cant open older games on xp sp2

[sps]

everytime i try to install older game demos such as aliens vs predator or dark forces II : jedi knight this message comes up:

(header) 16 bit windows subsystem

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXEC.NT. the system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Micorsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' To terminate the application.

             ('close' button) ('ignore' button)

even if i press ignore it still closes. Now, aliens vs predator definatly used to work on my pc, probably b4 i installed service pack 2. as did worms.

any suggestions?

thanx,
      sps

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

In general, "persistent" Win9x games (which are mostly older ones) could be ran by setting the Compatibility Mode to Win98 / Win95.



BUT, if you got the error message below:

(header) 16 bit windows subsystem

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXEC.NT. the system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Micorsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' To terminate the application.

('close' button) ('ignore' button)

Then I guess setting up the Compatibility Mode won't do ****. Didn't say it's not worth trying, though. But in most cases, it simply doesn't work at all.

Most plausible solution? Stay with Win9x, like I do. I'm using Win 98 SE, which is IMO has the best "balance" between backward (game) compatibilities and newer hardware. IIRC the only thing you cannot play in Win98 is The Need for Speed SE.

As for DOS games, you can use either DOSBOX or VDMSound. Note VDMSound is not a true DOS emulator. It merely enables the sound of DOS games when running under WinXP; particularly when your sound card doesn't support SB16 emulator in WinXP "Command Prompt".

As for DOSBOX, there are still persistent DOS games simply won't run on it. The bad news: they're mostly Origin games like Strike  Commander or Crusader: No Regret. I ain't quite following DOSBOX development, though. I hope it will be fixed in future updates.

You can also find other DOS "emulators" here

[Nightbird]

here

here

the difference ? " "


or use :
format mode : prompt (and not basic)



ps : what's the problem with Need For Speed SE ?

Read this topic, i ran this game with a V5 under Windows Millenium in glide.
This is the hint :
Copy the NFS2SEA.EXE file from the ROOT directory of the
game CD-ROM in your Need for Speed directory into your hd.
Set up a new shortcut to the desktop for this file to run Need for Speed II SE in glide.
http://www.3dfxzone.it/enboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=347

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

Originally posted by Nightbird

here

here

the difference ? " "

Whoops.

Originally posted by Nightbird
ps : what's the problem with Need For Speed SE ?

Read this topic, i ran this game with a V5 under Windows Millenium in glide.
This is the hint :
Copy the NFS2SEA.EXE file from the ROOT directory of the
game CD-ROM in your Need for Speed directory into your hd.
Set up a new shortcut to the desktop for this file to run Need for Speed II SE in glide.
http://www.3dfxzone.it/enboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=347

Is it NFS II or NFS 1? I failed to run NFS1 (SE) in Win98. But thanks for the tip!

Anyway, a little bit OT, but what are the environment variables and their values to run Voodoo5 FSAA in pure DOS? (booting with DOS boot disk) I wonder if I can play Jetfighter III and Archimedean Dynasty with 4x FSAA.

[Nightbird]

Oops, you're talking the number 1 and me the number 2 !

[Xasd]

I had the same problem with the game "Lion King" and I resolved it doing this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324767/en-us

NOTE: you maybe have a copy of Windows XP and for make this process more confortable you can make a .BAT file with the instructions of Microsoft support site. I hope this can help us.

[BasicMan]

moi vaa teillkki

[Nightbird]

[OT]
@BasicMan
Only an advice : don't play at the troll.

[v2]

This is a Windows XP related problem not just for games and is not
depending on what service pack do you have.
Any application that uses ms-dos subsytem 16 bit interface will
generate this error if the setup applications don't find
the autoexec.nt file wich ,by default ,should be located in the
system32 directory
Image Insert:

15.43 KB

I had the same problem .
Seems that all products that have the installation support based on
InstallShield software are faulting in winxsp if the autoexec.nt is not found in the system directory.A copy of the autoexec.nt file should be in this folder:
c:\windows\system32\Repair .If the file is there copy it to
system32 folder and there you go.No problem.
I've try it and it works.
If you don't have it then:
Open your notepad.
Copy and paste(only what is written in bold text) the followings(quoting from the file):

@echo off

REM AUTOEXEC.BAT is not used to initialize the MS-DOS environment.
REM AUTOEXEC.NT is used to initialize the MS-DOS environment unless a
REM different startup file is specified in an application's PIF.

REM Install CD ROM extensions
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\mscdexnt.exe

REM Install network redirector (load before dosx.exe)
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\redir

REM Install DPMI support
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\dosx

REM The following line enables Sound Blaster 2.0 support on NTVDM.
REM The command for setting the BLASTER environment is as follows:
REM    SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330
REM    where:
REM        A    specifies the sound blaster's base I/O port
REM        I    specifies the interrupt request line
REM        D    specifies the 8-bit DMA channel
REM        P    specifies the MPU-401 base I/O port
REM        T    specifies the type of sound blaster card
REM                 1 - Sound Blaster 1.5
REM                 2 - Sound Blaster Pro I
REM                 3 - Sound Blaster 2.0
REM                 4 - Sound Blaster Pro II
REM                 6 - SOund Blaster 16/AWE 32/32/64
REM
REM    The default value is A220 I5 D1 T3 and P330.  If any of the switches is
REM    left unspecified, the default value will be used. (NOTE, since all the
REM    ports are virtualized, the information provided here does not have to
REM    match the real hardware setting.)  NTVDM supports Sound Blaster 2.0 only.
REM    The T switch must be set to 3, if specified.
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330 T3

REM To disable the sound blaster 2.0 support on NTVDM, specify an invalid
REM SB base I/O port address.  For example:
REM    SET BLASTER=A0





end of file;
Save it as autoexec.nt under system32 directory.

[Computer_Maniac]

I can´t run Crusader No Regret on dosbox program, it runs, but the animations plays really slow, I tried everything, either disabling XMS memory or EMS memory, and it´s really shocking, i want to play it. Is any support for this, an improvement to the velocity, i tried also increasing the cpu cycles in the d-fend box, and the framespiks. The introduction video doesn´t appear in the screen. And sometimes the sound it´s like a cd scratched or clipped. What can I do? Do I need to play it only with an old pc? example Pentium 166Mhz or below?. with a sbawe 64 Isa?. or buying a Sb16bits pci?. Thanks for your help.

[Nightbird]

Ehm, the game usually needs a full DOS mode and if i remember the game requires 6.8 mb of XMS memory.
(old game )