#PC Imagine arrives
19 messages in this thread
Well, the PC version of Imagine arrived in the mail today. My first impression
was pretty bad, and things have gone downhill from there. First, no manual.
Okay, I can use my Amiga manual. Second, the disks say "For the Amiga." Not
the best way to break into the PC marketplace.
Third, and obviously worst, is the program doesn't work. If I boot with my
normal setup, which is pretty basic, but does include 386Max as a memory
manager, the program says "This software will not run under DPMI, (e.g. Windows
Enhanced Mode)." Well, I don't have Windows anywhere near this PC, but I'm
willing to play the boot disk game for a company's first PC product.
I made a boot floppy that just loads my Logitech mouse driver and the vesa
program for my Diamond Speedstar 24 SVGA card. When I boot with that disk and
try to start Imagine the machine freezes right after I type Imagine.
My PC is a 33Mhz 486 with 8MB of memory, AMI BIOS, and loads of hard drive
space. With my regular config, I have 636480 bytes of lower memory free, and
4704K of XMS memory free (using 2meg for a Smartdrv cache), but Imagine thinks
I'm running Windows then. Using the boot disk and only loading the vesa and
mouse drivers I have 572064 bytes lower memory free (showing why memory
managers are so handy), and all of the extended memory free.
What magic ingredients need to be loaded to get started? No wonder the
addendum to the PC version says "Good luck." You're not kidding!
My copy of Imagine/PC also hangs when booted normally, but I have found that
running and quitting Windows just before Imagine makes it work!. Since you are
also having problems it seems like Impulse have not got their VGA
initialisation sorted out yet.
Phil Camp, UK.
Phil, I saw your message about Windows and tried PC Imagine on another machine
that has Windows loaded, but that didn't work on my PC. That machine has an
Orchid ProDesigner IIS card, and PC Imagine locked up on it at the same place.
I volunteered to be a beta tester, but they said they had enough. It looks
like they could have used at least two more, eh? :-/
William, is there an Imagine.pic located in your Imagine directory. This is
rather silly, but some disks were sent out without one and the program will not
run if it doesn't find the file in the directory. If you don't, take any
hi-res, 16-color IFF file, name it Imagine.pic and copy it into the Imagine
drawer.
Please bear with Impulse on this one. There're more PC variables out there
than you can "Imagine!" 🙂
But I have run the program on my 486, 33 and it does work. I promise!
Let me know if you have any luck.
–Rick Rodriguez
Rick,
There is an Imagine.pic file in the Imagine directory. It's 60990 bytes and
the creation date is 4-12-93.
I trust that the program does work, but right now it's doing nothing for me.
Could you give me the contents of the config.sys and autoexec.bat on your
machine? That sort of thing needs to be in the PC documentation. I'm willing
to fiddle with my startup file settings; most PC owners are used to having to
mess with the config.sys to get things working, but you need to include some
ideas of what to change.
Thanks for being online to help. I especially appreciate you checking in over
the weekend to look for messages.
William, Impulse tells me that programs sent out between 4/12-15 had some last
minute bugs which have been corrected. To try to make your copy run, use a
clean boot disk which only initializes your VESA driver, runs DOS's EMM386.exe
and starts up your mouse. As of 4/16, the program does work with DOS 6.0, so
if that is important to you, you can return your disk for an update.
If you don't mind having the multiple startups, you should at lease be able to
get the program up and running till you get the update. –Rick Rodriguez
Rick, I've made a little progress with PC Imagine. I replaced 386Max with the
DOS 6.0 memory managers, and got different results. Now when I start Imagine
the screen switches into the hires mode and the following message displays
briefly in the upper left corner of the screen:
failed to enlarge CS/DS
init_mem() failed
Then the DOS prompt returns, in regular resolution. This is on the 486/33 with
8MB ram and a Diamond Speedstar 24 SVGA. Same results on the other machine
with an Orchid card.
Here's my current autoexec.bat:
@echo off
LH /L:1,35184 C:\MOUSE\LMOUSE.com SER 1
LH /L:0;1,42384 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE E D 1024 1024
SET PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;D:\IMAGINE
prompt=$p$g
MODE CON RATE=32 DELAY=1
And config.sys:
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM
BUFFERS=15,0
FILES=60
DOS=HIGH,UMB
LASTDRIVE=D
FCBS=4,0
STACKS=0,0
SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\ /p Suggestions?
Please call Impulse directly so they can send you an updated version, dated
after 4/16, which enables the program to run under DOS 6.0.
Sorry for the inconvenience! Remember Impulse is attempting the previously
unIMAGINEable!! –Rick Rodriguez
The Unimagineable. hehehehehe I guess you mean by the fact that it's a
Powerful 3D prg for the Clones that Doesn't require you to decide wether
you want a Software or FOOD.
Is the PC version of IMAGINE as memory-hungry as the AMIGA version. I mean,
gee! 16 meg not enough?!? What is the program doing, devoting a RGB triplet
for each voxel in the world space?
Can the PC version use objects from the AMIGA version?
/// Mike ///
I dunno since I don't own the PC Version of Imagine. Sorry. Tho
Imagine DEVOURS RAM like there's no tommorow. I'm doing yer Average
everyday Planet Rippling then Exploding with a Brushmap and 3%
Starfield and thats IT and it's is Sucking up 6 megs. I used a
Primitive Sphere with 30*30 Sections and mapped a 752*480 rez 24 bit
image from the Texture City CDROM on it. Tho I "Imagine" the PC
version will be just as RAM Hungry as the Amiga Version, maybe Moreso
Mike, I run Imagine perfectly well on systems with 8 megs. Please
describe the problems you're having with memory.
As for the PC version, Amiga objects load perfectly. The only problem
is with brushmaps and textures. Those must be redirected manually so
the program knows to look to PC drives and directories.
–Rick Rodriguez
Rick, I don't have it yet, but I was wondering how much more RAM I
should install — I only have 4 Meg now *sigh*. Are all the disks
shipping now fixed for the DOS 6 and SS24X bugs, or are these fixes
only available on request? If so, I'll have to call before my order
arrives, 'cuz I've got them both.
/// Mike ///
Four megs is the ABSOLUTE minimum to run Imagine. I would really recommend 16
megs if you can swing it. Eight megs will suffice until you really get up to
speed and start placing four brushmaps on every object! Any copy ordered today
from Impulse will work with DOS 6.0 and QEMM. I believe the SS24X display has
been corrected as well. –Rick
So, which do you prefer, using Imagine on a 486 or an Amiga? *8)
Vance
I prefer the Amiga version because I've got my Firecracker, DPaint,
Art Dept., Image FX, Toaster, network, eight (! has it been that long?)
years of experience with AmigaDOS, etc. etc. etc. However, the
screen refresh is lightning fast on the PC and I do like the Targa+
and I must admit I occassionally run 3DSTudio and I'm really looking
forward to getting Fractal Design Painter 2.0….
I guess my answer is that it's great (and very expensive) to be
a two computer platform user!
–Rick
Heh heh! Playing it safe! Smart move! *8D
Vance
Can I ask what network you are running ? Is that networking your amiga and pc?
My friend also recently received Imagine. So far he isn't experiencing any
problems on startup. He as a plain DOS 5 with 1Mb dedicated to EMM 4Mb remain
as Extended and 2Mb dedicated to smartdrv.
Perhaps you should create a boot disk without 386max and just load dos memory
managers.
My friend is having problems with showing the image he rendered in imagine. He
has to use another program to view the pic. He has the Diamond Speedstar 24X
also. I think there is a problem with the support of the "VESA" capablility
that Impulse claims.
If you get Imagine working . . .please tell me whether you have a problem with
showing pictures ?!
Thanks.
from the "go between."