DOS Games Discussion

Greetings,
I have been trying to play a dos game and I get the msg. "MSCDEX not installed". How do I correct this? win98,

Thanks,
JS

.....er.......install it?

And on an unrealated note:

<- Look at it run! Run chicken, run!

Thtat's been asked in old forum. Check it.

Hi,

there are three ways around this problem.

1/ The easiest way would be to just boot from a boot disk to install and/or run the game. www.bootdisk.com is a great place to find these. Boot with the boot disk. Navigate from the a: prompt to the directory on the c: drive where you installed the game. Type the name of its executable and hit enter. Note that you may have to set up your sound to work with the boot disk. Some boot disks will help you with this.

2/ Another way to fix the problem is to open two files in the root of your c: drive with a text editor and add a couple of lines. This sounds simple enough but if you choose to do it you should bear in mind that you will be forcing all Windows programs to access the CD-ROM drive in your machine via a much slower 16 bit DOS compatible interface.

I would not use this method unless you are prepared to do it just when you want to play the game (to do this you could add and remove a colon ";" from the beginning of the lines and then reboot but it's a faff). And I especially would not do it if you have a CD-RW or a DVD-ROM drive.

Also, to do this, you will need to download and copy across a suitable DOS CD-ROM driver. There's one <A HREF="http://dos.li5.org/downloads/drv.htm">here</A> called vide-cdd.sys that works well with nearly all drives. Simply put a copy in your Windows folder.

The files you would open and change are called config.sys and autoexec.bat. You can edit them by clicking on Start, Run and typing in "sysedit" (without the quotes) and hitting OK. Make sure that these two are the only files you change however!

You would add this line to config.sys-
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:MYCDROM

and this line to autoexec.bat-
C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MYCDROM /M:15

As I said above these changes will only take effect when you reboot. And Windows may not like having 16 bit DOS compatible drivers installed!

3/ The final way is what the Windows 9x operating systems were written for but it takes a little more skill, time and patience. Windows 9x was written to provide single-click access to any number of unique full DOS environments. It is a brilliant system whereby Windows reboots the machine into DOS and then, when you quit the program or game, Windows reboots again back to the desktop.

You would right-click the game's executable and select "Create Shortcut". You then drag the shortcut to the desktop or Start Menu or wherever you want it. You now right-click the shortcut and select "Properties". Click on Program and then Advanced.

Here you can set exactly how you want Windows to run the program. Notice that if you elect to shut down and restart in MS-DOS mode you get to configure your own config.sys and autoexec.bat files?

Doing it this way you would have to find three things. A CD-ROM driver (I just pointed you at one above), a mouse driver (there's a good one in my sig) and the necessary DOS drivers for your sound card (you'd have to go to the manufacturer's site if you don't have them on disk). So, if you copied ctmouse.exe to your Windows folder too, you'd have the following as possible config.sys and autoexec.bat files with the exception of the sound driver which I'll have to leave blank.

Config.sys-
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM I=B000-B7FF
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\VIDE-CDD.SYS /E /D:MYCDROM

Autoexec.bat-
SET PROMPT=$p$g
SET winbootdir=C:\WINDOWS
SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4
LOADHIGH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MYCDROM /M:15
C:\WINDOWS\CTMOUSE.EXE
***ADD THE COMMANDS FOR YOUR SOUND CARD HERE***

The above set up would provide expanded memory (EMS) which is the type most older games like. If you get a memory error message simply substitute the letters "NOEMS" for "RAM" in the EMM386 line in the config.sys. This would give you extended memory (XMS) which is what more recent DOS games go for.

Seems like a lot of trouble? Well, once you've done it once it gets easier. And you end up with the ultimate DOS game launcher.

Hope this is of some help! I'm off for a cuppa...

thanx, this thread is really awsome

I didn't quite get what you ment in 1/ when you suggested to boot the game (the computer) from a boot disk... Could you explain how that works? If I boot Windows XP form a boot disk, how is that to help me start my game?

Thanx

Does that help me work my way around Sound problems as well? Cos' my game is working fine, i've just got sound problems = NO SOUND :/
I've allready tried VDMS, Abandon Loader, VMScumm, Dos-Box and what not, but it just won't make any sound at all.

The farthest I got was, by choosing to run the game with VDMSound, to receive the error: 'No Cd-Rom drive or MSCDEX not installed'
Does anybody know how to work my way arround that error?

Thanx
Reed

procerus wrote:2/ Another way to fix the problem is to open two files in the root of your c: drive with a text editor and add a couple of lines. This sounds simple enough but if you choose to do it you should bear in mind that you will be forcing all Windows programs to access the CD-ROM drive in your machine via a much slower 16 bit DOS compatible interface.

You know, I really don't think so. I am running Win98SE on one of my machines, and I have CD-ROM drivers permanently loaded in Config and Autoexec. I think that Windows knows how to ignore them. At least it doesn't say "Drive X is running in compatibility mode". It used to, but it doesn't now. I have no idea why.