Hi, I am trying to run an old DOS game (Aladdin)and have managed to make the required 570k base memory free, but when I type the command to run I get a message saying "error not enough XMS memory allocated". The manual doesn't say how much I need. How do I allocate more please? I'm running PCDOS 6.3 & seem to remember that I used to type in something like "loadhigh=EMM386.EXE noems" followed by 4 parameters though obviously I can't remember what they were! Thanks in advance, Roger.

AAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!! (a) LOADHIGH is not a CONFIG.SYS command, DEVICEHIGH is. (b) You can't load EMM386, or anything before it, high. It must be loaded low. (c) You could get away probably with only HIMEM.SYS (I would recommend making a boot disk, add DOS=HIGH as the first line in CONFIG.SYS and DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS [assuming you're using Windows] as the 2nd line.) This will load DOS into the high memory area, saving you the 570K you need, and creating the XMS you also need. If you use disk compression like DoubleSpace or DriveSpace, I can guarantee this will flop.

Send me a message at mkirchho@iupui.edu and I'll get some info to help you out soon--some very good websites.

This question gets asked about every week or so (calm down Chris) *g* config.sys device=c:\windows\himem.sys device=c:\windows\emm386.exe noems dos=high,umb If you're OS is DOS, the path will be different. This is the basic configuration (there are variations) After these lines are executed in config.sys, apps and devices can be loaded high either through devicehigh= statements later in config.sys, or by loadhigh (lh) statements in autoexec.bat or from the command line. Loading high saves conventional mem. Available conventional memory can be checked by: mem or mem/c /p for more details

Thanks for your patience guys - apologies if I asked what 100s of others have asked before me - I obviously didn't look properly. However, if I could slightly change my question - thanks to your suggestions I have made a boot floppy and with fiddling around I've made 595k of base memory. (DOS/Win3.1 system). When I do the mem /c command it tells me that I have 64MB of XMS memory available so I wouldn't seem to be lacking in that department! However, when I try to run my Aladdin game (DOS version of course) it still reports an error "XMS allocation error" . I wouldn't seem to be lacking in the amount of XMS memory available, nor the amount of base memory (it requires 570k and I have 595k). I would seem to be needing a game-specific example of the config.sys/autoexec.bat for Aladdin. If anyone would be able to help out there it would end 5 years of trying (yes, 5 years! I used to play this game when my son was a baby as the music used to have a calming effect on him. Ever since I have tried running the game on my replacement machine and I can't get it to work!!) Please help if you can. And I do appreciate your patience - thanks guys! Roger.

No need to apologize No need for a boot floppy either, but whatever works. If you are running plain old DOS with Win31, prob'ly your system would have been more or less configured to manage memory. Are you sure emm386.exe is loaded? (of course you set the pathnames to point to \DOS) If emm386.exe is loaded, and DOS is set to high and umb, then maybe this game wants expanded memory instead - it doesn't quite sound like it, but you never know. To setup for both expanded (EMS) and extended (XMS) mem, change the parameter at the emm386 line in config.sys: device=c:\dos\emm386.exe RAM (caps not necessary) You've got enough ram and enough conventional memory, but some of the older games like it configured a certain way. If you're still having difficulties, post the relavent portions of your config.sys and autoexec.bat files and maybe something will 'jump out' Sometimes these games will have setup examples buried in their documentation, although no doubt you've been through those already. Post back with progress.

Good news! At last I've managed to get Aladdin going! Thanks for all your help - all I need to do now is set up my boot disk to include the stuff for my soundcard so I get the audio too. Thanks again! Roger.