Far out man! I just played Master of Orion for about an hour and it worked great with this version. Not good with mi.com, however... weird characters and a manic counter spinning away at the very bottom of the screen... BONG HIT! Gotta reboot.
Charlie --- Michael Devore <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Uploaded to > ftp://ftp.devoresoftware.com/downloads/emm386 are > the files > emmx15.zip, EMM386/HIMEM mostly executable package, > and emms15.zip, > EMM386/HIMEM mostly source package. > > As with the previous release, EMM386 version 1.15 > contains a significant > number of both fixes and enhancements. It is > recommended for anyone having > any problems with a previous EMM386 release, or who > thinks their copy of > EMM386 could be operating incorrectly. User > feedback on problems is vital > to further bugfixes. > > Version 1.15 EMM386 adds support for VDS function 2, > to allow the Fast > Tracker application to execute without failure. It > fixes an error in EMS > function 53h, so that PCTool's MI program will not > crash. It fixes a > long-standing error in EMS function 58h, to allow > Quarterdeck's Manifest > program to properly display EMS information. It > allows Doom to operate > without use of the NOEMS option. Other problematic > applications may also > be affected by these changes. Plus, EMM386 version > 1.15 adds support for > several lesser EMS 4.0 functions, and reworks > sections of VCPI code, > including fixing a problem with EMM=#### option > values greater > than approximately 261000. > > The code for several low-level operations was > modified. Tests with DOS > extended applications (i.e. using VCPI) to ensure > compatibility is recommended. > > An optional more in-depth description of the changes > follows. Users only, > cut here... > > Previous version 1.14's new EMS function 53h support > broke PCTool's Memory > Information program because it wrote the handle > information to the wrong > area of memory, overwriting critical areas of either > DOS or MI. Masters of > Orion still works. > > The Fast Tracker program -- version 2.09 tested -- > would fail because the > EMM386 VDS option did not include support for > function 2, basic > identification and flags. FT tests okay in EMM386 > 1.15, at least as far as > buttons working. I don't have a clue how to use for > real work. > > EMS function 58h, subfunction 1, did not properly > return the number of EMS > mappable pages. The bug caused Manifest to fail to > display most EMS > information properly and crashed the Benchmark > selection. This was > fixed. Timings still crash on my machine because > it's too fast for MFT. > > Support for several lesser EMS 4.0 functions and a > few cosmetic source code > changes were made based on Eric Auer's contribution. > > Specifying EMM=#### amounts greater than around 256M > (261000), would > overflow and limit EMS and VCPI to the overflow > amount, although the full > XMS allocation was made. This was fixed and VCPI > allocations were limited > to a maximum of 511M. Intelligent DOS extenders > can still use XMS beyond > that limitation in addition to VCPI allocations for > their memory needs > (though needing more than 511M is pretty scary). > Increasing the VCPI > maximum is theoretically possible, but would require > uncoupling the EMS > memory available report from the VCPI memory report, > and probably isn't a > good idea. More on this in the following > discussion. > > Doom would break if the NOEMS option of EMM386 was > NOT specified, for > fairly complex reasons. This was a consequence of > the version 1.14 change > wherein I modified the VCPI protected mode entry > code to use the server CR3 > linear address space. This was done so that server > accesses of extended > memory would be relative to server memory addresses > and not a potentially > completely different memory area based on client > memory mappings. Right > idea, bad choice. Doom failed because its client > stack, used by the > server, was not in the same memory space as the > server. As it turns out, > since EMS and VCPI allocations are indirectly > manipulated through tables in > shared memory space, there is no need to change to > the server CR3 > address. The CR3 change was reverted to pre-1.14 > status, which made Doom > happy again. By the way, some bored individual > might volunteer to update > the comp.os.msdos FAQ which says FreeDOS doesn't > work with Doom. > > Why did Doom work with the NOEMS option? Because > NOEMS would throttle the > free EMS memory report back down to one page, which > Doom detected and > changed to allocating all its memory through XMS, > which didn't go through > VCPI allocations in protected mode. In case anyone > wonders about the type > of bugs that make professional programmer debugging > types get prematurely > bald and wrinkly, this is an excellent example. The > NOEMS/VCPI topic leads > to the final point... > > The NOEMS option no longer throttles the free EMS > memory report in function > 42h to one page. Why not? Because Microsoft EMM386 > version 7.x doesn't, > and because the VCPI specification recommends using > the EMS memory function > to determine available VCPI memory. Why did FreeDOS > EMM386 originally > throttle the free EMS? Because NOEMS option is > supposed to mean no EMS > usage allowed. Obviously, Microsoft didn't get the > memo. One page was > originally left to allow VCPI detection by > successful single page > allocate. Now, even with NOEMS all available > EMS/VCPI memory is reported > in function 42h. Up to 7fffh 16K-sized pages, or > 511M. The high bit is > left clear for dumb programs which use signed > instead of unsigned > compares. Similar to the way Disney's Aladdin > program does on >32M of XMS, > causing Aladdin to fail on higher memory machines > unless HIMEM's /MAX > option is used or external XMS allocations are made. > Walt would kick > somebody's butt for that. > > Hmm, Zombie Walt Disney kicking butt, now that would > be a cool game. > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide > Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT > Products from real users. > Discover which products truly live up to the hype. > Start reading now. > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click > _______________________________________________ > Freedos-user mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
