Is this viable?

SoulSkorpion

Spaceman
Hokai. I'm trying to get Privateer, Privateer 2, Armada, Strike Commander and\or any other miscellaneous DOS games I have running under XP. So far, the most promising solution seems to be this. The problem is that, apparently, whatever this OS is it doesn't like NTFS and so can't find my hard disk. That would kinda preclude playing any installed game.

So, here's my idea. What if I install (let's say) Privateer on my hard disk, burn the whole PRIV folder onto a CD (including myjemm, just for luck), boot off the floppy, switch to a blank floppy once it's started up, play Privateer off the CD and save my game onto the floppy. Before I expend a blank CD, time and effort: is that viable? Is it possible to get Privateer to send saved game data to a different location to where the game's installed?

Maybe I'd have to install the game onto floppies then burn it from floppies to CD so that it thinks it's on floppy, therefore it can save onto floppy? Maybe fiddling around so that I identify my hard disk as the A: drive, then switch it back after installation? Or is there just a simple string in a config file?

So... is any of this going to work? I'd really like to play Privateer again :)
 
There is no way that I know to tell any WC game where to save, sorry. What you migth want to try is (given that you got a big enough memory) to copy the game from the CD into a ramdrive and play it from there? Obviously this is a bit risky as a crash would loose you your savegames.
Also note that you will need some shareware ramdrive as the DOS one doesn't dupport big volumes (I think 4mb is max or so).
 
Is it possible to install it on a USB key, because in XP, it's like a hard drive.
I know there is something you can do to boot from a USB key, but I don't know if it works in Dos mode.
 
No idea. Depends on if there is a driver or BIOS extension for DOS. Generally I'd say no.
 
Unless I'm mistaken, BIOS doesn't register USB ports, much less drives...only the operation systerm does that
 
Many newer BIOSes (not sure how new.. less than a year old maybe?) are able to boot from USB devices, including memory keys.. though I forget how you make them bootable. Because it's a BIOS function, the OS is irrelevant. Also for two or three years now several BIOSes have had the ability to boot from a USB ZIP drive. So yeah, a 256MB memory key or a USB ZIP 250 drive seem like viable options.
 
Booting from them and have them running in DOS are 2 things. I can boot from a CD in most BIOS, but I still need a CD driver for dos!
 
How can you boot from a device that the OS can't see? :)

Starting MS-DOS...
Wait, I can't start because I can't read the drive! Think about it, if the operating system you are booting needs a driver to read the boot drive, how can it boot?

It works because when booting from a device, the BIOS mounts the device as a hard drive or similar. I know this since one of my work USB keys is a Windows 95 boot disk which loads network drivers then drops you to a command prompt. I think the drive is then accessible as C: drive or something. As you may recall, neither DOS nor Windows 95 have any USB support at all.
 
I checked some documentation on a Transcend 256mb USB key. To boot from it, you need a motherboard that supports USB-ZIP or USB-HDD as first boot device. USB-HDD is supported only by Win98/Win98SE.

They say it creates a MS-DOS boot disk and it allows you to run MS-DOS programs. :)

If my motherboard support that boot thing, I'll try it and give you back some info.
 
Cpl Hades said:
I think the drive is then accessible as C: drive or something. As you may recall, neither DOS nor Windows 95 have any USB support at all.

To be pedantic, some of the later OEM versions of windows 95 include shitty support for USB
 
Bad news. My most recent PC: a Athlon Xp 1700+ and a P4 1.8, don't have the boot from USB support. :( Not even if I flash the Bios with the most recent update. I'll try to find someone with a better PC... or buy a new one :D
 
Are you sure you have everything USB related enabled in the BIOS? Like the BIOS on the machine I'm on right now has an "Enable boot from USB" option, and you can't select a USB device in the boot order list unless you enable that and save/exit then go back in. Other times you just have to flick through the boot order options.

I'd really expect at least one of your computers (the P4 more likely than the other) to have some form of USB booting support. Even the two year old P4 1.7 machine (AMIBIOS) next to me lets you choose USB FDD, USB CDROM, USB HDD, USB LS120, or USB ZIP.
 
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