bit of hardware-independence.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forte_VFX1
http://www.stereo3d.com/

Jo22 wrote on 2024-12-08, 01:35:

That's right, though there's something to improve. Some later 32-Bit DOS games use VESA VBE 2.x (VESA BIOS is an add-on to VGA B […]
Show full quote

Harry Potter wrote on 2024-12-05, 20:03:

AFAIK, most early 3D DOS games do their rendering in software, as most PC graphics cards at the time didn't have a blitter, and those that did required the game to include its own support for it, as DOS doesn't provide blitter support.

That's right, though there's something to improve.
Some later 32-Bit DOS games use VESA VBE 2.x (VESA BIOS is an add-on to VGA BIOS).

And PCI graphics cards with VBE 2.x may support Linear Frame Buffer (LFB).
That means that the game can write images into video memory without need to use bank-switching all time.
(Some 16-Bit ISA SVGA graphics cards had a linear ftamebuffer, too.
They've used 15-16 MB region, I think. Some local bus cards may support LFB, too.)

Utilities like S3VBE20 (for S3 cards) can add VBE 2.0 compatibility and LFB support if the VBE BIOS stored in the ROM chip on the graphics card is older.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_BIOS_Extensions

Another BIOS extension was VBE/AF also. It added 3D graphics support to VESA VBE.
It never left development phase, but the famous Allegro library on DOS supported it.
So all 3D games using Allegro might have an advantage if a VBE/AF driver with hardware-acceleration is loaded.

https://shawnhargreaves.com/freebe/

Last but not least, there are DOS drivers for cyber helmets and virtual reality glasses (often using LCD shutter glasses).
The LCD-BIOS was a driver that allowed a bit of hardware-independence.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forte_VFX1
http://www.stereo3d.com/

Huh. Interesting. I'm not sure if my GPU/BIOS would be able to support that extension...? I mean, last I tried, I couldn't seem to get the BIOS updated on my system.

I'm just curious: what's your current memory layout? I also might be able to help you tweak it. 😀

Harry Potter wrote on 2024-12-10, 11:49:

I'm just curious: what's your current memory layout? I also might be able to help you tweak it. 😀

You mean, what my autoexec and config files are set up like...? This is my default set up:

Autoexec.bat

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4
C:\SETYMF\SETYMF.EXE /INITONLY
LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX /D:mscd001 /L:F
LH C:\DOSDRV\MOUSE.COM /P4
SET SNDSCAPE=C:\WINDOWS
REM SET SBPCI=C:\SBPCI
REM C:\DOSDRV\SBINIT.COM
REM C:\DOSDRV\MT32 /ON
REM C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE
REM C:\UNISOUND\UNISOUND.COM /V80

Roughly anyway. And then the Config.sys:

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS NOVCPI
REM DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\OAKCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD001
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\VIDECDD.SYS /D:MSCD001
DOS=HIGH, UMB

So not an awful lot of memory tweaks. ^^;

And these are the DOS for Gaming ones:

Autoexec.bat

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P330
C:\UNISOUND\UNISOUND.COM /V80
SET SNDSCAPE=C:\WINDOWS
REM SET SBPCI=C:\SBPCI
LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX /D:mscd001 /L:F
REM MSCDEX /D:MSCD001 /L:E
LH C:\DOSDRV\MOUSE.COM /P4
REM C:\DOSDRV\SBINIT.COM
REM C:\DOSDRV\MT32 /ON
REM ******************************************************
REM ** Sample Windows 98 Program Information File
REM ******************************************************

REM ** Set environment variables
SET TMP=c:\windows\TEMP
SET TEMP=C:\windows\TEMP
SET PROMPT=MS-DOS Mode $p$g
SET winbootdir=C:\WINDOWS
SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND

REM ** LH is required to load items in upper memory
REM ** MSCDEX is required to access the CD ROM in MS-DOS mode
REM ** Specify a CD ROM drive letter with /L:[drive letter]
REM ** Load MSCDEX file into EMS with /E
CLS
ECHO ******************************************************
ECHO ** Windows 98 MS-DOS Mode **
ECHO ** Expanded Memory (EMS) Support **
ECHO ** **
ECHO ** Type EXIT to return to Windows 98 **
ECHO ******************************************************

Config.sys

REM ******************************************************
REM ** Sample Windows 98 Program Information File
REM ** Optimize Conventional Memory (TPA)
REM ** Expanded (EMS) and Extended Memory (XMS) Support
REM ******************************************************

REM ** This example assumes C:\WINDOWS is the Windows directory
REM ** Modify the path to match your configuration

REM ** Increasing available TPA improves performance in MS-DOS mode
REM ** Load items high to increase available TPA
REM ** The order in which items are loaded may affect utilization of the UMA

REM ** Following are required to load items in upper memory
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
REM DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\OAKCDROM.SYS /D:mscd001
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\VIDECDD.SYS /D:mscd001
REM DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOSDRV\ /D:mscd001
REM ** EMM386 can emulate EMS within XMS
REM ** The RAM switch sets aside 64K of the UMA as a page frame for use with EMS
REM ** Using multiple of 1024, this example reserves an additional 4mb of XMS for EMS emulation
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE 4096 RAM

REM ** DEVICEHIGH= is required to load a device in upper memory
REM ** OAKCDROM.SYS is a IDE/ATAPI CD ROM driver
REM ** Copy OAKCDROM.SYS from Startup disk to C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
REM ** If compressed with DriveSpace
REM DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DRVSPACE.SYS /MOVE

REM ** Install MS-DOS support for hardware in this environment

So they're pretty standard fare at the moment. Haven't got round to adding many tweaks and optimisations. The next thing I'll be looking to add is a different mouse driver, such as cutemouse, in order to adjust the speed. It's painfully slow in adventure games. 😀

I meant the usage of your memory, but thank you. I ask you to type "MEM/C>c:\memc.txt" then "MEM/D>c:\memd.txt" and post the resultant files.

Harry Potter wrote on 2024-12-10, 14:41:

I meant the usage of your memory, but thank you. I ask you to type "MEM/C>c:\memc.txt" then "MEM/D>c:\memd.txt" and post the resultant files.

Ahh, okay. Haven't done that before. When I jump on later, I'll give it a try and post the results. 😀

You can place a TSR into a specific memory block by preceding it with "LH /L:#" where # specifies the UMB block to which to put it, and in CONFIG.SYS, put "/L:#" between "DEVICEHIGH" and "=". If you have MS-DOS 6 or better, you can use MEMMAKER to do this for you. I heard that Win9x has MEMMAKER but that it's not automatically installed, and I don't know where on the CD it is. 🙁

Harry Potter wrote on 2024-12-10, 14:41:

I meant the usage of your memory, but thank you. I ask you to type "MEM/C>c:\memc.txt" then "MEM/D>c:\memd.txt" and post the resultant files.

Here are the results...

C:

Modules using memory below 1 MB:

Name Total Conventional Upper Memory
-------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------------
SYSTEM 18,512 (18K) 10,672 (10K) 7,840 (8K)
HIMEM 1,120 (1K) 1,120 (1K) 0 (0K)
EMM386 4,320 (4K) 4,320 (4K) 0 (0K)
DBLBUFF 2,976 (3K) 2,976 (3K) 0 (0K)
VIDECDD 5,024 (5K) 0 (0K) 5,024 (5K)
IFSHLP 2,864 (3K) 0 (0K) 2,864 (3K)
COMMAND 7,168 (7K) 0 (0K) 7,168 (7K)
MSCDEX 28,032 (27K) 0 (0K) 28,032 (27K)
MOUSE 17,280 (17K) 0 (0K) 17,280 (17K)
Free 726,144 (709K) 636,048 (621K) 90,096 (88K)

Memory Summary:

Type of Memory Total Used Free
---------------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Conventional 655,360 19,312 636,048
Upper 158,304 68,208 90,096
Reserved 0 0 0
Extended (XMS) 132,945,312 312,736 132,632,576
---------------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Total memory 133,758,976 400,256 133,358,720

Total under 1 MB 813,664 87,520 726,144

Largest executable program size 636,032 (621K)
Largest free upper memory block 89,824 (88K)
MS-DOS is resident in the high memory area.

D:

Conventional Memory Detail:

Segment Total Name Type
------- ---------------- ----------- --------
00000 1,024 (1K) Interrupt Vector
00040 256 (0K) ROM Communication Area
00050 512 (1K) DOS Communication Area
00070 1,424 (1K) IO System Data
CON System Device Driver
AUX System Device Driver
PRN System Device Driver
CLOCK$ System Device Driver
A: - D: System Device Driver
COM1 System Device Driver
LPT1 System Device Driver
LPT2 System Device Driver
LPT3 System Device Driver
CONFIG$ System Device Driver
COM2 System Device Driver
COM3 System Device Driver
COM4 System Device Driver
000C9 5,184 (5K) MSDOS System Data
0020D 10,560 (10K) IO System Data
1,024 (1K) Relocated EBIOS data
1,104 (1K) XMSXXXX0 Installed Device=HIMEM
4,304 (4K) $MMXXXX0 Installed Device=EMM386
2,960 (3K) DblBuff$ Installed Device=DBLBUFF
544 (1K) Sector buffer
512 (1K) BUFFERS=12
004A1 80 (0K) MSDOS System Program
004A6 256 (0K) MEM Environment
004B6 90,464 (88K) MEM Program
01ACC 545,584 (533K) MSDOS -- Free --

Upper Memory Detail:

Segment Region Total Name Type
------- ------ ---------------- ----------- --------
0C95C 1 15,696 (15K) IO System Data
5,008 (5K) MSCD001 Installed Device=VIDECDD
2,848 (3K) IFS$HLP$ Installed Device=IFSHLP
608 (1K) Block device tables
1,488 (1K) FILES=30
256 (0K) FCBS=4
2,288 (2K) LASTDRIVE=Z
3,072 (3K) STACKS=9,256
0CD31 1 5,728 (6K) COMMAND Program
0CE97 1 1,440 (1K) COMMAND Environment
0CEF1 1 240 (0K) MSDOS -- Free --
0CF00 1 32 (0K) MSDOS -- Free --
0CF02 1 28,032 (27K) MSCDEX Program
0D5DA 1 17,280 (17K) MOUSE Program
0DA12 1 89,824 (88K) MSDOS -- Free --

Memory Summary:

Type of Memory Total Used Free
---------------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Conventional 655,360 19,312 636,048
Upper 158,304 68,208 90,096
Reserved 0 0 0
Extended (XMS) 132,945,312 312,736 132,632,576
---------------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Total memory 133,758,976 400,256 133,358,720

Total under 1 MB 813,664 87,520 726,144

Memory accessible using Int 15h 0 (0K)
Largest executable program size 636,032 (621K)
Largest free upper memory block 89,824 (88K)
MS-DOS is resident in the high memory area.

XMS version 3.00; driver version 3.95

Impressive. I suggest that you explicitly load high the DBLBUFF driver. Other than that, your setup seems to be pretty optimal. I can suggest some additions, though. The web site http://www.retroarchive.org/garbo/pc/ has a lot of DOS programs. I suggest 2M30.ZIP in the diskutil section: it can greatly increase the capacity of floppies. You can also try https://www.bttr-software.de/freesoft/. There is also an ANSI/DOS replacement at http://www.kegel.com/nansi/. BTW, XMSDSK at https://dosprograms.info.tt/indexall.htm#utils can speed up some disk accesses by storing data in RAM. Have fun!

BTW, there are more efficient replacements for things such as the mouse driver and MSCDEX at https://dosprograms.info.tt/indexall.htm#utils. 😀

Harry Potter wrote on 2024-12-11, 00:09:

Impressive. I suggest that you explicitly load high the DBLBUFF driver. Other than that, your setup seems to be pretty optimal. I can suggest some additions, though. The web site http://www.retroarchive.org/garbo/pc/ has a lot of DOS programs. I suggest 2M30.ZIP in the diskutil section: it can greatly increase the capacity of floppies. You can also try https://www.bttr-software.de/freesoft/. There is also an ANSI/DOS replacement at http://www.kegel.com/nansi/. BTW, XMSDSK at https://dosprograms.info.tt/indexall.htm#utils can speed up some disk accesses by storing data in RAM. Have fun!

Oh cool. Nice to know. 😄 I'm sure I'll be back asking for advice/guidance with some of that stuff; it's uncharted territory for me. 😀 A lot of it is stuff I'll be looking into once I've got all my games installed, configured, and working correctly. Then I can start diving into optimisations etc. It sounds like a deep rabbit hole to go down, which I'd never get around to sorting my games out. ^^;

And thanks for the links. That last one I was pointed to the other day...? I think I saved it to my bookmarks. I have downloaded cutemouse, but I'll take another look at what's there.

So there's definitely no graphics related settings that can be adjusted/modified in DOS? I ask as I decided to try out the DOS version of Broken Sword 1 just to see how that's like and discovered it has the same issue I was getting with the Windows version to begin with. Only much worse. The sprites/animations and mouse cursor were all flickering. The only partial workaround is to type in 'sword safevideo' and that fixed most of the flickering. For the sprites and animations at least. The mouse cursor still flickers, so it's identical to the problem I was getting with the Windows version. What fixed that for me in Windows was to install specific GPU drivers. Or, disable DirectDraw/Direct3D in the DirectX Diagnostics Tool. Well, neither of those are an option in DOS. ^^;

Can you try a different screen mode? When I use a nonstandard screen mode on a program on my Win98SE tower, the screen flickers badly. Try a standard VGA screen mode or something like 640x480 resolution. Otherwise, maybe you have the wrong DOS/BIOS setting or driver.

Harry Potter wrote on 2024-12-26, 20:43:

Can you try a different screen mode? When I use a nonstandard screen mode on a program on my Win98SE tower, the screen flickers badly. Try a standard VGA screen mode or something like 640x480 resolution. Otherwise, maybe you have the wrong DOS/BIOS setting or driver.

I would have to check the next time I go on it. I'm not sure if it does though. I believe the game uses 640x480 by default anyway. Or 640x400. The BIOS is the latest version I can get as it was updated not long ago. But BIOS setting/driver...?