arghh Dos

Xithus

Im trying to get an old game working, star trek 25th anniversery, when I try to run it it tells me I need at least 560k of Low Memory and that I have only 551k available.
It advices me to move my TSR's and device drivers to High Memory.
I havnt a clue when it comes to dos, so any help getting this game going would be appreciated.

SantaHoe

Arrrgh!
Now there's something I haven't missed about DOS.
It's been so long... but I think what you're looking for is the LOADHIGH=<drive:\path\filename> or simply LH=<drive:\path\filename>... load any TSR's you need like so, from your config.sys or autoexec.bat files.
There's also a lot of messing with emm386 and himem.sys.

One think you could try instead of all that messing, is get your windows boot menu (press F8 while booting), go through the interactive startup and just say 'no' to everything... see if that'll work out for you.
Then again - you may encounter 'extended memory error's without the emm386.exe loaded... and you might not get any sound without your soundcards' TSR loaded.
You might load them manualy from the command prompt though.

<<shrugg>>
I haven't done any of this stuff in years, soooorrryyy

LoGiE

hJust make a dos boot disk. heres a link that will have your classics up and running. I used it when i was trying to xwing working. http://www.computerhope.com/boot.htm#08

Sorted!!!

SantaHoe

Eurgh, X-Wing...
Now there's a game I wouldn't bother playing again... too hard too soon
Come to think of it, I just can't stand DOS-based games anymore, they look waaay too cràppy now.
Haven't played a game in <640x480 in years.

Balfa

yeah man... why would anyone want to play a game that didn't look really cool??? i mean come on... looks are THE most important thing about a game... if it doesn't look better than unreal tournament then it's just not worth playing!

</retard>

Xithus

I got it working, tis an ol classic,

SantaHoe

Well I don't mind if a game looks reasonably shat if the gameplay is great, but ultra-low-res games drive me to distraction.
The low refresh-rate of those video modes hurt my eyes too
You probably won't see it like I do, unless you've recently played DOS-based games like Janes Apache... a great chopper sim when I bought it, but gut-churningly unrealistic when I installed it again a few weeks ago.
Why bother with it when there's a million OpenGL based chopper sims out there.
F**k nostalgia, I've better things to spend my time on, thanks.

Giblet

ah d ol' dos games brillo pad is what i say

Balfa

A) lower resolution = higher refresh rate. It's one of the fundamental trade-offs in PC gaming.

Name one chopper sim that's better than Janes AH64-D Longbow, which i also bought (and enjoyed) when it first came out, due to the great review it got in PC gamer. Not so much for a "ya-boo bet you can't name one" reason, but because if there is one that's better than Janes, i want it.

edit -> C) I probably do see it the way you do, considering i spend far more time playing pre-1995 games than i do playing post-1995 games.

Blitzkrieger

eddhorse posted this when I had similar problems : www.memturbo.com thought I still haven't got around to trying it out. Isn't work a pain in the arse?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31582

SantaHoe

A) Not on my monitor, not in DOS.
I get 60Hz with most/all dos games... looks horrid on a 19" monitor.
Direct-X / OpenGL indeed would be a different story.

Better in what way?
In terms of physics? gameplay? real world locations? immersive sound and graphics? gripping missions?
It's a personal choice, what do you value more?
Ok, you could have perfectly real-world control of an attack chopper.. but it's not really believable when you're flying around lego-land shooting at blocky little targets.
I'm sorry, but my suspension of disbelief will only strech so far.
Apache Longbow was a great game and I loved it to bits (completed it too ), but I've been ruined by the almost photo-realistic games out there.

Anyway, I hardly think the Tech board is the place to start a flame war about graphical realism over physics.
Move this to the Games board so I can properly ignore it

[edit]
C) Bet you're a devil with the ladies.

Stephen

Originally posted by Dead{o}Santa
Eurgh, X-Wing...
Now there's a game I wouldn't bother playing again... too hard too soon
Come to think of it, I just can't stand DOS-based games anymore, they look waaay too cràppy now.
Haven't played a game in <640x480 in years.

TIE Fighter CD for DOS
640x480 goodness... kept me occupied for ages when i got it first, especially if you have the "collector's edition" CD with all the addon mission packs.

JustHalf

Ah, nothing like some old school deathmatch.

DOOM rocks.

SantaHoe

Originally posted by Stephen
TIE Fighter CD for DOS
640x480 goodness... kept me occupied for ages when i got it first, especially if you have the "collector's edition" CD with all the addon mission packs.

IIRC the Xwing game I had was on 3.5' floppy, and ran at a most impressive 360x240!
Would have been good if it wasn't so damn hard....
I think someone mentioned it before on the Games board, where the first 5 missions are easy little escort or search and destroy missions... then BAM - the next mission you're way out of your league.

Stephen

Yep, I remember it. "The redemption scenario" iirc. Pain in the arse.

po0k

[grumble]
I wish i'd had a PC more then 5 years ago...
[/grumble]
'Course, I was a fair bit younger then too

Dos will always run at 60Hz, nevermind what res.
That is because no-matter what monitor-VGA card combo you have you can always run DOS on a PC.
what would you do if you needed to format the hard drive and your display coudn't handle the res/refresh?
you'd be scuppered.
Trying to get thropugh the Win install without knowing exactly what your writing.

To adjust the Hz there must be a VESA program runing that alows you do this, and i'm almost sure that it only let you change the colours and res anyways.

Sorry to be pedantic.
Also, Cannon Fodder and Frontier 0wns all your X-Wing!

Long Live Amiga!

Balfa

i'm not flaming, i just wanted to know which game you thought was better than longbow! i've been in the mood for a good flight sim for ages

C) lol

Giblet

slightly off topic but
any of you ever play f-16 interceptor for the amiga 500
class
i got an emulator with it on it about 2 years ago
and i still play it now

po0k

Afaik, falcon4 with the new realism patch5 ( i think its 5 anyways) is class.
I played it for a while with a proper control setup and Realism 4.
Looked like a movie.
i sh1t ye not.

Also I have Longbow (OEM version, without the campaigns. got it in the states for $10 - still looking for a VooDoo patch for it).
I've bought Apace Havoc. have to say it has the nicest rain/window interface I've seen in any game. It's also a good sim.
I liked it.
Combine it with it's newer one, Comanche Hokum and you can fly any of the four in any of the maps.

again, the rain has to be seen to be believed.

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.
<swish-swosh>
pitter-patter, pitter-patter.....

Raintext®