MS-DOS games under Win2000/XP. Why the dont run??

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

When Micro$osft was 'developing' Windows 2000/XP, he decided not to include
MS-DOS in the OS kernel.

However, MS reassured the users who want to run their old MS-DOS games and
programms, that they will have no problem running them under Windows 2000/XP,
as a programme named "Command line" would emulate these programms, and the
would run just fine....

But, for gods sake, why this tool does not works in my windows XP SP1?

Recently, i decided to run an old MS-DOS game named "Speed haste" . When i
tried to run it, i saw the logos, but then, nothing, a black screen appeared
and Command line stopped responding.

I tried everything, the compability mode, different settings, but nothing,
the game persistenly refused to run. I even tried the emulator called
dos-box, and Virtual Machine, but again, nothing.

After a search, i saw that the prodlem was in thw DOS4GW.EXE, as Command
line cant emulate the programms that use this file.

I also faced clipping problems and bad sound with the DOOM game, a well
known shooting game.

<B> So i am asking now. What a poor windowsXP user should do in order to
make his old programms run?

Please, whoever knows something about how to make these games run, post a
message.. </B>.

kurkosdr,
from greece

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Hi,

> When Micro$osft was 'developing' Windows 2000/XP, he decided not to
> include
> MS-DOS in the OS kernel.

Both Win2000 and WinXP were built on the NT kernel which has never used an
underlying DOS subsystem. Win9x systems were built off the DOS susbsystem,
NT systems were not.

> However, MS reassured the users who want to run their old MS-DOS games and
> programms, that they will have no problem running them under Windows
> 2000/XP,
> as a programme named "Command line" would emulate these programms, and the
> would run just fine....

Um, I don't recall ever seeing that promised anywhere. What was "promised"
was that *many* older programs would function in WinXP, and they do via the
compatibility mode settings. The command line will support some DOS
programs, but any that use direct hardware access will not function
correctly. In the DOS days, that was common, but in an XP system the program
must use the system drivers.

> But, for gods sake, why this tool does not works in my windows XP SP1?

Probably for the above reasons.

> Recently, i decided to run an old MS-DOS game named "Speed haste" . When i
> tried to run it, i saw the logos, but then, nothing, a black screen
> appeared
> and Command line stopped responding.
>
> I tried everything, the compability mode, different settings, but nothing,
> the game persistenly refused to run. I even tried the emulator called
> dos-box, and Virtual Machine, but again, nothing.
>
> After a search, i saw that the prodlem was in thw DOS4GW.EXE, as Command
> line cant emulate the programms that use this file.

See what that file specifically does, as it will probably explain why it
won't work.

> I also faced clipping problems and bad sound with the DOOM game, a well
> known shooting game.

Sound is notoriously bad, as many older programs accessed the sound card
directly. As previously mentioned, this behavior is no longer allowed.

> <B> So i am asking now. What a poor windowsXP user should do in order to
> make his old programms run?

Use a real emulator. There is Virtual PC among others that will give you the
true environment you are looking for without having to reboot or create a
multiboot environment. Simply locate and install a copy of DOS to it (works
fine, I've got DOS 6.1, Win3.1, and several Linux iterations running this
way).
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx

> Please, whoever knows something about how to make these games run, post a
> message.. </B>.

Hopefully this information will help you.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

"kurkosdr" <kurkosdr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:482254AD-8C2A-4EC1-B875-284570D87D2D@microsoft.com
> When Micro$osft was 'developing' Windows 2000/XP, he decided not to
> include MS-DOS in the OS kernel.
>
> However, MS reassured the users who want to run their old MS-DOS
> games and programms, that they will have no problem running them
> under Windows 2000/XP, as a programme named "Command line" would
> emulate these programms, and the would run just fine....
>
> But, for gods sake, why this tool does not works in my windows XP SP1?
>
> Recently, i decided to run an old MS-DOS game named "Speed haste" .
> When i tried to run it, i saw the logos, but then, nothing, a black
> screen appeared and Command line stopped responding.
>
> I tried everything, the compability mode, different settings, but
> nothing, the game persistenly refused to run. I even tried the
> emulator called dos-box, and Virtual Machine, but again, nothing.
>
> kurkosdr,
> from greece

Any DOS program that attempts to directly access the hardware won't work.
Most DOS games did that to improve speed.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/security/protect/default.aspx
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

"kurkosdr" <kurkosdr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:482254AD-8C2A-4EC1-B875-284570D87D2D@microsoft.com...
>
> <B> So i am asking now. What a poor windowsXP user should do in order to
> make his old programms run?
>
> Please, whoever knows something about how to make these games run, post a
> message.. </B>.


Try using DOSBox.. it has worked for me a lot of times.

http://dosbox.sourceforge.net

Steve

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

kurkosdr wrote:

> When Micro$osft was 'developing' Windows 2000/XP, he decided not to include
> MS-DOS in the OS kernel.
>
> However, MS reassured the users who want to run their old MS-DOS games and
> programms, that they will have no problem running them under Windows 2000/XP,
> as a programme named "Command line" would emulate these programms, and the
> would run just fine....
>
> But, for gods sake, why this tool does not works in my windows XP SP1?
>
> Recently, i decided to run an old MS-DOS game named "Speed haste" . When i
> tried to run it, i saw the logos, but then, nothing, a black screen appeared
> and Command line stopped responding.
>
> I tried everything, the compability mode, different settings, but nothing,
> the game persistenly refused to run. I even tried the emulator called
> dos-box, and Virtual Machine, but again, nothing.
>
> After a search, i saw that the prodlem was in thw DOS4GW.EXE, as Command
> line cant emulate the programms that use this file.
>
> I also faced clipping problems and bad sound with the DOOM game, a well
> known shooting game.
>
> <B> So i am asking now. What a poor windowsXP user should do in order to
> make his old programms run?
>
> Please, whoever knows something about how to make these games run, post a
> message.. </B>.
>
> kurkosdr,
> from greece

It has always been a good idea to keep a dedicated DOS box
around...just for old DOS games and also un-cooperative DOS
business applications. As others have mentioned, they have
issues with the Windows 2000 or XP DOS box when there are
certain needed features that are even beyond the realm of
DOS itself. For instance, DOS4GW.EXE is a DOS-extender which,
IIRC, requires expanded memory. And there are, in particular,
games that use other DOS extenders such as Pharlap, etc. They
will cause problems in Windows. But, they are what made these
games to great in the days of DOS.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

That's not true. NTVDM provides a virtualised environment. It can access the video card directly in full screen mode (which is why some programs only run full screen) and it can access the serial port, parallel port, a sound blaster soundcard, and other system resources through virtualised device drivers (eg a VXD). Nearly all Dos programs accessed hardware direct. MS made the hardware dos programs expect available.

--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://webdiary.smh.com.au/archives/_comment/001075.html
=================================================
"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP" <franksaunders@mvps.org> wrote in message news:OxQ5rx8gFHA.3256@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> "kurkosdr" <kurkosdr@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:482254AD-8C2A-4EC1-B875-284570D87D2D@microsoft.com
>> When Micro$osft was 'developing' Windows 2000/XP, he decided not to
>> include MS-DOS in the OS kernel.
>>
>> However, MS reassured the users who want to run their old MS-DOS
>> games and programms, that they will have no problem running them
>> under Windows 2000/XP, as a programme named "Command line" would
>> emulate these programms, and the would run just fine....
>>
>> But, for gods sake, why this tool does not works in my windows XP SP1?
>>
>> Recently, i decided to run an old MS-DOS game named "Speed haste" .
>> When i tried to run it, i saw the logos, but then, nothing, a black
>> screen appeared and Command line stopped responding.
>>
>> I tried everything, the compability mode, different settings, but
>> nothing, the game persistenly refused to run. I even tried the
>> emulator called dos-box, and Virtual Machine, but again, nothing.
>>
>> kurkosdr,
>> from greece
>
> Any DOS program that attempts to directly access the hardware won't work.
> Most DOS games did that to improve speed.
>
> --
> Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE
> Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
> http://www.fjsmjs.com
> Protect your PC
> http://www.microsoft.com./athome/security/protect/default.aspx
> http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/
>
>