DOS Games Discussion

Hi I'm new here

I registered because I need some help with my old laptop for DOS games. I purchased this laptop as "a working DOS gaming system" but I can't get Moonstone or Darklands to run because of memory issues. This laptop has 80MB of RAM but I have no clue how to set up CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT etc so that I can run these games... Please help!

Here are my current settings:

MSDOS.SYS

[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C

[Options]
BootMulti=1
BootGUI=0
DoubleBuffer=1
AutoScan=1
WinVer=4.10.2222

CONFIG.SYS

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DISPLAY.SYS CON=(EGA,,1)
Country=358,850,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\country.sys
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\CWDINIT.EXE /A

AUTOEXEC.BAT

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4
mode con codepage prepare=((850) C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ega.cpi)
mode con codepage select=850
keyb su,,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\keyboard.sys
mouse

SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\OHJELM~1\EMSMAG~1;
SET EMSMagic=C:\OHJELM~1\EMSMAG~1

And last but not least the specs of this laptop:
Intel Pentium 150MHz
80MB RAM
1.35GB HDD
"Neomagic MagicGraph128ZV with 1.125MB" = Graphics (800x600)
"CS4236B" = Sound

I also have Windows 98 installed if that helps.
Please help a clueless person in need.

You will have to decide:
or W9x laptop
or MsDos laptop

...Or if you're compy tech enough dual boot dos/W9x ......

It should be possible to set up a really nice MsDos laptop with those specs.
CPU is certainly fast enough, more tan enough RAM (MsDos is limited to use 64 MB anyway) and your Cirrus 4236 should be fully SB compatible (even ISA compatible *if* you may believe the tech specs of it)
sound driver can be downed there:
http://driverzone.com/drivers/cirrus/
Direct link:
http://driverzone.com/drivers/cirrus/cs423x.zip

Graph card doesn't really need MsDos drivers. (Except maybe for some late specific full 3D games, but even 99.99% of those will run in software mode .....)

I would advise the MsDos option because of this:
"Neomagic MagicGraph128ZV with 1.125MB" = Graphics (800x600)
That's an utterly crappy W9x card for W9x gaming, can't handle W9x 3D , and even W9x 2D colors will be crappy, has better MsDos compability.
With such graph card I even doubt that the 'restart in MsDos mode' that is possible with W98SE will help here .....

But as I said: your choice.

I'm sorry but I don't quite understand why I need to chooes between DOS or Win98. I need help configuring my DOS to be able to run these games..

EDIT: I have three Win95 games installed that I would like to keep playing, as they work fine, so completely removing Win98 is not an option I want.

You always could dual boot W9x-MdDos, you need a bootmanager, a MsDos FAT16 partition (some 200MB is enough), and the rest used by W9X....
If that's more then you can chew, you will have to learn working with MsDos shortcuts in W9x:
rightclick on the dos executable (or bat, com, whatever you need to launch game) and create shortcut, then rightclick on shortcut and adapt mem-screen-behavour-whateverneeded settings to meet game's needs.

Other possibility: as already posted: use the 'restart in MsDos mode' in Win start menu (shut down option), but that isn't 100% MsDos 6 or MsDos 5 compatible as it will run on Dos7 with the Dos7 mem managers (XMS-EMS-.....)

Another one ( I don't doubt you have a floppy drive on that laptop) is to use a MsDos bootfloppy for gaming, but you'll need a FAT16 partition to be able to use your HD with the bootflop, or restrict yourself to dosgames that can run entirely from floppy if you only have FAT32 partitions ..... or use a Freedos, DOS7 or DrDos bootfloppy.... etcetera

There are more possibilities, but that would take us much too far to explain .....

Maybe you could ask at the vault of dos adept, to know: VOGON
http://vogons.zetafleet.com/index.php
There are a lot of dos-OS dos-hardware adepts over there, and with a bit of luck they will be happy to help you further.

Alright, thank you for your time and help!