SoftKey 100 Smash Win95 Games

I have been playing the SoftKey 100 Smash Win95 Games on my Windows 98
computer for several years with no problems.

All of a sudden I cannot play the Mahjong game. When I try to go to Logic,
then select "Kyodai Mah Jongg" I get an error message saying:

kyodai
This program requires more conventional memory. Unload drivers or
memory-resident programs that use conventional memory, or increase the
value for Minimum Conventional Memory in the program's Memory properties
sheet.
OK

I don't know why I cannot play this game anymore. I never added anything
to the computer to cause this problem.

Please help me determine how I can fix this problem, if at all possible..

Thank you.

Jean

P.S. I wrote to Broderband and they responded by saying,

"Unfortunately, SoftKey 100 Smash Win95 Games is no longer supported by
Broderbund. You may perform a search for this application on any web based
search engine, for example www.google.com, for more information. We are
sorry for any inconvenience this issue may have caused. "

 

I have no idea what caused the issue but it is usually possible to tweak a system to free up some conventiona memory by forcing things to load in upper memory.

What we are talking about here (usually older DOS apps though) is to free up as much of the first 640K of memory as possible for apps that demand space there to run.

Does your config.sys file contain

Code:

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DOS=UMB
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\SOMEDEVICE
DOS=HIGH

(or possibly UMB and HIGH on the same line which is fine so DOS=HIGH,UMB)

In fact, it would probably save some time if you posted a copy of your config.sys and autoexec.bat files here.

 

Hi Newt,

Thanks for your help. I will have to wait and go over to a friend's house to get the AutoExec.bat and Config.sys information as I loaned someone the computer today and theirs crashed.

As soon as I get the information I will post back here.

One question, do you know how I copy the information so I can send it to you?

Jean

 

Both of those are just text files so you can open them with notepad (or any other text editor - but NOT a word processor), copy the contents, and paste it into a reply here. Just start a reply, grab the file contents, paste it in, and submit the post.

 

Hi,

Here are the contents of the two files you asked for:

autoexec.bat

rem - By Windows 98 Network - c:\windows\net start
@ECHO OFF
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1
LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DOSKEY


IF EXIST C:\PIPOST.BAT CALL C:\PIPOST.BAT
IF EXIST C:\PIPOST.BAT DEL C:\PIPOST.BAT


SET CLASSPATH= "C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.0\QTJava.zip "
SET QTJAVA= "C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.0\QTJava.zip "

and

Config.sys

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\CPQIDECD.SYS /D:IDECD001
DOS=HIGH,UMB,AUTO
FILESHIGH=80
BUFFERSHIGH=40,4
FCBSHIGH=10
SWITCHES=/F

Hope this helps.

Jean

 

Hi Newt,

Did I give you enough information when I sent the contents of the files you asked for. Thanks for your help.

Perhaps you went away for the Memorial Day Holiday. In that case hope you had a wonderful time.

Jean

 

Help, Anyone????

Jean

 

Sorry Jean - I somehow missed your updates. I don't use thread notifications and once in a while I just don't see updates to one where I've asked a question. Glad you brought it up to the top again.

There are several things using the space that game needs and that you can do without if you are just booting normally into 98. Removing them should help.

As a precaution, before you start editing, copy both files to another name so maybe autoexec.bat to autoexec.jea and config.sys to config.jea (I used those because nothing should be trying to make copies by that name and you should be able to remember it). Then if you need the originals, you can just rename things once again.

You need to know that in either file, putting rem at the beginning of a line followed by a blank space disables whatever else is on that line.

Modify the areas shown in red to read like this:

rem - By Windows 98 Network - c:\windows\net start
@ECHO OFF
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1
REM disabling DOSKEY
REM LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DOSKEY
IF EXIST C:\PIPOST.BAT CALL C:\PIPOST.BAT
IF EXIST C:\PIPOST.BAT DEL C:\PIPOST.BAT
SET CLASSPATH= "C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.0\QTJava.zip "
SET QTJAVA= "C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.0\QTJava.zip "

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
REM Disabling DOS load of CD support. Windows will still have it.
REM DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\CPQIDECD.SYS /D:IDECD001
DOS=HIGH,UMB,AUTO
REM letting the following use the windows default.
REM FILESHIGH=80
REM BUFFERSHIGH=40,4
REM FCBSHIGH=10
SWITCHES=/F

You only need some of these if you are going to be working in DOS. They do nothing except use up space when working in windows. For instance, it has CD support and doesn't use DOSKEY.

The FILESHIGH, BUFFERSHIGH, FCBSHIGH entries might be needed. If something unexpected quits working just edit config.sys again and remove the REM and blank space. Hopefully things will work normally though since each of those lines sets aside some space in the memory area you need to accommodate larger than normal numbers of files, buffers, and file control blocks.

 

Thanks for answering me.

I'll go over to my friend's house and modify the files and get back to you shortly.

Thanks again.

Jean

 

I'll try to answer lots quicker next time.

But if I somehow don't, let me know.

 

Newt,
I went over to my friend's and made the changes to the autoexec and config.sys files and the game seemed to come up ok.

I left everything else alone so I told him to continue to do other things to see if everything is working OK.

I'm confident we will be able to continue to be able to use the game.

Thanks for your help. You made us so happy.

Jean

 

Jean - glad it worked. I thought it would be never can be sure without trying it.

I had fun digging back into that stuff. Used to know it well but after a few years, the details had faded.