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From: uscitizen@aol.com (USCitizen)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Re: MYST UNSTABLE! Help pls.
Date: 24 Apr 1994 21:22:11 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
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In article <9404212216443087@n9csa.com>, carl.elitz@n9csa.com (Carl Elitz)
writes:

>Several people has responded to my recent post regarding my experience
>in the "fortress rotation simulator." The system hangs at this point in
>the game every single time.


I had a similar problem in my game.....Here's how I solved it for my game.

1.  Make a boot disk.

2. Include only HIMEM.SYS and the CD-ROM drivers in your CONFIG.SYS 
    EXAMPLE:
    
    Device=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
    FILES=40
    BUFFERS=25
    STACKS=9,256
    DEVICE=C:(DEVICE DRIVER AND SWITCHES)   /M:55

3. Set your buffers to 55 on the CD-ROM Device Driver.
    LOAD IT IN CONVENTIONAL RAM.

4. LOAD SMARTDRV.EXE AND MSCDEX.EXE IN YOUR AUTOEXEC.BAT
    EXAMPLE:

    PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;C:\MYST;C:\WINDOWS;
    PROMPT $P$G  (FOR DOS 5.0 AND UNDER)
    SMARTDRV.EXE  /B:32768 /E:8192 1024 384
    MSCDEX.EXE /D:(cd-rom name)  /M:55
    SET TEMP=(temp directory)
    SET (any sound card variables and programs)

5. WHY!!!!???

  Windows works best when there is a lot of XMS free. IF you load EMM386 then
it all of your XMS is converted into EMS.  It's best not to do this when
playing MYST.  This is because Myst's quicktime movies are HUGE and need a lot
of room. The EMS driver, I found, is to slow in allocating and managing that
much memory.  Plus, this takes precious time to do. S, the game slows down or
stops all together. By eliminating EMM386 or QEMM altogether you only have to
deal with one memory device driver..HIMEM.SYS.  

  When allocating your buffers for the CD-ROM device driver, it is best to
increse them to the maximum when running MYST. As I mentioned before, Myst's
quicktime and picture files are HUGE.  So, an incresed buffer size will speed
them up considerably.
I recomend 55 buffers for both the CD-ROM driver and MSCDEX....LOAD THEM
LOW...This frees up XMS memory.. Windows dosen't use conventional ram for
running programs.  Except DOS, of which you don't use when playing MYST.

  SMARTDRV.EXE EATS XMS!!!!   You need smartdrv but only a little.  Smartdrv
can help smooth out the CD to memory to Virtual memory transfer...However, it
eats XMS for breakfast.  I recomend a 32K read ahead buffer(32768 bytes). and
384K buffer size for 4 MEG machines. 64K (65536 bytes) read ahead buffer and
1024K buffer size for 8 meg machines 
  This will improve data transfer in two ways.
    1. It will read quicktime data into memory so animation is smoother.
    2. frequent animation sequences (like the silver plate in the library
fireplace) can be loaded into memory and thus play faster.

 Remember Smartdrv only helps smooth out access time...If you make the buffer
too large then MYST will become slow and jerky.

Also, disable windows TSR;s like Afterdark, Adobe font manager, or ICON DO IT, 
 These take up XMS memory.....

I hope these tips help....If I got off trak or you cannot understand what I am
saying...EMail your Config.sys and Autoexec.bat to me and I will modify it for
you

     EMAIL ADDRESS:  USCitizen      (AOL)
                                   USCitizen@aol.com   (Internet)

                                                                               
                                               Steven Eiler Griffin Jr.  
(USCitizen)