Mscdex.exe

[Feuten]

Hello, I have a game called QUAKE, i have sound when i play it in windows, but it runs way to fast to play. I shut down and re-start in MS-DOS and it plays fine except i have no sound. i have an error message saying MSCDEX is not loaded therfore no sound. Can anyone help me with directions on how to load MSCDEX.EXE so i can hear sound when im in DOS ( shut down / re-start in MS-DOS mode ) thanks

[reboot]

Grab the drivers disk for your sound card, and install the DOS drivers. That should fix it.
If not, post back, and we can install some DOS CD-ROM drivers as well.
Either way, you should get sound eventually.

[homer15]

just out of curiosity, what os are you running?

[Feuten]

im running win 98 first edition, thanks for the replys........

[Nuclear Krusader]

Type dosstart at the DOS prompt. That should load the CDROM controller.

[reboot]

dosstart.bat may not contain the CD-ROM controllers, nor the DOS sound drivers, so just starting dosstart is probably pointless.

[Feuten]

thanks to all for helping out, I tried DOSSTART and nothing happened. I still havent been able to load MSCDEX.EXE yet

[Nuclear Krusader]

OK.

First make sure you have mscdex.exe in your system. Make a search for it.

I haven't been able to find my old docs, but I now remember where they are: at home. So it will take me until tonight to help you with the lines you have to add to config.sys and dosstart.bat.

In the meanwhile, have you tried GLQuake? It runs in Windows at normal speeds.

If you have a powerful enough system you can also try the Tenebrae mod for Quake. More info in this thread:

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?threadid=47853

[Nuclear Krusader]

OK.

Here is the file you need. Just unzip it to C:. Yes the root directory.

It's a controller for a Creative Labs CD-ROM, but it works with all CD-ROMs so no big deal.

Alright. Now, in Windows: Start > Run > type sysedit. Select the config.sys and add these lines:

Device=C:\sbide.sys /d:mscd001 /p:170,15 /v

Close the program and select OK when it asks you to save the changes to config.sys


Now, open the Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\Command. Make sure the mscdex.exe is there. Look also for the dosstart.bat file. If it's not there then it's in C:\Windows.

Once you have located the dosstart.bat file, right click on it and select Edit. Then add the following line if it's not there (I'm assuming mscdex.exe is in the C:\Windows\Command folder):

C:\Windows\Command\mscdex.exe /d:mscd001

Save the changes and close the window.

Reboot. Hit F8 when the message Starting Windows 98... appears. Select Command Line Only from the menu that appears.

At the prompt type dosstart.

Voilà! Now you should be able to access the CD-ROM drive from real DOS.

If you need help configuring the sound card to work properly in real DOS, please let us know what card you have.

HTH

[Nuclear Krusader]

Sorry, forgot to attach the file. Here u go.

[reboot]

Does Quake install completely to the hard drive, or does it need the CD in the drive to get it's audio?
If it needs the CD, then you need more than mscdex to get audio in DOS.
If it doesn't need the CD, then getting mscdex is pointless.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Once Quake is installed, it doesn't need the CD in the drive anymore. Only for the CD music, yes. In fact the game allows you to put any music CD in to listen to the music you like while pumping enenmies full of lead. But if you have no CD on the drive the game will play without problems... only without music.

But our friend Feuten will still have to configure the sound card to work in real DOS. But that depends on the type of sound card he has. If it's an old ISA, those are way easy to config, but if it's a PCI it will need drivers for compatibility. Those drivers are provided in the card's CD though. They are only trickier to configure.

[reboot]

Exactly. So the CD needs to be in the drive to get audio during gameplay.
In this case, he needs both CD-ROM drivers as well as sound drivers for DOS, both of which are on the drivers disk that came with the sound card.

[glc]

The correct way to get full sound and CD support in real DOS is as follows:

Install a real mode CD driver in config.sys, also real mode sound card drivers, whatever is needed in config.sys. Then you put mscdex and any required autoexec.bat entries for DOS sound (like a set blaster line) into dosstart.bat. Then you restart the computer in DOS mode and you should be all set.

The reason you do not want to put mscdex into autoexec.bat is Windows is just going to rem it out every time you reboot.