I could've sworn I posted a thread regarding this, but I don't appear to have anything. Also, when I figure out how to fix something, I usually make notes for future reference. However, I don't have anything, so I presume what I must've done is I downloaded the USA version of the game from the Internet Archive, which doesn't appear to have the problem. Or it was fixed...? At any rate, I now own a physical copy of Harvester. The European/UK version. This version appears to have the issue where it won't install and says there's not enough memory. That I need at least 8MB. The Alien Trilogy also has this problem, but there's a patch that gets around it. It doesn't appear that Harvester had any patches/updates...?

I've tried a number of steps, including those outlined in the readme, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Also, this issue happens even in Windows. There are threads about similar issues, but those seem to be for DOSBox. I want to try and get around this problem in native DOS and Windows 98. 😀

So in the Config.sys file, I've added

DOS=High, UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS NOVCPI
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE 8192

Some I've commented out as I'm not sure if more than one, or all, should be enabled at the same time. The readme lists these options to try:

device=emm386.exe 8192, or
device=emm386.exe noems, or
device=emm386.exe auto

And it suggests adding FILES=20, which I've done.

I think I am misunderstanding how some of these are configured though. Particularly EMM386. I've always had DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE enabled in config.sys, but running through the step-by-step confirmation in DOS, it gets to EMM386 and says it's not installed and XMS manager is not present. So I'm clearly missing something. I read online there's EMM386 and then the driver EMM386.EXE. One site seemed to suggest that EMM386 needs to be in the autoexec.bat file...? With an [on] switch? If that's the case, and that needs to be on first, I'm not sure how that works if it loads the config.sys commands first.

EDIT: Ahh, wait. HIMEM.SYS has to be loaded first. Okay, never mind. 😀

EDIT 2: Yeah, either way, if I set it to AUTO, it just causes the PC to restart for some weird reason.

Here's the entire contents of the readme anyway:

Harvester Installation / Technical Reference / Play Guide […]
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Harvester
Installation / Technical Reference / Play Guide

Thank you for purchasing "Harvester", one of the most intense adventure game products
ever released! Please refer to this brief information card for quick and easy reference
regarding "Harvester".

HARVESTER CONTENTS

Inside the box you should find:
3 Compact Discs
Harvester Manual
Registration card

If any of these items are not in the box, please contact your retailer.

HARVESTER INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Harvester. We would like to take a moment to help you become familiar
with the installation instructions if this is the first time you have setup the game.
During the installation, the screen will guide you through the setup process.
Following are the basic system requirements. Please make sure your system matches
the minimum specifications.

GAME SPECIFICATIONS / REQUIREMENTS

Harvester requires the following MINIMUM configuration in order to play properly:

IBM™ PC or Compatible 486DX/33 MHz Processor or greater
VESA local bus video card with 512K video memory or greater
8MB RAM or greater (16MB RAM recommended)
Double Speed (2X) CD-ROM drive or greater
Sound device with Digital Sound Capability
MSCDEX drivers v 2.1 or greater
Microsoft™ compatible mouse and mouse driver (version 8.0 or greater)
30MB free hard disk drive space

Note: If your system is using disk compression software such as Double Space or
Drive Space, you will probably notice longer loading times. Harvester will
run on computer systems that have such compression software installed. However,
we cannot guarantee that problems will not occur if other compression software is used.
For better performance we recommend using a drive without software disk compression.

BEFORE INSTALLING

Before installing the game, it is always a good idea to verify the integrity and data
on your hard disk drive. To do this simply run SCANDISK or DEFRAG from the dos prompt
or from Windows. Damaged data on your hard disk may result in your system not working
properly.

INSTALLING HARVESTER FROM DOS

To install Harvester,
1. Insert CD #1 in your drive.
2. Type the letter of your CD-ROM drive followed by a colon. (Example: D:) then press
ENTER. The prompt should display D:\ or similar.
3. Type "INSTALL" and press ENTER
4. Follow the on screen instructions to install "Harvester" on your computer system.
5. When installation is complete, type "HARVEST" to begin the game.

ADDITIONAL INSTALLATION NOTES FOR DOS USERS

If you are using the EMS memory option/switch make sure you have at least 8MB
(8192K) or more specified in the device= statement in the config.sys file. You may also
use the option switch AUTO or do not specify any optional memory control parameters, such
as the NOEMS option, or you may remove the line from your CONFIG.SYS file entirely.

Example line for the CONFIG.SYS file:
device=emm386.exe 8192, or
device=emm386.exe noems, or
device=emm386.exe auto

Please make sure your CONFIG.SYS file has the statement "FILES=20" or greater.

"Harvester" requires 500K of FREE available conventional (low) RAM in order to
function properly. If your system has less than 500K FREE conventional (low) memory,
you may need to run the "MEMMAKER" utility in order to increase your FREE RAM.

If your system has only 8MB of RAM, you will need to disable the SMARTDRV or any
other disk caching program. "Harvester" uses approximately 7MB of available memory
so with SMARTDRV or other disk caching programs loaded there is not enough memory
available for the game.

IMPORTANT! "Harvester" requires a swap file of 20MB to be available on your
local hard disk drive. If you do not have at least 20MB of free disk space when playing
"Harvester" the program may stop or crash the computer system. If your system has
16MB of RAM or greater, this swapfile is not needed.

INSTALLING HARVESTER FROM WINDOWS 3.1

To install Harvester, from Windows 3.1
1. Insert CD #1 in your drive.,
2. Use your mouse to click “File” then select “RUN”.
3. Type “D:\SETUP” and press ENTER to begin the installation. (Where D:\ is the CD-
ROM Drive)

When the installation program is complete, there will be a Harvester Program Group
which will contain several icons which you may select. To begin Harvester click on the
Harvester icon to start.

ADDITIONAL INSTALLATION NOTES FOR WINDOWS 3.1 USERS

If your system has only 8MB of RAM, you will need to disable the SMARTDRV disk
caching program. "Harvester" uses approximately 7MB of available memory so with
SMARTDRV loaded there is not enough memory available for the game.

If while starting the program in Windows, you have a moderately long 'open program'
sound association, then “Harvester” may fail to detect your computer's sound card when it
starts, and thus not initialize. Windows will not allow more than one sound device to be
used at a time. To correct this problem, simply set your 'open program' sound to 'none'.

It is also possible that the game may fail to detect your sound card, should this happen
the game will freeze. Please refer to the section titled "Sound Card Information" for more
information.

IMPORTANT! "Harvester" requires a swap file of 20MB to be available on your
local hard disk drive. If you do not have at least 20MB of free disk space when playing
"Harvester" the program may stop or crash the computer system. If your system has
16MB of RAM or greater, this swapfile is not needed.

INSTALLING HARVESTER FROM WINDOWS 95

To install Harvester, from Windows 95
1. Insert CD #1 in your drive.,
2. Use your mouse to click “Start” then select “RUN”.
3. Type “D:\SETUP” and press ENTER to begin the installation. (Where D:\ is the CD-
ROM Drive)

When the installation program is complete, there will be a Harvester Program Group
which will contain several icons which you may select. To begin Harvester click on the
Harvester icon to start.

ADDITIONAL INSTALLATION NOTES FOR WINDOWS 95 USERS

When playing "Harvester" under Windows 95 it is recommended that there be no other
programs running in the background. Should you attempt to switch back to Windows
while playing "Harvester" the game may cease to function properly. Should this occur,
restart your computer and do not run any other programs while playing “Harvester”.

If your system has less than 16MB of RAM, you may need to set the MS-DOS Protected
Mode (DPMI) Memory option in the Properties section to 16MB. Right click on the
Taskbar at the bottom of the screen. Click the Properties option. Next click the Start
Menu Programs option. Next click the Advanced button to open the shortcut icons
windows. Locate the "Harvester" shortcut. Right click on the “Harvester” icon and select
the Properties option. Select the Memory option. Locate the section called “MS-DOS
Protected Mode (DPMI) Memory” option. Select the value 16384 and click OK. Close
all windows.

Should your Windows screen saver attempt to load while playing “Harvester”, it may not
allow you to return to the program, or it may halt or quit the game. Turn your screen
saver “off” to resolve the problem

If while starting the program in Windows, you have a moderately long 'open program'
sound association, then “Harvester” may fail to detect your computer's sound card when it
starts, and thus not initialize. Windows will not allow more than one sound device to be
used at a time. To correct this problem, simply set your 'open program' sound to 'none'.

It is also possible that the game may fail to detect your sound card, should this happen
the game will freeze. Please refer to the section titled "Sound Card Information" for more
information.

Note: Because of the initial release of the Windows 95 video drivers some video cards
may have difficulty with DOS SVGA games. Please consult your video card
manufacturer for the latest version of your Windows 95 video drivers.

NOTE: If you are running Windows 95 and play “Harvester” from a DOS session, you
may be required to place the VESA driver in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

IMPORTANT! "Harvester" requires a swap file of 20MB to be available on your
local hard disk drive. If you do not have at least 20MB of free disk space when playing
"Harvester" the program may stop or crash the computer system. If your system has
16MB of RAM or greater, this swapfile is not needed.

SOUND CARD INFORMATION

NOTE: “Harvester” usually detects most sound cards and the appropriate settings when
the game begins. However, should the game not run, you may run the "SETSOUND"
program from the directory in which you installed the game files. The "SETSOUND"
program will guide you in detecting or selecting the correct parameters for your sound
card.

You may also run the SETSOUND program from within Windows 3.1 or Windows 95.
To run the program simply click on the “Sound Setup” icon.

In addition, be sure the appropriate sound drivers are installed. Your sound card should
be supplied with an installation program which configures your sound card to function
properly with DOS games. If these drivers are not installed, or they are incorrectly
configured, the game may not function properly, or may freeze your computer system.

VIDEO CARD (VESA) INFORMATION

“Harvester” utilizes hi-resolution graphics and requires your computer system be VESA
compatible. This is usually a software driver which is supplied by your video card
manufacturer.
When starting "Harvester" the game will attempt to "detect" if the VESA driver is loaded.
However some newer computer systems have VESA on the computers motherboard
which is automatically enabled when the game starts.
However, if after allowing “Harvester” to run the VESA driver for you, the computer
system freezes or "locks up", you will have to manually place the VESA driver in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT in order to function properly. If you do not have a VESA driver for
your video card, CD #1 has the latest VESA drivers available located in the VESA
directory and may solve the VESA problem. Please also refer to the file VESA.TXT
located in the VESA directory. Simply copy the appropriate VESA driver to your hard
disk and add the name of the driver (usually VESA.EXE, or VESA.COM) to your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Next, re-boot your system with the new VESA driver and try
again.

STARTING HARVESTER FROM DOS

To play “Harvester” after it has been installed:
1) Make sure the CD-ROM is properly inserted into your CD-ROM drive.
2) Change to the drive and directory where you previously installed “Harvester”.
3) Type “HARVEST” and press ENTER to begin game.

STARTING HARVESTER FROM WINDOWS 3.1 or 95

To play “Harvester” after it has been installed:
1) Make sure the CD-ROM is properly inserted into your CD-ROM drive.
2) Select the Program Group “Harvester”
3) Select the “HARVESTER” icon and click left mouse button to begin game.

UNINSTALLING HARVESTER

To remove “Harvester” using DOS select the uninstall utility called “UNSTALL” located
in the directory in which you originally installed the program. Or, select the “Uninstall
Harvester” icon in the Windows Program Group.

NOTES FOR PLAYING THE “MAKING OF HARVESTER” .AVI FILE

The .AVI file which is located on CD#3 uses a newer compression/decompression
program called Intel Indeo Interactive™ by Intel. If the video does not play properly,
select the “Install Intel Indeo” icon to setup your computer system. The .AVI file may be
played by selecting “The Making of Harvester” icon or by using the Media Player which
is included with Windows 95.