A Boot-Disk Guide/Faq - Comments

twisty on 27/6/2001 at 03:31

I've made a boot-disk guide which is now posted up at (http://www.stygianabyss.com/uwfaq/) http://www.stygianabyss.com/uwfaq/
If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.

Shadowcat on 27/6/2001 at 07:52

Great stuff, twisty! you rock :)

I'd suggest moving the HD install instructions to the top of the page, as that's something you really want to check out first before resorting to boot discs...

twisty on 27/6/2001 at 10:01

Thanks Shadowcat! I agree with your sugesstion, even though I believe that by following my instructions that playing off the HD will not be necessary for 90% of people. However, I realise that a lot of people will probably prefer to play off their HD anyway. I do, incidently.
I will at least provide a link to that section at the start of the guide. I've also got a few other things to add to the FAQ section, so I will try to have an updated version available within the next few days. Before I do this though, I'll wait to see what other suggestions are made. 
Long live the Underworld!!!

[ June 27, 2001: Message edited by: twisty ]

Brad Schoonmaker on 28/6/2001 at 00:21

Good job! Where were you 8-9 years ago when we really needed help. ;)

Brad S.

twisty on 28/6/2001 at 03:56

Well, my whole motivation for making this guide arose after seeing lots of people give up after not bieng able to run the Underworld games. It also annoyed me that there was a link to download the full game at Stygian-Abyss, but that the only advice available was "good luck getting it to run".

Im hoping that some more people who wanted to play the game but were daunted by the task of making a boot-disk, will have a go at using my guide.

Brad Schoonmaker on 28/6/2001 at 04:32

Quote:

Originally posted by twisty:
"good luck getting it to run"

LOL! Something like a 'taillight guarantee'. :)

Brad S.

Daxim on 28/6/2001 at 10:20

twisty, the examples are all messy and don't take other soundcards, localized country settings and keyboard drivers nor proper disk caching into account. Please read the DOS 6 & 7 documentation again. (Hey, who said DOS configuration was an easy thing? ;))

<pre style="font-family:monospace">
dos=high,umb
should be combined into one command
country=049,437,c:\windows\command\country.sys
049 = country code, 437 = codepage
device=c:\windows\himem.sys /testmem :off
POST does already a more reliable RAM testing
device=c:\windows\emm386.exe 1024 ram highscan
highscan adds 16 KB UMB from segment F000-F7FF
devicehigh=c:\windows\command\ebd\oakcdrom.sys /d:mscd001 /m:10
my CD drives actually works with only 4 sector buffers, set through mscdex. it might be harmful to force random values upon the unwitting user
installhigh=c:\windows\command\mscdex.exe /d:mscd001
installhigh=c:\windows\smartdrv.exe 2048 0 ab-c+d+e
read cache for drives a: (floppy) and e: (cd-rom), read/write caches for c: & d: (HD partitions), no cache for b: (2nd floppy does not exist)
installhigh=c:\drivers\mouse.com
installhigh=c:\windows\command\keyb.com gr,437,c:\windows\command\keybrd2.sys
gr = country code, 437 = codepage
</pre>

The drivers that were written for the user's specific hardware (CD drive, mouse) should be preferably used. The manufacturer's or retailer's websites usually offer them for free download.

<pre style="font-family:monospace">
set blaster=a220 i5 d1 h5 p330 t6
set ctsyn=c:\windows
set msdosdata=c:\windows\temp
the third, less documented temporary environment variable
set path=c:\progra~1\creative\sblive\dosdrv
de-trashed path
set prompt=$d $t$h$h$h$h$h$h $p$g
nicer prompt
set temp=c:\windows\temp
set tmp=c:\windows\temp
lh c:\progra~1\creative\sblive\dosdrv\sbmixer.exe /p /q
lh c:\progra~1\creative\sblive\dosdrv\sbeinit.com
full pathnames save boot time
c:\windows\command\mode.com con delay=1 rate=32
quick keyboard
</pre>

Although principally all TSR can be loaded in the config.sys via installhigh to save a few couple of KB, the sound card initialization tools rely on the blaster environment variable. Thus it is loaded after the declaration of the variables.

I cleaned up the files and took out what was either deprecated, ineffective or just plain made no sense.

All these modifications should be made to the actual \config.sys & \autoexec.bat on the boot partition, rather than to a boot diskette. Boot diskettes are cumbersome barbaric workarounds from the DOS 4/5 era. This is of course not true for WinME users who will have to boot from a diskette to circumvent the OS's fixed memory settings. I personally would rather (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=12&t=000664) hack up the ME kernel to make it 98 like than use a boot disk. Then the version dilemma is also naturally solved. Et voilá. :cool:

twisty on 29/6/2001 at 04:19

Sorry, I forgot my magnifying glass Sir Daxim, so I can't see your clean examples very well. I'm not sure what browser your using, but perhaps my examples weren't parsed correctly in it. I guess that I should of checked this in some other browsers before posting, but I have just recently reformated and haven't got around to installing them yet.

The guide is a work in progress, my friend. If you read the guide a little bit closer before posting you will have noticed that I said "The one (soundcard) that we will look at here is the SB-Live card (I will add others later)."The drivers that I supplied for the mouse and CD-ROM are not intended as substitutes for ones supplied by a particular products manufacturer.

Until my guide, Daxim, there was no written help available. I have tried to fill that gap and, as a work in progress, I intend to improve upon the information and design as is needed. I appreciate constructive criticism and have taken note of some valid points that you have raised. However, my guide does produce a boot-disk which will run the underworld games efficiently, I believe. If a person can successfully run the underworld games in windows, then there is no need for them to read this guide. If, however, they are having trouble doing so, then Im hoping that this guide will provide an alternative for them.

I must say, however, that I can't help but feel that the motivation behind your post was related to some earlier clash we had on another forum.

uhszombie on 29/6/2001 at 09:11

if anyone around here has a copy of "rise of the triad" it might be worth them loading up the readme, and posting the bit about "what does all that set blaster stuff do anyway" I'm fairly sure that the set blaster above is wrong (probably works anyway though)

Daxim on 29/6/2001 at 10:57

Uh, what "earlier clash"?

Inline Image:

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/ubb/erm.gif I don't remember...

Anyway, the boot files are cleaner now, just compare. The benefit is that thus a couple of critical kilobytes conventional memory can be saved which decide whether uw will run or not.
A CD driver without mscdex makes no sense.

Here's some info for the most widespread type of non-Creative soundcards - SB Pro clones:* there's typically only one variable: <tt style="font-family:monospace">set blaster=a220 i7 d1 t4</tt>type 4 mean SB Pro (new, or Yamaha)
* a non-TSR tool is called which initializes the card
My card (Fortémedia FM801) actually calls 2 tools, of which 1 is resident, dunno why. (http://homepages.compuserve.de/daxim5/shock/setblast.exe) Apogee's setblast tool (stolen from Blake Stone) could be of help for those who don't like to test their SB settings by trial, reboot and error.

Now tell why do you insist on a boot disk to prevent the Windows GUI? Don't you know of the boot menu that appears when you keep the Ctrl key down after system POST?
<center><hr width="40%"></center>
Errata: the stupid smiley replacement does that always... *sigh*
<tt style="font-family:monospace">device=c:\windows\himem.sys /testmem:off</tt> without space before the colon