"VESA Not Supported" (Solved)

Hello

Looking for some hope. I hope you can help...

When trying to install the older game Ark of Time on my Win 98se computer I get the Vesa Not Supported error and the installation aborts. I am hoping the graphics card has a driver, generic or other that will enable me to play this game as I have not had any success in locating one.

System stats are

Win 98se
Pentium 3 930MHz
510mb Ram
NVidia Riva TNT 2/ TNT 2 Pro 16mb Graphics Card
driver version 4.14.0010.7184
Direct X 9.0c


Under the system requirements for the game it states..
VESA SVGA compatible video graphics
Am I out of luck?

Hi, Greyfuss. I typed "VESA not supported" into a search and had a bunch of hits. None of them made a lot of sense to me, but you might find something to help you until someone responds here. Good luck!

Hi

I re-play Ark of Time fairly often - but I can only get it to work on my very old Win95 machine

Cheers.

Mad

Ark of Time as I know it is a DOS game - are you attempting to install the game under DOSBox?

Inferno has links to a couple of VESA drivers on her website.
http://home.earthlink.net/~infernoj13usa/ComputeSpecs.htm

I don't know which of ube51a or UVesa would be better, but since you have an old TNT2 card in that old computer, there's a good chance one of them will work.

I played the game in DOS mode of a Windows 98 computer, but I can't remember if I had an old ATI or a Matrox Mystique in the computer at the time.

You might try playing it in DOSBox, as Inland suggests. But success doesn't seem to be 100% there.
http://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?showID=1748&letter=a

UniVBE (UBE51a from SciTech) will work just fine on the TNT line of video cards.

MichalN over at JA+ is (or at least was) an employee of SciTech, maybe you can PM him with this question).

Folks, hi,

'Ripper' needed a VESA driver too. Here are my instructions for loading one in a DOSBox environment:

I get so many requests from people that want to run Ripper in XP, that I decided to post the solution here once and for all. It is probably the most tricky game out there to get running. You need a VESA driver that works in DOS, and these aren't easy to find nowadays, but here's one:

http://ftp.lanet.lv/ftp/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming/scitech/uvbe51a.zip

To install that driver:

1. Download that zip file into a new folder called: C:\univbe51
2. Unzip it.
3. Open a Command Prompt, and change to the folder where you unzipped the driver files to (please read the DOS Tutorial in Steve's XP Games Corner if you don't know how to change folders in DOS).
4. At the Commad Prompt, enter: install
5. Use the Tab key to navigate around in the install programme, and the Enter key to select.
6. Install it to C:\UNIVBE51

Now you need to edit your dosbox.conf file so that it loads the VESA driver on startup. Just make the [autoexec] section look like this:

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount D D:\ -t cdrom -usecd 0 -ioctl
mount C C:\
UNIVBE51\UNIVBE

That should do it.

Regards,
MetzO'Magic

Ark of Time and Riddle of Master Lu were the hardest to get to play due to the VESA error you mention. Sadly not all 98se will play it. I held onto both games for a very long time before I ever got to play either one. Yes, they are both worth the extra effort IMHO.

None of the VESA drivers I tried to download ever worked , sorry to have to tell you that GF. Good luck with trying DOSBox, the game is worth the bother.

Linda

Thanks all, I appreciate your help, here is where I am at now...

Have loaded the UNIVBE51 Vesa Driver and does not help. Even found the program 'Display Doctor' also from SciTech which the NVidia site refers to and this has not helped either.

I have Riddle of Master Loo and Ripper waiting to be played and they also would not install because they could not find a Vesa driver. Thanks Linda.

These older games was why I picked up the Win 98se computer in the first place, to avoid using the likes of DosBox and such and so far has proved invaluable playing many older games. But in these cases it looks as if I will have to break down and get into DosBox or pick up a Win 95 computer that has Vesa compliant video card.

My question now is...Would DosBox run these programs better on the Win98se, Pent. 3 930 MHz with less fiddling or on XP system with more tweaking involved? I have read that DosBox runs game better on a Dos based computer. Any suggestions?

I don't have the original game in question but have made tests with The Riddle of Master Lu. That ought to serve as a model for similar games that complain about VESA drivers.

System - WinXP Home SP2
Video card - nVidia GeForce7600GS 169.21 driver

DosBox v0.72, D-Fend Reloaded v1.1
D-Fend is a front end for DosBox that makes the use of DosBox much much easier.

I made an entry for MasterLu in D-Fend indicating that it was for setup. That means Install.bat on the CDROM was indicated as the setup program. The CDROM drive and the hard drive were "mounted" in D-Fend for DosBox usage. Under Autoexec in D-Fend I entered
e:
indicating that before Install.bat could be run, DosBox must switch to the CDROM drive. Change the drive letter to suit your system.

The installation/setup program started without any VESA complaints. There is no VESA driver installed on my system because DosBox does not need it.

Once the correct file for the program was entered in D-Fend, MasterLu ran with no problems under WinXP.

==============================
Alternatively with my dual boot system, I found that booting to DOS mode in Win98SE permitted installation of MasterLu with the same video card. No VESA drivers were needed to play the game.

*****************************
Just looked at the list of supported games on the DOSBox site
www.dosbox.com
and Ark of Time is supported on any version of DOSBox from 0.65 up.

Hi Robert thanks for helping out but I am confused. If I am understanding all the help here then DosBox will still not work unless the Graphics card is Vesa/SVGA compliant which as far as I can see the TNT is not. What I get out of the NVidia web site they say that the Geforce and Quartro cards are Vesa compliant. Would hate to go through all the learning of DosBox and it still won't play due to the TNT card.

I wonder if it would be easier to find a graphics card that does support the Vesa just to play these few games and re-install the TNT after? Problem is it would have to be a SFF as the Win 98 is a Dell Optiplex.

Or maybe I am not understanding all this correctly

The Pentium 3 would be a little slow for an emulator. There wouldn't be much difference in tweaking DOSBox itself, unless you had to disable hyperthreading or something. The Front End Robert mentioned should make it not too difficult.


Perhaps you're thinking of VDMSound or something. DOSBox was made for NT-based operating systems like Windows 2000 and XP.

By the way, if you want a vintage gaming computer for DOS games like Ark of Time and Ripper, a 933MHz computer is too "new." Sometimes it isn't the excess speed so much as the newer hardware you're apt to find inside that causes problems. A video card that was current at the times the games came out is less apt to cause problems with an old game that uses VESA. Some P3's didn't even have ISA slots for the sound card.

However if you can only get one "older" computer for your older games, it's probably better to get one like you have. It will play Windows 98 games that require 3D video cards. Emulators like Virtual PC still can't emulate 3D cards. And most DOS games will work in DOSBox.

Just a thought , have you tried to use Virtual PC to run the games? VPC really slows down the processor speed. That is why I finally just dragged out my 98se to play Rent A Hero. It just moved too slowly in VPC.

Linda

Ark Of Time on XP - my very first post! This should help you out.

As a general rule, you need one of the 6.xx releases of DosBox to obtain VESA support.

Good luck - this is a truly great, underrated game.

The Riva TNT 2 is VBE 3.0 compliant, and IIRC the SciTech driver supported it.

Here's a spec sheet snippet:

Specifications

2.1 Interface
AGP 4x/2x, with full sideband/Execute Mode support.

Supports over 900MB/sec in AGP 4x mode
300 Million pixels/sec
9 Million triangles/sec
2.9 GB/sec Memory Bandwidth
Built-in 300 MHz RAMDAC
2.2 Graphics Chip
Riva TNT2 128-bit TwiN Texel 3D processor
Clock engine: 142 MHz
2.3 Display Memory
128-bit wide frame buffer interface
32 MB SDRAM (2x;32 MB organization)
Memory clock: 150 MHz
2.4 Video I/O
VGA connector
VESA DDC2B, DPMS, VBE 2.0/3.0 compliant.
TV output
to be used with a compatible TV or monitor (NTSC and PAL TV-out support)
supports the following modes:
NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) 640x;480 and 800x;600
PAL (Phase Alternating Line) 640x;480 and 600x;800

I want you all to know that I appreciate your help but I got to tell you that unless I can get these games to recognize the Vesa drivers I installed on the Win 98 the rest is a lost cause for me. Now don't laugh, I downloaded and installed D-Fend which is suppose to make DosBox easier for newbies to use and I did not understand one single thing. LOL, I will keep my eyes open for a Win 95 computer at Ebay and store the games until that time. Should I be looking for a certain Win 95 setup or version?

I am open for more suggestions as to why the game doesn't see the Vesa drivers that I installed if TNT is compliant. Should I install it differently or maybe it isn't seen in the Bios?

Actually, I don't use any frontends with DOSBox. Once you get a few basic commands down in DOSBox, I find that it is easier to run the games that way.

If you want, I can dig out my Ark of Time this weekend and see if I can get it running; if successful, I could send you the commands to use.

EDIT: On an impulse, I just loaded up the game in DOSBox on Windows XP, and it runs great. Your mileage might vary, depending on your processor speed, but it should run quite nicely. See your PM for more details.

Thank you soo much Marian

Marian has given me an easy list of steps to get Ark of Time running in DosBox (my first time) on an XP machine. And it didn't hurt at all. Now I don't think I will be as leery of it as I was. I feel confident that when it comes time to run Ripper, Metzomagics instructions and Roberts Riddle of Master Loos instructions won't be as intimidating.

Thanks to all who have helped as I learn from every post.

You really don't need a front-end for DOSBox once you get the commands down. The reason I use them is to store the additional information: Developer, Publisher, and Year Released etc... The better front-ends (like D-Fend Reloaded) also allow you to take snapshots (via DOSBox) and display them in the menu.

Marian,
Why don't you post your instructions in the forum?
Someone else may have trouble with Ark of Time and want to see them.

Jenny - here's how to get Ark Of Time running with DOSbox on XP:



AOT needs an older version of DOSBox - I use 0.65, which you can get from the DOSBox site - go to the downloads page, and follow the links for older versions.

Install DOSBox - don't worry if you have a later version installed already,as the two won't interfere with each other.

Insert your AOT cd.

You need to create an installation folder on your C:\ drive. I've called mine "OLDGAMES", but you can call it whatever you like, except AOT. As we're working in DOS, make sure that the name contains no more than 8 letters.

Open DOSBox and type:

Z:\>mount c c:\OLDGAMES
(or whatever you have called your installation folder).


Mount your CD or DVD drive:

Z:\>mount d e:\ -t cdrom (my DVD drive is labelled E:\
- change this letter to match your drive)

Change to the CD drive:

Z:\> D:

And then..........

D:\> install

There's only one awkward part during install - you may be asked to configure your soundcard. If so, choose a SoundBlaster and just keep hitting "Enter" to leave the IRQ and DMA addresses blank. DOSBox will sort these out for you.

Once the install has finished, you can play by typing:

D:\> C:

C:\>cd AOT

C:\AOT> AOT


There are some easy, not too technical hacks you can make to the DOSBox config file, to smooth your playing experience.

Navigate to C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.65. Make a copy of dosbox.conf (just in case things go wrong). Then open dosbox.conf in Notepad.

To save yourself having to type in a long list of instructions each time you want to play, scroll down to the bottom of the file and find the section

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

It will be blank, so add the lines

mount c c:\OLDGAMES
mount d e:\ -t cdrom

(making the changes as above) and save the file. No more nasty mounting when you want to play!

Now, when you open DOSBox, you should see:

Z:\>mount c c:\OLDGAMES
Drive C is mounted as local directory c:\OLDGAMES

Z:\>mount d e:\ -t cdrom
MSCDEX installed
Drive D is mounted as CDRom


Next find the section headed [cpu] and change it to

core=auto
cycles=auto
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

This will enable DOSBox to run all games faster and more smoothly.


Immediately above [cpu] you will find [render], and the commented line

# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
# Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,advinterp2x,
advinterp3x,tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.

This lets you choose how big a window you want the game to run in. I have set it to advmame3x

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=advmame3x

Feel free to experiment!

Of course, you may want to try playing in full-screen mode (which I haven't tried yet). If so, locate [sdl] (at the start of the file) and change it to:

fullscreen=true
fulldouble=true
fullresolution=original
windowresolution=original
output=surface
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true


Enjoy playing AOT!

I think that Marian's instructions will be similar.

Or you can try the XP Vesa driver here.

Thank you, Reikidave.
Interesting that Ark of Time doesn't work with the newer DOSBox versions.

Those are great instructions, reikidave, but I do want to mention that Greyfuss and I used DOSBox 0.72 for Ark of Time, with no problems whatsoever. So, maybe there was some version in the last couple of years that refused to cooperate, but the latest version of DOSBox works well with it.

And InlandAZ, those are nice little extras that you mentioned that accompany frontends; I certainly know that you aren't using them due to some timidity with DOSBox.

I'm so glad I was able to help, Greyfuss! This has benefited me, as well, because I haven't played Ark of Time; there's no excuse not to, now!

Interesting - I only ever succeeded with a 6.xx version of DOSBox. I'll try it with 0.72 - thanks, Marian!

Marian, please see your PM as Jenny100 is right, I would like your instructions too please.

Linda

Email and PM sent, Linda!

You still haven't sent them to me, Marian.
Is there a reason why you're keeping them secret?

Hi

I, too, would be very interested in those instructions ....

Can they not be made "public" ??

Cheers.

Mad

I'd be glad to post them. The reason I didn't just post them publicly is because my notes to Greyfuss had a lot of extra verbiage due to the fact that he had never used DOS before, and I thought that might confuse the issue if I were to post that on a public forum. And reikidave obviously knows much more about this than I do, but here goes..

EDIT: In these instructions, I have assumed that the drive letter of your CD/DVD drive letter is D. (If your CD/DVD drive is labeled something else, like E, you would change the mount d d:\ -t cdrom -ioctl to mount d e:\ -t cdrom -ioctl and then type e: instead of d:, below).

This was one of the easy games to get running.

The first thing I did was to create a new directory on my local hard drive C: called AOT.

Open up DOSBox 0.72 and you will find yourself at a z: prompt.

Then, type the following lines, hitting enter after each command.

mount c c:\aot

c:

mount d d:\ -t cdrom -ioctl

d:

then type install and follow the directions. I chose Soundblaster Pro and told the game to detect my sound settings, which it did with no problem. When finished, you can exit out of the game and then run the game (it will give you the run name upon exit).

The next time you want to play the game in DOSBox, just open up DOSBox and type the following:

mount d d:\ -t cdrom -ioctl

d:

mount c c:\aot

c:

cd\aot

then type aot and the game will start up.

To go to fullscreen after the game begins, hit alt + enter.

And that's all there is to it.

If anyone is confused by this, or I made a mistake somewhere, please let me know. The game is running well. I would be very glad to help anyone get this game running in DOSBox. Oh, and to get out of DOSBox and back to Windows, just type exit after you have quit the game.

Thank you, Marian.
I'm sure a lot of people who are new to DOSBox will appreciate your step-by-step instructions.

Hi Marian

Thanks for that !!

I have stored it - along with other very useful bits of info kindly provided by Gameboomers who know how to do things

Cheers.

Mad

You are most welcome! I also installed Riddle of Masterlu last night and it was just about as simple as this; the only difference was that you had to manually give the game your Soundblaster settings.

It's amazing to me that with some of these games, particularly the ones that needed expanded memory or some such thing, it is often easier to get them running now with DOSBox than it was with the original OS.

People! No offense, but why do we keep bypassing/forgetting about those FAQs we have taken our precious time to compile whenever somebody asks a question about DOSBox or hyperthreading/dual core?!

All the instructions for getting the latest version of DOSBox (0.72 at the time of writing) working are in the 'DOSBox FAQs' page at the top of this very forum:

http://www.gameboomers.com/Members/dosboxfaq.html

And all the concepts involved are nicely explained for newbies there too

And... I did forget to finish my instructions for getting Ripper working in DOSBox with that universal VESA driver. My bad. In addition to my instructions earlier in this thread for loading the VESA driver in DOSBox, you also have to install and run Ripper in a special way:

"Now start up DOSBox, and install Ripper by running the following from the CD:

install /v3

Before running Ripper for the first time, it needs two patches:

http://www.justadventure.com/thejave/html/Games/GamesR/Ripper/rip103.exe
http://www.justadventure.com/thejave/html/Games/GamesR/Ripper/rip105.exe

Those can be applied in Windows, I think.

Then to run Ripper... start up DOSBox again, navigate to the folder where you installed Ripper to, and:

ripper /v3

I believe the 'v3' is the VESA mode."

I don't have a copy of Ripper myself, but those instructions were arrived at by exchanging about 15 e-mails with a reader who did, and they are pretty much guaranteed to work.

I'm going to add the above entry in it's entirety to Steve's XP Games Corner this evening after work. And finally, remember that Steve's XP Games Corner has a new home, now that Quandary is winding down: http://metzomagic.com/

Regards,
Steve (a.k.a. MetzO'Magic)

Hi Steve/metzomagic,

I've learned so much from your explanations that I wouldn't know where I would be without them!

I think one of the problems with DOSBox instructions in general is that, no matter how clear and explicit the instructions are, there are many people without a historical knowledge of DOS. This makes the instructions seem more intimidating than they really are, and confuses people because they don't really understand WHY they are doing what they are doing. This took a while to kick in for me, as well--what gave me a wee bit of an edge was a vague recollection of DOS, having used that OS many, many years ago.

Anyway, I highly recommend checking out metzomagic's website, everyone. He's got some really good advice about DOSBox, Virtual PC, and Windows XP, and he's also posting some new reviews that used to be on Games Domain, among other things. I'm checking things out there every day.

Marian, hi,



*sigh* Yes, you are right there. I used to *program* in DOS, and sometimes I forget that others haven't been exposed to it at all. I know I come across a bit heavy-handed at times, but what I was trying to say above is that when we get a whole bevy of us tech savvy people posting with a lot of conflicting advice (yes, *I know* it's all well-intentioned, but...) then the person you are trying to help, in this case the venerable GreyFuss, just sees this 'wall' of tech info and it probably puts them off instead of helping them like it's intended to... and there I go again - lecturing

But anyway, I am aware that there are a lot of folks out there who don't know anything about DOS, and so a while ago I prepared a...

DOS Tutorial

That at least shows you how to navigate around and launch programs in DOS.

And Marian, thanks a bunch for the plug for the new site Steve Ramsey (your very own 'flotsam'), Clint Mullins ('Cayra'), and myself were all writers for Quandary, and will be posting new material there on a regular basis. Who knows, we might even manage to coax Rosemary and Gordon out of virtual 'retirement' for the odd piece or two

Cheers,
MetzO'Magic

Hi Steve
No offense taken. I value your knowledge and the different opinions of all the others here at Glitches. With all due respect it is exactly tutorials like the one at the top of this page and the ones printed up by Dos savvy members here and other sites that DO intimidate and frustrate me and I wanted nothing to do with it.

When Windows 95 arrived on the scene is when I got into computers and gaming. After buying my first Dos game I then refused to buy another, preferring to wait for developers to make a Windows version of the game. We always hate that which we don't understand and I don't understand Dos nor do I have the time or patience to try and read everything about it too understand it. This is why I value all opinions here.

Marian gave me a "Game Specific" guide for Ark of Time that was a no brainer for me.

A. Download Dosbox and install
B. Put in Disk
C. Type this
D. Play Ark of Time

I don't have any more knowledge of Dos or Dosbox than I had before but I am playing Ark of Time courtesy of Marian.

Now that I have broken the ice with DosBox who knows but here is a suggestion that just might get more used to it...

Have Game Specific DosBox Guides with exactly the step by step directions without the lesson's or lectures. Just bare bones instructions. Could be alphabetical list of games that you savvy techs have already played in Dosbox where I or another gamer can just follow the ABC's to play. Or is there one already out there?

I don't care about how DosBox works or commands and such...

>>>>>>> I Just Want To Play A Game <<<<<<<

Happily playing Ark of Time. Up next: The Riddle of Master Loo using Marians game specific DosBox guide and Ripper using Metzomagics game specific Dosbox guide.

BTW...Steve, thank you for starting your new site and not just fading away. Your knowledge and wisdom is appreciated.

GreyFuss, hi,



You see, that's the thing. Once DOSBox 0.70 arrived, the set-up is *the same for every game*. So there is no need to do that which you are asking for. Prior to the latest versions, you used to have to adjust the cycles= parameter in dosbox.conf according to the game in question and the speed of your processor. But now you just set cycles=max, and DOSBox figures out how fast to run the game automatically

Ripper is a very extreme exception to the norm, because it happens to require a VESA driver. I don't know of any other DOS game that requires this.

So... that's why I want people to just point newcomers to the DOSBox FAQs. It's the same set-up for every DOS game. Really!

Regards,
MetzO'Magic
P.S. Full instructions for Ripper now at Steve's XP Games Corner. Just follow the link in my sig.

"D" did as well, and for a long time the only was to play it was with a CVS build. That all changed when 0.65 was released.

Hi

I expect I might be classed as one who has some DOS experience because I played and still do play many DOS games - but on an old computer. And that's all I have ever done with DOS.

So, I feel obliged to say (in my defense and that of other non techie folks) that using DOSbox to run a game has always seemed far more complicated than actually using DOS.

I have no idea what "mount" or "D-fend" means and I am very nervous of messing with things like "autoexec" and "config" files in case I do some irreparable damage .... and believe me I certainly have done irreparable damage in the past by fiddling with things I shouldn't have fiddled with !!

So, although DOSbox is by repute becoming easier and easier to use, it still might be some time before people like me pluck up the courage to give it a go

Cheers.

Mad

Hi Mad,

You don't have to mess with auto.exec and config files in DOSBox; that's one of the great things about it. DOSBox automatically configures expanded and extended memory for you, among other things.

D-Fend is just an extra program you can download that some people find easier to use to set up their games in DOSBox, and it's entirely optional.

"Mount" is just the word that you use with DOSBox to tell it where your CD/DVD drive is located and where the game is located that you wish to run.

See, it isn't scary at all.

Hi Marian

"D-Fend is just an extra program you can download that some people find easier to use to set up their games in DOSBox, and it's entirely optional.

"Mount" is just the word that you use with DOSBox to tell it where your CD/DVD drive is located and where the game is located that you wish to run."

Ahhhh ....
But how many people actually say things like that in their instructions

I have downloaded many different types of "How To Use DOSbox" instructions over the years - in the hope that if/when my real DOS becomes unavailable because my old computers fail and can't be repaired I will perhaps be able to understand ONE of them.

I must admit that with the later issues of DOSbox the instructions do seem to be getting simpler so maybe I WILL find one I can understand and use.

At the time of writing .... possibly yours !!

Cheers.

Mad

Mad, hi,

Can you tell me what's wrong/complicated about the instructions at the top of this very forum?:

GameBoomers DOSBox FAQs

I don't see how we could make it any simpler than that, but if you can give us some feedback as to how it could be made simpler, we'll certainly give it a try!

Regards,
MetzO'Magic

Hi metzomagic

I've just taken a peek at the latest instructions posted and I have to say that they DO look very reasonable and understandable and so maybe I will now be able to cope much better

Earlier instructions I have downloaded (and not just from Gameboomers) have had me lost after the first couple of sentences - and too much of that eventually deterred me from keeping up to date with later postings

So, a pat on the back and a big Thank You would seem to be in order !!

Cheers.

Mad

Thanks everyone. I have successfully played through Ark of Time in DosBox and the experience with DosBox was good.

Thanks Marian for giving me the push and thanks to all for your opinions and suggestions I learned a lot.

I figured now that I have one game under my belt I will tackle the Ripper the exception to the rule. Always take down the big guy first and the rest should be easy. However I feel that I have taken a few steps backward as once again I am confused and frustrated. Sorry Steve your instructions given here I think assumes that the reader knows more than what is explained. Sorry Steve I know you are doing your best here.

I understand about getting the Vesa driver in but I can't even find the DOS Tutorial you advise to read on your site in Steves XP Corner about changing folders. See a lot of DosBox but no Dos. Looks as if there is missing commands in the instructions. This is like Einstein explaining the Theory of Relativity to a grade schooler and he can't see why nobody understands his easy instructions.

Is there a step by step set of commands out there, game specific for Ripper or is this just wishful thinking? Type this...enter.....type that...enter...play the game.

Yes, I know, GreyFuss is such a pest
Cheers

Dos Tutorial is ***here***

Or
1. Go to www.metzomagic.com
2. Click link for Steve's XP Game Corner at left under Site Menu
3. Do a search for
dos tutorial
either by using Control-F to bring up the search box or by using your browser's toolbar menu (probably Edit\Find)
Behold! -- it finds the words "DOS Tutorial" and it's a link to the DOS Tutorial page.
4. Click the link

Thanks Jenny100

Your "Here" link works but I still can't find it by going to his site. Those look more like DosBox commands you are giving just to find this. I will need a tutorial to find the tutorial.

More stuff to read and I don't see how to change folders in Dos. I am hopeless. Now I remember why I wanted nothing to do with Dos games back in 1995.

I think I will leave well enough alone and be satisfied that I at least got to play one game in DosBox. Marian has given me the ABC's to Master Loo so maybe I will give him a go.

You are not hopeless at all; I had all the same confusions you did, GreyFuss. After a while (quite a long while! ), I began to understand what I was doing and why, and it started to make sense.

You change folder by doing this:

1)
Say you are the C:> prompt and want to go to the folder "C:\Game\Ripper"

Then you use the command cd - like this:

cd game - Enter - and your promt looks like this C:\game>

cd ripper - Enter - and now it's C:\game\ripper>

2)
Should you want to go back to a previously folder, you use the command cd.. - with the two .. after.

Like this:
C:\game\ripper> cd.. - And your back at C:\game>

3)
If you want to see the files in a folder, the easy command is:
dir
(it shows ALL files at once).

If you want just a little at a time, since the window CAN'T show them all you use this:
dir /p
(that way you have to press a/any key to continue the list of files)

NOTE:
Remember when using DOS, that all folder/file names, that are MORE than 8 letters will change name.

Say you have a folder called Spacequest, which is more than 8 letters - then it will change to spaceq~1

Every name over 8 letters will change to the first 6 letters then add ~1 after.

So going to that folder in the games folder would be:
C:> cd game
C:\game> cd spaceq~1

(I don't know about your keyboard, but on mine I get the ~ with ALT Gr + they key with that symbol on

A caveat for anyone who has followed this subject. Success using either the VDMSound, DOSBox, or just WinXP directly depends on the video and sound cards (or chips) in use. This most definitely is not a "one size fits all" subject.

For example, uniVBE does not recognize modern video cards and therefore will either crash or just not work for you in DOSBox. If your video card contains VESA support, DOSBox may prevent your card from working. DOSBox prevents the built-in VESA support in an nVidia 7600GS from working. The 7600GS also is not supported by any version of uniVBE.

For an example of game problems, I would be able to play Ripper directly in WinXP but for my audio card, Audigy2. I am able to set up Ripper for SoundBlasterPro (which WinXP emulates) but the sound quality in the Ripper is unusable forcing me to use DOSBox or VDMSound. DOSBox (for Ripper) has a VESA malfunction so VDMSound is a forced choice. Contrary to Inferno's instructions, I don't use VDMSound VESA support because the 7600GS already has it.
On the other hand, The Riddle of MasterLu runs perfectly in DOSBox.

One more point, you can get more recent versions of uniVBE (with registration codes) from
http://www.scitechsoft.com/ftp/sdd/
VDMSound is now a Sourceforge project.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/vdmsound/

I purchased this game several years ago still shrink wrapped, so I've never opened the box. But... DOSBox claims the game has been supported since release 0.63 with the following comments:

Copy INSTALL folder from CD1 to HDD. Apply 1.03 patch. Apply 1.05 patch. Run SETUPV.BAT. Run RIPPER.EXE /v /v3. Enjoy!!!

Have you tried to run the game with the patches applied and the command line switches?

Edit -

Forgot to mention that VDMSound was discontinued several years ago, and the support was incorporated into DOSBox. You might want to give it another shot.

Yes, I did install the patches and tried the command line switches. No luck! Oddly enough Setup will run in DOSBox but not Ripper.

The switches should do the following: /V force 480 line mode, /V1 disable support for VESA 2.0, /V2 disable use of protected mode bank switching code, /V3 disable both.
Keep in mind that uniVBE does not support the GeForce 7600GS. Also that both Ripper and Setup will run directly from WinXP with the 7600GS. VESA support is detected.

VDMSound is still at the url (Sourceforge) I posted. It may not be very active however.

Inland AZ, GreyFuss and I are both successfully running Ripper in DOSBox right now with the instructions that you included in your note. I noticed those on the DOSBox forum a while back and decided to try them out; it works like a charm!

Yes that is correct!

GreyFuss is happily playing Ripper once again thanks to Marian for simple, Game Specific instructions. And I didn't have to get into the Vesa driver issue at all.

I have no idea as to how you come up with the commands but thanks to Marian and all of the encouragement from those following this thread, I now know a 100% more than I knew before attempting these 2 games and I didn't have to go through the head banging of reading and trying to understand the written word. Baby steps to learning DosBox.