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DOS Games Dilemma - Part Two

© Chris Cruickshank

This week's article looks at creating and setting up a unique environment for running DOS programs (usually games). The article will look at the major areas that you need to consider when setting up a shortcut so that the program can be launched.

Before you start

Before starting to create environments there are some things you need to know about your system. It is a good idea to find out the items listed below, write them down so that you can refer back to them when needed. Here's the list:

 CD ROM settings

 Soundcard settings

 Make and type of graphic card

 Joystick or gamepad port

Now for a bit of explanation.

CD-ROM

This is crucial to setting up games as most require access to the CD-ROM drive. There are two main things to look for and these are the lines contained in the system files that make your PC recognise the CD-ROM drive. One is contained in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and the other is contained in CONFIG.SYS.

The CONFIG.SYS entry tells the system about your CD-ROM drive. It forms the communication link between PC and CD-ROM drive. The line will look something like this:

DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\CPQIDECD.SYS /D:IDECD001

The line varies from one CD to another but you can recognise the line by having the /D: within the line (by the way, don't be fooled, the D: is nothing to do with the drive letter). What follows after the /D: is the drive name as your system knows it. In the above example it is IDECD001. This is set for you by the PC or CD-ROM manufacturer and should NOT be changed.

Within the AUTOEXEC.BAT file is a line that runs MSCDEX.EXE. This program uses the communication link between PC and CD-ROM. You will see in the line the name of your CD-ROM drive (IDECD001 in this case). The line looks something like this..

LH C:\WINDOWS\MSCDEX /D:IDECD001

Make a note of your CD-ROM drive name.

Soundcard Settings

These tell programs what type of soundcard you have and its settings. Most programs can automatically detect these settings but when setting up your own environment, you may need to "tell" the computer.

Again, the place to look for such settings is in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (some soundcards may also have CONFIG.SYS settings).

The commonest type of soundcard is the SoundBlaster and even if your card isn't a SoundBlaster, it may have Blaster settings as you can be sure a game will recognise this card.

In your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, look for a line that looks something like:

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