Incredible Machine 2, XP, *without* DOSBox?

[NoahsMyBro]

Yesterday evening I noticed my son playing some Incredible Machine-ish puzzle on a website. I thought he really ought to play the real thing, so I found and downloaded TIM2 and set it up on my wife's laptop. It works just fine.

BUT, my wife's laptop is an old junker, and after a short while it tends to overheat and power off. So this evening I put the same software on my laptop. My laptop is XP, SP2. My wife's laptop is XP, I think SP2, but now I'm thinking I should check that.

Curiously, TIM2 runs just fine on my wife's laptop, but complains of 0 EMS memory anytime it's launched on my laptop. I've tried every setting in the memory tab for the program on my laptop, with no success. I've verified that the settings for the program are identical to those on my wife's laptop.

I'd like to avoid installing DOSbox or anything else if I can avoid it; I'm trying to keep this system as streamlined and uncluttered as possible.

Does anybody know how (or if it's possible) to get TIM2 running properly in Win XP, without using DOSbox or some other emulator?

Thanks

[Kitsune Sniper]

Have you tried using the compatibility settings set to Windows 95 mode? You might have for all I know, but I'm just checking.

[NoahsMyBro]

Yes, I tried that, but thanks.

[Jorpho]

I'm trying to keep this system as streamlined and uncluttered as possible.

Then don't put games on it.

C:\Windows\System32\Config.NT has this to say:

REM EMM
REM You can use EMM command line to configure EMM(Expanded Memory Manager).
REM The syntax is:
REM
REM EMM = [A=AltRegSets] [B=BaseSegment] [RAM]
REM
REM AltRegSets
REM specifies the total Alternative Mapping Register Sets you
REM want the system to support. 1 <= AltRegSets <= 255. The
REM default value is 8.
REM BaseSegment
REM specifies the starting segment address in the Dos conventional
REM memory you want the system to allocate for EMM page frames.
REM The value must be given in Hexdecimal.
REM 0x1000 <= BaseSegment <= 0x4000. The value is rounded down to
REM 16KB boundary. The default value is 0x4000
REM RAM
REM specifies that the system should only allocate 64Kb address
REM space from the Upper Memory Block(UMB) area for EMM page frames
REM and leave the rests(if available) to be used by DOS to support
REM loadhigh and devicehigh commands. The system, by default, would
REM allocate all possible and available UMB for page frames.
REM
REM The EMM size is determined by pif file(either the one associated
REM with your application or _default.pif). If the size from PIF file
REM is zero, EMM will be disabled and the EMM line will be ignored.

There's also a blurb in there about CMD.EXE versus COMMAND.COM . When you run TIM2, are you running it after running COMMAND.COM from Start->Run ?

[NoahsMyBro]

Thx Jorpho. That's definitely something to explore.

In the meantime, I did give DOSbox a try, and while I didn't love the results, they are workable.

Also, my wife's laptop is XP SP3, while mine is SP2. I'd be surprised if that is the differenece-maker, but it's possible.

Finally, my brother is interested in checking the game out too, but has a Mac and isn't at all computer-savvy. He won't bother with DOSbox, I'm sure. Is it possible to run what is undoubtedly a Mac 'Classic' game like this with a new Mac, running OSX?

[jb143]

I mentioned this in another thread but figured I'd add it here too since it sounds like the only problem with running the game on your wife's computer is it overheating. More than likely you just need to really clean it out for proper airflow. Unless it happens to be something more serious that should keep it going.

[NoahsMyBro]

Yeah, I know. Her laptop should really be junked, but we're making it last as long as we can.

[Jorpho]

In the meantime, I did give DOSbox a try, and while I didn't love the results, they are workable.

I hope you read the readme.

Also, my wife's laptop is XP SP3, while mine is SP2. I'd be surprised if that is the differenece-maker, but it's possible.

A lot of computers had big problems related to AUTOEXEC.NT and CONFIG.NT after SP2, but usually they manifest in different ways than complaints about EMS. Googling for AUTOEXEC.NT should get you a fix if that's a problem.

And really, if you're trying to keep the laptop uncluttered and problem-free, why haven't you installed SP3?

Finally, my brother is interested in checking the game out too, but has a Mac and isn't at all computer-savvy. He won't bother with DOSbox, I'm sure. Is it possible to run what is undoubtedly a Mac 'Classic' game like this with a new Mac, running OSX?

You run it the same way you would on a PC: with the Basilisk II Macintosh emulator. DOSBox is considerably more convenient.

I mentioned this in another thread but figured I'd add it here too since it sounds like the only problem with running the game on your wife's computer is it overheating.

I hadn't thought of that: some of these older games try to run at their originally-intended speeds by throwing in tons of delay loops, which can cause overheating problems even on systems with good airflow and whatnot. WinThrottle ought to slow it down safely.

[SAV2880]

Maybe building a true virtual machine with a tool like Virtualbox or Virtual PC would be optimal, as you could then load an older version of Windows (95, 98 for example) and run this in somewhat of a more native mode, virtualized instead of emulated.