Help running might and magic on winXP.

[Zepdog]

I need help running Might and Magic 2 on my Windows XP edition. I have "The Ultimate M&M Archives" edition with the first 5 games. The game is suppose to run MSDOS automatically to play. It does start MSDOS and does some type of scan or something, then it just ends and nothing happens and MSDOS dissapears. I also tried the DOSBox 0.74 and it really doesn't give anything more than typing "c:" to play. Am I missing more things to do? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[tolich]

LOADFIX [-size] [program] [program-parameters]
LOADFIX -f
Program to reduce the amount of available conventional memory.
Useful for old programs which don't expect much memory to be free.

-size
number of kilobytes to "eat up", default = 64kb

-f
frees all previously allocated memory

Examples:
1. To start mm2.exe and allocate 64kb memory
(mm2 will have 64 kb less available):
loadfix mm2
2. To start mm2.exe and allocate 32kb memory:
loadfix -32 mm2
3. To free previous allocated memory:
loadfix -f

I hope it helps.

[GreatEmerald]

Always check the DOSBox compatibility list to get the best experience:
http://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?showID=108&letter=M

Also, in case you have more games and/or don't want to enter the same command all the time, use D-Fend Reloaded or DBGL as game launchers.

[Daerandin]

It should be able to run in dosbox since the gog version is bundled with dosbox and runs perfectly.

After some checking around I can't see anyone encountering issues with the game in dosbox. How familiar are you with the emulator? When I first downloaded dosbox (I think that was back in the 0.63 version of it) I started it up and understood nothing. Had to resort to the manual.

But if you are familiar with dosbox, from I can see the tips already given here should make it work well.

[Zepdog]

Thanks for all the help guys. I still can't play though. I am not very good with DOS. I was able to allocate memory (64 and 32 just to check both), but the game still won't start. I try and start the game from the program list at that point and it does the "system check" then dissapears still. Is there another way to try and run the game through the DOSBOX itself with a command? Thanks again.

[tolich]

Try to read DosBOX manual, it could really help.

A rather unusual example, just to demonstrate what you can do (Windows):
dosbox D:\folder\file.exe -c "MOUNT Y H:\MyFolder"
This mounts D:\folder as C:\ and runs file.exe.
Before it does that, it will first mount H:\MyFolder as the Y drive.

In fact, I use a configuration file, cause I have many dos programs, and this includes not only games. In the 'autoexec' section I mount all necessary drives, and set up the envirinment. Also there's a Norton Commander's clone on drive C:, I don't use it much though.

[Zepdog]

Okay, this is what I have:

mount c c:\
c:
loadfix mm2

So now what do I do next? I don't know what to type in to run the game. I don't have a book to tell me the command to run the game. And when you tell me to just read the DOSBox manual it doesn't help me. Thanks for being patient with me guys.

[Daerandin]

Now you have to navigate to where the mm2 executable is located, which would be wherever you installed it. In may case, I would have to type

cd\games\mm\mm2

Just change all the above with the path to your Might and Magic 2 folder, except for the 'cd' at the beginning as that is the dos command for changing directory.

Then when you have changed to your mm2 directory, type in the file name of the executable and it will run.

Oh, and it is fully possible to change the memory in dosbox to always be 64 in the config file. The dosbox manual actually gives pretty good instructions. You can find the manual where you installed dosbox, or from the start menu. This part of the dosbox forums got tutorials
http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewforum.php?f=39

If you are completely unfamiliar with dos then I realize it may be difficult to comprehend at first, but I really do suggest you take the time learn using dosbox because it will let you play just about any old dos game.

[Zepdog]

I feel like a complete idiot now. After I looked at all of the names of the path I used to get to the game (to put into DOS) I came to the last folder with MM2 (like usual) and when I went into it this time I came across an icon that looked like a DOS icon. So I double clicked it and (this is where I feel stupid) the game started right up. I didn't need the DOSBox or anything. Oh well, at least now it is working. Thanks for all of your help everyone. I hope there isn't any sound because that isn't working and I don't want to go through this again, lol. Thanks again.

[MMXAlamar]

dosbox actually lets you hear some of the sounds and music that you might not if you try to run a game from windows (i'd say xp or later). it's really easy to use, but you have to move the game directory to someplace very accessible. i usually move my games so i can assess them directly from the c drive. in dosbox i'd only have to type in c:\mm\mm2 for example, which is an extremely easy file path.

you can run mm1-5 perfectly in dosbox.

[vmxa]

It takes a bit of work initially, but using a front end like ProGammaX makes it a single click to start Dosbox games.

I usually have 4-6 games setup in ProGammaX. I have used other front end apps found on DsBox's site in the past. They pass on DosBox commands like mount and do the change directory and you can pass operands to the game.

I am currently playing Ascendancy that way and have Moo1 and Moo2 and Alien Legacy setup.

[Mattard]

You can buy MM6 off gog.com for $4.99 which comes with all 5 of the previous dos titles already set up to use dos box and each installed with seperate dosbox shortcuts