OS/2 Dos Games Settings List (Part 1 of 2)
Gary Schrock
Archive-name: os2-faq/dos-games/part1
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OS2.GAMES Sep 20, 1995 Version 2.1i
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ADMINISTRIVIA:
This version of the list covers OS/2 version 2.1, 2.11, and Warp.
The HTML version is finally complete! Check it out at
http://eyelab.msu.edu/os2games
This list is really starting to get large, so if anyone has any suggestions
for ways to format it so it's easier to find stuff, let me know.
For those of you that want to join the mailing list to receive updates of
this file, please read the Where to Get Updates section.
I now have a computer again at home, so I can actualyl test things again.
The HTML version will now include a What's New and Changed Section, to help
you find the most recent updates.
My appologies for the fact that I don't always manage to reply to updates
that are mailed to me. I really do appreciate you folx mailing them to
me, and I'll try to at least reply to them, but I don't always do so if
I'm falling behind. (I've currently got about 300 unread email messages
from various things (not all due to this list, but some are), so you can
imagine what it's like for me to try catching up to things.
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INTRODUCTION:
This file brings together in one place the information that you need
to be able to optimize the performance of your DOS based games. Unfortunately,
much of the information still is incomplete, so your help would be greatly
appreciated. If you happen to know how to get a game working
that isn't listed, or how to get one working that's listed as not
working, or even if you know that a specific game doesn't work under
OS/2, please mail me (gary.s...@ssc.msu.edu) so I can include
the information.
If you are having problems getting a game to work, please feel free
to contact me (gary.s...@ssc.msu.edu) and I'll do my best to help you
out. Thanks to IBM I now have a copy of Warp. I'll be making changes
based on the differences between settings available under 2.1 and Warp
over the next week or so.
---------------------------------
FUTURE PLANS FOR THE LIST:
A .INF version will probably only be made available if I find a tool
to automate most of the translation from HTML to INF. Anyone have
any ideas?
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REPORTING CHANGES:
I'd really appreciate it if you would mail me any changes or additions
to this list. Some of the things that would be appreciated when you
do this are:
-Your system setup (things like sound card, IRQ's). This will help
me coordinate what works with what.
-Please mail this information to gary.s...@ssc.msu.edu
The recommended way to send me your settings is to go into the settings
menu and using the button to save the settings to a file, then drop that
file into a mail message to me. Otherwise, just let me know what you changed
to get it to work.
For a base reference, my home system is (was :P):
486dx2 66 w/16MB Ram
Adaptec 1520 SCSI controller
OS/2 Warp on a FAT partition on a Seagate SCSI drive
Cardex ET4000W32 w/2MB Ram (VLB card)
Gravis Ultrasound Max, although most of my experiance with games under OS/2
are from:
SB Pro (IRQ 5, IO 220, DMA 1)
Mitsumi Double Speed CDROM
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WHERE TO GET UPDATES:
You can obtain the list from any of several ftp sites. It is typically
stored on ftp-os2.nmsu.edu in the /os2/32bit/info directory. This version
is games21i.zip.
You can also get it off my distribution site for it, which is
eyelab.msu.edu in /os2.
You can peruse the HTML version by pointing your web browser to
http://eyelab.msu.edu/people/gary/os2games/
Many thanks to the Michigan State University Psycholinguistics and
Visual Cognition Laboratory for letting me use their server to host this
list.
I've also started a mailing list that I will send out updated versions
of the list on as they become available. This mailing list won't echo
things that people send to it, it is only for the purpose of distributing
new versions of the list (so traffic will be light on it). You can subscribe
by sending email to:
majo...@eyelab.msu.edu
no subject
"subscribe os2games" (without the quotes!) in the body
I haven't set it up yet to send the current version on demand yet, but I'm
planning on doing this.
You can also join this list if you have a forms capable Web browser.
Check out http://eyelab.msu.edu/os2games/subscribe.html for
this process.
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GENERAL TIPS (READ THIS FIRST!):
Read the README file in your OS/2 root directory. Also, check the manual
for OS/2. Both of these provide information for running some DOS and
Windows apps under OS/2.
Read the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games FAQ. This is very important since it
will tell you about possible problems when running the game even under
plain DOS. If you can't find a copy of the FAQ in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.announce,
email Jurgen Appelo, the keeper of the FAQ, but I don't have his email address
currently. Also, look to see if a game-specific FAQ is available. Several
games have these (Wolf3d, Civ, DOOM).
If you have trouble installing the game under OS/2 and you are trying to
install the game on a FAT drive, boot up plain DOS (via dual boot or the
Boot Manager) and install it there. Sometimes a game (or other app)
won't install for some reason under OS/2, but once installed they'll
work fine under OS/2.
If you experiance strange anomalies or incompatibilities of any kind
(especially with older games), try booting a real copy of DOS from a
floppy inside a VDM running under OS/2 and run the game in that DOS
session. (See VMDISK in the Command Reference online docs for details.)
Some games that require keydisks will only work this way.
The following are the recommended base settings for running games under
OS/2. If you have a game not listed in here, try these out and work from
there to try to get it running.
Dos Fullscreen: Check this option; Very few DOS games perform well in a
window.
DOS_BACKGROUND_EXECUTION: OFF
(so it won't take CPU time when you switch away from it, and
so you don't die while it's running in the background)
DOS_HIGH: ON (more memory for those games that need it)
DOS_RMSIZE: 640
DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT: 0 (most DOS games don't use DPMI memory) or
DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT: 16 (more and more recent game use an extender which uses DPMI)
EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 1024 (most games that use more than 640k use EMS
memory. If you're playing an earlier game, you might not need
this. Note also, many games may require more than this. Check
the box that it came in)
HW_ROM_TO_RAM: ON (copies ROM BIOS to RAM--several people have
said that this improves performance on their machines)
HW_TIMER: ON (very important, especially for games using soundcards)
IDLE_SECONDS: 10
IDLE_SENSITIVITY: 100 (very important)
INT_DURING_IO: ON
KBD_ALTHOME_BYPASS: ON (although keep it off if you want to flip to
windowed, such as to check walkthroughs, etc)
SESSION_PRIORITY: 32 (This setting is only available under Warp. Note that
by raising the priority to 32 will have serious impact on anything running in
the background.)
VIDEO_FASTPASTE: ON (some people say this helps)
VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION: OFF (leaving this on can cause some games
to run far too fast, and other to run too slow)
VIDEO_ROM_EMULATION: OFF
XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 64 (needed for DOS=HIGH. If the game supports
XMS memory, naturally you should raise this)
For best performance close ALL windows and apps, especially other DOS
apps, before you run the game. Leaving other apps open steals CPU time
from the game, thus slowing it down. (Although it IS possible to do
high speed downloads while playing games, I don't recommend it)
Sometimes you just have to fiddle with the settings until it works
well for you, which is why this list is put together.
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SOUND CARDS:
Sound cards are probably one of the leading causes of games not
working under OS/2. The following are a couple of suggestions to
help, but it's unfortunately all to common for them to be the
culprit.
Soundblaster cards: Somebody at Creative Labs decided that IRQ 7 should
be the default. If your computer has an LPT1: (it probably does),
you need to change the IRQ. I recommend IRQ 5, although it may
not be free depending on your configuration. Make sure you have
the BLASTER environment variable set, otherwise sounds might be
cut off funny. (I think more recently Creative Labs realized that
IRQ 7 was a bad choice and switched the default to 5).
Roland LAPC-1: the default IRQ2 and 330 base address work fine. IRQ 2 is
automatically mapped to IRQ9 on 386 and 486 computers.
Pro Audio Spectrun-16: Make sure your IRQ's are set to something that is
not used. Avoid 7,3,4 (I don't know what these cards can be set
to). IRQ 5,2, and 10 tend to be free. You can load the PAS16's
mvsound.sys by opening the DOS settings box, and adding a line
to the DOS_DEVICE bos, such as:
c:\proaudio\mvsound.sys d:3 q:2
The path and the optional parameters will vary of course.
Gravis Ultrasound: The utilities that Gravis provides like SBOS and MEGAEM
won't run under OS/2. DO NOT even make an attempt to. Recently I've seen
some reports that Gravis might rewrite them to allow them to work properly.
Also, don't use the Gravis Alpha drivers if you want dos access under OS/2.
There are also some shareware drivers available that give you some of the
functionality of the Gravis tools under Dos sessions, but you have to have
an external midi synthesizer. (I couldn't even get just the digitized sound
in OS/2 stuff to work without trapping consistantly with the Manley Drivers).
--------------------------------------------
JOYSTICKS:
If you are running under Warp and are having problems with your joystick
acting funny while playing games, you might want to try downloading
and installing their Joystick driver. I'll list the site for it when I
find it (couldn't get through to hobbes this evening).
--------------------------------------------
DOS EXTENDERS:
Apparently there is sometimes a problem trying to run a game that
uses a dos extender from an icon on the desktop. DOS4GW (A very
popular extender being used these days) is one of those that often
causes trouble. Basically this is caused by the program having an
odd fileheader that causes it not to be recognized properly. There
are a couple of methods that you can use to get around this problem.
If the program is one of the many using DOS4GW, in the settings notebook
you can set the program to DOS4GW.EXE and the parameters to the name
of the executable for the program.
Otherwise, you can set the program to be * (similar to the command line
shell windows) and the parameter to be: /C d:\path\game.exe. Make sure
you also set the working dir to the proper path also.
---------------------------------------------
WinG BASED GAMES:
Many reports have indicated that WinG will work under OS/2, although your
mileage may vary. If you have the option, boot Dos up and install WinG
under a real Windows session. It supposedly can be installed under
full-screen Win-Os/2 sessions if you don't have that option.
If you are having problems, it might be one of several things:
-WinG doesn't like your video driver. There's no real solution to this
one, unless there happens to be a new version of your driver available
that it works with.
-Try running it in a full-screen Win-OS/2 mode. Your odds are better
there.
---------------------------------------------
SPECIFIC GAMES:
Start with the base settings that were listed above, making sure to
set EMS, XMS, and/or DPMI memory to what is specified for the game
you are running. The idea here is to list as many of the games
people are running as possible. If you are running a game, or
having problems with one, PLEASE mail me so it can be added to
the list (gary.s...@ssc.msu.edu).
A seperate section at the end of the list has been added to detail
CD-ROM games seperately. If the game you are looking for is a
CD-ROM game, you might want to try looking there first.
Please note: If a game is listed as 'runs fine,' then it was tested
by either the original maintainer of the list or by me (I do my best
to specify which this is). 'Reported to run fine' means that people on
the net have said that it runs.
Most of the checking here was probably done under os/2 2.x. I believe
almost all games that worked under it also work under Warp. I will try
to note games where the only information I have applies to Warp.
ACES OF THE DEEP:
-Apparently won't install under Warp. The user didn't report if
it would run under OS/2 if installed under Dos. Sierra was less
than helpfull to the user when told he was using OS/2.
ACES OF THE PACIFIC:
-Several people have reported this game to run fine.
-Also note, there is a patch you may need which increases
the screen update speed, so if the update speed is slow
on your system you might want to try to find it.
ACES OVER EUROPE:
-The following modification to the default games settings have been
recommended:
DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT: DISABLED
-Other than this change, the game is supposedly pretty easy to get
running, but will not run if set to enabled, and hangs when set to auto.
ADVENTURES OF WILLY BEAMISH:
-Reported to run fine.
AIR WARRIOR:
-Make sure you allocate enough DPMI memory (try at least 6, more if it
still gives a memory error).
-If running from an object, use DOS4GW.EXE as the program and the
name of the program as the parameter (I don't know what it is).
ALADDIN:
-A user reported having problems with the sound (it would periodically
give something that sounded like a shotgun). I've also heard rumours
that a lot of the Disney stuff has enough trouble running under Dos,
let alone os/2.
ALONE IN THE DARK:
-Reported to run fine. Make sure you set DOS_UMB and HW_NOSOUND
to off and HW_TIMER to on for the best sound production.
ALPHABET BLOCKS:
-Reported to run fine.
APBA BASEBALL FOR WINDOWS:
-Reported to run fine in a full screen Win-OS/2 session ONLY.
-It will NOT work in a seamless windows session.
ARCHON ULTRA:
-I was unable to get this to run, but didn't spend much time on it.
Anyone else try it?
A-10 TANK KILLER:
-Reported to run fine.
ATLANTIS:
-Reported to run fine.
A-TRAIN:
-Another user said that he used the Migrate Applications
utility and was able to get music, sound, color all working
fairly well.
-Reported to run with color if you add in the device section of the dos
settings box: c:\os2\mdos\ega.sys (Warp might do this automatically now)
BARDS TALE:
-Reported to run fine.
BATTLE CHESS:
-Reported to run fine.
BENEATH A STEEL SKY:
-Reported to work for a while, but crashes when moving from place to
place.
-One person suggested disabling the scrolling between scenes might help.
BETRAYAL AT KRONDOR:
-Reported to lock up 10 minutes into the game.
-Using the settings in the migration database with Warp it should work,
although the sound card might cause lock-up problems (which might be
where the note about that comes from). It should run with PC Speaker
or no sound with no trouble.
BIOFORGE:
-Reported to generate a page fault (doesn't run).
BIO-MENACE (Apogee):
-Reported to run fine in a real DOS VDM.
-Start this game with the /LATCHPEL command line switch to reduce
jerky graphics.
-The following changes to the default settings for a DOS VDM were
supplied by a user:
a. Turn DOS_BACKGROUND_EXECUTION Off.
b. Turn DOS_HIGH On. (This may or may not already be set
- double check.)
c. Select DOS_STARTUP_DRIVE, and enter C:\VMB\DOS.IMG in the
"Value" field.
d. Turn DOS_UMB Off.
e. Set DPMI_DOS_API to DISABLED.
f. Set DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT to Zero (0).
g. Set DPMI_NETWORK_BUFF_SIZE to One (1).
h. Set EMS_FRAME_LOCATION to NONE.
i. Set EMS_HIGH_OS_MAP_REGION to Zero (0).
j. Set EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT to Zero (0).
k. Turn HW_ROM_TO_RAM Off.
l. Turn HW_TIMER On.
m. Set IDLE_SECONDS to 60.
n. Set IDLE_SENSITIVITY to 100.
o. Turn INT_DURING_IO Off.
p. Turn KBD_BUFFER_EXTEND Off.
q. Turn VIDEO_ONDEMAND_MEMORY Off.
r. Turn VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION Off.
s. Turn VIDEO_ROM_EMULATION Off.
t. Turn VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION Off.
u. Turn VIDEO_8514_XGA_IOTRAP Off.
u. Set XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT to 2048.
BLAKE STONE:
-Reported to work fine using the /noxms switch.
BREACH 2:
-One person has reported that he couldn't get the mouse to
work, so he had to use the keyboard instead.
CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN 3D:
-This game can be real picky. Do not switch away from a
session running this game, because it won't restore the
screen right.
-If you have a SoundBlaster and your sounds are getting cut
off, check to make sure you are defining the BLASTER
environment variable properly.
-I was able to get the registered version to run fine, but
the shareware one occaisionally would pause when I picked
something up or got hit.
-If you can't get the game to start up due to a conflict with LPT2,
try starting the game with the /noss (undocumented parameter).
(From Shawn Green, he...@idsoftware.com)
CHESSMASTER 3000:
-Reported to work fine.
CHESSMASTER 4000:
-Reported to work fine.
CHUCK YEAGER'S AIR COMBAT:
-One user made the suggestion that when you are using the PC
speaker for sound to start the game and allow it to go through
the intro. Then do a test flight and hit a ^S to kill the sound.
This stops the sound for future sessions. If you want digitized
speech thereafter, you can turn it on during flights, but make
sure you turn it off before finishing a mission.
CIVILIZATION:
-Get the most recent version of the game. I believe this is
now version 5.
-Always use fullscreen mode. (Tend to get divide by 0 errors
if you try running it in a window)
-Some people have had problems with running it in Adlib/Soundblaster
where the game runs slow. A possible solution is to start the game
in PC SPEAKER mode, quit, and run it again during the same DOS
session with the Adlib/SoundBlaster Support enabled. This might
fix that problem. (Note: I never had this problem with my
SoundBlaster Pro)
-A possible solution to the divide by 0 errors is to turn COM_HOLD
to ON. I don't know that this works. Run it in fullscreen mode,
that works, and windowed the game runs far too slow.
-One suggestion for running under Warp: before starting the game turn on
HW_TIMER. When it gets to the point it's creating the world, turn it
off.
CIVILIZATION FOR WINDOWS:
-Runs fine in either full-screen or seamless mode. I recommend not
running this version since it is very slow (nothing to do with OS/2
though).
COLONIZATION:
-Reported to run fine, although sound effects don't work unless you
turn the music off.
COLONIZATION FOR WINDOWS:
-Reported to work, although it was flakey getting it to start working
because of WinG problems.
COMMANCHE: MAXIMUM OVERKILL:
-This game tries to go into a protected mode, and I believe they
use the VCPI standard for that. As a result, it WILL NOT run.
-There have been rumors that if the makers hear enough interest
they will come out with a patch that will fix this (or a replacement
executable, something along those lines).
COMMANDER BLOOD:
-Reported to run fine.
COMMANDER KEEN 3:
-Reported to run fine.
COMMANDER KEEN 4:
-Reported to run fine, but you can't switch away from the session
or the screen will get messed up.
CONQUERED KINGDOMS:
-One person said they couldn't get it to run because the mouse
pointer gets lost. Anyone get this one to work?
CONQUESTS OF THE LONGBOW:
-Reported to run better with VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION set to ON.
CURSE OF THE AZURE BONDS:
-Runs fine. (original maintainer)
DAGGER OF AMON RA:
-Reported to run better with VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION set to on.
DARKLANDS:
-Runs fine. If the into runs jerky, you can try turning your
VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION to ON (normally it should be set OFF
for this game, so make sure once you've seen the intro you
quit and change this setting back) Note: I thought the intro
was slow whatever I did. I've never seen the game under DOS,
so I don't know how it is normally.
-Make sure you get the most recent version, which at this time
is Version 7. I had problems running earlier versions.
DARKSEED:
-The copy protection wants to do something 'illegal' to the
a: drive, and OS/2 catches it and stops it.
-A couple of possible solutions:
-There are a couple of cracks for this game, you could try
one of these to see if it removes this check.
-A user said he managed to get it to run by booting a real
version of DOS under OS/2, but that the digitized sounds
need to be switched off.
DARK SUN:
-Starting it from an object on the desktop appears to give an
"unable to open window" error. This error reportedly goes
away if you open the full screen dos session and start the
program normally.
DARKSUN II:
-Reported to work completely except for the music. (Sound effects
worked). Use the normal Games settings.
DAY OF THE TENTACLE:
-Reported to run fine.
DESCENT:
-Works great, including sound. Will also run in a window (although it
is definitely slower there). If you switch from window to full-screen,
the screen doesn't come up right, but hitting tap to bring up the map
will fix it.
-This game runs better for me under OS/2 than it does under Dos. I've
got a system that's at the lower end of the playability realm for
Descent.
-I've got settings for this one that can be loaded into an OS/2 session
if you're running warp. Check out eyelab.msu.edu /os2/games/descent.txt
DINOSAUR ADVENTURE:
-Reported to run fine.
DINOSAUR DISCOVERY KIT:
-Reported to run fine.
DISCWORLD:
-Will not run.
DOOM:
-Id includes a list of recommended settings for Doom under OS/2, so
I'd recommend looking into using those. Some people have reported
that Doom ran better with the default games settings.
-Version 1.2 of Doom will not work with sound enabled. Do not try
this because it could cause your system to lock up. A patch is
supposedly in the works to fix this problem.
-The most recent version I've tried is 1.1, which ran fine for me. Doom
can be a very picky game, and you may have problems trying to get
it to run even under Dos.
DRACULA UNLEASHED:
-Uses a proprietary memory manager. In other words, it doesn't work.
DRAGON LORE:
-A user reported that the game complained that a memory manager was needed
to run the game. This might be caused by not having the memory settings
for a dos box incorrect.
-Someone else reported that fiddling with the memory settings got it to work.
-I have seen one report that it will hang a few scenes before the end.
DRAGON'S LAIR:
-Has some problems with the sound and video getting out of sync. The
following was recommended to try to reduce this:
Create a Dos Session with memory allocated so that it's somewhat
less than you have physically in the system. Run something that's
memory intensive to make sure the swap file has been allocated for
the memory. Then run the fine-tuning mechanism that comes with the
game. Then run the game. You might be able to run the game in
future sessions without going through all this hastle.
DRAGON WARS:
-Runs fine (original maintainer).
DRAKKEN:
-One user reports that this game runs, but it crashes often with
a contact your IBM rep message. Note, this was probably under the
BETA of OS/2 2.1, so it MAY be fixed. (Anyone know?)
DUKE NUKEM II:
-Reported to run fine.
DUNE II:
-Reported to run fine.
-One user did have a problem where it would eventually hang after
first losing the Soundblaster sound, and another user also said
he couldn't get the digitized sounds working correctly either.
EARTHSIEGE:
-Works with digitized sound, but supposedly doesn't like to play music
without giving errors. One suggestion was that if you don't have generic
MIDI support, configure it to use general MIDI for the music. (Apparently
you HAVE to have music setup in order to have sounds).
1830:
-Reported to work fine.
-Allocate MORE than 4096 KB of RAM as EMs (the user set it at 4700).
-Make sure SET BLASTER is defined if using SB card.
ELDER SCROLLS: ARENA:
-It'll supposedly work. At least, as well as it ever worked under Dos,
which isn't exactly saying much. I always had problems when I cast
a spell - it would crash at that point.
-make sure you are running the most recent version of the program, hopefully
it'll reduce the crashes.
-People have reported problems getting the music to work. To be honest,
I don't remember if it worked when I tried it.
ELF:
-According to one user, there are problems with this game.
-Wasn't that specific? Anyone know more?
EL-FISH:
-Works with a few quirks. Will not render (animate) fish in the
background. Causes a DOS session crash after exiting (But you were
closing the session anyways, so isn't too serious).
ELFLAND (ver 1.1):
-Reported to run fine, except you can't switch away from the
game (traditional screen messed up problem).
EMPIRE DELUXE FOR WINDOWS:
-Reported to run fine.
EPIC PINBALL:
-I haven't gotten this to work acceptably for me, although several
people apparently have. Here's the settings one of them sent me:
AUDIO_ADAPTER_SHARING: REQUIRED
DOS_FILES: 40
DOS_UMB: OFF
DPMI: AUTO, set at 4MB
EMS: AUTO frame, set at 4MB
HW_ROM_TO_RAM: ON
IDLE_SENSITIVITY: 100
INT_DURING_IO: ON
XGA_IOTRAP: OFF
VIDEO_FAST_PASTE: OFF
VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION: OFF
VIDEO_ROM_EMULATION: OFF
VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION: OFF
XMS: 4MB, 32 handles
-I've tried the above, and the sound still didn't work, and it was
still too slow and too jerky to play. I do know that many people are
getting it to run though.
-I got an opportunity to try running it over break under dos and had the
same problems with sound, so it appears the sound problem might not be
OS/2 related. The slow moving board does appear to be related to OS/2.
ERIC THE UNREADY:
-The original maintainer of the list has this to say:
This game crashed about a dozen times during play. OS/2
reported several reasons for the crash, including trying to
access a nonexistant FPU and trying to issue a command that's
not supported by the 386 instruction set. I didn't try
runnning it under a real copy of DOS booted in a VDM. I
got the settings to a point where the last half of the game
wend without a single crash; These settings were:
COM_HOLD: ON
DOS_HIGH: OFF
DOS_UMB: OFF
DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT: 0
EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 0
HW_ROM_TO_RAM: ON
HW_TIMER: ON
IDLE_SECONDS: 30
IDLE_SENSITIVITY: 100
VIDEO_FASTPASTE: ON
VIDEO_ONDEMAND_MEMORY: ON
VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION: OFF
VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION: ON
XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 0
I ran the game in regular VGA mode. Crashing seemed
to happen while music was changing themes.
INT_DURING_IO seemed to have no effect. The music
and digitized sounds & voices worked superbly under OS/2
(except for the crashing).
ETERNAM:
-Reported to run fine.
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER I:
-Runs fine (original maintainer).
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER II:
-Reported to run fine.
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER III:
-Moving the IRQ on a SB card from 5/7 to 10 supposedly fixes a sound
problem, although many games do not work with the IRQ set to 10.
-I've been informed that the PAS cannot be set to IRQ 10, so this
won't help those of you that have that card.
-I've been told that the sound card problem is similar to what was
occuring in the original release of doom, which was being cut off
after a couple of minutes. This is a bug (feature?) of OS/2, which
doesn't like the DMA being on for more than 2 minutes.
F15:
-One user said that the key disk protection caused OS/2 to
generate an illegal instruction. Booting real DOS in a VDM
didn't help.
F15 STRIKE EAGLE 3:
-Reported to run fine by several people (DOS_UMB to OFF, and
give the game at least 64k XMS and several MB EMS).
F17:
-Reported to run fine.
FALCON 3.0:
-First step is to make sure you have the latest revision level.
I believe this is level 'D'.
-There have been several reports of a sound error when it tries
to read sound.bnk (I had this error). The solution is supposedly
to delete sound.bnk, then go into the CONFIG screen and reenable
the sound. This will produce sound, but the voice you hear will be
messed up. One person believes this to be an HPFS problem, as when
he installed on a FAT partition the problem wasn't there, but when
he moved it to an HPFS partition the problem occurred.
-I never managed to get the game to work (I gave up). I had the
sound.bnk problem, but the above solution did not work for me.
FIFA INTERNATIONAL SOCCER:
-Reported not to run at all. EA was not helpfull at all to try to
get it to work, but said that they were testing their software under
Windows 95 :P.
FLIGHT SIMULATOR 5.0:
-A user has reported that this program has been giving him all sorts
or problems with his file system (HPFS). It's been corrupting the
the desktop and OS2.INI files. The migration app apparently
recognizes this program, so presumably it SHOULD work.
FORGOTTEN REALMS UNLIMITED ADVENTURES (SSI):
-If running with a SB type card, it runs for a while and then locks
up. Turning off sound is supposed to fix this.
FORMULA 1 GP:
-Works, but if you add the ftp'able upgrade to add head-to-head modem
support you can't do head-to-head. It supposedly won't access the
modem under OS/2.
FPS FOOTBALL:
-Reported to run, but was a little jerky. This might be fixable
by fiddling with the settings.
FPS FOOTBALL PRO:
-Hangs or bizzarre crashes when using the Soundblaster. Select Adlib
sound by using the -A option to get by this.
FPS FOOTBALL '95:
-The mouse was reported to be jerkey, although another user suggested
making sure HW_TIMER was on.
-And another user reported the exact same problems under Dos.
FRONTIER: ELITE II:
-Reported to run fine.
FULL THROTTLE:
-Give it at least 8 megs or so of DPMI memory.
-Also read the section on Dos Extenders (DOS4GW game).
FUN SCHOOL TEDDY:
-Reported to get randomly occuring horizontal bars.
GABRIEL KNIGHT: (SIERRA)
-Reported not to run at all.
GALACTIX:
-Reported to run fine, though the person said his joystick (a Gravis
Gamepad hooked to a Soundblaster Pro port) tended to lose sync and
would drift.
GLOBAL DILEMMA:
-One user reported the following:
"Well, here's one for the 'better DOS than DOS department: I just
noticed that 'Global Dilemma', which ran just fine on my Compaq 386,
won't run on my new 486; the AMI Bios doesn't seem to like the way
the game addresses the keyboard. That's under real DOS-5. In a DOS
task under OS/2 it runs just fine."
GOBLINS 2:
-Whenever the game tries to play digitized sounds the system crawls and
the sound gets distorted.
GUNSHIP 2000:
-Reported to run fine, although one use said that it would not install
onto an HPFS drive. The solution is to install onto a FAT drive and
copy the files to the HPFS drive.
HARDBALL 4:
-Reported to run fine except for sound, which may be screwed up (some people
can get it to work, some can't, no idea why).
HARPOON GOLD:
-Reported to run fine.
HARPOON II:
-The installation program supposedly warns about installing under OS/2, but
the game appears to run under OS/2 (Warp at least), but ONLY if it is
run on a FAT file system.
HERETIC:
-Everything except the sound works (the usual ID software problem).
HONG KONG MAHJONG:
-One person said it hangs at the opponent selection screen, but he
found away around the hang, but didn't report how.
-You can set either XMS or EMS to 0 to prevent the game from running
in SVGA mode (you'll have to check to see which it requires to do this),
which gets around that hang. The game might still hang intermittantly
if you play it for a while though. There's also supposedly a commandline
parameter you can use to specify non SVGA mode.
-Some people have reported that they can get it to work fine on some systems,
but didn't have luck on others. The culprit quite possibly is the video
cards.
HOYLE'S BOOK OF GAMES VOL 3:
-Reported to run better with VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION set to ON.
HUMANS:
-Runs fine.
THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE (SIERRA):
-Reported to run fine by a couple of different people.
INDIANA JONES (FATE OF ATLANTIS):
-Reported to run fine by several people.
INDYCAR RACING:
-Use DPMI memory
-Problems with digitized sounds have been reported from some users.
INDY 500:
-Reported to run fine.
IRON HELIX:
-Supposedly will give a GPF when you scan for DNA. This problem might
not be related to OS/2, so you can give the program a shot.
JACK NICKLAUS SIGNATURE GOLF:
-One user reported it runs until his sinks the ball on the first hole,
at which point the entire machine freezes.
-Another user responded that the game works fine for him with the
sounds turned off.
JET FIGHTER II:
-This game is extremely ill-behaved. Apparently there are a couple
of versions of this, one of which can run under memory managers.
You'd need this one to have any chance. Here's the suggestions
one user made:
1) JF2 uses all the video memory (A000-B7FF). Exclude all of it.
2) Disable video retrace and video emulation in DOS settings
notebook.
3) Disable DPMI, XMS, EMS memory allocation. This will speed things
up.
4) If you have a DX2-66, you must start the game in non-turbo mode
to load.
JILL OF THE JUNGLE:
-Runs fine (original maintainer).
-There have also been reports of the game running at much slower than
normal speeds, with no success at getting it to run properly.
JOURNEYMAN PROJECT:
-Reported to run fine in a Win-OS/2 session.
-The user who reported this said that he had to hack the installation
program because it kept crashing.
KING'S QUEST IV:
-Reported to run fine.
KING'S QUEST V:
-Runs fine (original maintainer).
KNIGHTS OF LEGEND:
-Runs fine (original maintainer).
LANDS OF LORE:
-Moving the IRQ setting from 5/7 to 10 supposedly fixes a sound
problem. The problem here is that many games don't work properly
with an IRQ of 10.
-I've been told by another user that he was able to get the sound
to run fine even on normal IRQ's, but that you have to adjust the
sound levels to max volume with one of the mixer tools for MMPM to
be able to hear it (apparently plays very quietly).
LEGENDS OF VALOUR:
-Reported to run fine, although text scrolling is a little fast.
-I've run this fine.
LEISURE SUIT LARRY 3:
-Reported to run fine.
LEMMINGS (also see Lemmings 2):
-It is important to have this game configured with HW_TIMER=ON,
VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION=OFF, and to have it configured to run in
a full screen session. You may have to install the game under
plain DOS if you get a protection violation under OS/2 during
installation.
-One user reported that Lemmings wouldn't run except in a "Specific
DOS" session, so give that a try if you have problems. Also, if
performance suffers, or if you have flickering problems, try NOT
running the game in "High Performance PC" mode.
LEMMINGS 2:
-This game uses a copy protection that does something that OS/2
prevents. A possibility around this is to find a crack that
removes the check (although I couldn't even get it to install).
-One person said that they had geoworks installed in a DOS box
with the patches from ftp-os2. He then installed Lemmings 2
from the geoworks session and it worked.
-Yet another person installed an ran Lemmings 2 by creating a
VM boot image out of the install disk. You still have to leave
the diskette in the machine, but only until the program starts up.
Supposedly also works in a window this way.
Gary Schrock
Archive-name: os2-faq/dos-games/part2
LINKS:
-One user posted this:
I have adjusted my Links settings and think that I have the best
solution for running LINKS under OS/2. First, Migrate it. Next,
instead of executing the file LINKS.BAT, use the SETTINGS to have
it run GOLF.EXE with no parameters. As soon as the program starts,
select SYSTEM and turn off ALL sounds. This last step will alleviate
the slow down immediately after the swing as Links tries to create
the sound even if HW_NO_SOUND is turned off. I also have
HW_NO_SOUND set to ON and MOUSE_EXCLUSIVE_ACCESS turned ON. This
seems to have the game working quite well for me in full screen mode
-Someone else said it works fine for them in full screen mode with
full sounds without having to do all of the above.
LINKS 386 PRO:
-You need the update for Links386 if you are running earlier than
version 1.08 (I think that's the one). The current version is
at least 1.11. If you need it, call Access or look on internet.
LINKS110.ZIP (version 1.10) is available from wuarchive.wustl.edu
in /mirrors/msdos-games/Patches.
-You need to set the DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT high (8 megs should work)
-With this patch, the game ran for me, but I couldn't get it to
let me use my SBPro. After some checking, it appears there might
be a bug with the way Dos boxes handle DPMI memory. Another user
got the 1.11 patch and had it work after that. I tried 1.11 and
it didn't work for me.
-I might not have had the environment variable set in the dos box
to tell it the settings for my sound card. One user reported that this
might fix the problem (haven't dragged out my copy of the game to
give it a shot).
LION KING:
-Install it under native Windows. Pray that you don't have problems with
it there. If you get that to work, it might work under Warp.
LOAD RUNNER (DOS):
-Doesn't work
LOAD RUNNER (WINDOWS):
-Reported to work fine (at least on Warp).
LOST ADMIRAL:
-One person noted that this game will lose the mouse pointer under
OS/2.
LOST TREASURES OF INFOCOM I & II:
-Reported to work fine.
MAGIC CANDLE I:
-Runs fine (original maintainer).
MAGIC CANDLE II:
-Reported to run fine, but you can't switch away and come back.
MARTIAN DREAMS:
-Reported to run fine.
MASTER OF MAGIC:
-Reported to run fine.
-Make sure BLASTER is defined (if you're using a SB type).
-Allocate at least 2700K EMS.
MASTER OF ORION:
-Runs fine.
-A user reported that on some system configurations that the game will not
run at all, or that switching away and back will cause the game to lock up
at the next mouse or keypress (The SB16 is apparently one of these that
causes trouble. Configuring it as an older SB will allow it to work).
MECHWAR 1.12 (Shareware game):
-Must be run Full Screen
MEGA RACE:
-Reported to work fine.
MICKEY'S ABC:
-On 486 machines you might run into problems, Disney has a patch that
supposed to fix this. Try looking on ftp.caprica.com in /pub/disneysoft.
-Sound is garbled.
MICRO MACHINES:
-Reported to run fine.
MICROSOFT ARCADE FOR WINDOWS:
-One user reported that Centipede crashes after the welcome screen, but all
the other games work fine.
MICROSOFT GOLF:
-Reported to run fine.
MIGHT AND MAGIC II:
-Runs fine. If you have problems with the key disk being recognized,
boot up real DOS in a VDM.
MIGHT AND MAGIC III:
-Runs fine, with the exception that the digitized speach at the
beginning and end of the game will not work with a SB.
-Also noted is that it runs faster on an HPFS drive than a FAT drive
under DOS.
MIGHT AND MAGIC IV:
-Runs fine. (even the speech that I've found)
-This refers to both Clouds and Darkside.
MIXED-UP MOTHER GOOSE:
-Reported to run fine with regular settings.
MONKEY ISLAND II:
-Reported to run fine.
-You need to get updated *.IMS drivers. The ones that came
with the game for the SB supposedly didn't work.
MORTAL KOMBAT:
-Set the DPMI memory relatively high (8 is probably good).
-The user who reported this one says that he couldn't get digitized
sounds to work, but others have said they do.
-Switching away from this one will probably hang the program.
MORTAL KOMBAT II:
-Reported to work fine except for the credits won't display.
NASCAR RACING:
-Works with sound, but disables some of the graphic detail even if you turn
it on.
-Others have reported that it runs fine.
NESSYSOFT RISK (Shareware?):
-The author of the program reports that it works under OS/2. (It's
a windows program).
NHL HOCKEY (Electronic Arts):
-Reported to work fine except for digitized sounds/speech not
functioning.
NHL HOCKEY '95:
-A user got it to run under Warp, but it crashed in the second period and
was having noticeable problems with the sound.
-Someone else suggests playing with adlib sounds instead of SB sounds,
and that in general it works pretty well, except sometimes it will thrash
the hard drive, slowing down graphics.
NOVA 9:
-Reported to run fine.
ONE MUST FALL 2097:
-According to the manual it works so-so under OS/2. You'll have to raise
the speed on the speed bar probably. Also, if you use a joystick, use
the joystick driver that IBM has released.
OUT OF THIS WORLD:
-Reported to run, note: HW_TIMER needs to be set to OFF,
EMS_MEM_LIMIT should be 0. This can be very slow with sound,
so you might need to turn sound off.
PACIFIC WAR:
-Could this really be Pacific Air War:1942? Or are there two different
games with these similar titles? If it is, it should be noted that
it can bog the system down on marginal systems (486dx33 8 megs with
a Trident 8900c video card was the reported system).
-Reported to run fine.
PANZER GENERAL:
-Reported to work fine by some, won't work by others (no settings were
reported, the implication I've gotten is that they're using normal
settings.
-These problems could be caused by the VESA drivers being used. Make
sure you're running one specific to your card (not the generic one that
comes with the game).
PATRIOT:
-Reported to run fine.
PENTHOUSE PUZZLE:
-Reported to run well.
PERFECT GENERAL:
-Some people have had problems with it losing the mouse pointer,
but others haven't.
PINBALL DREAMS:
-Reported to run fine.
PINBALL FANTASY:
-Reported to run, but slow and sound is distorted.
(sounds like the problem I was having with epic pinball/silverball)
-Recently people have been reporting this as not working. I have yet
to see someone actually post settings that had it work, so maybe it
doesn't.
PIRATE GOLD:
-Reported to run fine.
PIZZA TYCOON:
-Reported to run at least without sounds (the user didn't try them),
but hangs the dos session when you quit it (but not OS/2).
POOL OF RADIANCE:
-Runs fine (original maintainer).
PRINCE OF PERSIA:
-Reported to run fine.
PRIVATEER:
-Origin is up to their usual tricks. This one uses a proprietary
memory manager, so it doesn't run OS/2.
QIX:
-One user reported problems with it, but gave no specifics.
QUARENTINE:
-Reported not to work.
RAILROAD TYCOON DELUXE:
-Reported to crash sometimes when saving.
-I've also heard that this one runs too fast one some systems.
RAVENLOFT II: STONE PROPHET
-Reported not to work with sound. (First use of the sound causes it
to crash.
READY SET READ:
-Reported to run fine.
RED BARON:
-Reported to run fine, with the following notes:
-Sound options may need to be set to Adlib if you run have
a SB type card. Otherwise it could lock up.
-Won't run in a window.
RED STORM RISING:
-Reported to generate a SYS3176 error, which is an illegal instruction
error.
RETURN TO ZORK:
-Activision recommends that you do not run this game under OS/2.
-They also have made available a list of settings they have been
told work:
DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT: 0
HW_TIMER: ON
IDLE_SECONDS: 0 (These two seem odd to me)
IDLE_SENSITIVITY: 75
INT_DURING_IO: ON
VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION: OFF
XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 4096
-Some sound cards tend to cause problems with running this, while others
don't. I don't have a list one way or the other.
-Warp seems to have less problem with this game than does 2.1
RINGWORLD:
-Reported to run fine.
RISE OF THE TRIAD:
-Reported to run fine with similar settings to games like Doom.
-The user that reported this wasn't sure if sound worked, since he didn't
have a soundcard.
SCORCHED EARTH:
-Runs fine, although if you switch away and back, you need to have
it redraw the screen. Also, it ran kinda fast on my machine.
SECRET OF THE SILVER BLADES:
-Runs fine (original maintainer).
SECRET WEAPONS OF THE LUFTWAFFE:
-Reported to run fine.
SENSIBLE SOCCER:
-Reported to run fine.
-You might want to try a VDM if you're having problems with this one.
SERF CITY:
-The game will work, and will work under SVGA mode. Make sure you are
either running a VESA card or have the VESA driver for you card loaded.
-On some local bus and PCI cards the sound will be better under OS/2 than
under DOS.
SHADOWCASTER:
-The game crashes occassionally. The DPMI memory limit needs to be
set to something higher than 2, but I don't know what.
SHANGHAI II: DRAGON'S EYE:
-Reported to run fine.
SIEGE:
-Reported to run fine.
SILVERBALL (and EPIC PINBALL):
-A user contributed the following change to allow this to work
with a SB16 (he had the MMOS2 stuff installed):
change the following line in the config.sys:
DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\SB16D2.SYS 1 1 5 5 220 8 /N:SBAud1$ to
DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\SB16D2.SYS 1 1 5 5 220 128 /N:SBAud1$
Note that the values that didn't change are related to your
cards settings (IRQ, address, DMA), and may be different on your
machine. This person also says that the Fantasy board also
ran on his system with these settings. Unfortunately, sound
was still messed up, but apparently is not an OS/2 problem.
-I haven't talked to anyone who has gotten the Fantasy board to
work other than him. It locks the session up when you try to play it.
-I haven't gotten this to work acceptably for me, although several
people apparently have. Here's the settings one of them sent me:
AUDIO_ADAPTER_SHARING: REQUIRED
DOS_FILES: 40
DOS_UMB: OFF
DPMI: AUTO, set at 4MB
EMS: AUTO frame, set at 4MB
HW_ROM_TO_RAM: ON
IDLE_SENSITIVITY: 100
INT_DURING_IO: ON
XGA_IOTRAP: OFF
VIDEO_FAST_PASTE: OFF
VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION: OFF
VIDEO_ROM_EMULATION: OFF
VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION: OFF
XMS: 4MB, 32 handles
-I've long since stopped playing this game, but have discovered one
thing while home on break. Apparently the static that I was getting
with the sound is not due to OS/2, but due to Epic Pinball/Silverball.
SIMCITY:
-Reported to run fine; For use in a window, turn
MOUSE_EXCLUSIVE_ACCESS to ON.
SIMCITY 2000:
-Contrary to many reports, this DOES run under OS/2 according to their
tech support (and it's been working for me fine).
-Read the readme file to see if there's anything specific about your setup.
-Set XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT to 5000KB
Set MOUSE_EXCLUSIVE_ACCESS to ON
-to run, type: SC2000 NO_MEM_CHK NO_INTRO
-Under Warp this program apparently has problems if you have a Diamond Viper
(and possibly any other P9000 card). Apparently it won't switch into
graphics mode.
SIMEARTH:
-Reported to run fine.
SIM-LIFE:
-Reported to run fine.
-One user has reported problems with the graphics not coming out right.
SIM-LIFE (WINDOWS):
-Reported to run fine.
SIMHEALTH:
-Reportedly generates and exception error if you touch the keyboard.
SIMTOWER (WINDOWS):
-Reported to work fine.
SOLAR WINDS:
-One user reported that he couldn't get it to run, although he wasn't
sure if it was an OS/2 specific problem.
SOLITAIRE'S JOURNEY:
-One user reported that the mouse cursor behaved funny. It would
leave black blocks or extra mouse cursor images.
-There is supposed to be a fix that brings the program version up
to 1.03. The fix addressed mouse incompatibility problems, and
apparently this fixes the above problem.
SPACE HULK:
-Reported to run fine.
SPACE QUEST 4 & 5:
-Runs fine, although digitized sounds get messed up.
-There's a fix for 4 with OS/2, but I don't know what it does,
I've never tried it.
SPEAR OF DESTINY:
-I got it to work fine. Make sure you have VERTICAL_RETRACE_EMULATION
set to OFF or else it hangs.
SPECTRE:
-Reported to run fine.
SPELLCASTING 101 and 201:
-Reported to run fine.
STAR CONTROL:
-Reported to run fine.
STAR CONTROL 2:
-There were a few bugs with the original versions that crashed dos,
so make sure you have a more recent version. I don't know of any
updates available.
-The copy protection would crash the system on me. My solution was
to run the TSR crack.
-Also, the only way I was ever able to get this to run was with the
/s:silent parameter when you run the game.
STAR TREK: 25TH ANNIVERSARY:
-Reported to run fine.
STAR TREK: JUDGEMENT RIGHTS:
-Reported to run fine.
STELLAR 7:
-Reported to run fine, although you might not be able to use a
Soundblaster. Rumor has it that Stellar 7 is hard coded to use
IRQ 7, which conflicts with LPT1.
-Dynamix says that the game supports IRQ 3 or 7 (which conflict with
LPT1 and COM2).
STRIKE COMMANDER: (Origin)
-Origins screwey memory manager. Will not run under OS/2 as a result.
STTNG Interactive Technical Manual:
-Won't run.
STUNT ISLAND:
-Several people have said that this program crashes, although
one user says that he has played the game a lot without any
crashes.
STUNTS (Broderbund):
-Reported to run fine full screen and windowed.
SUPER JEOPARDY:
-One user reported problems with the timer. He set the clock for
20 minute rounds but they only lasted 5 minutes.
SVGA AIR WARRIOR:
-Set the DPMI memory up to 4 or 6. Uses the DOS4GW extender, and
apparently this extender causes really jittery joystick control under
OS/2.
TASK FORCE 1942:
-Reported to run fine.
TERMINATOR 2029:
-Bethesda Softworks says it will not run under OS/2.
-Another user reported:
Use default settings for the programs, with the following changes:
DOS FULL SCREEN
DOS_HIGH: ON
DOS_UMB: ON
INT_DURING_IO: ON
VIDEO_8514A_VGA_IOTRAP: OFF
XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 64
-Starting with the default games settings was reported to provide erratic
devices.
TEST DRIVE 3:
-Reported to run fine.
THEME PARK:
-Reported to work fine.
TIE FIGHTER:
-Some people have said that it runs without sound, but that enabling
it will cause it to crash after a short period of time. Others have
the sound working. Appears to be a sound card dependancy again.
TRANSPORT TYCOON:
-Reported to give an Abnormal Program Termination
TRISTAN PINBALL:
-One user said that when he tries to run this game it randomly crashes,
sometimes to the point of rebooting.
-Another user reported running it with the standard games settings worked
fine.
TUNNELS AND TROLLS:
-Runs fine (original maintainer).
TYRIAN:
-Reported to work only if you disabled digitized sounds.
U.F.O.:
-Reported to run fine.
ULTIMAS 4 and 5:
-If you have problems with keydisks not being recognized, boot a real
copy of DOS in a VDM.
ULTIMA 6:
-Runs fine (original maintainer).
ULTIMA 7:
-Won't run. It uses it's own memory manager.
ULTIMA 8:
-Origin finally moved away from their funny memory manager, but they
say that the game will not run under any multi-tasking system.
ULTIMA UNDERWORLD:
-Will not run in a window.
-The digitized speech in the intro won't work reliably. If you want
to see it, configure the game for no sound, read the intro, change it
back to play the game.
-If you can't get it to run, try this:
1) Set the game to start minimized with background execution OFF.
Start the game and WAIT until all disk activity stops (10-15
secs or so?). Then switch back to the game.
2) Set the game to start in a windowed DOS session. The game will
look garbled, but wait until you see the blue title screen come
up. Then switch to full screen with ALT-HOME. If the keyboard
doesn't respond after this, tap the ALT key to unstick it.
ULTIMA UNDERWORLD II:
-See Ultima Underworld if you have problems starting/running this.
-The sound will only run for 5-30 seconds before stopping. Going into
the sound option in the game and turning them off and on again will
cause them to come on for a while again, but they won't last.
UNDER A KILLING MOON:
-Won't run. IBM and the company that makes it both apparently know
about it and it's supposedly being worked on.
-I've been told that there should be a fix out sometime soon for this.
V FOR VICTORY:
-Reported to run fine.
VELIKIYE LUKI:
-Reported to run fine by a couple of people, while another person has
said that it generates an illegal instruction error.
WARCRAFT:
-Reported to run fine by some with the standard dos settings, although
some people have also reported that it crashes after going through
the demo.
-Make sure you have updated to the most recent version (1.15 I believe
is current at the time of this writing).
-If you run the program from a desktop object, change the executable to
be dos4gw.exe and the parameter to warcraft.exe
WARLORDS 2:
-Runs with digitized sounds, but not with music.
-Also seems to run faster on HPFS than under dos on FAT (from my own
observations).
WAYNE GRETZKY HOCKEY 3:
-Will not run. (I seem to recall this one being in the manual for
OS/2, or the readme for the beta service pack).
WELLTRISS:
-Reported to run fine in a full screen session.
WHEEL OF FORTUNE:
-Reported to run fine.
WING COMMANDER I-II:
-Supposed to run fine, including the speech pack.
-Sometimes during battle the digitized voices might "stick", try
hitting the ESC key.
-Some of the 'acting' scenes have been reported to run very slow.
WING COMMANDER ACADEMY:
-Reported to run fine, although it seems to crash more often than under
DOS.
WINTREK (for Windows):
-One user reported that this game doesn't work under Win-OS2 because
it requires Win 3.1. Anyone try this with OS/2 2.1?
WIZARDRY 7:
-Runs fine except the digitized sounds don't work.
-Sir-Tech was supposedly working on this problem, and was supposed to
send out information to people who were put on a mailing list by
calling them. Anyone hear anything about it? Give Sir-Tech a call
at 315-393-6644 (9-5PM EST) if you want to find out about it.
WOLF3D:
-Listed under "Castle Wolfenstein."
WONDERLAND:
-Runs fine (original maintainer).
WORLD CIRCUIT v1.05 with modem update:
-Reported to run fine, but you can't use modem play. Reported to
generate an invalid 386 instruction if you try.
WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION:
-According to one user there were problems with this game.
X-COM:
-Reportedly works at least without sound.
X-WING:
-Runs fine.
-Some reports of problems with digitized sounds
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CD-ROM GAMES:
AEGIS-GUARDIAN OF THE FLEET:
-Reported not to run.
BENEATH A STEEL SKY:
-Reported to work fine with music and FX.
CANNON FODDER:
-Reported to work fine.
CYBERIA:
-Has problems with loading stuff from the CDROM, causing the sound and
images to jump.
DARK FORCES:
-You should follow the instructions in the section of dos extenders for
information on setting up an icon for this program.
-Some reports have indicated setting the DPMI memory limit over 12 megs
can cause it to crash during the text setup screen.
-Also read the section on Dos extenders above.
DEATH GATE CYCLE:
-Reported not to work.
DESCENT:
-Reported to work fine.
DRAGON LORE:
-Reported to work fine with music and FX.
DUNGEON MASTER 2:
-Initial reports indicate that it doesn't work under OS/2.
ELDER SCROLLS: ARENA:
-Check out the disk version section.
FALCON GOLD:
-Reported to run fine.
-One user reported that he had to change the Dos ramsize from 640K to 630K
FATTY BEAR'S BIRTHDAY SURPRISE (CDROM):
-DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT to 4
IDLE_SECONDS to 0
-Reported to run fine.
GUNSHIP 2000 (CD-ROM):
-Use default settings for the programs, with the following changes:
DOS FULL SCREEN
DOS_HIGH: ON
DOS_UMB: ON
INT_DURING_IO: ON
VIDEO_8514A_XGA_IOTRAP: OFF
XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 64
-Starting with the default games settings was reported to provide erratic
devices.
HIGH SEAS TRADER:
-Reported to work fine. Make sure you get the latest patch.
-Set DPMI to 16 MB.
IRON HELIX (CD-ROM):
-Reported to run fine.
JAGGED ALLIANCE:
-Reported to work fine, although get the v1.11 patch to fix a couple of
sound problems.
KINGS QUEST 7:
-Reportedly works fine under Warp. Will ONLY work under Warp, since it
uses Win32S.
LANDS OF LORE:
-One user reported that the sound would keep repeating when it started.
-Another user reported he fixed the problem with his SB16 by setting the
IRQ to 16 (16? It goes above 15?).
-Yet another user reported that the game uses a wierd method of mixing
sounds for the digital sounds and music, and that this is probably
not going to work under OS/2.
LINKS 386 CD:
-Reported not to run, even though it includes an OS/2 install program and
a file with appropriate settings.
LITTLE BIG ADVENTURE (AKA: Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure):
-Dies after displaying the DOS4GW message. (The demo supposedly worked).
-I've been told that setting up a batch file that runs relent.exe might
work.
LORD OF THE RINGS:
-I've been told that the following settings worked for someone:
-AUDIO_ADAPTER_SHARING: Required
-DOS_BACKGROUND_EXECUTION: Off
-DOS_UMB: On
-DPMI_DOS_API: Auto
-DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT: 14 (can prob be smaller)
-HW_ROM_TO_RAM: On
-HW_TIMER: On
-IDLE_SECONDS: 60
-IDLE_SENSITIVITY: 100
-INIT_DURING_IO: On
-MOUSE_EXCLUSIVE_ACCESS: On (else you have two mouse pointers when in a window)
-VIDEO_8514A_XGA_IOTRAP: Off
-VIDEO_FASTPASTE: Off
-VIDEO_MODE_RESTRICTION: None
-VIDEO_ONDEMAND_MEMORY: On
-VIDEO_ROM_EMULATION: Off
-VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION: On
LORDS OF THE REALM:
-Reported to work fine except for the speech. Speech cuts off after first
syllable.
-Aother user reported that he and his friend have had mixed results getting
it to run. One of them got it to work better than under Dos, and the other
had problems with the sound (digitized sounds worked, but music didn't).
The one that was having problems was using his PAS as the scsi card to drive
his cdrom, which is not exactly something I'd recommend personally.
MAGIC CARPET:
-Reported to load but then crash when starting a mission. The demo
supposedly worked though.
-Another user recommended trying the alpha version from the cd a try. Check
out your documentation, I assume that somewhere in there it will tell you
about it. Make sure you back up your saved games, since the new version
uses a different format for them
MAGIC CARPET PLUS:
-Reported to run fine.
MANTIS XF5700 (CD-ROM):
-Use default settings for the programs, with the following changes:
DOS FULL SCREEN
DOS_HIGH: ON
DOS_UMB: ON
INT_DURING_IO: ON
VIDEO_8514A_XGA_IOTRAP: OFF
XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 64
-Starting with the default games settings was reported to provide erratic
results.
MASTER OF MAGIC:
-Reported to run fine.
-Make sure BLASTER is defined (if you're using a SB type).
-Allocate at least 2700K EMS.
MECHWARRIOR 2:
-Reported to run fine except for the following items:
-When a mission is completed, the top of the screen will have the words
"Press any key...". It will appear to hang there, but apparently if you
open the cd-rom drive door and close it again it'll work.
-Sometimes the sound doesn't work, although closing the game and reloading
it might fix this.
-Set the DPMI limit to at least 12MB
MYST:
-Ok, some people have supposedly been getting this to work by doing the
following (at least under Warp):
Install QuickTime for windows 2.0 and allow it to remove all old
Quicktime files (do this under native windows). Install Myst under
Warp. Replace TIMER.DRV in \windows\system with TIMER.DRV from os/2 2.11
(good luck finding that). Make sure the session is running in enhanced
mode. Change the system.ini file. In the [timer.drv] section, add
TimerMax286Res=20 and TimerMax386Res=20. Raise the DPMI limit to
something like 16 megs.
NASCAR RACING:
-Works with sound, but disables some of the graphic detail even if you turn
it on.
-Others have reported that it runs fine.
OUTPOST:
-Some people are getting it to work, some not.
PANZER GENERAL:
-Reported to work fine, but see the non-cd section for further info.
PERFECT GENERAL 2:
-Reported to work fine except the PAS-16 OPL3 drivers are buggy.
PGA TOUR 486 GOLF:
-Someone reported that they couldn't get it to work with sound, but
didn't actually say that it worked without sound.
PIRATES GOLD (WINDOWS):
-Reported to run fine.
PUTT-PUTT GOES TO THE MOON (CDROM):
-DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT to 4
IDLE_SECONDS to 0
-Reported to run fine.
READER RABBIT'S INTERACTIVE READING JOURNEY:
-Reported to lock up frequently during the opening screens, and even
when it could get by this it had problems as if the cd was 'skipping'.
REBEL ASSAULT: (CDROM)
-The following settings have been suggested to run this:
DOS_UMB=OFF
DPMI_DOS_API=ENABLED
DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT=6
DPMI_NETWORK_BUFFERSIZE=10
EMS_FRAME_LOCATION=NONE
EMS_LOW_OS_MAP_REGION=0
EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT=0
HW_TIMER=ON
INT_DURING_IO=ON
VIDEO_*=OFF/NONE
XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT=4500
-Also try increasing the default size of your swapfile.
RETURN TO ZORK:
-See the Disk Games section
SAM AND MAX HIT THE ROAD:
-Reported not to run.
SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND:
-Reported to run fine with the settings from Add Programs.
7TH GUEST:
-There is a patch which fixes a bug where the volume levels get set to
the default levels. I don't know exactly where it is, but you should
find it and install it. The game is supposed to work properly under
OS/2 after installing this patch.
-If you are using a SBPro, load sbmidi before starting T7G.
SHERLOCK HOLMES (CD GAME):
-Reported to work under Warp! This is a change from 2.1 (at least according
to the information that I had before). Apparently there's a database
migration for this program. It still has jerkey sound, but otherwise
runs.
SIM TOWER FOR WINDOWS:
-Works fine, but must be run in a full screen Win-OS/2 session.
-Runs slowly, but this is NOT OS/2's fault.
STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION: FINAL UNITY:
-Reported to run well.
-Set the DPMI memory limit high, and XMS and EMS to 0. Otherwise use the
normal games settings.
-Reportedly needs to be installed under real Dos.
STAR TREK: TNG INTERACTIVE TECH MANUAL:
-Aparently this program when run under Warp will report an error message
where it's trying to find a file. The user reported that the directory
that it specifies doesn't exist on his hd or on the CD. Probably a
Quick Time problem. Don't know which version of QT he was using.
-Although, I've seen reports that the following will work:
-Make a directory on your drive for the game, say games/sttng
-Make a savegame dir in the dir games/sttng/savegame
-Using the unzip on the disc you can make:
-minimal install: unzip sttngins.zip -d c:\games\sttng
-standard install: unzip sttng.zip @std1.lst @std2.lst -d c:\games\sttng
-optimal install, do the last plus:
unzip sttng.zip *.img *.fon @optimal.lst -d c:\games\sttng
-Set up the session for large DPMI (say 40 megs) and standard games settings
STELLAR 7 (CD-ROM):
-Use default settings for the programs, with the following changes:
DOS FULL SCREEN
DOS_HIGH: ON
DOS_UMB: ON
INT_DURING_IO: ON
VIDEO_8514A_XGA_IOTRAP: OFF
XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT: 64
-Starting with the default games settings was reported to provide erratic
results.
SYNDICATE PLUS:
-Reportedly the game will run if you run main.exe directly (as opposed to
going through the synd.exe program, although in some places that there
should be sound it doesn't occur.
SYSTEM SHOCK:
-Reportedly works fine, except if you change the resolution away from the
default, and then move the mouse, the session will crash.
-Install the program under whichever OS you plan on using it (either
Dos or OS/2). It might not work under the other if you install it on
one.
TERMINAL VELOCITY:
-The program looks like it hangs between stages, but it's possible to get it
to continue by switching back and forth between full-screen and windowed a
few times. It usually takes about 3-4 switches.
-Turning the sound off during the changes also might make it work through
the changes reasonably.
2600 ACTION PACK FOR WINDOWS:
-Must be run from a full screen Win-OS/2 session.
2600 ACTION PACK FOR WINDOWS 2:
-Must be run from a full screen Win-OS/2 session, and you should use
the IBM drivers to play with joystick.
US NAVY FIGHTERS:
-This has been reported not to run.
WARCRAFT:
-Reported to run fine by some with the standard dos settings, although
some people have also reported that it crashes after going through
the demo.
-Make sure you have updated to the most recent version (1.15 I believe
is current at the time of this writing).
-Read the Dos Extenders section above.
WING COMMANDER:
-Reported to run, but with no sound.
WING COMMANDER III:
-The official story from Origin is that it probably doesn't work, but most
people seem to be getting it to work without too much trouble. Make sure
you allocate a fair amount of DPMI memory.
-An interesting side point: Some of the "off-brand" processors (such as
Cyrix) have problems running this under Dos. The problems often seem
to go away when run under OS/2.
-You also might want to try adding the /I parameter to your cdrom driver
if it's supported. Performance tends to be better. The other solution
is go out and get a SCSI cdrom that's not running off a sound card.
-One user reported that he was getting bad reads from the CD-ROM under
OS/2 (but not dos). He tried it with a couple of cdrom drives (both SCSI).
WOODRUFF AND THE SCHNIBBLE:
-Do not use the Siera install.
-Install WinG using the wsetup.exe underthe WinG subdirectory.
-Run woodruff.exe directly from the cdrom. Supposedly works with full
animation and sound.
WORLD OF XEEN:
-Some people have reported problems with the game giving errors when they
try to do a cd change. This is supposedly NOT an OS/2 problem. The same
problem can occur under Dos. To avoid this problem, wait a few seconds
after inserting the disk before clicking on the thumbs-up icon. (The
CDROM drive light will come on right after you put the disk in, and should
stop after a couple of seconds).
X-COM 2:
-Reported to work fine when fully installed on the hard drive.
X-WING COLLECTORS CD:
-You have to set by hand the values that are in the migration database
of warp for the non-cd version. Supposedly works fine if you do that.
VIRTUAL POOL:
-Reported to run fine, although PAS-16 support is buggy.
VOYEUR:
-Reported to start out fine, but once you get to the point where you select
a window to view, the screen goes blank and the CD-ROM stops spinning.