Red Alert on ao486 hangs during install

[geiger9]

I made an ISO of my own C&C Red Alert game and I'm trying to install it on ao486 but when it gets to the part where you see the progress bars on the right side it just freezes. I have tried to install it without sound, turn RAM back to 16MB, and turn off L2 cache but nothing works. I am running DOS 6.22.

Has anyone else tried doing this and it worked? What did you do?

[Caldor]

If the install uses DOS4GW in some way, it probably helps to use DOS32A to replace it. Another option could probably be to install it on a VHD on a PC... but that is a bit of a last resort. But you might want to try that just to see whether your image might have an error at some point.

[geiger9]

You're right, the installer does use DOS4GW. I tried using the command DOS32A d:\setup.exe but it says "exec format not supported in file d:\setup.exe". I have tried using this command with a few other setup files on the CD but I get the same error.

[flynnsbit]

Sometimes using QEMM as the memory manager can help with the DPMI bug that plagues the core which might help you get the install going. Caldor is right, DOS32a can get around it as well. I know once the game is installed I think it is GAME.DAT that you run DOS32a with to get it going in the core.

[breiztiger]

me to

it doesn't seem to be dos4gw related because setup start

perhaps cd reading related ?

[geiger9]

Sometimes using QEMM as the memory manager can help with the DPMI bug that plagues the core which might help you get the install going. Caldor is right, DOS32a can get around it as well. I know once the game is installed I think it is GAME.DAT that you run DOS32a with to get it going in the core.

I installed QEMM and ran the installer again but the same problem occurred. The installer hangs when it gets to the progress screen.

I tried installing the game using the same disc image in Virtualbox and it worked fine so I can rule out a problem with the ISO.

I've seen other people online say this does work on ao486 so what am I doing wrong here?

[Caldor]

Sometimes using QEMM as the memory manager can help with the DPMI bug that plagues the core which might help you get the install going. Caldor is right, DOS32a can get around it as well. I know once the game is installed I think it is GAME.DAT that you run DOS32a with to get it going in the core.

Yes, I am not sure about Red Alert, but I could not get C&C to run at all without DOS32A.

But another thing to try could be DOS/4GW 2.01A... but probably wont work in this case because DOS4GW in the C&C games seems to be embedded in other files. DOS32A should be able to help with that though, because it can replace DOS4GW in files and patch them to become DOS32A based instead.

Here is a link to DOS4GW 2.01A though in case that might help:
https://maximumhoyt.blogspot.com/2008/1 ... ative.html

[Caldor]

I am trying to install it now. So far I got the sound working and its installing. But will probably hang later. Using an EMM386 and DOS 7.0 from Windows 98.

Hmmm, seems it actually worked:

image_2022-01-25_225420.png (262.73 KiB) Viewed 7082 times

RAM is set to 16MB, CPU speed set to 90hz.

image_2022-01-25_225458.png (191.21 KiB) Viewed 7082 times

[Caldor]

More settings.
Memory:

image_2022-01-25_225832.png (314.72 KiB) Viewed 7076 times

And the most important part is probably my memory config, its specially setup for the MiSTer:

image_2022-01-25_230019.png (228.69 KiB) Viewed 7076 times

I split the EMM386 line in two so it is easily readable or it would take up space on more than one screen.

[Caldor]

I was unable to copy my config files to my shared folder, I had wanted to share them like that, but then I remembered they are part of the top 300 games pack. I grabbed them from there, they are highly optimized for the MiSTer and I do not think I changed them much.

[geiger9]

Yes, I am not sure about Red Alert, but I could not get C&C to run at all without DOS32A.

Did the installer work for you without using DOS32A? How do I bind it to the .dat file if it's a a CD? I'm not sure how to use DOS32A in this case.

[Caldor]

Yes, I am not sure about Red Alert, but I could not get C&C to run at all without DOS32A.

Did the installer work for you without using DOS32A? How do I bind it to the .dat file if it's a a CD? I'm not sure how to use DOS32A in this case.

Yes, I ran the installer without DOS32A. As I tried to show I was using EMM386, I think it was the config files from the Top 300 game collection, it has configurations for several memory setups, I set the RAM to 16MB. I was running DOS 7, and I mounted the Red Alert CD1 and installed the game.

Then when running the game, I just typed:
DOS32A game.dat

and it runs the game. After it is installed that is. Might work without doing that, I do not think I tried without it. Is it game.dat? I think that is what its called. Its a dat file.