Creating MS DOS boot disk for DOS Game

[A31Chris]

Have just bought Wing Commander III. DOSBox users seem to have trouble running it still.

So as a fun exercise and something I've never done before, I want to run it from a DOS shortcut using a DOS boot disk according to the instructions.

Step 7 of the boot disk instructions wants me to go to a DOS prompt and type cd\ to change directory. ok good.

Now it wants me to copy c:\config.sys c:\config.osi.

I'm suppose to get (1) file copied. Instead I get (0) files copied.

The next step goes well.copy c:\autoexec.bat c:\autoexec.osi.

But the first step is a no go. I looked on my HD and there is no config.sys. to copy.

The system I am doing this on is a Deskpro EN P733 running new install of Windows 98se.

Video card is an ati All In Wonder radeon 9600xt.

CD drive is a Samsung CD-R/RW SW-224B

Sound card is a SoundMAX Intergrated Digital Audio.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. This should be fun.

Was wondering if info in this site would also be useful for this:

http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/boot98.htm

[jdc2000]

It looks like the step you are working on is one that would back up your existing config.sys and autoexec.bat files. With Windows 98se, you may not have these files by default. You can just create a config.sys file with one line that has REM on it.

[A31Chris]

Well I followed the instructions, spectacular fail. It wont switch to the cdrom drive apparently it cannot see it

[SpywareDr]

MS-DOS and CD-ROM drives can be a real pain. You have to load the driver in the CONFIG.SYS file and then tell MS-DOS about it in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. For example: http://www.computerhope.com/ac.htm

More: http://www.google.com/search?sclient...ys&btnG=Search

[davidgsmith]

There are 2 DOS prompts in the Windows folder. One for use of a game needing EMS and one for games not needing EMS. They each have their own config.sys and autoexec.bat files. I am pretty sure the one with EMS has the CD lines present, they may be REM'd out and you would have to remove the REM's. That is the one you would want to use. If you right click on it and go to properties, you can find both of those files there and edit them as necessary.

FYI I am running Wing Commander III in Windows XP Pro using Virtual Machine 2007 with DOS 6.2 installed. Runs like a top! There are places on the internet to get DOS 6.2 for free. (Whether that's still legal or not I do not know) It's a great game, if not for the movie clips in the story.!!

Dave

[A31Chris]

Thkanks guys!

Rereading the instructions I totally did the setup wrong. However I am pretty sure the SoundMAX intergrated audio does not have the DOS drivers for it. At least I don't have them. I am probably going to have to grab a SB16 or SBLive! card or somesuch. I 'think' I can find the DOS drivers for it. This MAME guy here claims to have them, but I dont know if they will only work for MAME or what. He talks about them being custom modified or something.

http://easymamecab.mameworld.info/html/snddosdr.htm

I got Wing Commander III to work under DOSbox(0.74) in my XP machine last night, however its buggy as hell. The video is 'melty', stuttery and it freezes up once I tried to run the simulator.

And plus I'd still rather do it this way on 98se. No emulation. Just run it in its pure enviroment the way it was meant to be. Once I learn how to do it and get things squared away I'm off to the races as I have another game for years I have never been able to properly play that needs to be run from DOS. Interplays 'WaterWorld'.

[Rocketmech]

May be helpful ,

http://www.wcnews.com/techsupport.shtml#wc3

[A31Chris]

May be helpful ,

http://www.wcnews.com/techsupport.shtml#wc3

Thats the one I used. Its actually got some typos in it. The more helpful one was the dosbox wiki.

[davidgsmith]

And plus I'd still rather do it this way on 98se. No emulation. Just run it in its pure enviroment the way it was meant to be.

If you use the DOS Prompt (For games using EMS) in Window 98SE's Windows folder that is what you will get. [purest enviroment short of running it straight from MS DOS 6.2 like I do] Because if you are booting with a bootdisk in Win98 you still will be booting basically into MS DOS mode anyway. Not pure DOS. IMHO.

But I do concede that the experience of writing config.sys and autoexec.bat files a great learning experience ! :0]

Dave

[A31Chris]

ok got the pci 128 to work got drivers all squared away.

Now to make the dos shortcut in 95 I do not need, as far as I can see, to create a boot disk. the autoexec.bat and config.sys in the DOS shortcut become the boot disk if I'm reading this right.

So would this be a good example of what to put in the DOS shortcut for a config.sys and an autoexec.bat file?

@echo off
SET SOUND=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6
SET PATH=C:\Windows;C:\ 
LH C:\Windows\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:123 
SET PATH=C:\Windows;C:\ 
LH C:\Windows\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:123

And this for a config.sys:

DEVICE=C:\Windows\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\Windows\EMM386.EXE NOEMS

What do you guys think? I can throw it in there and try it out.

[A31Chris]

ok the recommended configuration according to the manual is CONFIG.SYS

DEVICE=C\DOS\HIMEN>SYS
DOS+HIGH
FILES=40
BUFFERS=99
SHELL=C\DOS\COMMAND>COM C:\DOS /P
DEVICE=C:\,path>\<your CD-ROM driver> <parameters>

For this last line what should I put in? Should I substitute it with this?

LH C:\Windows\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:123

Autoexec.bat it recommends something like this

[code]
PROMPT $P$G
PATH=C:\DOS
SET COMSPEC=C\DOS\COMMAND.COM
C Or drive where the game is installed)
C:\MOUSE|MOUSE.COM
C:\<PATH>\MSCDEX.EXE <parameters>[code]

but then it says

Type in the information for the above MSCDEX.EXE line from the printout of your AUTOEXEC.BAT. This line should be identical ecept for two items: delete the /E parameter(the /E and so on -but not past the next blank space), ad change /M:## to /m:5. For example:

C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /E /M:15 /L:F

would change to:

C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /M:5 /L:F

D: (or whatever your CD-ROM driver letter is)
WC3

[SpywareDr]

ok the recommended configuration according to the manual is CONFIG.SYS

DEVICE=C\DOS\HIMEN>SYS
DOS+HIGH
FILES=40
BUFFERS=99
SHELL=C\DOS\COMMAND>COM C:\DOS /P
DEVICE=C:\,path>\<your CD-ROM driver> <parameters>

For this last line what should I put in? Should I substitute it with this?

LH C:\Windows\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:123

First line, change the first "\" to ":\" and then change the ">" to a "." (Note that if your HIMEM.SYS file is in C:\WINDOWS instead of C:\DOS you would need to change that line to reflect that difference).

Second line, change the "+" to an "=" and then append a ",umb". ("dos=high,umb")

Third line is fine. Files are usually set between 30 and 60.

Forth line is also fine. Buffers are usually set anywhere from 20 to 99.

Fifth line, change the first "\" to ":\" and the ">" to a "." In other words, "shell=c:\dos\command.com c:\dos /p". (Note that if your COMMAND.COM file is in C:\WINDOWS instead of C:\DOS you would need to change both instances of C:\DOS in that line to reflect that difference).

Sixth line should point to your CD-ROM driver and then give the drive a name. For example "devicehigh=c:\mtmcdai.sys /d:123" (without the quotes). What that is saying is that your CD-ROM driver is named "mtmcdai.sys", it is located in the root of drive C: (the "c:\" part), and that trailing "d:\123" is what you want to name the drive, "123"). It does NOT matter what this name is. You just need something so that you can tell the MSCDEX.EXE command in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file what you named the drive so it can find it in memory.

Autoexec.bat it recommends something like this

PROMPT $P$G
PATH=C:\DOS
SET COMSPEC=C\DOS\COMMAND.COM
C:( Or drive where the game is installed)
C:\MOUSE|MOUSE.COM
C:\<PATH>\MSCDEX.EXE <parameters>

but then it says

Type in the information for the above MSCDEX.EXE line from the printout of your AUTOEXEC.BAT. This line should be identical ecept for two items: delete the /E parameter(the /E and so on -but not past the next blank space), ad change /M:## to /m:5. For example:

C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /E /M:15 /L:F

would change to:

C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /M:5 /L:F

D: (or whatever your CD-ROM driver letter is)
WC3

First line is fine

Second line is ok, (if you've installed everything in C:\DOS). Most also add the root of C:, (i.e., "path=c:\dos;c:\"). If you also have a C:\WINDOWS directory full of executables that you use frequently, you'd want to add it as well, (i.e., "path=c:\dos;c:\;c:\windows")

Third line, change that first "\" to a ":\". (Note that if your COMMAND.COM file is in C:\WINDOWS instead of C:\DOS you would need to change that line to reflect that difference).

Forth line, delete

Fifth line, change that "|" to a "\". (Note that this line will only work if you have your MOUSE.COM file in directory C:\MOUSE. If your MOUSE.COM file is in say C:\DOS instead of C:\MOUSE you would need to change that line to reflect that difference, i.e., "c:\dos\mouse.com").

Sixth line will be something like "lh c:\dos\mscdex.exe /d:123" ... that trailing "/d:123" must match what was used in the CONFIG.SYS file. (Note that if your MSCDEX.EXE file is in C:\WINDOWS instead of C:\DOS you would need to change that line to reflect that difference). As far as the "/m" and "/l" parameters go, I'd give it a test without them first and see if everything worked okay. If so, then simply ignore them.

[A31Chris]

Thank you for the help. I really appreciate it. I'll work on this tonight after work and tomorrow. Lets see if I can get this baby rolling. Fun to learn new things.

[Dude111]

You shouldnt have to do all that bud,you can open DOS games from the command line..

Just goto MS-DOS and you can launch it there or create an MS-DOS SHORTCUT which will use the COMMAND program in the root driectory to access it

I have some DOS stuff i play

Good luck!

[davidgsmith]

Remember your floppy has to be bootable !

From the command line with a empty formatted disk in the drive, type:
sys a: then press enter.