petemeat on 11/6/2001 at 02:31

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This post explains in some detail how to run Ultima Underworld I via MS-DOS Mode (from Windows 98SE), using a Microsoft Intellimouse (PS/2) and Sound Blaster PCI-128. This obviously may not work for everyone, but I suspect you should be able to copy my setup and tweak a few things and everything should work properly. The trick is simply finding and installing suitable drivers which run in MS-DOS Mode and coding the all-important "config.sys" and "autoexec.bat" files.

Here goes:

1. Find an appropriate mouse driver for the MS Intellimouse (PS/2). This was tricky. I spent lots (!) of time downloading different drivers from the web and testing each one in MS-DOS Mode (yes, a total bore: constant restarting in DOS mode to find the UW cursor doesn't move and then rebooting to Win98 to try another driver).

The sole mouse driver which runs perfectly with UW (and my other DOS titles) was the Microsoft 9.01b mouse driver released in 1993(!). This driver supports PS/2 and serial mice. This driver is available from lots of different sites. More recent MS drivers did nothing helpful. I am happy to post these drivers if someone cannot find them - it's only about 900K.

2. Install the 9.01b driver into a suitable DOS compatiable directory:
C:\Msmouse2

3. Find an appropriate sound driver for the SB PCI-128. I found nothing on the web after some trawling and in the end I simply copied the DOS drivers from my original Creative installation CD. To my amazement they do actually work - perfectly. Yes, I should have check the CD first, but hey! These drivers are circa 1998.

4. To install the sound drivers, simply copy the "Dosdrv" directory from the original SB-128 installation CD. It is only about 500K. The files should reside in a directory such as:
C:\Windows\Creative\Dosdrv

Your "Dosdrv" directory should contain the following 9 files:
Apconfig.exe
Apinit.com
Aplegacy.exe
Apload.exe
Apmixer.exe
Aptest.exe
Audiopci.bin
Dos4gw.exe
Mt32.exe

5. Now check the emulation, interrupt and port settings for your SB-128. Go to Control Panels>System and select the Device Manager tab. Open the "Sound, video and game controllers" list. Double-click on "Sound Balster PCI128 Legacy Device". Select the "DOS Application Settings". Make a note of the settings, particularly the SB Pro Emulation Settings - my setup uses Port 220, DMA 1, IRQ 7 (pretty standard stuff). Keep in mind you cannot change the settings from here: hit the Resource tab, disable "Use automatic settings" and play around if you want to try different options.

Obviously there cannot be any conflicts and your card must work under Windows normally if you are to have any chance of running it under DOS.

6. Install Underworld to a suitable DOS directory (c:\uw1) by running "Install.exe". After installation use the sound setup program (Uwsound.exe) to allow UW to find and recognise your sound card. If the application cannot detect your sound card you will have to change the settings for sound and speech until the application indiactes that your current settings are correctly detected.

7. Now set up "uw.exe" to run in MS-DOS Mode. To do this, find "uw.exe" and then right-click, select Properties, and in the Program tab select the "Advanced..." button. Activate MS-DOS mode and choose to "Specify a new MS-DOS configuration".

The trick to running any DOS title is to load as little code as possible, so as to converse that precious 640K essential operating RAM. Don't load stuff you don't need (eg. CD, network drivers etc). Keep it lean.

Type in the following for the Config.sys entry:

DOS=HIGH,UMB
Device=C:\WINDOWS\Himem.Sys
DeviceHigh=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.Exe


This code above simply loads DOS and a memory manager into high-memory. This lessens the chances of UW reporting that you are out of memory.

Type in the following for the Autoexec.bat entry:

SET TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET PROMPT=$p$g
SET winbootdir=C:\WINDOWS
SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
SET MOUSE=C:\Msmouse2
LoadHigh C:\Msmouse2\Mouse.exe /q
SET SNDSCAPE=C:\WINDOWS
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T2
LoadHigh C:\Windows\Creative\Dosdrv\apinit.com


The line "SET MOUSE=C:\Msmouse2" simply points DOS to the mouse driver directory, while "LoadHigh C:\Msmouse2\Mouse.exe /q" loads the mouse driver code into high memory.

The line "SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T2" may be different if you use other port, DMA and IRQ settings on your machine. This is the default SB-128 options and they should work. Otherwise, simply copy the settings from your own installation and use them instead.

The line "LoadHigh C:\Windows\Creative\Dosdrv\apinit.com" runs the all-important SB PCI-128 DOS sound drivers.

(These changes to the DOS configuration files assume that you have installed Windows 98SE and your DOS mouse and sound drivers to the exact directories listed above. If not, then change the directory notation to suit your own machine).

8. To run Ultima Underworld, double-click "uw.exe". During the reboot to DOS, the SB PCI-128 drivers should self-initialise, UW should load and you should be ready to step into the domain of the abyss with full sound and mouse action...

Good luck.


BTW, do yourself a favour and install the general midi (GM) patch so that MIDI files can be used in place of the original score. The music is much more bearable via GM than otherwise.

twisty on 12/6/2001 at 10:47

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Good effort. Though I have to admit that I beg to differ about the midi patch. I actually prefer the original sounds.

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