Question about Running two games
 

Okay, I have both Menzoberannazan (I think I may have butchered that) and DarkSun on CD, but I can't get them to play in dos box or on WindowsXP

Darksun says I need xxxx more conventional memory while trying to run in WinXP (and it just crashes dosbox)

I can't remember exactly what Menzo says as it has been a while since I have tried it.

Can anyone tell me how to get these to run, preferably in dosbox?

Which version of DOSBox?

Then please check. Without knowing the exact error message, we can't help you solve the problem that's causing it.

Okay, the version of dosbox is 0.70

I will have to get back to you on the Menzo message, because I have to find the CD and I have quite a few of them to go through, then I have to reinstall the game.

EDIT: Found Menzo, was the second CD I picked up...

Okay, it nearly crashes my computer when I try to start it out of dosbox, it uses so much mem that I had to shut down my computer as I couldn't do much else.

When I try to run it in dosbox I get two errors:

Gravis Native Mode Installation Error: Native Mode is not supported by revisions of the Gravis Software Less than 2.00

Contact Gravis to obtain an update of their software...

AND: unable to open resource file and it appends the dosprompt on that.

I have screenies of both errors if you think that will help.

1: install dosbox 0.72, you don't need to deinstall older versions, will install in its own folder and create its own startmenu items.
*Don't copy your old dosboxconfig into it should you have your mounts added or such, they're not compatible cross-version, edit the new one manually( IF needed).*
2: Did you INSTALL the game in dosbox?
3: rerun sound setup in dosbox and choose SB or better instead of Gravis. If you use autodetect disable GUS in dosboxconfig first.


4: Still problems? More details, your mount lines (ALL of them), inputs, config choices ... etcetera.

Don't use Gravis, as stated in the dosbox readme, it's the worst choice you can make. Dosbox does NOT include GUS drivers out of the box.
Game doesn't find the files it needs.
Sounds as a borked mount, do you mount a folder as virtual C and then cd gamefolder?
How do you mount your CDdrive?

As Dosraider mentionned, I think your best bet would be to install those games directly from DOSBox. The tricky part is, of course, that if you don't mount your hard drive(s) directly (not recommended if you don't know what you are doing) then you will need to mount the drives exactly in the same way than the installation process the next time you'll want to play.

Always aim for SoundBlaster (the older, the easier for DOSBox to detect... But I usually use SoundBlaster Pro fine with most games) when you install the game, and such "modern" games will all have an autodetect feature anyways. Use that first, tweak as needed if it doesn't work.

If the games still don't work then post back here. There is probably some special memory tweaks to do in DOSBox for them to work well, and I suspect that Menzoberanzan is likely to need some.

Okay, I hadn't realized they came out with a newer version, I have been playing other games lately. I will do that. No I installed the game through WinXP because I hate going through the mount process for my CD rom. I run dosbox with the normal config, I don't edit it as I am not quite sure what I am doing.

I will rerun the sound setup, for both games, when they finished installing through WinXP they did the sound setup and found Soundblaster, I NEVER selected Gravis, nor did I even see that as an option. I always use Soundblaster as my sound, or pc speaker if Ican't find soundblaster...

I use mount c c:\
and the C:
and then go to where the games are, I have MOST of the games in a folder called dosgames on my desktop, but menzo and darksun both installed themselves under C:\

I don't mount folders because I am not sure what games I am going to play at times, and so it is easier to mount c and then go from there (I grew up on dos and rememember enough of it to not mess my computer up)

I will try those tomorrow, thanks for the help, and see if they work.

Like I said before I always use Soundblaster as well, and that is what my computer always autodetects. I don't know HOW it got to gravis...

I will try reinstalling the games through dosbox and then doing the sound detection through dosbox and see if that will work for menzo. Dark Sun says it needs more conventional memory, so I am not sure this will work for it..

Thanks for all the help, and I will let you know if that works for me :D

mount d x:\ -t cdrom
That's it, not that hard I would think.
x:\ = your real CDdrive letter under Win.
Always mount your CDdrive as D, some games will only accept D as CDdrive, and always install your game IN dosbox. If it looks for a CD it will find it then, some store the CDdrive letter in a whatever.cfg file

XP has a basic SB emulation, problem is that the config params aren't the same as the SB emulated in dosbox.

For Darksun it runs best in dosbox configured as:
Run sound to configure sound params,
Answer no when asked if you want to use two soundcards and choose:
SB PRO 16 ASP
Do NOT accept default settings but choose:

adr 220
IRQ 7
DMA 1

Seeing you say your computer is peaking on the mem usage: Could you post the specs of your pc? DOSBox is resource hungry, and if your pc is at the low end, that might explain a few things.

I have attached a jpg of my system specs box, let me know if you need something else. I just didn't feel like typing everything in (sorry about that :( I have a headache right now)

It isn't hard to do, it is hard for me to REMEMBER, then I have to go through and find the readme or find the instructions in the help and then try to remember (I have a VERY bad memory) I will also try to install both the games in dosbox, and the thing is I tried with menzo today (but not from CD so it wouldn't complete) and I didn't get any red on it, it said my system was okay, yet when I did it under XP it said I needed more extended memory

I will try doing this with them and seeing if I can't get ONE to run at least, though today I was distracted by lands of lore.

Thanks again for the help, and I will try what you have suggested tomorrow (if I can tear myself away from Lands of Lore long enough) and get back to you on whether that works or not. I have just been wanting to reply DarkSun and I never got to finish Menzo from what I rememeber, I don't know why.

Well, your computer is officially twice as good as mine. Anyway, Menzo won't say you have enough extended memory if you are running it in XP, as XP doesn't give DOS programs extended memory, only expanded memory (or vice versa).

Thanks, I hadn't realized that XP would do that.

Write it down? :huh:

I would, but then I lose the paper... I have done that before... There is no telling how many slips of paper ther eare in my room that have info I wrote down so I won't forget it, but then they fly off my desk, I put them someplace I will remember them, then promptly forget them... etc...

Write them down... IN your computer? Time stamped?

Then write it down on a piece of paper or simply switch from DOSBox to Notepad as needed. :p

I usually do that, and the info is written down in a readme somewhere, I am just usually to lazy to go looking for it when I want to play a game :D

Write it on your monitor, with lipstick.

Don't have lipstick :( I don't wear it ;) I do have paint, but it washes off to easily and I DO occasionally like to clean my screen. :D

Okay, i have gotten Menzo to work using this, though I STILL get that gravis error, it doesn't seem to affect my sound or anything...

I just need to finish creating my characters then try Darksun using this. Thanks

EDIT: I just did it using Darksun and that works, so now I have three games to play :D Thanks for your help.

Open dosboxconfig and set GUS=FALSE under header [GUS], this should avoid that error message.

You're welcome, enjoy them.

Thanks, I will try that. I get that gravis error with Darksun as well.. but not Lands of Lore... Oh well, it doesn't impact anything I can find. I have been playing Lands of Lore and Menzo today. Dark sun will have to wait as it is a bit harder for me to control through dosbox (does .72 have a way of resizing the dosbox window to something OTHER than fullscreen?)


Thanks for all your help everyone :D

Yes, hit ALT-ENTER when you are fullscreen and DOSBox will turn into a normal Windows window. You should be able to resize it to whatever you want, but keep in mind that the emulation power needed to do that is way greater this way than fullscreen. Probably not a good idea for "modern" DOS games.

Yes. "windowresolution=" in dosbox.conf allows you to set this. Best if you combine it with output=ddraw, though.

Thanks, I don't like full screen because it tends ot really mess up the graphics, but the dosbox window is so small on my screen, it gives me a headache trying to see details in the game itself. I will have to download dosbox .72 and try that.

On the contrary, fullscreen always give you the original graphics...

EoF: Not neccesarily. fullresolution=original can give an oddly distorted display. Using a fixed fullscreen resolution is recommended.
There are two parameters in DOSBox.conf that can help.
First, "fullresolution=". Set it to 640x480 or your current desktop resolution.
Second, "aspect". Setting it to "true" adjusts the aspect rate in games which used 8:5 (320x200, 640x400) aspect ratio to 4:3 (320x240, 640x480).

Hummm... Never ran into any similar problem. But it is true that new "strange" resolution settings might happen with new screens like flat screen and the like.

Not these. I had that happen with an old CRT (which used to have no problem displaying the games when hooked up to my first DOS machine).
Looked sort of like the display was upscaled basing on the height and a large part of it was cut off on the right side.

I will have to try that.

Well, i haven't had it cut off or anything like that, but when I go to full screen the graphics get grainy and it can be really hard to tell what is what, especially on some of the older games. if you want to know what I mean, take a small 128x128 picture and resize it to 512x512. They are still the same pic, you can usually sort of tell what the picture is of, but the larger one is blurry and some details are lost due to that blurriness.

I have a flat screen with my res set to 1280x1024 so taking it up to that size really messes the graphics up (and setting my res lower messes up my windows and such that I have open... or that I want to open)

Thanks for the tips, and I will download .72 tonight :D

EDIT: Downloaded .72 and while I can get the screen *slightly* larger, it won't go to the resolution size I set it at... but at least it is slightly larger (I tried from 640x480 all the way to 1024x768)

Again, thanks for all the help people :D

Try setting 'fulldouble=true' (I think that was the line, anyway).

thanks, but that doesn't really help, I want the game to play in a window, but I want that window to be larger (I don't really want it full screen with all the black around it.

EDIT: does anyone have any indepth FAQ/help files on the dosbox config, like what is the output stuff? things like that. I think I might want the window resolution, but I am not sure that the output device supports it as it doesn't seem to be resizing the windo except for teh smallest amount

Oh. :doh: Sorry. Here's the DOSBox Wiki on the config file: Dosbox.conf

Switch output to ddraw and scaler to normal3x.

The surface output doesn't support a lot of things. That is why I recommend using overlay or ddraw instead.

And looks as complete sh*t on my 23"CRT.
300x200 in fulscreen on a 23"? My as*, really, those old games were made to run on a 12,13 or 14" monitor, not a 23" one.

Another possibility to stretch that 'crappy small' dosbox window a bit is to lower desktop res to a 640x480 or 800x600.
That doesn't burden the needed emulation power of the CPU.

Yeah, I have a 17 inch, and when the graphics are put to full screen, they are well, bad to say the least. I would put my resolution lower, but that messes everything ELSE up so it isn't worth it to worry that much about dosbox :D I just thought since I was asking and everyone was being helpful, I would ask about that ;)
Okay, I will try that, I forgot to switch output the last time. Okay, I just put that in the dosbox config, but haven't tried it yet, I will let you know if it works.
Don't worry :D I found that wiki on my computer just AFTER I posted. Apparently I found that and downloaded it a while ago. I wish that there was a bit more indepth coverage available (like what the differences between surface ddraw etc... and things like that, but the wiki should come in handy.

Thanks :D

Edit: Dosbox decided to avoid being murdered and cooperated, I finally went back a bit further in the thread and used windowresolution and combined with ddraw and normal3x it worked. now I just have to find the resolution that I like best, that is large enough for me to not feel like I am looking through a keyhole but not so large as to make everything including text go blurry

Thanks for the help people :D

hello.
 

can you elaborate on this? i am having the same problem as OP using the old menzo CD (when i fire the game up i get the same "gravis native mode installation error"), and the sound setup (sound_pm) at no point mentions gravis anywhere, so i'm unsure how it's being selected. so i'm missing something...

taking your suggestioni looked at the readme but it states graivs emulation is nearly groovy for v.72. but again, i don't know how to NOT select it when doing the sound config, because i've run about 10 different combos and the same error is coming up.

Problem with GUS under dosbox0.72 is that dosbox doesn't come with all the needed GUS drivers and doesn't initialise GUS at start up. That's why you better stick with SB emulation.
SB emulation is nearly perfect in dosbox.

First possibility: disable GUS in dosbox.
Open dosboxconfig and look under header [GUS], change gus=true to gus=false, this will disable GUS autodetection and you will be able to select SB sound.

Second possibility if you absolutely want full GUS support:
http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=16974
Read and apply, this will give you a fully working GUS emulation under dosbox 0.72.
However, some games that can use GUS sound are sometimes nitpicking and this will cause those games to freeze, but it should work for 99% of the GUS supported games.

thanks.
 

that false dialogue was the key.

You're welcome.

FYI: next dosbox release has improved GUS support..... and a lot more.