0MHz DOS Collection 2024.03.20 Released

[Idelacio]

Most of the Gold Box collection is up.

Having issues uploading Treasure of the Savage Frontier and Spelljammer, for some reason they are being marked as spam uploads. :T
Realms of the Haunting is massive so waiting for a good stretch of time to get that uploaded.

Currently on the plate ad where I am with each is-

Companions of Xanth (MT32 not working) Meh, just gong to remove this as apparantly it's a ballache anyway.Might try with QEMM later
Dark Sun (crashes on start) Fixed, but unable to get Sound Blaster working with the MT32 setting
Dark Sun 2 (Needs sound setup) Fixed
Harvester (Crashes on start but I know this works on MiSTer)
Realms of Arkana (Needs proper sound setup)
Realms of Arkana 2 (Needs QEMM)
Realms of Arkana 3 (Needs proper sound setup)
Akalabeth (MT32 sound not working) Meh actually this is apparantly naff port anyway and crashed so giving up on it.
Whale's Voyage (Needs installing...?)

Some of these are trivial, others are a bit more vexed. Dark Sun is the only one that gives me pause though.

And 11th Hour is sorta in the background as a WIP.

[ItalianGrandma]

Made some progress on my batch script tonight, and I think it’s coming along well!

Does anyone have any opinions about the following:

1) What should be the default padding/extra space per VHD? I was going to default to making them an extra 3MB, but also allow the user to specify their own amount of extra space.

2) What are the largest games for DOS that need to be installed on a hard drive? My initial plan is to support hard drive sizes from 4-250MB, but I can always add more. The reason it isn’t arbitrary is because I am prebaking each VHD so that it is drag and drop ready for MiSTer, as otherwise there would be an extra step or two required on MiSTer before you could launch your game. As a bonus with my script, you’ll get a nice and fairly small zip archive of hundreds of ready to go VHDs if you want to add stuff manually

[Idelacio]

Made some progress on my batch script tonight, and I think it’s coming along well!

Does anyone have any opinions about the following:

For default I'd say 3 is fine, realistically the user should be inputting what they need from it either way as every game is different. Maybe stick a warning that the user should excercise some basic common sense.

For the file size I'd say up to 200 and then offer to let the user import maybe? Otherwise you are going to have to accomodate up to 700mb for the really big ones.

[ItalianGrandma]

Made some progress on my batch script tonight, and I think it’s coming along well!

Does anyone have any opinions about the following:

For default I'd say 3 is fine, realistically the user should be inputting what they need from it either way as every game is different. Maybe stick a warning that the user should excercise some basic common sense.

For the file size I'd say up to 200 and then offer to let the user import maybe? Otherwise you are going to have to accomodate up to 700mb for the really big ones.

Thanks for the suggestions! I do already have warnings along those lines. I did realize that each VHD is usually already almost 3MB-ish smaller than the advertised size, so I probably need to add more like 6MB of default padding. One thing I can easily do is add sizes from maybe 7-300MB in 1MB increments and then just add a few more larger ones for 400-700MB in 50MB increments. Then if anyone needs in-between sizes, I can warn them that they need to import those on their own.

Edit: Actually, I can create the VHD of a specified size for the user with the script. I could probably also include my formatting disk with the pack so that once the new VHD is created, all the user would have to do is:

1) Open the AO486 core and mount the formatter floppy and the new VHD
2) Boot the disk, wait for it to finish and the VHD is done.

Then, you'd just drag your VHD back to the right folder on your PC and continue the build process.

Edit 2: Oh! it seems like it might actually be possible to expand an existing VHD in diskpart using Windows! If that works correctly, it could just mean that sizes could be defined by the user and I would only have to create one template VHD file for use. That said, I have a suspicion that it might prevent it from just working on MiSTer without the extra formatting steps, but I will test later tonight and see!

Edit 3: Ok, I think in order to resize properly, I'll have to include another tool that can resize FAT volumes...not sure if there's one that will just work in Windows natively through cmd prompt...

Edit 4: Yeah...I think it's going to be too cumbersome to expand the FAT16 partition in Windows, so my solution with including a formatter disk for use on MiSTer is probably the best option. I can just bake prompts into the script that tells you when to do that step if needed.

Edit 5: LOL, Actuallllly, it might be possible to do this if I bundle DOSBox with the script since that has a command line interface...going to play around with it later..

I figured it out after all! Latest version is here ----> viewtopic.php?p=85737#p85737

[dehydrated lemur]

I tried adding a game and when I selected it from the menu, I got an error in dos. I think I may have messed up either both or one of the steps. What are we supposed to rename rungame.bat? also the autoexec.bat step confuses me also. I don't have this file in the vhd root only in the utils folder and I didn't find a specific path there to rename.

[remax]

you must edit autoexec.bat to point to the good folder. You should have an autoexec.bat file in the root folder. copy it from another installation if not.
Keep rungame.bat named as is for uniformity
edit rungame.bat to launch the game with the correct settings (using sysctl to set correct CPU frequency).

[Idelacio]

I tried adding a game and when I selected it from the menu, I got an error in dos. I think I may have messed up either both or one of the steps. What are we supposed to rename rungame.bat? also the autoexec.bat step confuses me also. I don't have this file in the vhd root only in the utils folder and I didn't find a specific path there to rename.

Hang on, the autoexec is a system hidden file. Have you enabled the view options to show this?

First.PNG (106.05 KiB) Viewed 1443 times

Second.PNG (43.01 KiB) Viewed 1443 times

After that the framework looks something like this. Don;t get too fussy about the exact code and file arguments just yet.

Then.PNG (381.58 KiB) Viewed 1443 times

Kinda tired, hopefully that all makes sense... ><

[ItalianGrandma]

Made some progress on my batch script tonight, and I think it’s coming along well!

Does anyone have any opinions about the following:

For default I'd say 3 is fine, realistically the user should be inputting what they need from it either way as every game is different. Maybe stick a warning that the user should excercise some basic common sense.

For the file size I'd say up to 200 and then offer to let the user import maybe? Otherwise you are going to have to accomodate up to 700mb for the really big ones.

Thanks for the suggestions! I do already have warnings along those lines. I did realize that each VHD is usually already almost 3MB-ish smaller than the advertised size, so I probably need to add more like 6MB of default padding. One thing I can easily do is add sizes from maybe 7-300MB in 1MB increments and then just add a few more larger ones for 400-700MB in 50MB increments. Then if anyone needs in-between sizes, I can warn them that they need to import those on their own.

Edit: Actually, I can create the VHD of a specified size for the user with the script. I could probably also include my formatting disk with the pack so that once the new VHD is created, all the user would have to do is:

1) Open the AO486 core and mount the formatter floppy and the new VHD
2) Enter "1" and then press enter until prompted to restart the system
3) Click "Reset and Apply HDD" in the OSD
4) Enter "2" and wait for the process to complete and the new VHD is ready

Then, you'd just drag your VHD back to the right folder on your PC and continue the build process.

Edit 2: Oh! it seems like it might actually be possible to expand an existing VHD in diskpart using Windows! If that works correctly, it could just mean that sizes could be defined by the user and I would only have to create one template VHD file for use. That said, I have a suspicion that it might prevent it from just working on MiSTer without the extra formatting steps, but I will test later tonight and see!

Edit 3: Ok, I think in order to resize properly, I'll have to include another tool that can resize FAT volumes...not sure if there's one that will just work in Windows natively through cmd prompt...

Edit 4: Yeah...I think it's going to be too cumbersome to expand the FAT16 partition in Windows, so my solution with including a formatter disk for use on MiSTer is probably the best option. I can just bake prompts into the script that tells you when to do that step if needed.

Edit 5: LOL, Actuallllly, it might be possible to do this if I bundle DOSBox with the script since that has a command line interface...going to play around with it later..

OK, I have a lead on potentially automating the entire VHD creation process using Diskpart + DOSBox-X in Windows!

I still have to do more testing, but it's very promising...everyone cross your fingers that this works...

[dehydrated lemur]

I tried adding a game and when I selected it from the menu, I got an error in dos. I think I may have messed up either both or one of the steps. What are we supposed to rename rungame.bat? also the autoexec.bat step confuses me also. I don't have this file in the vhd root only in the utils folder and I didn't find a specific path there to rename.

Hang on, the autoexec is a system hidden file. Have you enabled the view options to show this?

First.PNG
Second.PNG

After that the framework looks something like this. Don;t get too fussy about the exact code and file arguments just yet.
Then.PNG

Kinda tired, hopefully that all makes sense... ><

this helped me get it working! thank you

[Idelacio]

OK, I have a lead on potentially automating the entire VHD creation process using Diskpart + DOSBox-X in Windows!

I still have to do more testing, but it's very promising...everyone cross your fingers that this works...

Honestly I was wondering if that was doable, anything that makes your system scalable via code is the happiest option!

[Bas]

I wrote a whole script for that in Bash.. see the top of the DOSContainer thread. Insert YAML, get a baked-off VHD. Currently rewriting this exact thing in Rust so you get this as a single executable on all platforms.

[ItalianGrandma]

OK, I have a lead on potentially automating the entire VHD creation process using Diskpart + DOSBox-X in Windows!

I still have to do more testing, but it's very promising...everyone cross your fingers that this works...

Honestly I was wondering if that was doable, anything that makes your system scalable via code is the happiest option!

It is, in fact, doable! With some help from another Discord user, we have confirmed that we can create the VHDs entirely in Windows using Diskpart + DOSBox-X in a script If I do continue with my script, I no longer need to prepackage the VHDs.

I wrote a whole script for that in Bash.. see the top of the DOSContainer thread. Insert YAML, get a baked-off VHD. Currently rewriting this exact thing in Rust so you get this as a single executable on all platforms.

Yeah, I actually looked at yours and thought that it might go above some heads with how it's setup (including mine ). I'm sure I just needed to look at it more closely.

That said, a single EXE would be awesome!

[Bas]

The Bash thing was more of a proof of concept. It uses GNU Mtools and dd to create the disk + partitioning. When the Rust base is done, I'm looking at a GUI to hide the YAML step.

[ItalianGrandma]

The Bash thing was more of a proof of concept. It uses GNU Mtools and dd to create the disk + partitioning. When the Rust base is done, I'm looking at a GUI to hide the YAML step.

Amazing! I may still work on mine just for fun and to have a tool in the interim, but it definitely sounds like your tool will be the way to go. Especially since your tool can do multiple versions of DOS and not just 7.1.

Do you have a config setup for UniVBE/VESA 2.0 display drivers? If not, I'd love to send that to you so you can bake that in as well since some games either require it or have better performance with it.

[Bas]

Not yet but I'm certainly interested. And I'm following along with this collection as you seem to be doing the games while I'm building scaffolding from the other side in. At some point these worlds will meet and that'll be a huge load of awesome in a very short time.

[ItalianGrandma]

Not yet but I'm certainly interested. And I'm following along with this collection as you seem to be doing the games while I'm building scaffolding from the other side in. At some point these worlds will meet and that'll be a huge load of awesome in a very short time.

I haven't been working on the games for a bit over a week now while I've been trying to build a better VHD toolkit, but now that I have better tools for myself and see that yours is going to be the best answer, I'm gonna get back to it!

[Idelacio]

this helped me get it working! thank you

If it provides any motivation, I still dunno wtf I am doing and am still picking stuff up as I go along.

On that note
Dark Sun 1 and 2 are uploaded
Whale's Voyage is up
Whale's Voyage 2 is being uploaded
Harvester is working and I'll upload when I have a stretch of time.

Urrrrgh I have 11th Hour video going but it's pretty wtf atm, under sdd53a drivers. Putting it back on teh shelf to come back to it.

[ItalianGrandma]

this helped me get it working! thank you

If it provides any motivation, I still dunno wtf I am doing and am still picking stuff up as I go along.

On that note
Dark Sun 1 and 2 are uploaded
Whale's Voyage is up
Whale's Voyage 2 is being uploaded
Harvester is working and I'll upload when I have a stretch of time.

Urrrrgh I have 11th Hour video going but it's pretty wtf atm, under sdd53a drivers. Putting it back on teh shelf to come back to it.

Have you tried with SDD653-D? I have a working setup for it if you need it.

[Idelacio]

Have you tried with SDD653-D? I have a working setup for it if you need it.

I tried to but it tiled the image. I did see your post in the relevant topic, I'd be happy to try your setup as mine is almost certainly half cocked...

Arkania 2 and 3 are now fully working.
1 won't read the CD as a valid game disc (does ead data from it) so CD music not working yet. WIP! ><

[ItalianGrandma]

Have you tried with SDD653-D? I have a working setup for it if you need it.

I tried to but it tiled the image. I did see your post in the relevant topic, I'd be happy to try your setup as mine is almost certainly half cocked...

Arkania 2 and 3 are now fully working.
1 won't read the CD as a valid game disc (does ead data from it) so CD music not working yet. WIP! ><

Ok, I'll do my best to share it with you soon, but unfortunately it might take me a couple days.

That said, if everything was showing as installed correctly when you ran UniVBE and the video card was showing as ET4000, etc. then you probably installed it fine and it just might not help that game.

[Idelacio]

Ok, I'll do my best to share it with you soon, but unfortunately it might take me a couple days.

That said, if everything was showing as installed correctly when you ran UniVBE and the video card was showing as ET4000, etc. then you probably installed it fine and it just might not help that game.

No worries, I am in no rush. Pleeenty of other games to do. :3

[Fuzzball]

Trying to use the download script for this for the first time since installing the initial collection. However, the big issue here is that when I downloaded the collection on my PC I can use a download manager with multiple connections to archive.org and the download maxes out my internet connection. Using the script on the Mister it is using the standard download and comes down at most at 4kb/s and takes forever. In fact so long I turned the Mister off before it had finished downloading a single zip file.

Is there any alternative method to download all new updates that I can do from my PC and max out my internet connection?

[Bas]

I'd be happy to host the whole lot. My uplink is 1Gbps from an actual datacenter.

[mrchrister]

Trying to use the download script for this for the first time since installing the initial collection. However, the big issue here is that when I downloaded the collection on my PC I can use a download manager with multiple connections to archive.org and the download maxes out my internet connection. Using the script on the Mister it is using the standard download and comes down at most at 4kb/s and takes forever. In fact so long I turned the Mister off before it had finished downloading a single zip file.

Is there any alternative method to download all new updates that I can do from my PC and max out my internet connection?

That's too bad, I get around 4MB/s with my mister on archive.org. I can check if we can speed up the curl command or use a different tool for downloading

[Idelacio]

A weird issue I found with Realms of Arkania 2 that threw me for a loop (WTF IT WAS WORKING 5 MINUTES AGO etc etc)

If the core is set to 256MB it throws up an XMS memory error, claiming I have plenty of EMS but negative XMS.
But it's fine with 16MB! This is with EMS limiting to 8192MB.

I've mitgated this in the build by advising the user what to do, go into the menu and switch to 16MB.
Any idea why this happens though?
I take it it's not possible to SYSCTL RAM values?

It's no biggy as I have the instructions in there, it's just mildly frustrating!

[ItalianGrandma]

I made a very simple program with AutoHotKey that allows you to specify a filesize and then it creates and sets up a VHD of that size for use with MiSTer

It’s pretty barebones, but it does setup the drive with a default 0MHz setup in terms of system files and config settings. Once it’s created you have to mount the drive and add your game files and adjust settings and your rungame.bat. You do also have to create your own MGL file and folders at the moment. I will probably release a v2 for fun soon that allows you to build the entire pack so it’s drag and drop ready.

If anyone tries it out, let me know if it works or if you encounter any issues! There is a readme in there explaining what to do. It does require DOSBox-X to run.

Edit: Alright, well, it might be broken at the moment Unfortunately, I’m not home right now, so I’ll have to try and fix it in a day or two after I’m back.

Latest version here ---> viewtopic.php?p=85737#p85737

[Idelacio]

If anyone tries it out, let me know if it works or if you encounter any issues! There is a readme in there explaining what to do. It does require DOSBox-X to run.

'If' he says, I'm right on that.

"Invalid system disk
replace the dick and then press any key"

Attached the offending VHD.

JankyGermanGame.zip

(27.46 MiB) Downloaded 19 times

[ItalianGrandma]

If anyone tries it out, let me know if it works or if you encounter any issues! There is a readme in there explaining what to do. It does require DOSBox-X to run.

'If' he says, I'm right on that.

"Invalid system disk
replace the dick and then press any key"

Attached the offending VHD.
JankyGermanGame.zip

Dang, that’s the message on MiSTer? Well, shoot, maybe I screwed something up It’s possible that I might have to go back to making the drives with windows diskpart and then making them bootable in dosbox-x instead of doing it all in dosbox-x. At least that’s an easy fix if that’s all it needs.

I thought I made a hdd last night using dosbox-x that worked fine, but maybe I used windows diskpart. When I made the drives in dosbox-x, the installation went fine, but maybe that was misleading.

What size is the VHD you made? Unfortunately, I’m not at home and won’t be home for another day or so to take a look and fix it

Edit: Oh, if you’re getting that message in dosbox-x, try putting that package in a place where there are no blank spaces anywhere in the filepath. I forgot that I couldn’t figure out how to handle the spaces in the filepath in AHK…gotta fix that too haha

[Idelacio]

60MB, I'm getting the error in MiSTer.

No spaces in the file path-
Q:\Junk\DOS\GAMES\templates\OUTPUTS\Create_VHDs
Using Windows 10.

I tested in DOSBox X and it does boot when mounted as an image.

Do check the file I uploaded though as a sanity check when you can, in case it's a me issue. Always best to assume User Error first. :p

If it's not me you could test by getting Doxbox x to dump out a blank VHD and seeing if MiSTer can load and format it with a dos boot disk.

[Idelacio]

On that note decided to try it myself-

in dosbox-x-
imgmake hdd.vhd -t hd -size 16

Loaded as is into MiSter

The DOS boot disk attempted a format, then-
"Setup cannot install MS-DOS 6.22 on your computer.

An error was detected while formatting your primary hard disk partition"

Now, THAT SAID, I then fdisked and deleted the parition. Rebooted the system and THEN it was able to format and install.
It then booted into DOS

So the VHD file is not inherently screwed, just something that DOSbox is doing to it.

BECAUSE I CAN'T LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE
I tested tinstalling on DOSBox-X and had the same issue, managed to get it installing before DOSBox crashed, that's probably my stupid brain not understanding how to swap disks in DOSBox though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Testing your boot disk it looks like it dunks the contents onto the VHD as is? Yeah I think you need to fdisk and format it via DOS first.