Okay so we are getting somewhere. I now get a "option rom and ram detected within page frame" when i use M9. So i just gotta find the right frame. I dont have any PCI network cards but i do have a onboard one, even if i disable that it still says that.

As per the link provided, you could try this:
Add the following parameters to the EMM386 command line in the CONFIG.SYS file:
device=c:\windows\emm386.exe i=e000-efff ram
Including this range can allow you to find 64K of free contiguous memory.

About another option: falling back to pure DOS boot or exit to DOS.

MSD.EXE can give an overview of the first 1 MB memory... Your goal is to gain 4 consecutive black rows above 640k for the page frame 😀
You can enable/disable Shadowing of certain areas in BIOS (CMOS). But it is better left at default first.
I suggest not enabling Video RAM Cacheable and System BIOS Cacheable settings.

re: ALADDIN (and the ilk)

- Using himem.sys from DOS 5 limits available XMS by default.
- eating up excessive XMS can also fool some games (using an XMS ram drive, e.g.)
- watch your processor speed, the game is also speed sensitive AFAIK

- optimize if :
a) low conventional RAM (we have a very good sticky about that)
b) use loadfix if too much 😀

So strangely, i got the game working. I recently got some new hardware and so i reinstalled Windows 98se. After i installed a Sound Blaster Live! EMS Memory now works, and with other games. My guess is the SBLs driver triggered something, OR my install last time was all wrong. My config.sys is now just

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\setver.exe

Good to know that Aladdin runs on more than 16 or 32mb. Glad you got it working.

Thanks man. So yeah, i can confirm Aladdin working with 512mb of ram.

The best for aladdin, is to make a batch file with emsmagic, then no need to change nothing is boot config, just on the fly for this game

http://www.emsmagic.com/

I know this has been solved, but the solution didn't work for me exactly, so i want to share how i got the game working under Windows 98 SE in DOS Mode with sound.

First i used this Config.sys

1DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
2DOS=HIGH,UMB
3DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM

Then i used Eatxms to reduce the free memory below 16 mb (i have 128 total). This will get the game to run in DOS Mode, but without sound. To get the sound working you need to open setsnd.exe, choose the 3rd option and then enter 220, 5 and 1. Voila, the game runs perfectly and it has sound!

Aladdin can also be run directly inside Windows without any prior configuration, but then there will be no sound. I tried entering all kinds of values in setsnd.exe, but the only sound i got it to make is a continuous beeping noise.

I'd also like to add that the game doesn't seem to be speed sensitive, as it runs normally on a Pentium 3.

Yeah i noticed as well that there was no sound in Windows when you launched Aladdin. Which i should have posted.

But like you say, just go to real DOS mode and launch the game there. I can also confirm that this game runs great under a Pentium 3. I would say it runs better, this game has a proper speed limiter and the better CPU the more the framerate wont drop.

I can run Aladdin in Windows without sound as well but in DOS mode just the XMS allocation error.

Here´s my system config file:

NUMLOCK=OFF
BREAK=ON
DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO
FILESHIGH=40
FCBSHIGH=1,0
BUFFERSHIGH=30,0
LASTDRIVEHIGH=J
STACKSHIGH=9,256
COUNTRY=046,850,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\COUNTRY.sys
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /V
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM /MIN=0 I=B000-B7FF /V
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DISPLAY.SYS CON=(ega,,1)
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\WINDOWS\SETVER.EXE
DEVICEHIGH /L:1 =C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
SHELL=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM C:\WINDOWS\/E:1024 /P

My rig is a P2 333 MHz 250 Mb Ram and running Windows 98SE.

When "restarting into MS-DOS mode" I always get a choice to choose between 1 to 8 with different memory settings I think.
Which one is the best in this case?

menuitem=EMC, Expanded memory + Mouse + CD-ROM
menuitem=XMC, Extended memory + Mouse + CD-ROM
menuitem=CMC, Conventional Memory only + Mouse + CD-ROM
menuitem=EM, Expanded memory + Mouse
menuitem=XM, Extended memory + Mouse
menuitem=CM, Conventional memory only + Mouse

I really want to make this game to work. Do everything looks ok in my system configurations?

And at last but not least:
Where can I find Eatxms?

Nick_Arrow wrote:

Here´s my system config file:

Looks good. It appears like it's been manually "optimized". I am not sure how much it actually helps; I normally just leave the NOAUTO out of it (letting Windows autoload what it wants and use the defaults). However, if your config file gives you enough free RAM and no issues, then I see no problem.

Nick_Arrow wrote:

When "restarting into MS-DOS mode" I always get a choice to choose between 1 to 8 with different memory settings I think.
Which one is the best in this case?

The best in this case and every case is not not use all these bloated multi-option unnecessary startup files but just have a single configuration which loads HIMEM, EMM386, CD-ROM and mouse drivers, as well as any sound card drivers you might need and then anything else you want. Your config.sys that you showed looks good enough and there is very little reason to add extra options, at least until you run into any issues.

Nick_Arrow wrote:

I really want to make this game to work. Do everything looks ok in my system configurations?

Other than I can't see any audio drivers loaded / run (they would normally be in AUTOEXEC.BAT), it looks fine.

Nick_Arrow wrote:

Where can I find Eatxms?

This looks like a working download:
http://www.oldskool.org/guides/oldonnew/resources/eatxms.zip

dr_st wrote:

This looks like a working download:
http://www.oldskool.org/guides/oldonnew/resources/eatxms.zip[/quote]

Thank you for your response!
How do I use the Eatxms in this case? I don't want to mess up anything..

On a 256MB machine, roughly like this:

ALADDIN.BAT
@echo off
cls
eatxms 32000
eatxms 32000
eatxms 32000
eatxms 32000
eatxms 32000
eatxms 32000
eatxms 32000
aladdin.exe

Note that there is no way to un-eat XMS as far as I know, so you'll have to reboot if you want to get into Windows and use >32MB RAM. There are better utilities out there that can probably free memory they occupy, and there is always the RAMDrive approach.

Another simple alternative is enabling Memory Hole at 15-16mb in BIOS (if there's such an option).

filipetolhuizen wrote:

Another simple alternative is enabling Memory Hole at 15-16mb in BIOS (if there's such an option).

I tried it but when I enabled it the computer says "Windows Copy Protection Error - You must restart your computer" until I disabled it again..

dr_st wrote:

On a 256MB machine, roughly like this: […]
Show full quote

On a 256MB machine, roughly like this:

ALADDIN.BAT
@echo off
cls
eatxms 32000
eatxms 32000
eatxms 32000
eatxms 32000
eatxms 32000
eatxms 32000
eatxms 32000
aladdin.exe

Note that there is no way to un-eat XMS as far as I know, so you'll have to reboot if you want to get into Windows and use >32MB RAM. There are better utilities out there that can probably free memory they occupy, and there is always the RAMDrive approach.

Ok! Sorry for being such a newbie but where do I put this ALADDIN.BAT? I would really like to try this option!
Do I make this ALADDIN.BAT file in DOS and put it in the ALADDIN folder? And when should I run the eatxms.exe?
At the http://www.oldskool.org/guides/oldonnew/resources they recommend the EMS/XMS RAMdisk but I'm not sure how to use it. What do you think?

Well, one way, the simplest one, would be to put it in the Aladdin folder, exactly the way I wrote it (starting with @echo off). Then type aladdin.bat to run it.

First, EATXMS.EXE needs to be in the same folder, of course.

Or you can just copy EATXMS manually several times and then run ALADDIN.EXE (basically execute the commands in the batch one by one).

The RAMDisk approach may be easier, but I haven't tried it myself.

I did try what you described but there was still allocation error.
Shouldn't the bat file direct the game to use the eatxms? It didn't work in my case.
How much XMS memory is the highest I can have to run Aladdin?

Based on my numbers <32MB is okay.

Hi all, have the same issue here. Can't launch Aladdin from ms-dos 6.22 with Phil's starter pack (tried all 9 options), all report the XMS error.

I can launch the game under Windows 98SE but also have no sound.. Tried both demo and my original game from floppies.

Specs :
Asus P3B-F slot 1 Intel 440bx
Pentium III 500Mhz Katmai
512mb RAM
Voodoo 3 2000 PCI
Creative Awe64 ISA CT4520
WIN98SE and MS-DOS 6.22 on seperate drives.

Please help me to launch Aladdin through ms-dos. As you can see, I have almost similar specs of the author of this post.

Coming from Amiga world, excuse my noobness.