Hi... I am having trouble installing this DOS game that I really want to play and I found you guys... I really hope you can help. First off, i know xms memory has been spoken about before... but i am so terrified of touching my config file! i am including all the information so im hoping someone can just say put this here and i'll be good to go. The game installs just fine... but when I double click the .exe command to start the game it reads: Star Trail needs an installed XMS/EMS driver, and a minimum of 688128 Byte free XMS/EMS Memory. With at least 622592 Byte accessable as EMS Memory and 65536 Byte accessable as XMS Memory! Your system only has 16777216 Bytes free EMS Memory and -1024 Bytes free XMS Memory. If both values of your DOS-Display fits this needs, your memory manager simulates EMS through XMS and vice versa! Before you restart Star Trail, please refer to the examples in CONFIG.BSP. ONEFILE Version config.bsp which is on the game's cd reads: Example configuration files for Star Trail 1. MS-DOS/PC-DOS, 2MB RAM, Himem 2. MS-DOS/PC-DOS, 2MB RAM, Himem + EMM 3. MS-DOS/PC-DOS, 4MB RAM, Himem + EMM 4. Novell Dos, 2MB 5. Novell Dos, 4MB 6. DR-DOS, 2MB 1. MS-DOS, 2MB RAM, Himem a) config.sys: Device=c:\dos\himem.sys Dos=High Device=c:\dos\mouse.sys Files=20 b) autoexec.bat: c:\dos\smartdrv.exe 128 c:\dos\keyb GR,, c:\dos\keyboard.sys Path c:\dos; 2. MS-DOS, 2MB RAM, Himem + EMM a) config.sys: Device=c:\dos\himem.sys Device=c:\dos\emm386 RAM 672 Dos=High, UMB Devicehigh=c:\dos\mouse.sys Files=20 b) autoexec.bat: loadhigh c:\dos\smartdrv.exe 128 loadhigh c:\dos\keyb GR,, c:\dos\keyboard.sys Path c:\dos; 3. MS-DOS, 4MB RAM, Himem + EMM a) config.sys: Device=c:\dos\himem.sys Device=c:\dos\emm386 RAM 2048 Dos=High, UMB Devicehigh=c:\dos\mouse.sys Files=20 b) autoexec.bat: loadhigh c:\dos\smartdrv.exe 512 loadhigh c:\dos\keyb GR,, c:\dos\keyboard.sys Path c:\dos; 4. Novell DOS, 2MB a) config.sys: Files=20 Device=c:\nwdos\emm386.exe Devicehigh=c:\nwdos\mouse.sys dos=high, umb b) autoexec.bat: loadhigh c:\nwdos\keyb gr+ loadhigh c:\nwdos\nwcache 32 path c:\nwdos; 5. Novell DOS, 4MB a) config.sys: Files=20 Device=c:\nwdos\emm386.exe Devicehigh=c:\nwdos\mouse.sys dos=high, umb b) autoexec.bat: loadhigh c:\nwdos\keyb gr+ loadhigh c:\nwdos\nwcache 128 path c:\nwdos; 6. DR-DOS, 2MB a) config.sys Files=20 Country=049,,c:\drdos\country.sys DOS=ON Device=c:\drdos\emm386.sys /B=FFFF /K=840 Devicehigh=c:\mouse.sys b) autoexec.bat c:\drdos\keyb gr+ path c:\drdos my config.sys reads: [menu] menuitem=CD, Start computer with CD-ROM support. menuitem=NOCD, Start computer without CD-ROM support. menuitem=HELP, View the Help file. menudefault=CD,30 menucolor=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 buffers=10 dos=high,umb stacks=9,256 devicehigh=ramdrive.sys /E 2048 lastdrive=z I really hope you can make better heads or tails of this than I can. Ive been dying to play this but since the game is so old the company, sir tech, is no longer providing technical support. i am thinking its not a problem with the game anyway... id appreciate any aid at all. thank you!! Vanessa

It should be pretty simple, in the last section: [COMMON] files=10 buffers=10 dos=high,umb stacks=9,256 devicehigh=ramdrive.sys /E 2048 lastdrive=z Add one new line so it says: [COMMON] files=10 buffers=10 device=emm386.exe ram dos=high,umb stacks=9,256 devicehigh=ramdrive.sys /E 2048 lastdrive=z OK? so "device=emm386.exe ram" is the new line. This will assign EMS (expanded) memory. You already have XMS (extended). Whether you have enough memory total, or if you'll have enough conventional, we'll have to see.

Vanessa, don't be afraid *g*. You fail to mention your operating system... if you're running Win9x, your emm386 will be in the windows directory (prob'ly), if you're using DOS, it'll be (of course) in the DOS directory. At any rate, open config.sys with notepad or DOS Edit and look for the line containing 'emm386.exe' It will probably look like this: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.exe RAM Remove the 'RAM' parameter and replace it with 'NOEMS' (no quotes tho'): DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.exe NOEMS Your game seems to need XMS memory, which currently is mostly being used to 'emulate' EMS (expanded). Or you could allow some ems with the line: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.exe RAM 2048 If your emm386.exe is in a different directory - don't worry - it doesn't matter, as long as the config.sys points to the right place. Not so sure you need the 'ramdrive' line, but that's another story. btw ed, you need to specify the location of a driver (such as emm386.exe) when loading it as a device in config.sys.

i am running windows 98... i tried all the stuff but the thing keeps saying i have that -1024 xms memory... i put in the emm line with the ram, noems, and ram 2048 and none worked :/ and i also at one point changed it so i had all of the lines it says on that config.bsp they gave me for the third setting with MSDOS and the 4 MB. i changed the ramdrive line to mouse.sys and set the files=20. i eventually just changed it all back to how it was since it didnt change anything... did i maybe need to restart the computer for the changes to take effect? btw, i really appreciate all your help folks, you guys are so nice :) i'm learning stuff though, before yesterday i thought if i even opened the config.sys that my computer would self destruct ;) -Vanessa

Ok, Vanessa, I didn't read this as clearly as I should have (it was early). Question - why do you have so many CD drivers loaded? To save on memory, you could change device= to devicehigh= for any drivers (except himem and emm386 of course). One problem that I see is that you don't tell config.sys where himem or emm386 are, as well as where these CD drivers are - config.sys runs before autoexec.bat - no path is loaded yet. Try this: [menu] menuitem=CD, Start computer with CD-ROM support. menuitem=NOCD, Start computer without CD-ROM support. menuitem=HELP, View the Help file. menudefault=CD,30 menucolor=7,0 [CD] device=c:\windows\himem.sys /testmem:off device=c:\windows\emm386.exe noems rem * you need to pick only 1 CD driver rem* you need the FULL pathname for it too devicehigh=oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001 devicehigh=btdosm.sys devicehigh=flashpt.sys devicehigh=btcdrom.sys /D:mscd001 devicehigh=aspi2dos.sys devicehugh=aspi8dos.sys devicehigh=aspi4dos.sys devicehigh=aspi8u2.sys devicehigh=aspicd.sys /D:mscd001 [NOCD] device=c:\windows\himem.sys /testmem:off device=c:\windows\emm386.exe noems [HELP] device=c:\windows\himem.sys /testmem:off device=c:\windows\emm386.exe noems [COMMON] files=10 buffers=10 dos=high,umb stacks=9,256 rem you may not need a ramdrive rem devicehigh=ramdrive.sys /E 2048 lastdrive=z Try renaming your config.sys to config.old or something, paste and save this as config.sys and try it out - if it doesn't work you can change things back. You DOS mouse driver is (probably) loaded from autoexec.bat - you could put 'lh ' (no quotes) at the beginning of that line to save some conventional memory, but that's not the problem here. I'm actually surprised that these devices get loaded at all without a full path to them, but maybe it's different under Win98 - it would never work using DOS 6.xx. You really (should) only need 1 CD driver tho' - you've only got 1 CD-ROM, right? Anyways, give this a try at least and see if it helps at all.

i actually have 2 cd rom drives (i think? one is a cd burner does that count? it's like the H drive.) and one weird thing (i think its weird not sure if its actually weird or not :P) is that when i do a search on my computer it has 2 config.sys files.. one is in c:\ and one is in c:\windows\command\ebd the one i posted was from the ebd... the one in c:\ reads: device=c:\atapicd.sys /d:mscd001 and thats it... a friend of mine says this is the one i should be changing things in and not the one that i have been changing stuff in. in any case, i will give the stuff you told me a shot and cross my fingers but if i have to put it in the c:\ one please let me know :) you rule, im not worthy ;) -Vanessa

Yes, the burner counts too *g* - I admire your persistence. I had no idea that there would be a 2nd config.sys squirrelled away on your hard drive (well... I have to admit.. Windows isn't my area). Yes - the config.sys located at C:\ is the one that counts! The main thing (I think) is to disable or reduce the amount of expanded memory (EMS) which will make more extended memory (XMS - crazy I know) available for the game to use. The main lines to have present are: device=c:\windows\himem.sys device=c:\windows\emm386.exe noems dos=high,umb The 'noems' bit means No EMS memory - prb'ly don't need EMS anyways - for Really Old games usu. Try checking or replacing just the 'emm386' line to read like this one above (in c:\config.sys) and see if that does the job. If your c:\config.sys is also of the menu type, make sure that you change either all of the submenus or at least the one you will use to play the game. hoping this helps, if not, post your REAL ;-) config.sys and we'll fix it for sure.