All you wanted to know about DOSBox, never dared to ask

[NewDeli]

I just finished recreating my 34 profiles all right in v1.53.

I separated these 34 games into 3 categories :
Those exclusive to DOS (sort of), those with a better Amiga version (e.g. The Patrician), those with an inferior Amiga version (e.g. Heart of China).

I couldn't get to work Dungeon Master II with a standard v0.73 DOSbox, the rest went fine
and I had to download a few Duke Nukem 3D version obtain a working one (lots of additional packs that mess things up when incorporated, apparently).


Btw, got an engaging email reply from Erik, finally !
New DOG version is approaching wih these hot features :
Autorun, BinCue support and Files & Sites !
v1.54 is confirmed discarded.

[NewDeli]

• Erik also replied to my post in DOG forum, here is his reply
• He updated the latest beta of DOG to v1.6.2

I will continue to message him in order to obtain further explanations on his dev. plan & release schedule for his great frontend .

[Jgames]

Originally Posted by Deleauvive

• Erik also replied to my post in DOG forum, here is his reply
• He updated the latest beta of DOG to v1.6.2

I will continue to message him in order to obtain further explanations on his dev. plan & release schedule for his great frontend .

Isn't dfend-reloaded better?

[dlfrsilver]

dfend-reloaded is better, there's no doubt about it. It makes DOSBOX really easy to configure.

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by Fred the Fop

Well then because of this aversion, you are missing out on tons of great games.

Yeh, you're right of course...

[NewDeli]

D-fend reloaded "verbose" too much for my taste.
DOG is lean and fast, if a little on the buggy side (but once you know the beast, it gets easier to control).

Also, some "experts" recommend using no frontend at all (like others recommend using UAE over WinUAE, I guess). I'll try to find the post which I thought was convincing in that aspect.

[NewDeli]

I think this is the place where I remember reading about the frontend / no frontend debate.

Notice how FeelDaRads (10th post) put it bluntly :
"Real men use the dosbox.conf file."


With the usability factor in mind, getting/offering the game preconfigured is still better than trying to understand/explain how to edit profiles INMHO.




Anyway, nice to see other retro'ers goin' down the DOSBox frontend path.

[TCD]

I use DosBox without a frontend. I make batch files for the games. If a new version of DoxBox arrives I only have to adjust my settings and don't have to wait for a new frontend update Also I think that no frontend includes Fasttracker 2...

[Photon]

The Incredible Machine! Alley Kat!

[TCD]

/me wonders what Photon is trying to tell us

[Marcuz]

d-fend reloaded here, but still i use it very little, it's not very easy to configurate, and mostly, i hate the ancient and cumbersome interfaces/controls of many games.

[AB Positive]

I use a P1 DOS rig for my DOSing needs - mainly as a Fallout/Fallout 2 box

[NewDeli]

@TCD
The Incredible Machine is a well-drawn & animated DOS puzzle game. But I am quite sure you googled it already .


@marco
DOG is very easy to configure...
Well, if there's anything to configure at all.
You just edit a profile for each of your DOS game, fill-in a few facts about it, set the path for both the executable and the setup. On very seldom occasions, you need to fiddle with "misc options" from your generic profile, like disabling EMS, or enabling PC speakers...

Don't want to set a dissenting voice here, but in what way Amiga games interface are any better than their DOS counterparts ?


@AB Positive
There are definitely a few DOS games that are a pain in the neck to run under DOSBOX since they used to tap in outrageous ways into hardware resources .

You pesk at yourself when you realize your shiny new faster than light PCs can't make them work.
Then, I guess, it's handy to have a DOS'd PC, or more prosaically a crap laptop with Win98 for those few exceptions (I am thinking DM2 or Grand Prix II).

May be you can confirm that there's not many advantages of running FO1 from the Windows executable over the DOS version .

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Deleauvive

@TCD
The Incredible Machine is a well-drawn & animated DOS puzzle game. But I am quite sure you googled it already .

Yes, I also know Alley Cat, but still I wonder if Photon wants to tell us that he likes the games. Something like ' The Incredible Machine and Alley Kat are awesome games!' wouldn't hurt

[demoniac]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

D.O.G for DOSBox

Been looking for a decent frontend for DOSBox. Too bad the screenshots for D.O.G. are down.

Using the command line interface of DOSBox is so...DOS! Can't stand its arcaneness.

[AB Positive]

Fallout 1 has an easier patch setup running off DOS or even DOSbox as opposed to the windows executable which, if I remember right, is a bit buggier.

Actually for FO2 it's probably better to do the Windows version and rock out with the Hi-Res patches. The game is that much prettier that way. However it's nice to not tie up the main PC with FO2 when I like to chat, program and flirt with kinky women on that.

... such a waste of horsepower. Heh.

[NewDeli]

Originally Posted by demoniac

Too bad the screenshots for D.O.G. are down.

It's not the only thing that's down on Erik's current web site (I am thinking about translations, here) but let's not put too much pressure on his shoulders .

Here are some fresh screenshots of v1.53 :

Too lazy to put arrows and annotate it,
but in this one you see part of my game list. I've retained Year, Developer (well, it's more often the publisher actually), Genre. The "non-working" games work in scummVM or with a CVS version of DOSBox. "Favorites" are... well my favorite games (except some non-favorites are actually favorites, it's only that there's a better looking Amiga version available).

In there, I clicked to develop on the important subsections (CPU, Drive...). All of which can be edited with a few mouse clicks.

With Drives, you can mount a CD-Rom, actual of virtual for the games that need it.

DOS32a can be of some help when the game has that DOS4GW thingie.
In Scaler, you can use a filter, set full-screen, I myself use AdvanceMAME 2x, most of the time, the game won't be affected if you do so.

Right-clicking a profile allows you to do various things with it.


As for DOG configuration in itself, you simply need to add the DOSBox you want to use it with, knowing that v0.73 will work with DOG v1.53 even though it was compiled prior to it.
The beta that was discarded used to get that DOSBOX version number automagically, so hopefully the next stable release will be granted this cool feature.


When you have edited a few profiles, you should be careful not to loose them (as explained above), that's the only thing that can get rather irritating with that frontend.

[NewDeli]

################################################
# DosBox 0.72 Configuration file               #
# Generated by ErikGG's D.O.G. DosBox FrontEnd #
################################################

[sdl]
fullscreen=true
fulldouble=true
fullresolution=original
windowresolution=1280x1024
output=openglnb
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=normal,lower
mapperfile=
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
language=
machine=vga
captures=
memsize=16

[render]
frameskip=0
aspect=true
scaler=advmame2x

[cpu]
core=normal
cycles=auto
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

[mixer]
nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
mpu401=intelligent
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
gus=false

[speaker]
pcspeaker=false

[bios]
joysticktype=auto
timed=false
autofire=false
swap34=false
buttonwrap=false

[serial]
serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]
xms=true
ems=true
umb=true
keyboardlayout=fr

[ipx]
ipx=false

[autoexec]
mount c "x:\msdos"
C:
cd/
cd dog_153\plugins\cwsdpmi\bin
CWSDPMI.exe -p -s-
exit

It's a "stripped" generic DOSBox conf file.
These are the files the frontends are working from.

[NewDeli]

I turned to the darkside, and went with D-fend reloaded as my main frontend.


I have a few little quibbles with it, one of them being the games list looks a bit muddy at first, until you fix it by going into the options, in advanced mode and the other, still looking at the games list, is having those generic values in each field, until they are set manually.

I had sent some advice on a French web site as to use CVS versions of DOSBox with Dungeon Master II and Grand Prix II, I guess I'll have to edit them when they get published, because those games play fine with D-fend as a frontend and DOSBox v0.73.

If you ask me, I think Erik somehow wasted an opportunity, in between D-Fend dismise and the first Reloaded release, from his own words, he was a bit behind times in terms of DOG's dev. schedule, and the latter could have barked much louder !

Here is an interview with the creators of DOSBox, of concern with v0.73. There's much restrain in their thoughts and POVs, and except a few insights about the main improvements, I found it a bit like lackluster but still, it's good to know these guys aren't terribly concerned about DOSBox commercial misuse.