Out of Handles?

[Solestis]

When I get to a certain point in both EcoQuest games, the game shuts down and the DOSbox displays a message, "Out of Handles!"

Does anyone know how to fix this? Any help is appreciated.

[QuestCollector]

Same thing happens to me in Space Quest 5. Usually if I restart and restore, the scene works the second time I do it.

[Solestis]

I'll try that. Thanks.

[Guest]

I think the handles are the file handles. It should help already if you increase the number of the FILES environment variable under DOS (or your DOS Box). This value tell DOS how many files can be open simultaneously. I think what happens is that the game keeps recent files open and at one point, when trying to open a new file, cannot get a new handle from the OS because the the FILES value is reached. That would also explain why it only happens after some time playing and not when you restart the game load a fresh savegame. After all, both games mentioned are DOS games, so this could be the cause of the problem.