Re: sb128 / VCPI -> emm386, Kernel and DPMI issues

Hi, VCPI is "the property of EMM386 to allow other protected mode
software besides it". FreeDOS emm386 does not have that property.

Possible solutions:
Do not use FreeDOS emm386, but use umbpci/hiram/rdosumb/uram instead,
  this will give you UMB but no EMS. Which one to use depends on your
  hardware. For some motherboards, none of the four works. See
  http://www.uwe-sieber.de/ umbpci/
Do not use FreeDOS emm386, but use MS emm386 (can be tricky sometimes)
  or DR emm386 (part of the free for noncommercial use DR DOS). For
  DR emm386 you need a VERY recent kernel (2027te?) with the "sys drivers
  may be bigger than 64k at startup" patch, or you have to use VERSION=4.01
  in fdconfig.sys or config.sys - ask me for details if needed, and do not
  worry, after startup, DR emm386 does use far less than 64k DOS memory.
Do not use any emm386 at all.

Greetings, Eric


> Hello, I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask that, but  this  is
> my problem, I can't run the SB128 driver under FreeDOS cause it  require
> something like "VCPI".. my AUTOEXEC.BAT :
> 
> ...
> DEVICE=C:\FDOS\HIMEM.EXE
> DEVICE=C:\FDOS\EMM386.EXE
> ...
> 
> I was first trying to launch MicroMachines2 but it fails asking  for  an
> Memory Manager. Is there anything I could do, of course staying  in  the
> free possibilities.

You should try using no/another EMM386 for MicroMachines2, too. If it
still fails, try using DR emm386 with the DPMI option off or try using
a VERY recent kernel (2027te?) with the "create temporary file name" fix.
Some games that use DPMI and a DOS extender try to create a swap file and
fail because of a kernel bug with temporary file name creation. If you use
DR emm386 with its built-in DPMI enabled, the DOS extender will use that
DPMI instead of its own and will no longer try to create a swap file. This
is how Decent runs for me. But be carefull, DR emm386 in DPMI mode is a
bit shaky. Do not run low level hardware drivers after loading DR emm386,
run them before (like Plug and Play ISA/PCI enabler drivers).

Eric