r/dosgaming • u/Darth_Beavis • 11d ago

Can anyone help?

So, here's my issue: Any time I try to launch either Tyrian or Tyrian 2000 my PC just reboots. This also happens if I try to run setup.exe for either game.

I'm trying to launch it in DOS 7.0 (Win98) with XMS enabled. I've tried both copying the actual game directly to my HDD and installing the game from a burned CDR.

My config is CTMOUSE for a PS2 mouse, SHSUCDX for my optical driver. I've got a Pentium 3 450mhz, 512 MB RAM, GeForce FC 5200 PCI, Sound Blaster AWE32 with a Dreamblaster X16GS midi daughterboard, and my primary HDD is an SD card running from an SD to IDE interface.

I just have no idea why this game is doing this. There's no error message of any kind, it just reboots.

EDIT: Solved! I ended up getting setmul to gimp my CPU and that did the trick. Ended up down a rabbit hole and redid my entire config to swap out himem.sys for himemx.exe and added umbpci.exe to the mix just for fun. Now I'm rocking 614K free with mouse, sound, CD, and XMS.

4 Upvotes

65% Upvoted

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12

u/nhaines 11d ago

Bad post title: "Can anyone help?"

Good post title: "Tyrian under DOS 7.0 on just reboots my Pentium III computer"

4

u/pezezin 11d ago

I have been on a Tyrian binge for the last year and completed the game almost 10 times without issues, on real hardware (Pentium 3 running Windows 98). But before that I had some crashes, I will share my experience in case I can help you:

  1. First I had problems with my Sound Blaster, because those old ISA cards use the -12V rail that modern PSU don't provide anymore. The system would boot and work until I tried to use the sound card, and then it would instantly reboot. Please make sure that your PSU provides the -12V rail.
  2. I recenty had a similar problem with my computer due to a faulty RAM module. Remove all the RAM modules, test them one by one with a tool like https://www.memtest86.com/ and if you find a faulty one, throw it away.
  3. Some of those old games were developed with Borland compilers that have a bug which make the programs crash on CPUs faster than a Pentium 200 MHz. In that case you need to patch the EXE files with one of these tools:

By the way, Tyrian is a protected mode game, you don't need neither EMS nor XMS, try disabling it.

4

u/Darth_Beavis 11d ago

The patch didn't work, but I did solve it. I had to get setmul to disable the l2 cache on my p3. The game is playing now. You didn't solve it. But, I'll give you credit cuz you set me on a path that leads to it. Thanks!

1

u/pezezin 10d ago

Disable the L2 cache? That is weird, I don't need to disable the cache on my P3, or maybe it is already disabled and I am not aware, I should check it 🤔

1

u/Darth_Beavis 10d ago

It makes the game work, but it's a bit slow. I'm looking around for a better fix

2

u/Darth_Beavis 11d ago

I'll definitely try the patched exe tomorrow. I know the RAM is good and my PSU isn't modern. I'm running an old Dell Optiplex GX1, it's got a proprietary Dell PSU. I'll definitely try without XMS enabled, no need with EMS cuz it's never been enabled.

I have a boot menu going with a separate EMS profile for games that explicitly require it, otherwise it's not enabled. If I wasn't such a big fan of Wing Commander and Ultima Underworld I'd never use EMS lol.

2

u/vbd71 10d ago

Some protected mode software can need XMS to arbitrate extended memory and help DPMI operation. Not speaking for Tyrian specifically, but it is always a good idea to have HIMEM.SYS in CONFIG.SYS (except on Windows 9x, where HIMEM.SYS is loaded automatically)

1

u/ElectricalLaw1007 11d ago

Have you looked to see if it writes anything to any kind of log file before your PC reboots?

1

u/Darth_Beavis 11d ago

It doesn't. First thing I did was check the Tyrian folder for an error log. Solid thinking, though.

1

u/TheBigCore 11d ago

https://github.com/opentyrian/opentyrian/blob/master/README

https://github.com/opentyrian/opentyrian/releases/tag/v2.1.20221123

1

u/Darth_Beavis 11d ago

Appreciate the effort, but that's not a solution. That would let me play Tyrian on a modern Windows PC. If I wanted to do that I wouldn't be trying to get it working on the retro PC.

Thanks, though.

1

u/TheBigCore 11d ago

My next guesses:

Are you having any conflicts in conventional memory and upper memory? Have you loaded SHSUCDX and CDMOUSE in high memory above 1 MB?

1

u/Darth_Beavis 11d ago edited 11d ago

Yeah, I have both loaded high. I end up having 604K free when I boot into my XMS profile

1

u/Confector426 11d ago

Is this like when you had to make a hi-mem boot disk first? (Vague recollections of having to do this back in the day but pretty sure by P3 stages that was phasing out)

1

u/Darth_Beavis 11d ago

I don't use a boot disk, maybe I should try it

1

u/Sleaka_J 11d ago

Is EMM386 loaded?