eXoFlynn Top 300 DOS Pack Updates and Support

[The Opponent]

This doesn't work either. I'm loading the core from SD so it can be updated normally, but boot0.rom and boot1.rom are on CIFS.

[buttersoft]

OK, so i'm up and running with my custom games list in TDL One thing i should say about the below is that having two partitions on the one VHD seems to stop guiformat-x64 from running. So you have to set up the partitions in FAT32 from the start.

Any tips on general fixes to get games running? I haven't really started testing yet, but keen to avoid hassle where i can

Cheers again!

1. The one thing I do that is a bit difficult to understand is there are two partitions not one on the second large VHD. The reason I do this is so that DOS will assign a drive letter to it at D:. So C: is always the OS disk and can be swapped out by people if they want different setups, dos versions, etc. It separates the games from the OS. How you do this is when you are creating your VHD, I just create a small FAT 10-15MB disk first, and then create another one on the VHD with the remaining space (127.XGB) Then when AO486 mounts this you end up with a C: (OS), D: (STUB DISK), E: (GAMES DISK)
Then in the autoexec.bat you will see me run a command "ASSIGN D: = F:" All this does is overwrite the D: stub disk with the F: drive which is the CD drive. There are multiple games that can do one of two things: 1. They can detect the CD drive and find the CD on F: and play. 2: They are hardcoded to use D: from the Exo collection as you can assign any drive you want in DOSBOX unlike in real DOS. So this trick fixes most. If the CD is mounted, you should see the same content on D: and F: if you are using my image, and you have created a D: stub disk in the second VHD. It was a trick, but it works. It does make the initial setup more complicated, but adds a lot of compatibility.

[flynnsbit]

It's random issues still. Top ones for me when going through the 300 games I test:
1. game config files that are specific names in the games folders that still tie to a C:\GAMEFOLDER so you have to edit the cfg, ini, etc in the directory and change it to E:\GAMES\...\...\.
2. SB16/ASP is usually the default and this is hit or miss on the AO486 core. Some games work fine, some wont work at all. If a game locks on loading, usually it is this. Run setup/install/setsound/whatever and re-configure for SB Pro or SB / General Midi and test game. IF it works, make sure to overwrite the exo backup file in /sb16/ or /sc55/ with the cfg file you fixed using the setup.
3. game requires reinstall to a root folder like C:\game or E:\game. I usually will rerun the install to one of those directories, test the game, and then xcopy it all to the E:\Games\gamename\game folder and test again. If that works, clear out the root folder.

Those are typically the problems. I did a 14 hour stream on all those kind of changes if you are really really bored, you can see the changes I had to make. Still the plan is to not require any of that and feed those changes back to the Converter scripts.

[grizzly]

I did a 14 hour stream on all those kind of changes if you are really really bored, you can see the changes I had to make. Still the plan is to not require any of that and feed those changes back to the Converter scripts.

Haven´t everyone here seen it already

[flynnsbit]

I did a 14 hour stream on all those kind of changes if you are really really bored, you can see the changes I had to make. Still the plan is to not require any of that and feed those changes back to the Converter scripts.

Haven´t everyone here seen it already

You would think that huh!

[hiddenbyleaves]

Thanks for making this pack it is awesome

Are there usb drive compatibility issues with this core? I have an old Buffalo Ministation that works for everything else but maybe I need a powered usb drive.

When I first mounted the two vhds the menu came up fine and I played a few rounds of Arkanoid. Then I tried Dark Forces and it froze after a few logos. After reset I could not get it to see the vhds. It just says "secondary drive not mounted". I've gone through this and other threads trying various things and the only way to get the menu to load again is to delete everything from my usb drive and transfer it back over. I can then see the menu but if I load a cd game I get the "drive not mounted message" and it cant read the vhd after that. Anyone else have a problem like this?

[buttersoft]

That fixed the audio glitches, but there's major stuttering during weapons fire that is pretty game breaking as of now. I'm hoping to find a solution, as I love this game.

There's mention of a similar issue in the compatibility thread - the fix for which is use of a FAT16 disk rather than a FAT32 one. I'm not sure how viable an option that would be.

[spicer]

That fixed the audio glitches, but there's major stuttering during weapons fire that is pretty game breaking as of now. I'm hoping to find a solution, as I love this game.

There's mention of a similar issue in the compatibility thread - the fix for which is use of a FAT16 disk rather than a FAT32 one. I'm not sure how viable an option that would be.

sorry this one is my bad, fat16 did nothing. seems the more sounds you have at once make the problem worse, i just didnt notice as i had 1 gun not 2.

[Tofana10am]

Anybody else having problems with launching Star Wars: X-Wing from Within TDL? I am using the EMM386 memory selection, and select the game from TDL, the launch the game normally by selecting 1, select Sound Blaster, then it immediacy black screens and sends me back to TDL. No matter which sound option I select, I am met with the same results. Other games seem to work just fine, e.g. Full Throttle, Alone in the Dark, Return to Zork). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Bret

[flynnsbit]

Anybody else having problems with launching Star Wars: X-Wing from Within TDL? I am using the EMM386 memory selection, and select the game from TDL, the launch the game normally by selecting 1, select Sound Blaster, then it immediacy black screens and sends me back to TDL. No matter which sound option I select, I am met with the same results. Other games seem to work just fine, e.g. Full Throttle, Alone in the Dark, Return to Zork). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Bret

Here you go, some examples of launching it. You can try EMM or QEM, both should work. If it goes from black screen straight back to TDL you can hit "ALT-F5" in the TDL interface and it will show you the last console before it loaded. That can help you figure out what it is. Example in the video of launching it with different audio (note I was in the middle of testing MT-32 so it is going to sound terrible on one example )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIYzWI- ... e=youtu.be

[Tofana10am]

Selecting QEMM fixed my problem. I’ll check the ALT F5 using EMM386 to see what exactly was/is going on. Thanks for your quick response!

[Kaeril]

Hi,

I could install and use your DOS pack, many thanks for this great time saver.
Warcraft 2 doesn't seem to work for me though. The game boots to the main menu, but trying to run the main campaign will stuck the game in a loop where it asks for the CD and can't find it, even though the script got it mounted properly.

I checked with your 14 hours video and it seems that you didn't try to run the campaign, and validated the game just from the fact it could boot to the main screen, but didn't try to go further. So I don't know if it's a real issue or if it's on me. Could anyone else give it a try and report, please?

[charmless]

Hi,

I could install and use your DOS pack, many thanks for this great time saver.
Warcraft 2 doesn't seem to work for me though. The game boots to the main menu, but trying to run the main campaign will stuck the game in a loop where it asks for the CD and can't find it, even though the script got it mounted properly.

I checked with your 14 hours video and it seems that you didn't try to run the campaign, and validated the game just from the fact it could boot to the main screen, but didn't try to go further. So I don't know if it's a real issue or if it's on me. Could anyone else give it a try and report, please?

I just tried it, same for me. Just keeps asking for the CD.

Also discovered that the Launcher have stopped working for me for some reason, keep getting an error message instead of the normal start..setup window.

[flynnsbit]

Looks like Warcraft II doesn't like my D: CD drive hack. Just change the drive letter in the configs to F:\ and it will work. Here is a video on the process and changes you need to make. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsm_Z25 ... e=youtu.be
Don't just change the war2.ini in the base directory or the run.bat will just overwrite it with the ones in either SB16 or SC55. Fix those and then run.bat will move it and fix the game for you.

[charmless]

Looks like Warcraft II doesn't like my D: CD drive hack. Just change the drive letter in the configs to F:\ and it will work. Here is a video on the process and changes you need to make. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsm_Z25 ... e=youtu.be
Don't just change the war2.ini in the base directory or the run.bat will just overwrite it with the ones in either SB16 or SC55. Fix those and then run.bat will move it and fix the game for you.

Awesome, Thank You!

Do you have any idea why the Dos Launcher keeps giving me error messages? For now I'll just start the games from the dos prompt, no big deal, but it's weird that it just stopped working.

[flynnsbit]

Looks like Warcraft II doesn't like my D: CD drive hack. Just change the drive letter in the configs to F:\ and it will work. Here is a video on the process and changes you need to make. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsm_Z25 ... e=youtu.be
Don't just change the war2.ini in the base directory or the run.bat will just overwrite it with the ones in either SB16 or SC55. Fix those and then run.bat will move it and fix the game for you.

Awesome, Thank You!

Do you have any idea why the Dos Launcher keeps giving me error messages? For now I'll just start the games from the dos prompt, no big deal, but it's weird that it just stopped working.

Give me the error, screenshot, or something to work off of and I can help you. what does it do when you type TDL on E:\

[bengmo]

Wow this pack looks amazing, needs Artic Adventure and Pharoh's Tomb!

[charmless]

Looks like Warcraft II doesn't like my D: CD drive hack. Just change the drive letter in the configs to F:\ and it will work. Here is a video on the process and changes you need to make. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsm_Z25 ... e=youtu.be
Don't just change the war2.ini in the base directory or the run.bat will just overwrite it with the ones in either SB16 or SC55. Fix those and then run.bat will move it and fix the game for you.

Awesome, Thank You!

Do you have any idea why the Dos Launcher keeps giving me error messages? For now I'll just start the games from the dos prompt, no big deal, but it's weird that it just stopped working.

Give me the error, screenshot, or something to work off of and I can help you. what does it do when you type TDL on E:\

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hgph0m61cehuz ... 9.jpg?dl=0

Thats what the error looks like. I have not messed around with anything. When i type TDL from E it starts the launcher. It's not every game that gives the error message, seems to be around 50% of them. But it's no big deal, they start fine from dos.

[bbond007]

Give me the error, screenshot, or something to work off of and I can help you. what does it do when you type TDL on E:\

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hgph0m61cehuz ... 9.jpg?dl=0

Thats what the error looks like. I have not messed around with anything. When i type TDL from E it starts the launcher. It's not every game that gives the error message, seems to be around 50% of them. But it's no big deal, they start fine from dos.

That is an issue with the chosen color scheme. You'll notice the same thing if you press F10...

You can change "COLOR_WIN_BODY= 99h" to "COLOR_WIN_BODY= 9Eh" (in TDL.INI) and then should be able to see the error.

The leftmost "9" is the background color and rightmost "9" is text color, so those ideally should NOT be the same.

You can see available color combinations by running "E:\games\-utilityi\pallette.exe" or within TDL pick "palette.exe" under "-Utilities and System Files".

[flynnsbit]

Give me the error, screenshot, or something to work off of and I can help you. what does it do when you type TDL on E:\

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hgph0m61cehuz ... 9.jpg?dl=0

Thats what the error looks like. I have not messed around with anything. When i type TDL from E it starts the launcher. It's not every game that gives the error message, seems to be around 50% of them. But it's no big deal, they start fine from dos.

That is an issue with the chosen color scheme. You'll notice the same thing if you press F10...

You can change COLOR_WIN_BODY= 99h to COLOR_WIN_BODY= 9Eh (in TDL.INI) and then should be able to see the error.

The leftmost "9" is the background color and rightmost "9" is text color, so those ideally should NOT be the same.

You can see available color combinations by running "E:\games\-utilityi\pallette.exe" or within TDL pick "palette.exe" under "-Utilities and System Files".

Oh no! It's like that in the original pack ini... I need to fix that in the updater....

The color problem is not their issue though, it looks more like it couldn't find files in the game folder extracted location.

[charmless]

Give me the error, screenshot, or something to work off of and I can help you. what does it do when you type TDL on E:\

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hgph0m61cehuz ... 9.jpg?dl=0

Thats what the error looks like. I have not messed around with anything. When i type TDL from E it starts the launcher. It's not every game that gives the error message, seems to be around 50% of them. But it's no big deal, they start fine from dos.

That is an issue with the chosen color scheme. You'll notice the same thing if you press F10...

You can change "COLOR_WIN_BODY= 99h" to "COLOR_WIN_BODY= 9Eh" (in TDL.INI) and then should be able to see the error.

The leftmost "9" is the background color and rightmost "9" is text color, so those ideally should NOT be the same.

You can see available color combinations by running "E:\games\-utilityi\pallette.exe" or within TDL pick "palette.exe" under "-Utilities and System Files".

thanks! I'll give that a try so I at least can see what the error message says.

[buttersoft]

Hi Flynn,
Where would be the best place to report non-working ExoDOS games that re not part of your top 300 pack? I'm happy to do it here, but would raising an issue on the exoDOS-converter github be preferred?

[Caldor]

Hi Flynn,
Where would be the best place to report non-working ExoDOS games that re not part of your top 300 pack? I'm happy to do it here, but would raising an issue on the exoDOS-converter github be preferred?

I have noticed Screamer is in the collection. Pretty sure this game requires FPU and wont run on the AO486. I got a physical copy of the game and it has been one of the games I have attempted to get working.

I do not think the github would be relevant for this, as the exoDOS converter is more general than the AO486.

[buttersoft]

Some things not working on the MiSTer are due to config options not set right - I'm fixing those where i find them for my VHD. Other things might be compatibility-related, but the ExoDOS converter has recently added the MiSTer output option, so it's not irrelevant there either to my mind. They may not even want to do anything but flag such games, i guess. I just don't want to piss in anybody's pool until i know which one is most heavily chlorinated

[flynnsbit]

Hi Flynn,
Where would be the best place to report non-working ExoDOS games that re not part of your top 300 pack? I'm happy to do it here, but would raising an issue on the exoDOS-converter github be preferred?

Here: https://github.com/flynnsbit/Top300_updates/issues