[comp.os.msdos.desqview] Memory needed in DV vs. memsize shown via LOADHI /GS

valley@gsbsun.uchicago.edu (Doug Dougherty) (06/16/91)

I just setup a DV window for playing the game Klondike (A really nice
solotaire game; much better than the one that comes with WIN3, BTW)

To try to figure out how much memory to allocate to the DV window, I ran
KL in Big DOS window using LOADHI /GS.  I ran the game (played a full game)
and LOADHI came back saying it required about 174K  (0K resident)  So I
figured I'd leave a bit of slack and set the window size in DV (on the
first page of Add/Change a Program) to 190.  But when I ran it, it came
back with "Klondike: Program too big to fit in memory".  Well, some
number of tries later, I determined that the magic number is somewhere
between 250 & 275K  (I.e., it works with it set to 275 [which is where I
am leaving it] but fails at 250K)

Why the discrepancy?  (I could understand a small discrepancy, but 100K???)
I had been given to understand that using LOADHI /GS like this *was* the
approved method of figuring out how much mem a program used.  (BTW,
yes, I set the "Program....." field to KLONDIKE.EXE, so as to run it
directly, rather than via COMMAND.COM)

Also, as an aside, how exactly does DV load a program in a window when
you give it a ".EXE" or ".COM" filename?  Seems I've heard something
about it using SHELL or some such as a sort of Q&D COMMAND.COM, but,
interestingly enough, when I did "dir sh*" in my DV directory, it came
back with "File not found".  Whither it???

TIA, of course...
--

	(Another fine mess brought to you by valley@gsbsun.uchicago.edu)

Ralf.Brown@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU (06/16/91)

In article <1991Jun16.020113.28578@midway.uchicago.edu>, valley@gsbsun.uchicago.edu (Doug Dougherty) wrote:
}[LOADHI says 174K for KLONDIKE, but KLONDIKE won't run in less than ~260K]
}Why the discrepancy?  (I could understand a small discrepancy, but 100K???)
}I had been given to understand that using LOADHI /GS like this *was* the
}approved method of figuring out how much mem a program used.  (BTW,
}yes, I set the "Program....." field to KLONDIKE.EXE, so as to run it
}directly, rather than via COMMAND.COM)

KLONDIKE probably has an overly conservative memory check, i.e. the programmer
decided that it needs X amount of memory when it really only uses X-100.

}Also, as an aside, how exactly does DV load a program in a window when
}you give it a ".EXE" or ".COM" filename?  Seems I've heard something
}about it using SHELL or some such as a sort of Q&D COMMAND.COM, but,
}interestingly enough, when I did "dir sh*" in my DV directory, it came
}back with "File not found".  Whither it???

DV 1.x used SHELL.COM.	DV 2.x does the loading internally.
-- 
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DISCLAIMER?  Did  | It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's
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chaz@chinet.chi.il.us (Charlie Kestner) (06/18/91)

In article <1991Jun16.020113.28578@midway.uchicago.edu> valley@gsbsun.uchicago.edu (Doug Dougherty) writes:
>I just setup a DV window for playing the game Klondike (A really nice
>solotaire game; much better than the one that comes with WIN3, BTW)
>
>To try to figure out how much memory to allocate to the DV window, I ran
>KL in Big DOS window using LOADHI /GS.  I ran the game (played a full game)
>and LOADHI came back saying it required about 174K  (0K resident)  So I
>figured I'd leave a bit of slack and set the window size in DV (on the
>first page of Add/Change a Program) to 190.  But when I ran it, it came
>back with "Klondike: Program too big to fit in memory".  Well, some
>number of tries later, I determined that the magic number is somewhere
>between 250 & 275K  (I.e., it works with it set to 275 [which is where I
>am leaving it] but fails at 250K)
>
>Why the discrepancy?  (I could understand a small discrepancy, but 100K???)
>I had been given to understand that using LOADHI /GS like this *was* the
>approved method of figuring out how much mem a program used.  (BTW,
>yes, I set the "Program....." field to KLONDIKE.EXE, so as to run it
>directly, rather than via COMMAND.COM)
[additional stuff whacked out...]

  It displays graphics information?
  Perhaps your answer lies in your examining the section of the Desqview
manual (Changing A Program's Information) that refers to allocating
screen memory.
  In that section, it mentions that Desqview will need more memory when
it must manage graphics pages.