Pandora with Dosbox

Did you Edit the Config file do Dosbox as his instructions say to do???

Did you use the Files that Nilo has provided on his site as well???

Yes, I did. Downloaded the 4 files he recommended and got them unzipped, installed with no problem that I am aware of. Then went to the config file and made changes he directed in his instructions - again seemingly with no problem. Then proceeded to use desktop icon that was recommended by Nilo in one of the downloads, went into the game and first screen I got was a black one with a tiny disc swap square with cursor in it. Cursor will not go outside of this little square. It says to insert disc into Drive D. My Drive is lettered E.

Again checked the config file to make sure I had made the correction as directed and all seemed well. But still unable to get that letter to change in the disc swap square. Nilo says to email him if problems present but hesitated to do so as I think he must be way overloaded since he never replied to my email regarding Overseer problems and in the past he has always been very helpful.

So hoping someone on the site here will be able to help

You're sure you followed his steps in order??? I ended up having the same problem... To correct it, I had to edit the Config file that was inside of the Pandora game folder... I had to do the same thing for my UAKM...

I want to make this clear, I am talking about the Config File in the Game Folders, not the Config file for Dosbox... Open those up and scroll all the way to the bottom and make sure that all the CD-ROMS are Mapped to your Letter, you said it was E:... If you see any that aren't, you need to change it...

It's funny the problem I had, all of the CDs were mapped to E except for the 1st CD which for some ODD reason was indeed Mapped to D:... Just changed the Letter and I was off and running...

So give those a check and see if you are having the same problem I did...

I have a guide on my blog (see link below) that might help if your still stuck.

Do you have 2 hard drives (C and D)?

Is your E: Drive a phyiscal CD Drive or are you using a mounted image?

I got a feeling his computer is set up a little like mine...

You have your C Drive that everything is on, then you have your D Drive which is a partition of the same Hard Drive dedicated to your Restoration Point... It's there, you can see it, but you can't do anything with it... So that makes your CD Drive E...

But back in the day when things like Tex were made, multi drives like that were rarely heard of on a home computer, so their standard config files were Mapped for D:... Which causes us problems today... lol

If that is the case try editing the dosbox.conf file like this
OR

Reading everybody's input and though a bit overwhelmed, am digesting it slowly. This AM when I booted up and went though trying to run the game - lo and behold in the disc swap window my Drive E is AT LAST showing! Maybe I just needed to reboot after doing all the configuring. I keep forgetting such is sometimes necessary to accomplish something.

So was ready to enjoy the game when have hit another snag:( Not sure if it is in the game however but in my two drives - Drive E and Drive F. I have had trouble with both ever since I bought my Dell a year ago, in getting Drive E to recognize a disc that is in it.

Both are burning drives I have been told and am not used to such. Before I had E - plain old drive to play games etc. Then Drive F was a burning drive. Now both are burning drives with E just a plain disc drive and F is a DVD drive. Either I need lessons how to operate both or am going back to old way and replace the E drive with a nonburning plain game playing drive.

Hope I have made myself clear re the situation and would appreciate your input about the drives since my tech is coming tomorrow and while here want him to recommend what to do about the drives. While he is a very nice man, honest and works hard to please his customers (not easy to find nowadays) unfortunately he is at times limited in his knowledge of PC issues especially around game playing.

Am so fed up with these drives and the problems I have had with them would like to finally settle on what to do about them - either bring myself up to speed about how to use or replace one of the drives.

Even though I started learning about PCs way back in the 60s doing Basic and Cobalt languages, I still struggle to keep up and now being a very Senior Citizen (in my 80s) the struggle is more so:( And I am sure being a woman factors into the situation:)

So any input someone can suggest on trying to figure out how to get this E drive to recognize the disc that sits there big as life before frustration sets in and I toss the PC out the window!!!!!!! will be much welcomed.

Not sure this is an issue for this forum since it may not be strictly a gaming problem. If so, do understand and will check sites such as Castle Cops to see if they can suggest solutions. Meanwhile back to the drawing board and understanding ideas everyone here has presented. Thanks so much for them.

OOPS change that "started to learn PCs way back in the 60s to the 80s"!!! Am old enough without making it worse!

If I understand correctly...

You had a normal cdrom drive (Drive E) then replaced it with a burner.
You also have a burner (Drive F) that came with the system.

After you replaced Drive E with an additional burner Drive E never worked right.

If they are both IDE drives, I would check to see if they are both connected to the same cable. Then I would make sure the jumpers on back are set correctly (Master / Slave / Cable Select). You can not have two Masters or two Slaves on the same ribbon cable. Most computers will be shipped with the original burner set to Master. When you buy a new drive it is usually defaulted to Master. One Symptom of two Master devices is one doesn't always work if at all.


Anyhow your dosbox.conf file should like something like this...
OR

Guess I was not clear. No the two drives came with my Dell when I bought it. I have never replaced either - unless I can learn how to use, am thinking of replacing one. These are my drive stats:

E Drive – Sony CD-RW CRX217 E
IDE\CD Rom Sony
F Drive – HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW
GWA4164B

Have been told both are burning drives. My tech claims he has never seen a system that works well when both drives are burning drives.

Re the config file - I do see a difference. I do not have the D drive typed in as shown in your example. Will try doing so and see if that makes any difference at all. I somehow doubt it since I have been having non recognition of discs in the E drive right along.

Problem seems to lie with the Drive E:

Can put CD-R and CD-RW in E DRIVE and often will get - E not accessible, incorrect function' OR 'please put disc in E drive'
Yet can put same discs in F drive and can use drive, though I tried Pandora in F drive and got 'please put disc in drive F'. Maddening.

when put DVD+R and DVD+RW in E drive - can use drive E and of course they function in F drive.

It appears Sony uses CRX to designate CD-RW drives.

I agree with your tech, 2 burners in the same system on the IDE controller can cause alot of issues while only adding the ability to do direct disc copying. It's like having two video cards (SLI or CrossFire) in your system it's nice, but ultimately not necessary.

If I'm not mistaken according to other posts you have made at other message boards the Sony also causes errors during normal Windows usage unrelated to DOSBox. It sounds as if the Sony drive may be failing, so I would see if it is covered by a warranty. Then compare the costs of actually obtaining warranty replacement to the cost of a purchasing a brand new drive from a store.

Re the config file - I do see a difference. I do not have the D drive typed in as shown in your example. Will try doing so and see if that makes any difference at all. I somehow doubt it since I have been having non recognition of discs in the E drive right along.

You can try either config the one with D or the one without. I just included both as I do not know how your hard drives were configured. Was just an attempt to use the same lettering that you see in Windows.

Hope this helps.

You've had this problem with the SONY since 2006?

Or have your Tech just take the Sony out and put in a Regular Hi-Speed CD-ROM... Then you would have only One Burnable drive...

Regular CD-ROMs are pretty cheap for the most part... Is your Tech a Friend or just a Tech??? If he is a friend, then cost of labor for putting the CD Drive in should be kind of cheap if not free...

You say your computer is about 2 years old, give or take some months... Well in Computer years that is around 40 to 50 years old... lol So it is possible that other things besides the drive are failing, like the IDE Controller or something else on the motherboard...