Duke Nukem Error message on 486 machine \ VOGONS

Duke Nukem Error message on 486 machine

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First post, by thrashertildeth

thrashertildeth Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 23
Joined: 2025-10-29, 17:44

Hello, what's happening fellow retro gamers, hope you are doing ok. So I have been setting up a DOS 6.22 Rig. Here are the specs
Motherboard:LS-486E Rev:D
Graphics card: SiS 6326 4MB
CPU: Am5x86-P75-S
Soundcard: Soundblaster pro 2.0
32 MB of Ram

Not really the best 486 but it has not really disappointed me. However, the reason I am here is I am having 2 issues, 1 the turbo button locks it up anytime it is pressed(I will post this issue in hardware) but the main thing is whenever I try and play Duke3D from my authentic cd-rom I am thrown this error message (see picture attached) I have been trying every troubleshooting step I can think about and I am not progressing at all. The only time I've been able to get it to work on this PC is if I install windows 95, I'm wanting to have more of a strictly DOS build because I have a windows 98 P3 Machine. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

Reply 1 of 6, by theelf

Posted on Today, 05:47

theelf Offline

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Joined: 2011-09-25, 19:39

You dont give much info, how is your config.sys?

hapen same without sound card in setup? NONE/NONE

Last edited by theelf on 2026-10-20, 10:43. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 2 of 6, by daanmsvl

Posted on Today, 10:05

daanmsvl Offline

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Location: The Netherlands

theelf wrote on Today, 05:47:

You dont give much info, how is uour config.sys? happe same without sound card in setup? NONE/NONE

Agreed. This looks like a pointer dereference error from your DPMI host, which is DOS/4GW under MS-DOS 6.22 but Windows95 handles that by itself (I believe). So the CPU accessed an invalid address and crashed. Without details on your memory configuration (EMM386, HIMEM) and sound/video drivers loaded (you wrote SBPro2.0 which doesn't require a driver), it's almost impossible to tell.

Things to try:

Clean boot (F5 during startup)
No EMM386
Try with sound disabled in Duke3D config

And post your `CONFIG.SYS` and `AUTOEXEC.BAT` here 😀

Current inventory: 486SX25, Cyrix 5x86 133 MHz, Pentium 75, Laser/2 286 12 MHz and Pentium 166 MMX. Also a Commodore 64 Ultimate Founders Edition! Want to know more? Check out https://vintage486.com

Reply 3 of 6, by thrashertildeth

Posted on Today, 14:15

thrashertildeth Offline

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Posts: 23
Joined: 2025-10-29, 17:44

theelf wrote on Today, 05:47:

You dont give much info, how is your config.sys?

hapen same without sound card in setup? NONE/NONE

With or without the card I get this error. Here is the Config.sys

Reply 4 of 6, by thrashertildeth

Posted on Today, 14:16

thrashertildeth Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 23
Joined: 2025-10-29, 17:44

daanmsvl wrote on Today, 10:05:
Agreed. This looks like a pointer dereference error from your DPMI host, which is DOS/4GW under MS-DOS 6.22 but Windows95 handle […]
Show full quote

theelf wrote on Today, 05:47:

You dont give much info, how is uour config.sys? happe same without sound card in setup? NONE/NONE

Agreed. This looks like a pointer dereference error from your DPMI host, which is DOS/4GW under MS-DOS 6.22 but Windows95 handles that by itself (I believe). So the CPU accessed an invalid address and crashed. Without details on your memory configuration (EMM386, HIMEM) and sound/video drivers loaded (you wrote SBPro2.0 which doesn't require a driver), it's almost impossible to tell.

Things to try:

Clean boot (F5 during startup)

No EMM386

Try with sound disabled in Duke3D config

And post your `CONFIG.SYS` and `AUTOEXEC.BAT` here 😀

And Autoexec

Reply 5 of 6, by thrashertildeth

Posted on Today, 14:16

thrashertildeth Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 23
Joined: 2025-10-29, 17:44

It's a mess. But I will def try those options. Sorry I didn't include that information but the help is greatly appreciated.

Reply 6 of 6, by leileilol

Posted on Today, 21:55

leileilol Offline

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Joined: 2006-12-16, 18:03

I think leaving off SMARTDRV could help. Duke3D's help advises against loading SMARTDRV as it has its own caching system. The only exception for it is if you've got a FAT32 partition (which a DOS 6.22 system can't have)

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