AO486 with MyMenu DOS Frontend and CD game data

[viperman3]

How does the new MyMenu DOS frontend impliment games with game data stored on CD. eXoDOS/TDL had the "CD" folder with the necessary game data. Does the content in the .IMG file need to be fully extracted into the folder where the AUTORUN.BAT file is located when using MyMenu?

[zakk4223]

It should work just like the old TDL system did, where the exodos converter created the bat file which contained commands to mount the cd images out of ao486/cd directory.

I'm not sure if flynnsbit has converted commercial games over yet, but I can confirm my own hacking of exodos converter to create autorun.bat basically works unmodified with mymenu and mounting cd images.

[flynnsbit]

It should work just like the old TDL system did, where the exodos converter created the bat file which contained commands to mount the cd images out of ao486/cd directory.

I'm not sure if flynnsbit has converted commercial games over yet, but I can confirm my own hacking of exodos converter to create autorun.bat basically works unmodified with mymenu and mounting cd images.

Zakk4223 is correct, just have the imgset command set the cd image in the autorun.bat file for the game. CD mounting will be exactly the same, imgset command (or imgtry.bat if you are using CHDs) and then the path to the exact cd image on the mister side. Add that into autorun.bat. I haven't had any time to go back and add mymenu to the Top 300 pack but it is on the list. Probably during my vacation time coming up.

Anyone could do it though.
1. add c:\MyMenu, c:\screensvr from the shareware pack over to Top 300.
2. write a script (or manually) rename all folders in e:\games\ to the long folder name version. you could even use MyMenu's interface to do this (Turn on ALT-R Rename option under ###Advanced### in the mymenu.ini file). Then just go through the list and Alt-R the games and name them or do that from a windows machine with the VHD mounted..
3. rename all the 1_Start.bat files to autorun if you want the folders to auto launch into the games.
4. change autoexec.bat to execute mymenu.exe (or menu.bat) instead of TDL.
5. Everything else should work exactly the way it does in TDL with the Top 300 pack(minus a few features like multi-letter searches)

The only games that will be funny are the ones that are set to auto reboot and pick the right memory manager for that game. There are only maybe 5 of those in the pack.

Eventually we can do a Mymenu option in the ExoDosConverter so you don't need to do any of this. I could see a quick option for adding games from a VHD now from there.

[viperman3]

After struggling to get the above options working, I though I would create a 25GB VHD from scratch.
So, I made a 25GB VHD file in Windows 10. Uploaded onto SSD on Mister and used FreeDOS 1.2 and created a bootable drive. I verified that the 25GB VHD partition is bootable and FreeDOS is fully functional. I then copied the content from the freeware pack into the 25GB partition.
Upon relaunching AO486 with the 25GB VHD under IDE 0-0, FreeDOS boots and MyMenu launches, however I receive pop-up with "No Files ...". Tried changing folders using F2 and keep receiving pop-up with "No Files ..."

I'm quite confused why MyMenu doens't see any of the files. I verified the 25GB partition is FAT32 formatted just as the FreeWare pack is also FAT32 formatted (mounted VHD image in Windows 10 and checked with "Properties" option). What am I missing here? I want to create a VHD that is larger than 2GB freeware pack to store games from the 300pack release.

[bbond007]

I'm quite confused why MyMenu doens't see any of the files. I verified the 25GB partition is FAT32 formatted just as the FreeWare pack is also FAT32 formatted (mounted VHD image in Windows 10 and checked with "Properties" option). What am I missing here? I want to create a VHD that is larger than 2GB freeware pack to store games from the 300pack release.

Sounds like you are missing LFN (long filename) driver:

for MSDOS you need to load DOSLFN.EXE

for FreeDOS you need a line like this in FDCONFIG.SYS:

Code: Select all

INSTALLHIGH=C:\FDOS\BIN\DOSLFNM.COM

For a 286 or XT machine you need LFNDOS --> https://gitlab.com/FreeDOS/drivers/lfndos

[viperman3]

I'm quite confused why MyMenu doens't see any of the files. I verified the 25GB partition is FAT32 formatted just as the FreeWare pack is also FAT32 formatted (mounted VHD image in Windows 10 and checked with "Properties" option). What am I missing here? I want to create a VHD that is larger than 2GB freeware pack to store games from the 300pack release.

Sounds like you are missing LFN (long filename) driver:

for MSDOS you need to load DOSLFN.EXE

for FreeDOS you need a line like this in FDCONFIG.SYS:

Code: Select all

INSTALLHIGH=C:\FDOS\BIN\DOSLFNM.COM

For a 286 or XT machine you need LFNDOS --> https://gitlab.com/FreeDOS/drivers/lfndos

That's already in there. I copied the AUTOEEXEC.BAT and FDCONFIG.SYS from the shareware pack into this new VHD after installing FreeDOS v1.2.
Even tries the whole exercise on a smaller 8GB VHD and got exact same result.

Here are my steps:
mount FreeDOS v1.2 ISO image on IDE 1-0
mount empty 8GB FAT32 formatted VHD on IDE 0-0 (Empty 8GB FAT32 formatted VHD was downloaded from this Forum)
Install FreeDOS onto 8GB VHD and verify it's booting
Mount Shareware pack onto IDE 0-1 (D: drive)
xcopy -e -h -s all content (except for FDOS folder content) onto IDE 0-0 (C: drive)
unmount IDE 0-1
reboot Mister with only 8GB VHD mounted to IDE 0-0
DOS boots and launches MyMenu and window pops up with "No Files ..."

UPDATE:
May have located the issue.
Looking into C:\FDOS\BIN there is no "DOSLFNM.COM" file. There is a file called "DOSLFN.COM" however.
Editing FDCONFIG with "INSTALLHIGH=C:\FDOS\BIN\DOSLFN.COM" appears to be working.

There appear to be some additional files that are in the Shareware pack under FDOS\BIN that are normally not part of the FreeDOS v1.2 official installation.

[bbond007]

UPDATE:
May have located the issue.
Looking into C:\FDOS\BIN there is no "DOSLFNM.COM" file. There is a file called "DOSLFN.COM" however.
Editing FDCONFIG with "INSTALLHIGH=C:\FDOS\BIN\DOSLFN.COM" appears to be working.

There appear to be some additional files that are in the Shareware pack under FDOS\BIN that are normally not part of the FreeDOS v1.2 official installation.

Strange...

"DOSLFNM.COM" seemed odd to me too, but that's definitely what was in my FDCONFIG.SYS and not a typo.

At least you got it working