Subj : Axe and Fang?
To : Fzf
From : Martin Kazmaier
Date : Wed Nov 29 2023 12:14 pm
Fz> Re: Axe and Fang?
Fz> By: Martin Kazmaier to All on Sun Nov 05 2023 06:24 pm
Fz> MK> Is it possible to run this door stably?
Fz> It runs without locking up on actual 486 hardware under DOS 5.0 as long as
Fz> SHARE.EXE is not loaded, no expanded memory manager is installed, and no
Fz> multi-tasker or task switcher is involved. Any later version of DOS (at
Fz> least the 6.22 I tested with) or anything that causes the CPU to be in
Fz> enhanced mode or virtual 8086 mode crashes the game or locks up the system
Fz> eventually. So... maybe?
Fz> MK> I'm wondering how well it would run under DOSBox. Has anyone tried
Fz> MK> it?
Fz> I was able to get it running under DOSBox SVN as long as the CPU was
Fz> forced into real mode. You can do that with these settings under the
Fz> [cpu] section in a DOSBox.conf file:
Fz> core=normal cputype=386_prefetch cycles=3000
Fz> Set cycles to whatever value you would like but don't leave it in auto
Fz> mode. I was unable to get a FOSSIL driver to work properly with the game
Fz> and needed to let the game use its own I/O routines. With a locked rate
Fz> at over 38400 the game tends to 'forget' to send data after a while, so
Fz> leave it at that value maximum. Using DOSBox means it's going to need to
Fz> be a single-node only game and you'll need to take measures to prevent two
Fz> users from entering at the same time.
Fz> I also couldn't get DOSBox-X to run this reliably even with the above
Fz> settings. That may be a DOSBox-X problem as I've had some other stability
Fz> issues with the last two releases.
Thanks for the extensive trouble-shooting. I'm not going to run it. It's a
MUD, so definitely single-user only isn't going to be acceptable. Thanks!
