NeoG_ wrote on 2026-01-25, 21:23:

And somewhere in your autoexec.bat to avoid unexepcted behaviour […]
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And somewhere in your autoexec.bat to avoid unexepcted behaviour

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1SET EK1MLOAD=FALSE

Regarding this though, wouldn’t there need to be a reference to EK1MLOAD from a game’s BAT file within autoexec.bat? At the moment it’s only in one game’s BAT file.

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-01-25, 21:23:

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1REM Skip executing SB commands if already loaded
2IF %EK1MLOAD% == TRUE GOTO SKIPEK1M

It’s telling me there’s a syntax error here.

EDIT: Ah. I think I needed to have no spaces between % and T for True. 😅

Although the game is failing to load due to not enough memory. Seems plenty though. Will have to try XMS mode.

EDIT 2: No, it’s still saying there’s a syntax error. 😕

EDIT 3. Bugger. Of course… It has to be in EMS mode in order for SB16 Emulation to work. 😖

EDIT 4: Not sure then if the likes of MPXPLAY and EK1M are eating up a certain amount of memory needed for the game to function…? Though like I say, there’s plenty of it still. Especially as a number of things are loaded into the UMB. But it just tells me DOS/4GW fatal error (1307): not enough memory.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-01-26, 00:02:

EDIT 2: No, it’s still saying there’s a syntax error. 😕

It will give a syntax error if the variable has not yet been declared, hence why I said to put SET %EK1MLOAD%=FALSE into your autoexec.bat file

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-01-26, 12:02:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-01-26, 00:02:

EDIT 2: No, it’s still saying there’s a syntax error. 😕

It will give a syntax error if the variable has not yet been declared, hence why I said to put SET %EK1MLOAD%=FALSE into your autoexec.bat file

Ahh, okay. But is it written like...?

1SET EK1MLOAD=FALSE

Or...?

1SET %EK1MLOAD%=FALSE

I'm still struggling to understand how autoexec.bat would see/know that variable/command in a game's BAT file exists. I've only added the line to call my new SBLOAD.BAT file, but there's no reference in the game's BAT about autoexec and vice versa.

Apologies, it is SET EK1MLOAD=FALSE

There doesn't need to be any reference between SBLOAD.BAT and autoexec or vice versa. If declare a variable in autoexec it's global and it's available from any batch file in the future

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-01-26, 12:23:

Apologies, it is SET EK1MLOAD=FALSE

There doesn't need to be any reference between SBLOAD.BAT and autoexec or vice versa. If declare a variable in autoexec it's global and it's available from any batch file in the future

Oh right. Very convenient of DOS. I only have a bit of experience with coding in C#, though that was ages ago now, and I was under the impression something needed to be referenced in order for another script to see it. 😀

Things defined with SET become global envirionment variables. DOS (the OS) does not have private variables outside of batch scripting.

wierd_w wrote on 2026-01-26, 14:24:

Things defined with SET become global envirionment variables. DOS (the OS) does not have private variables outside of batch scripting.

I see. That's good then.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-01-26, 00:02:

...
EDIT 4: Not sure then if the likes of MPXPLAY and EK1M are eating up a certain amount of memory needed for the game to function…? Though like I say, there’s plenty of it still. Especially as a number of things are loaded into the UMB. But it just tells me DOS/4GW fatal error (1307): not enough memory.

Are you still seeing this? Check the output of mem /c to see if it's really a low memory issue because some games have problems when there's _too much_ memory.

chronoreverse wrote on 2026-01-26, 15:53:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-01-26, 00:02:

...
EDIT 4: Not sure then if the likes of MPXPLAY and EK1M are eating up a certain amount of memory needed for the game to function…? Though like I say, there’s plenty of it still. Especially as a number of things are loaded into the UMB. But it just tells me DOS/4GW fatal error (1307): not enough memory.

Are you still seeing this? Check the output of mem /c to see if it's really a low memory issue because some games have problems when there's _too much_ memory.

Once I've corrected the IF command statement, I'll see if it still does. I believe it's the latter option as you say. When I checked last night, there was plenty of memory left over. Ordinarily, I would use XMS mode instead, but as I mentioned, I need EMS for the SB16 emulation and redbook audio.

chronoreverse wrote on 2026-01-26, 15:53:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-01-26, 00:02:

...
EDIT 4: Not sure then if the likes of MPXPLAY and EK1M are eating up a certain amount of memory needed for the game to function…? Though like I say, there’s plenty of it still. Especially as a number of things are loaded into the UMB. But it just tells me DOS/4GW fatal error (1307): not enough memory.

Are you still seeing this? Check the output of mem /c to see if it's really a low memory issue because some games have problems when there's _too much_ memory.

Yeah, so even with the corrected syntax, it still comes up with the error. This is how the memory is looking:

That is *very good* conventional free.

It's in the side of 'too much free' in fact.

Try running your program with loadfix.

wierd_w wrote on 2026-01-26, 17:15:

That is *very good* conventional free.

It's in the side of 'too much free' in fact.

Try running your program with loadfix.

Not come across loadfix before. I tried it as LOADFIX CALL=D:\DOS\ACCLAIM\TRILOGY\TRILOGY.EXE and LOADFIX D:\DOS\ACCLAIM\TRILOGY\TRILOGY.EXE. I'm guessing CALL can't be used in this case, but even removing it, I get a Bad command or file name.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-01-26, 12:13:

Ahh, okay. But is it written like...? […]
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Ahh, okay. But is it written like...?

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1SET EK1MLOAD=FALSE

Or...?

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1SET %EK1MLOAD%=FALSE

FYI - then '%'s around a name in a .BAT file causes that name to be replaced with it's environment value.

So.. "set" needs the actual environment variable name, NOT it's content (if it exists) = no '%'s

1set FOO=Some-Stuff
2echo FOO -> prints "FOO"
3echo %FOO% -> prints "Some-Stuff"

Do you have LOADFIX? I think it's a third-party program and doesn't come with DOS.

Harry Potter wrote on 2026-01-26, 17:44:

Do you have LOADFIX? I think it's a third-party program and doesn't come with DOS.

Ah. That’ll be why then. I thought it was a part of DOS. 😅 I’ll grab that now. Thanks.

DaveDDS wrote on 2026-01-26, 17:43:

FYI - then '%'s around a name in a .BAT file causes that name to be replaced with it's environment value. […]
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DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-01-26, 12:13:

Ahh, okay. But is it written like...? […]
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Ahh, okay. But is it written like...?

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1SET EK1MLOAD=FALSE

Or...?

Copy code to clipboard

1SET %EK1MLOAD%=FALSE

FYI - then '%'s around a name in a .BAT file causes that name to be replaced with it's environment value.

So.. "set" needs the actual environment variable name, NOT it's content (if it exists) = no '%'s

Copy code to clipboard

1set FOO=Some-Stuff
2echo FOO -> prints "FOO"
3echo %FOO% -> prints "Some-Stuff"

Gotcha. It’s a container.

It's from the freedos project. It will work with dos 6.22 as well.

https://help.fdos.org/en/hhstndrd/command/loadfix.htm

wierd_w wrote on 2026-01-26, 17:52:

It's from the freedos project. It will work with dos 6.22 as well.

https://help.fdos.org/en/hhstndrd/command/loadfix.htm

Do I need to download and install FreeDOS to get it?

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-01-26, 18:08:

wierd_w wrote on 2026-01-26, 17:52:

It's from the freedos project. It will work with dos 6.22 as well.

https://help.fdos.org/en/hhstndrd/command/loadfix.htm

Do I need to download and install FreeDOS to get it?

No. You can get it individually. The FreeDOS one is apparently baked into FreeCOM command interpreter, but it's existed as vintage software forever.

It's actually a stock component of DOS 5, and can be found in various flavors from numerous vendors. They all do the same thing.

For example, vintage adverts and documentation reference it.

https://archive.org/stream/dosworld021199505/ … 995-05_djvu.txt

A version from Novell can be found here, for example.

https://files.mpoli.fi/unpacked/hardware/net/ … /3x/300pt1.exe/

The dos 5 utility can be found on disk 3 of the set, and expanded with the EXPAND utility. It's a .COM file.

https://www.betaarchive.com/wiki/index.php/Mi … B_Archive/71823

This script suggests it can be found (compressed) on disk 2 of the dos 6.22 disk set.

https://gist.github.com/jepebe/4011bb9d0b0dfa … 8ff026675eb275b