DOS game memory with WinME

[Moth]

Hi guys (and gals).

I'm using an NEC System -- 200 mhz processor and 80 mb ram, with Windows ME.

I'm trying to install/run a Dos based game (Master of Magic by Microprose).

I created a start-up disk to get me into "Dos" or whatever passes for it in WinME.

When I try to install or run the executable file (Magic.exe) I get the mssg: "You must have at least 2700 k memory".

Can anyone advise me as to how to assign memory to the game with WinME on the system? (I can't change the memory properties on the executable file when I access it with WinME running.)

Any advise would be much appreciated.

[mike breck]

Hi Moth,

See this faq by Electronic Arts on making a DOS bootdisk

http://techchat.ea.com:4080/rnw/helpdos-bootdisk.html

You may also want to consider using a DOS patch on Me so you can run your DOS games from the Command Prompt again.

http://www.overclockers.com.au/techstuff/a_dos_me/

Real DOS mode is better than protected DOS mode in Windows.

Still no guarantee the game will work with every system - but worth a try.

HTH

[Moth]

Hi Mike. As always, I appreciate your help. But it looks like I'm back to the drawing board. The first link says that it's program won't work for WinME. The second one looks good, but I downloaded/ installed / ran it --- I click "Boot to DOS" and it doesn't do anything.

Any other ideas?

[mike breck]

I don't think EA is strictly correct.

As far as I know, you can use a Win98 bootdisk in Me and just make the alterations to the config.sys and autoexec.bat as they suggest.

You can download a Win98 bootdisk one from here

www.bootdisk.com

Try it and see.

Here's another Me DOS fix

http://www.geocities.com/dos8me/

I don't know why the first one didn't work but some fixes require the last version of Me to work.

Also, you can get to the Command Prompt in Me if you bootup with a Me Startup disk and choose "Minimal" startup.

But I still think you are better working from a bootdisk.

HTH

[Moth]

Thanks Mike, you're a good guy! I appreciate all the help.

"http://www.geocities.com/dos8me/ " was the ticket for me. Slick patch - was simple to use. Just a note, for anyone that wants to use it though, it now takes about 20 - 30 seconds longer for me to boot up to WinME (no big whoop - this machine only gets rebooted about once a week anyway).

Ok, now I have no trouble at all running DOS. But the patch doesn't include an emm386 driver. I still need to allocate additional memory in order to run my Dos game.

Any idea how I might get the driver to increase the memory in dos mode?

[mike breck]

Glad that one worked Moth.

I still think you should use a Win98 bootdisk and edit config.sys and autoexec.bat as in the EA link. That should load EMM386.

Example settings for increasing memory thro MM386are in that link. Have a look at the page on Memory Management. I think it's just a case of playing around with the settings until you find something that, hopefully, works.

You may want to do a Internet search for the game and see if anyone has posted a specific bootdisk configuration that works well for that particular game.

Also have a look at this page

http://galnet.doosh.net/members/proj...c/dosguide.htm

The zip file link can be extracted and added to your bootdisk and should have some good settings on it for freeing up conventional memory. It will load EMM386.exe.

I was going to try it with some DOS games, but so far, haven't got round to it.

You may need to tweak it a bit, but at least it's on the right track.

HTH

[Moth]

Thanks Mike. I'll give it a shot.