Recommended: '486 or better, SVGA, 15 MB disk space, and 8 MB RAM. A SCSI Controller is needed only if you want to access external Macintosh hard disks or PowerBooks.
Executor/DOS 2 should work in sixteen colors on any VGA. In addition,
if you have a Super VGA that is VESA 1.0 compliant, Executor/DOS
should be able to provide 256 colors and a range of screen sizes. If
you have a video card that is VESA 2.0 compliant, Executor's graphics
will be significantly faster.
Question 2.2. What do I do if my Super VGA card isn't VESA
compliant?
There is a shareware SVGA utility that provides VESA compliance for
SVGA cards that normally are not VESA compliant. It is called SciTech
Display Doctor, and is available from http://www.scitechsoft.com/. If you use it, you should pay the shareware fee as described in the documentation. If you have a
recent SVGA card you probably don't need SciTech Display Doctor,
although it may improve Executor's performance.
Question 2.3. Why is there a bright white border on the
screen?
The problem starts with Macs and PCs using different values to
represent white and black. That's not too big of a problem, because
Executor knows about this difference and translates things
appropriately. The rest of the problem has to do with the fact that
on video screens (unlike on laptop screens) there is a part of the
screen that is outside the pixel area that is still illuminated by the
video gun. That portion of the screen is known as the
"overscan" area and the VESA 2.0 specs don't provide a way to set what color the
overscan should be displayed as. Instead they use the value that is
used for the binary representation that represents black on PCs. That
works well, except we're already mapping that representation to be
white.
This only happens when Executor detects and can use a "linear
framebuffer". That's the fast way that allows Executor to write
directly to the screen without an intermediate copy to an offscreen
representation of the Mac screen. If we can't get access to a linear
framebuffer then we can use the normal PC color mapping and patch
things up as we transfer from the offscreen image. That allows the
overscan area to be black but it's actually slower (significantly
slower for some games).
Question 2.4. E/D dies during startup.
Why?
The most common cause of E/D not running under DOS is the lack of file
descriptors that you might get if you don't have the line:
FILES=30
Windows NT doesn't use config.sys, instead you need to use the configuration file that is listed when you get to the "Program" portion of "Properties" and click on the WindowsNT button. The default Config Filename is
%SystemRoot%\SYSTEM32\CONFIG.NT
C:\WINDOWSNT
C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG.NT
When all else fails, you can use the command line option "-desperate" to tell Executor to use as few extended features of your computer as possible in an attempt to avoid running into a problem. Under DOS you just add "-desperate to the command line, i.e.:
C:\> executor -desperate
If this checking produces no insights, write to
questions@ardi.com and we'll try to track down the cause of the problem.
Question 2.6. What causes errors when transferring
files?
Error -42 is the error code generated inside a Macintosh when too many
files are open. Executor internally generates this error when the
underlying operating system disallows the opening of a file. This
error is usually symptomatic of not properly setting
FILES in your config.sys [see Q2.4 `E/D dies during startup. Why?'].
Similar errors may result when you try to copy Macintosh file to a DOS disk because many Macintosh file names are illegal under DOS. You can fix this by renaming the file to a normal DOS eight-dot-three name.
Executor versions that are older than 2.0j [available in mid June]
have trouble with Windows 95's long file names. Specifically, any
Macintosh file with a control-character as part of its name will cause
trouble, and filenames will appear to all be in lower case. 2.0j
solves these problems.
Question 2.7. Why does my screen look funny when I run
Executor?
Your video driver may not be fully VESA compliant. If Executor
detects VESA compliance, it will try to use VESA modes. In general,
this is a good thing, however, if these modes have bugs in them,
Executor will invoke the bugs, and Executor may fail. Try getting a
newer driver for your video card if this happens [see
Q2.2 `What do I do if my Super VGA card isn't VESA
compliant?'].
NOTE: If you run Executor with the "-info" switch, Executor
will print out information it finds out about your video card. That information
may be helpful in tracking down your problem.
Question 2.8. Does E/D require an ASPI driver to access
SCSI?
If your SCSI drivers patch the "INT 13" BIOS calls, then an
ASPI driver is not needed. As long as "INT 13" can allow
Executor to read a SCSI drive, there is no need to use ASPI. Similarly, if you have a
16-bit MSCDEX CD-ROM driver installed, Executor will be able to see
your CD-ROM drive (whether it's SCSI or not) even without ASPI
drivers.
Question 2.9. Have you released Executor for OS/2
yet?
We hope to make an OS/2 specific version of Executor, and many of the
modifications we've made to Executor to support Executor/Win32 will
make a port to OS/2 easier. However, IBM hasn't been particularly
good at encouraging third party vendors like ourselves to do native
ports to OS/2. In the meantime, Executor/DOS works well under OS/2
Warp.
Question 2.10. Why won't Executor/DOS work with my Diamond Viper PCI
card?
Executor/DOS requires VESA compliant graphics cards. Many cards are
not directly VESA compliant and need a TSR to be run before they will
work with Executor/DOS. On a Gateway computer, you can do this with
the "vprmode VESA" command [see
Q2.2 `What do I do if my Super VGA card isn't VESA
compliant?'].
Question 2.11. Why doesn't my mouse work when I run Executor under
OS/2 Warp?
If it's not already there, you may need to add this line:
DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VMOUSE.SYS
Also, you may need to load MOUSE.COM in your AUTOEXEC.BAT, for example:
LOADHIGH C:\OS2\MDOS\MOUSE.COM
I haven't been having any problems with running Executor/DOS in OS/2. What he needs to do (assuming he has Warp) is to run "Add Programs" object in the "System Setup" folder. This will make a object for Executor on his desktop (usually in the "Additional DOS Programs" folder). Go into the settings for that object, and select the "Session" tab. Set it to "DOS Full Screen", and choose "DOS Settings". He wants "All DOS Settings". Primarily, Executor needs the "DPMI Memory Limit" set to 16 megs, and "DPMI Memory Limit" set to enabled. Since it defaults to 4 megs and automatic, it won't work. For additional performance, he should set "DOS High" to on, "EMS Memory Limit" to 0, "Video 8514a XGA IOtrap" to off, "Video Retrace Emulation" to off, "XMS Memory Limit" to 0, and "XMS Minimum HMA" to 63. The biggest boost comes from "Session Priority". Set this to at least 16, and if he is going to run no other programs, set it higher. If he is going to run other programs, this should be left at 16, and the "DOS Background Execution" needs to be set to on.
FILES=30
bugs@ardi.com.
If Executor only dies on a particular application, try increasing the amount of RAM dedicated to the application by using the "-applzone" switch when you run Executor. Also try turning on "Pretend Sound" [see Q1.35 `Are there other parameters I can adjust? [aka "Preferences Panel"]'], or if the screen seems to be only partially updated, try turning on "Refresh".
Once you've done as much as you can to figure out the problem, send a
bug report via http://www.ardi.com/bugform.html or via email to bugs@ardi.com. Run Executor with the "-info" switch
and include that information. Make sure you also include the version
of Executor you're running (e.g. Executor/DOS 2), the name and version
of the application that is dying (e.g. HyperCard 2.1), the name and
version of the operating system you're running (e.g. DOS 6.22) and
enough details to reproduce the crash (e.g. "start the
application, choose the "more Elvis" from the "adjust music"
menu and the application will crash"). If the application you are running is
publicly available via anonymous ftp, telling us where we can pick it
up for testing purposes also helps.
We accept bug reports from everyone, although paid customers' bug
reports are almost always higher priority than those of potential
customers.
Question 2.15. Should I send in my registration
card?
Yes. We use that card to assign your serial number and authorization
key so you can continue to download and unlock experimental versions
of Executor. In general, we do not assign such numbers when you first
purchase Executor because we do not know if you're purchasing Executor
as a gift for someone else, or if it's being purchased through a
company purchasing department, or what. We want to make sure that we
have the address of the eventual owner of Executor and the surest way
to avoid mistakes is to send in that card.
Question 2.16. How does printing work under
E/D?
Executor/DOS will print directly to a PostScript-compatible printer if
started with the switch -printer lpt1 (or lpt2, lpt3, or whatever as
appropriate). Otherwise, it prints to a PostScript file. The first
time you print, the file will be named execout1.ps and will be located in the same directory that executor.exe is located in. You can then print this file on a PostScript printer, or
if you have a PostScript compatible driver, you can use a
non-PostScript printer. Three popular PostScript compatible printer
drivers are "GhostScript", available for free
(ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/ghost/README), "ZScript", a commercial program from ZenoGraphics, and "RoPS" a shareware
PostScript interpreter (search for ROPS at
http://www.shareware.com/).
Question 2.17. Why does E/D under Windows 3.x have problems
hot-keying?
When you use a hot-key to switch away from Executor, Windows 3.x
doesn't know how to save the screen, because it only knows about the
original VGA screen modes, but Executor uses SVGA/VESA screen modes.
So when you switch back, Windows 3.x doesn't know how to replace the
screen with what it used to contain.
This problem is further compounded by the fact that Executor has no way of knowing when it's been switched out and switched back. To make matters worse, some Windows drivers (ATI Mach 32, for example) don't even restore the mode properly, so not only will the screen be incorrect, but Executor will die shortly after you switch back.
Luckily this is less frequently a problem in Windows 95 or OS/2.
Question 2.18. Why can't I eject or format my DOS formatted
floppy?
Executor/DOS allows you to see DOS drives other than the drive you
install Executor on. It also allows you to format floppies in the
Macintosh format (it used to read and write Mac formatted floppies,
but it wouldn't do the formatting itself).
Currently, the two abilities conflict. What we do is if a DOS
formatted floppy is in the drive when E/D starts, we treat that drive
as a fixed drive from that point on. You can no longer eject the
floppy, nor can you convince Executor to consider that floppy as a Mac
formatted floppy or a candidate for Mac formatting. This is confusing
and ugly; but we haven't found a better solution yet.
Question 2.19. Do E/D and QEMM fight?
We don't have QEMM in house for testing, but apparently older versions
of QDPMI are incompatible DPMI providers for Executor. We have heard
that QEMM 8.0 works with Executor, but we have not tested it. DPMI
providers that are known to work are the supplied CWSDPMI, the DPMI
provider in Windows 3.x and Windows 95, the DPMI provider in OS/2,
and 386Max.
For now, if you have lines similar to these two:
DEVICE=C:\QEMM\LOADHI.SYS /R:1 /SIZE=8880 C:\QEMM\QDPMI.SYS SWAPFILE=DPMI.SWP SWAPSIZE=1024.
in your config.sys file, you should "rem them out" -- i.e.
add "rem " to the beginning of each line -- at least when using Executor:
REM DEVICE=C:\QEMM\LOADHI.SYS /R:1 /SIZE=8880 C:\QEMM\QDPMI.SYS REM SWAPFILE=DPMI.SWP SWAPSIZE=1024.
This is another compatibility problem that we're looking into,
although it has been reported that some other well known programs
crash under DPMS's DPMI support (PKZIP, Geoworks and Logic Magician's
Oberon System).
Question 2.21. How can I speed up Executor/DOS?
Executor/DOS is of course dependent on the speed and type of CPU in
your PC. Obviously you can make E/D run faster if you upgrade your
386 to a Pentium. However, there are other, non-obvious ways in which
sometimes you can dramatically improve Executor's speed.
Use the "-info" switch to see how much DPMI memory you have compared to how much physical memory you have. In general, Executor itself will consume approximately 2 MB of memory even if you could have an applzone, syszone and stack size of 0 (which you can't). So on a 4 MB system, you can only allocate another 2 MB total to applzone, syszone and stack if you want to avoid paging (paging slows Executor down considerably), and that's only if you don't have drivers in your config.sys file or autoexec.bat tying up more of your memory. If you are low on memory, you should use DOS's "mem" command and see how much Extended (XMS) memory DOS thinks you have. The more you can increase that figure before Executor starts up, the more DPMI memory Executor will have and the easier it will be for Executor to avoid paging.
If you have plenty of memory, then you can also speed Executor up a little bit by running a disk cache. However, you should only run the disk cache in a write-through mode -- in other words you should enable the disk cache so that all disk writes are immediately sent to the disk. Failure to do so may result in corrupt HFV files after Executor dies.
Executor can access video cards in three different ways. The slowest
is by using VGA calls. This is also the least flexible -- you are
often limited only to 16 colors when using VGA calls, since the only
VGA mode that supports 256 colors is too small to use with Executor.
If your card is VESA compliant, or has a driver that makes it VESA
compliant, Executor can drive the video card more efficiently. There
are two major levels of VESA compliance -- VESA 1.x and VESA 2.x.
Executor is even more efficient if it can drive your video card using
a VESA 2.0 driver, if that driver supports "linear mapping".
The SciTech Display Doctor driver allows many popular video cards to
be linear mapped. If you want Executor to run quickly, you should
probably pick up a copy of SciTech Display Doctor and test it on your
system to see if it improves things. You can use
"Speedometer" or "Globe" to get a rough approximation of how much it helps.
On many cards, use of SciTech Display Doctor can double Executor's graphics
speed.
Question 2.22. How do I make Executor/DOS run faster under
VirtualPC
Using the "-oldtimer" switch can speed Executor/DOS up by
more than a factor of two when it's running under VirtualPC, a PC
emulator made by Connectix <http://www.connectix.com/>.
- 21 April 1998