os2fan2

I only ever played civ, and after i figured out how to write the cheat for it, i played around with lots of things. I found in the end that giving too many techs to oneself made the game unstable, so i used to limit it to about three or four (inc railways), [later on in the game, one discovers the 'wheel'. Such is logic. tinkering with game strengths is a bit rough. It is a lot easier to start with 6 settlers and 6 armoured infintary units, and use these to build an extensive rail network. [there's a cheat on delaying turns for settlers doing things.] So by 3000 BC, you should have about five or six cities connected by a decent rail network, and a good deal of land under irrigation, plus a couple of great wonders under way. I did discover where the money was hiding in railway tychoon, but that's as far as i got.

Rexx is a programming language, used extensively in OS/2. It's pretty handy for writing things that do useful things to the computer. I have a rexx script that reads CIV1 saved games, works out the offset, and then creates lots of units and selected civ techs for your civ. The thing used to check if the game was English or German/French, and calculates the offsets accordingly. All in all, it's a pretty easy language to write, and much more potent than anything i seen from MSFT. Wendy

I am not familiar with that version of upgrade. It must be some kind of Windows 95 only step-up thing (which requires Windows 95 to be installed first, and then upgrades it to windows 98).

It may be true i am doing extra patching than is required. But these appear to be the differences between DOS 6.21 and DOS 6.22. I don't know assembler etc, so i mainly do 'string hacks'. On the other hand, changing the DOS version and copyright is more cosmetic, but it makes it look like the proggie belongs there, rather than a rope-in from somewhere else. I iamgine this may be true for lots of the other values as well. The difference between DOSSHELL from 6.00 and 6.07 (ie the 7,0 beta based on 6.00), is purely cosmetic, (ie change MS-DOS 6 SHELL to MS-DOS 7 SHELL), but it serves to make the product look more unified. I do know that there is a smaller number of bytes different between DOS 7.10 and DOS 8.00 utilities, much as you are saying. HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE for example, differ exactly by what it takes to print the version number. Still, the things are pretty much binary equals, and the script checks that the bytes are equal before it patches, so it's probably more of a good thing that it does.

I wonder if tommyp's slipstream will work with an older defectX 9.0. It's a 35 MB download, and i have dialup.

You might find the files generally in these places 1. Win95A CD\other\oldmsdos [all of these are supported] 2. Any copy of MS-DOS 6.21 or MS-DOS 6.22. Note Print.exe has a different elsewhere in the file. Win95A has the 6.22 version. 3. The 6.21 or 6.22 supplemental diskette. The files are tested individually, so you can start with a mixture. The ones the rexx script lists without the 'v + hexlist' are only there to be touched. These also work with Windows, but don't check for version. Resulting files tested under Win98 (2222), WinME (3000), Win95B (1214) and Win95 (0950) without having to setver them. When you have the wrong dos version, they show "incorrect dos version". Fasthelp.exe also works. I'm including DOSHELP.HLP in my help for win9x rewrite. (which includes all of the above files) Wendy

You do have to patch a large number of positions. I did a fc /b between the binaries from 6.21 and 6.22, getting this result. Comparing files 621\APPEND.EXE and 622\APPEND.EXE 00000298: 14 16 00000360: 33 34 000008DB: 14 16 00000D87: 14 16 00001AB9: 14 16 00001F59: 14 16 00001F7A: 14 16 00002003: 14 16 Comparing files 621\BACKUP.EXE and 622\BACKUP.EXE 00004259: 14 16 00004A9E: 14 16 00005506: 14 16 0000552A: 14 16 000088D8: 33 34 Comparing files 621\COMP.EXE and 622\COMP.EXE FC: no differences encountered Comparing files 621\EDLIN.EXE and 622\EDLIN.EXE 00001390: 33 34 000014E2: 14 16 00001B2F: 14 16 00001E3A: 14 16 00001F92: 14 16 000020C1: 14 16 000020E5: 14 16 Comparing files 621\EXE2BIN.EXE and 622\EXE2BIN.EXE 000002FE: 14 16 00000824: 14 16 00000984: 14 16 00000A76: 14 16 00000B31: 14 16 00001E14: 33 34 Comparing files 621\FASTHELP.EXE and 622\FASTHELP.EXE FC: no differences encountered Comparing files 621\GRAPHICS.COM and 622\GRAPHICS.COM 00001A93: 33 34 00001BE5: 14 16 000021ED: 14 16 00002211: 14 16 00002232: 14 16 000024FE: 14 16 00002668: 14 16 Comparing files 621\GRAPHICS.PRO and 622\GRAPHICS.PRO FC: no differences encountered Comparing files 621\LOADFIX.COM and 622\LOADFIX.COM FC: no differences encountered Comparing files 621\PRINT.EXE and 622\PRINT.EXE 00000012: 7B F3 00000013: FC 64 00000439: 33 34 00001EF2: 00 3C 00001EF3: 00 4D 00001EF4: 00 48 00001EF5: 00 3E 00001FB7: 33 34 0000212A: 14 16 000026D6: 14 16 0000281B: 14 16 00002899: 14 16 00002DFF: 14 16 00002F13: 14 16 00002FAD: 14 16 Comparing files 621\REPLACE.EXE and 622\REPLACE.EXE 000022FD: 14 16 00002B42: 14 16 00003162: 14 16 00003186: 14 16 00004BBE: 33 34 Comparing files 621\RESTORE.EXE and 622\RESTORE.EXE 000057CB: 14 16 00005F24: 14 16 000067E0: 14 16 00006804: 14 16 00009173: 33 34 Comparing files 621\TREE.COM and 622\TREE.COM 00001113: 14 16 000012CD: 14 16 000012F1: 14 16 000013BB: 33 34 000014FF: 14 16 The change from 33 to 34 is a copyright date, ie 621 has 1981-1993, and 622 has 1981-1994. The change from 14 to 16 is always in a byte-pair 06 14 to 06 16. The remaining ones in PRINT.COM are left alone. I made a rexx script, that does size checks, and makes sure that all the affected bytes. So what it does is actually check that all of these bytes are the same, and that the size and name match. It does not do it if any bit is wrong. You simply copy the listed files into some directory, and get hold of a rexx proggie, like REGINA or REGINALD or OOREXX, and run the command regina.exe makedos.rex 2222 It will then make the file into dos 7.1, and stamp them with 2222. I'm thinking of adding support for DOSSHELL too, so you can have an MS-DOS 8 dosshell. /* REXX makedos */ /* a program to make DOS commands work under win9x This patches the files + changes the dates to work under Win9x. You need MS-DOS 6.22 files, or MS-DOS 6.21. You don't need a complete set, it will ignore anything that fails. Put all the files in the current directory, and run this script. You will have suitably patched files. Be sure to read the comment at the end of the file, which deals with how to configure your touch utility. Wendy Krieger, an os2 fan 2. */ parse arg cmdtail; parse var cmdtail dosx . parse source . . rexxname; parse value reverse(rexxname) with . '\' rexxdir; rexxdir = reverse(rexxdir) dosc = 0; dosv. = ''; call seldos /* load valid dos vers */ filec = 0; filed. = ''; call hackme /* load files to patch */ do count = 1 to dosc; call getdosv count; if doscli = dosx then leave; end; if doscli = 9999 then exit say incard do count = 1 to filec; call getfile count; end exit /* these are the supported DOS versions */ getdosv: /* here we read the dosver to see what we get */ parse arg dosn; incard = dosv.dosn; parse var incard doscli dosdisp dosyear doshex dosdate dostime dosname dosbits = x2c(doshex); parse var dosdate 1 fyear 5 fmonth 7 fday parse var dostime 1 fhour 3 fmin 5 fsec return dosver:; parse arg tail; dosc = dosc + 1; dosv.dosc = tail; return seldos: /* cli c date dver filedate-time Windows */ call dosver '0621 6 1993 0614 19940213 062100 MS-DOS 6.21' call dosver '0622 6 1994 0616 19940531 062200 MS-DOS 6.22' call dosver '0950 7 1995 0700 19950711 095000 Win95' call dosver '0951 7 1995 0700 19960202 095100 Win95a' call dosver '1111 7 1995 070a 19960824 111111 OSR2.0' call dosver '1212 7 1995 070a 19970410 121400 OSR2.1' call dosver '1214 7 1995 070a 19971126 121600 OSR2.5' call dosver '1998 7 1995 070a 19980511 200100 Win98' call dosver '2222 7 1995 070a 19990424 222200 Win98SE' call dosver '3000 8 1999 0800 20000906 030000 WinME' call dosver '9999 9 9999 9999 99999999 999999 Normal End' return /* These are the files in 0950/other/oldmsdos that need this fix, plus a number of files from the supplemental disk. and dos diskettes. */ hack:; parse arg tail; filec = filec + 1; filed.filec = tail; return hackme: /* name size copyrt dosversions zero-based offset */ call hack 'APPEND.EXE 10774 c 0360 v 0298 08DB 0D87 1AB9 1F59 1F7A 2003' call hack 'BACKUP.EXE 36140 c 88D8 v 4259 4A9E 5506 552A' call hack 'COMP.EXE 13084 x Has no version requirement' call hack 'EDLIN.EXE 12674 c 1390 v 14E2 1B2F 1E3A 1F92 20C1 20E5' call hack 'EXE2BIN.EXE 8424 c 1E14 v 02FE 0824 0984 0A76 0B31' call hack 'FASTHELP.EXE 11481 x Same as DOS 5 help' call hack 'GRAPHICS.COM 19742 c 1A93 v 1BE5 21ED 2211 2232 24FE 2668' call hack 'GRAPHICS.PRO 21232 x Needs no patching' call hack 'INTERLNK.EXE 17197 x Needs no patching' call hack 'INTERSVR.EXE 37426 x Needs no patching' call hack 'LOADFIX.COM 1131 x Needs no patching' call hack 'PRINT.EXE 15656 c 1FB7 v 212A 26D6 281B 2899 2DFF 2F13 2FAD' call hack 'REPLACE.EXE 20274 c 4BBE v 22FD 2B42 3162 3186' call hack 'RESTORE.EXE 38342 c 9173 v 57CB 5F24 67E0 6804' call hack 'TREE.COM 6945 c 13BB v 1113 12CD 12F1 14FF' return /* data extracted from fc /b between MS-DOS 6.21 and MS-DOS 6.22 versions. This command is zero-offset, while REXX is one-offset. c points to the end-year in the copyright, eg 1981-1994 (4) v points to the minor version of DOS, eg 6.22 (22) 0....:....1....:....2....:....3....:....4....:....:. zero-offset MS DOS Version 6 (C) Copyright 1981-1994 Microsoft Coproration ^ c^ ....:....1....:....2....:....3....:....4....:....:. rexx-offset 0 1 2 zero-offset Hex code 06 16 .. .. v 1 2 3 rexx-offset MS DOS Version [7] offsetc - 24 1981-[1994] offsetc - 2 0x0616 offsetv */ getfile:; parse arg filen .; incard = filed.filen parse var incard filename filesize filehack; filename = strip(filename); filesize = strip(filesize) testsize = stream(filename, 'c', 'query size') if testsize = '' then testsize = 0 if testsize <> filesize then return /* incorrect size */ if left(filehack,1) = 'x' then do; call touch; return; end /* no need to hack */ parse var filehack cmd1 offsetc cmd2 filehack; offsetc = x2d(offsetc); hackc = 0; hackv. = '' do forever; parse var filehack thishack filehack; hackc = hackc + 1 hackv.hackc = x2d(thishack); if filehack = '' then leave; end call stream filename, 'c', 'open read' outcard = left(filename, 14) || format(filesize, 6) || ':' outcard = outcard charin(filename, offsetc-22, 1) outcard = outcard charin(filename, offsetc-2, 4) hackk = 1; hacktest = c2x(charin(filename, hackv.hackk, 2)); hacktrue = 1 do hackk = 1 to hackc; hackthis = c2x(charin(filename, hackv.hackk, 2)) outcard = outcard hackthis; if hacktest <> hackthis then hacktrue = 0; end call lineout, outcard hacktrue if hacktrue = 0 then return /* here begins the patching */ call stream filename, 'c', 'close' call stream filename, 'c', 'open write' call charout filename, dosdisp, offsetc - 22 call charout filename, dosyear, offsetc - 2 do hackk = 1 to hackc call charout filename, dosbits , hackv.hackk; end call stream filename, 'c', 'close' call touch return touch: rexxdir'\touchx.exe /t' fyear fmonth fday fhour fmin fsec filename return /* You need to modify the touch command, to suit your own touch format. For a date 1957 July 23, at 10:08:42 am the values are fyear = 1957 fhour = 10 rexxdir = same directory that fmonth = 07 fmin = 08 makedos.rex is in. fday = 23 fsec = 42 filename = name of file Stuff that has to be unchanged is left in quotes or double quotes If you need to make the dates join, use one of these formats fyear'/'fmonth'/'fday 1957/07/23 fhour':'fmin':'fsec 10:08:42 fdate || fmonth || ftime 19570723 fmonth'/'fday'/'fyear 07/23/1957 You copy your touch command into the directory, and edit the tail. What you end up with is the files with the same date as the DOS you are using. */

The batch program actually allows you to specify that.

been doing this all the time. What you need is a copy of win31 or whatever it is upgraded from, and when the complience check complains about not finding windows, simply point it at the install directory. It works much faster against a copy of w31 than w95.

You be needing this link. It's the proggie that makes Mini98 from real 98 source: http://scp.gmxhome.de/msdos71/

I have vers 1.33, from Autopatcher 2K. This has been repackaged as a no-switch thing, you just run the EXE and it sets itself up.

Go ahead. be my guest. i always found fdisk confusing, and this makes it SO much clearer! W

Here is a cute little trick. Take a copy of HELP.COM, and rename it to FDISK.COM. Open it up in a hex-editor replace two instances of QBASIC.EXE with FDISK.EXE + space replace one instance of /QHELP with /FPRMT When you run FDISK then, it wont ask you for the confusing large disk support (which means 'FAT32 here', not 'Greater than 8.4 GB' . It works a treat, and you don't need batch files! You can still get to the real fdisk by typing FDISK.EXE W

I suppose there's tweakui?

I can't see the point in replacing EDIT.COM or EDIT.HLP. These are identical in all of the operating systems released (ie 95, 95B, 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, 2003). There may also be other binary equals that do not need to be replaced. W

my experience with the sleek shell in win98 is that it replaces the win98 shell32 with the win95 version. i used it for a while on a compaq 4102, with 16 mb ram. On the main, the more preferred version is to use win95 shell, with the win98 shell32, but this does not work. sleekv2 uses a patched version of the win95 explorer, which looks fir a shell32.w95 (instead of the dll), and uses win98 shell32.dll for proggies that need shell32. A similar vain exists with fdv's use of explorer.exe and shell32.nt4, which allows one to use the nt4 explorer under windows 2k, to similar effects. W

At the moment, i am doing a Superimposition project, joining all of the Windows 9x cdroms into one. Because documentation points to directories like /OTHER/OLDMSDOS, i have been preserving the original tree. This allows certian programs that do mods to the running copy of windows to work correctly. In the main, there are very few places where different files occupy the same position: the main example is LFNBACK on the Win95 and Win96 disks. (Win96 was the original name for what became Win95B: i have an uninstaller from beta 189 that complains that there is no undo file for win96. I currently have a script up and running, that converts MS-DOS 6.22 files to work under Windows9x. This is based on a fc /b between MS-DOS 6.22 and MS-DOS 6.21. In essence, if you change something like 6 or 7 locations, you can convert 6.21 files to run under 6.22 (in fact, the binary equals of 6.22), and accordingly, the same script can change the DOS to 7.00, 7.10 or 8.00 for MS-DOS 7 or 8. The whole script works successfully, and currently supports a number of commands (APPEND, BACKUP, EDLIN, EXE2BIN, GRAPHICS, PRINT, REPLACE, RESTORE, TREE). There are also others which do not need this patch: (COMP, DOSSHELL, FASTHELP, INTERLNK, INTERSVR, LOADFIX, UNDELETE). I have tried these out on builds 0950, 1214, 2222, 3000, and all work ok. It is also interesting that the main difference between the Win98SE and WinME versions of some of the DOS commands is exactly the same: this includes drivers like HIMEM.SYS, EMM386, which are essentially the same file reporting a different version number (only). Script to follow when made 'user friendly'. You will need the DOS 6.22 files mentioned above (DOS 6,21 works as well, except for PRINT), some kind of TOUCH utility (to change the file-dates) and a copy of REXX, eg regina, to run the script. Load all the DOS files into a directory, and run the command rexx dosmake 1111 where 1111 is the build number. It supports 0621, 0622, 0950, 0951, 1111, 1212, 1214, 1998, 2222, 3000. You can see these from the file dates of your system. When processed by this proggie, you don't need to use setver for any of them. W

I found a problem when the cmd file to do the upgrade is run under the popular cmd.exe replacement 4NT. (line 46 of the 23-july issue does gives an error message under 4NT 5.0) While i don't reccomend supporting this, i would suggest that the batch file be launched under a known environment, eg cmd.exe. W

(Duplicated post)

The name 'vista' has been challanged, considering the problems microsoft has caused with 'windows' as a word. I think that vista is going to be a no-show.

Firstly. such a thing is indeed possible. but i doubt it very much that one would be able to set up the necessary files to allow 98lite to handle uninstalls, shy of buying the corporate version. The single user licence assumes that said user would integrate it by attended install. Still, worth the look. W

You forgot a few versions of Windows Windows 286 2.10 Windows 386 2.10 Windows 3.00 with Multimedia Extensions Windows 3.10 Windows for Workgroups 3.10

Hunt down a proggie at 98lite called sleekv2.exe This is the win95 shell, and patched win95 shell32.dll, designed to sit beside the win98 shell32.dll. It uses the win95 shell, without loss of functionality of win98. W

The thing with 98lite is that it is not intended that home-users are going to do unattended installs, let alone of the package + 98lite. Therefore the common licence of 98lite does not support unattended installs. None the same, one could make an unattended install of windows, 98lite, prehaps through the corporate version of 98lite (which does support this). The thing seems to focus on batch.exe and options.ini, the latter needs to be expanded etwas. On the other hand, you can run 98lite from the boot disk, and it will 'take over' the install. But to do this, you need to do an _attended_ install, not an unattended one.

Systemdrive is where ntldr and ntdetect.com live. You want to set the tempdrive. It is quite easy to do this, but you do it through winnt32.exe switches, rather than through the unattend.txt To install windows 2k/xp onto the M drive, use winnt32 /tempdrive=M .... You can do unattend with /systemdrive=M as well, but windows will not boot such a drive. What happens instead, is that you can remove the hard disk and use it elsewhere, and when it boots, it will complete the install. Note however that /systemdrive has to point to a primary partition, which should be made active before the install completes. /tempdrive can point to an extended partition on a second drive.