DOS Games Discussion

I have been looking for this game Pirates for about 15 years now since first playing it on the old NES, I finally found a copy of it on CD off Ebay. When I first got it I had problems 'cause I haven't messed with DOS in about ten years. (spoiled by @%#$ing windows) Anyway I finaly got it installed and running using the ms-dos prompt from the windows 98 start menu. The game works fine but freezes after a few minutes. I tried starting my computer in dos but had the usual problems of mouse and cd-rom drivers. Thanks to the people on this site I learned of bootdisk.com and solved both of those problems, but now when I run it from dos th screen blanks for a second then it says "PAGE FAULT OCCURED DUE TO ISUFFICIENT MEMORY" and then the computer freezes and I have to restart. I have checked my conventional memory and I have 601K free. My config.sys file says I have a himem manager enabled, which should work with this game. If anyone can help me I will be eternally thankful. It is horrible waiting for something this long, getting it, and then just geting teased with it for a couple minutes. Hope you can help. Thanks.

If you're using a boot disk then look on your Windows 98 CD in the Other, Oldmsdos folder for a file called Memmaker. If it's there then copy it to your Windows folder.

Boot with your boot disk (leave it in there throughout this process) and then type-
c:\windows\memmaker /batch2
and hit enter. If there are any error messages about missing components then copy them from the Windows CD too (sorry I can't remember all the files needed but memmaker will tell you, no worries).

Sit back and watch as memmaker optimizes the autoexec.bat and config.sys files in the floppy disk. Hopefully this will create more memory for your game.

If this doesn't work for any reason then copy the contents of the config.sys and autoexec.bat you're using for the game and post them on here and we'll do thing manually.

procerus

I couldn't find the file on the 98 disk so here is the autoexec.bat and config.sys files.

Autoexec.bat
@echo off
set expand=yes
set dircmd=/o:n
set lgldrv= 27 * 26 z 25 y 24 x 23 w 22 v 21 u 20 t 19 s 18 r 17 q 16 p 15
set lgldrv= %lgldrv% o 14 n 13 m 12 l 11 k 10 j 9 I 8 h 7 g 6 f 5 e 4 d 3 c
cls
call setramd.bat %lgldrv%
set temp=c:\
set tmp=c:\
path =%ramd% :\ ; a:\ ; %cdrm% :\
copy command.com %ramd% :\ > nul
set comspec = %ramd% :\ command.com
copy extract.exe %ramd% :\ > nul
copy readme.txt %ramd% :\ > nul

:error
If exist ebd.cab goto ext
echo please insert windows 98 startup disk 2
echo.
pause
goto error

:ext
%ramd% :\ extract /y /e /l %ramd% : ebd.cab > nul
echo the diagnostic tools were succesfully loaded to drive %ramd%.
echo.
goto quit

:help
cls
call help.bat
echo your computer will now restart and the startup menu will appear.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
restart.com
goto quit

:Quit
echo to get help, type help and press enter
echo.
rem clean up environment variables
set cdrom=
set lgldrv=

config.sys

[menu]

menuitem = cd, start computer with cd-rom support.
menuitem = nocd, start computer wthout cd-rom support.
menuitem = help, viw the help file.
menudefault = cd, 30
menu color= 7, 0

[cd]
device= himem.sys /testmem: off
device= oakcdrom.sys /d:mscd001
device= btdosm.sys
device= flashpt.sys
device= btcdrom.sys /d:mscd001
device= aspi2dos.sys
device= aspi8dos.sys
device= aspi4dos.sys
device= aspi8u2.sys
device= aspicd.sys /D:mscd001

[nocd]

device= himem.sys /testmem: off

[help]

device= himem.sys /testmem: off

[common]

files= 10
buffrs= 10
dos= high, umb
stack= 9,256
devicehigh= ramdrive.sys /e 2048
lastdrive= z

I just downloaded that game myself, but one question has arisen:How do you save?

I am not sure if the controls are the same but on my game you need to hit the spacebar when you are in town to go to your captains quarters. You can do this while sailing to but I think you need to be in a town to save. There are other options to like looking at the map and checking out your treasure. Where did you download it from?

relegalize?

That boot disk is loading a lot of unnecessary stuff and that's why you've got no memory left.

Install the game to your hard disk (if it's not already there). Then go to the directory (folder) where it's installed and right-click the program (.exe or possibly .bat file) that runs the game and select "Create shortcut". Now drag the shortcut to the Start menu or the Desktop (or right-click "Cut" and then right-click "Paste").

Now right-click this shortcut and select Properties, then click Program and then click the Advanced button. Put a check in the "MS-DOS mode" box and another in "Specify a new MS-DOS configuration".

Copy and paste the text below into the Config.sys section -

DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE 8192 RAM I=B000-B7FF
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\VIDE-CDD.SYS /E /D:MYCDROM

Copy and paste the text below into the Autoexec.bat section -

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

If you have soundcard drivers for DOS you'd add the line(s) for that to the end of the autoexec.bat.

Click OK/Apply and all that jazz.

Now we need to make sure we have the files installed to run this successfully so download vide-cdd.sys from here -
http://www.bgdf.com/darkehorse/PC/DOS/D ... ndex.shtml
and place the file in your Windows folder.

Then download CuteMouse (version 1.9) from the link in my sig and also copy that to the Windows folder.

Now, to play the game, just double-click the new shortcut. Windows will then exit and restart in DOS and load the game (hopefully ). When you quit the game the computer will reboot and Windows will reload.

If you ever get stuck in DOS (if the game crashes) then remember you can return to Windows by typing -
win /w
at the command prompt.

Additionally remember you can always reboot with that boot disk and then, if necessary delete the config.sys and autoexec.bat on the c:\ drive and rename ("ren") config.wos to config.sys and autoexec.wos to autoexec.bat. Remove the boot disk and reboot and Windows will load normally.

Note that Pirates!Gold is supposed to be a tricky game to get running in DOS. Your memory error may actually be due to your system having too much total memory and the game just can't handle it (that's why I've put the "8192" after EMM386 to try to limit the available total memory).

You may find it easier in the long run to find a copy of the Windows version of the game, if you can.

But feel free to post again with any further troubles. It's meant to be a great game so I hope we get it running!

I created the shortcut and got the game running but it still froze up on me.
I think it is not communicating wih the cd-rom. Before the game started I got a message something like this.

"IDE/ATAPI cd-rom device driver ...
Illegal option encountered: /e
cd-rom drive #0 found on 170h port mastr device, v1100"

The mouse driver installed fine.

Try removing the "/E" option from the vide-cdd.sys line in the config.sys.

If that doesn't do it then download a different CD-ROM driver such as teac_cdi.sys from that same site, install it in the Windows folder, and change the reference to vide-cdd.sys to "teac_cdi.sys" in the config.sys. Try replacing the "/E" option if at all possible since it will help with conventional memory under expanded memory conditions.

We'll get there in the end!

Pirates! Gold has a built-in RAM counter that can't be fooled by EMM386's XMS limitation switch, or by RAM allocating tricks like RAMDisks.

What I ended up doing, was using the HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE from MS-DOS 5.0, which has a 16MB RAM limitation, to get Pirates! Gold to run properly.

Get those files off the MS-DOS 5.0 distribution, and re-name them "HIMEM.MS5" and "EMM386.MS5". DOS doesn't care what the extensions are, only the filename proper.