🚀 go-pugleaf

dav...@elvis.vnet.net (David J. Warner) writes:

>I got a crash course in DOS 6.0 earlier this week at work, and I'm once 
>again trying to set up optimum AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS settings on my 
>lowly 486DX-33.  Here are my regular settings:

>[autoexec.bat]
>LH /L:2,16944 C:\DOS\SHARE.EXE/L:500 /F:5100

Lose this line, and remove all of the /L:xxx bits from all of the LH 
commands. It's not helping you, and Windows replaces it anyway.

>LH /L:0;1,42384 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE 512 512

Smartdrv does a better job of loading itself high than LH does, remove
all the crap before 'C:'.  If you're using Windows for Workgroups, replace the
second 512 with 64. It looks like you're low on memory - more later.

>@ECHO OFF

Move this to the top for cosmetic reasons.

>SET PCTCP=C:\PCTCP\PCTCP.INI

Make sure you're not running the PCTCP kernel while playing descent.

>[config.sys]
>DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM HIGHSCAN

Add 'noems' to this line.

>BUFFERS=10,0

This is redundant if you have Smartdrv. Ditch it.

>DOS=UMB

Consolidate this with the other line to read DOS=HIGH,UMB

>Lastdrive=Z

Cut this back so that it just covers all the drive letters you need
for your network; each letter uses memory.

>FCBS=16,0

You really don't need this unless you run some _very_ old software.

>DEVICEHIGH /L:2,12048 =C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE

Lose this.

>Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as right now I'm barely 
>getting 15 fps with the screen reduced four times, and I'd like to try my 
>luck at a multiplayer match on the internet with IHHD...

Weeeeel.  First, I suspect you only have 4M (or possibly 8M) of RAM.
If you have 8M, increase the first 512 on the smartdrv line to 1024,
this will improve swapping and make things a bit faster.  More RAM
will improve everything (Windows too, actually 8)

>On another note, I'm considering getting an Intel Overdrive chip to speed 
>up Descent and a few other games.  I've seen the 486DX2-66 chips run as 
>low as $165 + shipping.  Would this processor improve the performance of 
>3D games like Descent at all, or is it just not worth it at this point?

If you're looking for _maximum_ bang for your buck, the Cyrix processors
are the way to go.  If your motherboard can be set to 40MHz (either by
changing a jumper, or by replacing the clock crystal, get a DX2/80 (it should
cost the same or a little less as an Intel DX2/66), otherwise look at a
DX4/100 from either Cyrix or AMD.

Intel processors are overpriced & underperform - both the AMD and Cyric parts
are, on the whole, better at the integer work that Descent is full of.

>Thanks in advance.

No charge.

>David J. (dav...@vnet.net)