DOSBox emulator newbies guide [XP only]

[highpass]

DOSBox (MS-DOS Emulator)

It is a cruel fact of life that as technology progresses, paving the way for us to see things on the computer screen we never thought possible, the games that first brought in the money to make this technology viable are rendered crippled, and in some cases even completely unplayable. The world of computers and the basic architecture of programs changed irreversibly upon the release of Windows 95... and quite unfortunately, that change came right as the Golden Age of adventures was winding down. The result was that most of our fondest memories were now based on the cursed Disk Operation System, otherwise known as DOS, otherwise known as the unstable and unpredictable O/S developers were glad to shoot and leave for dead. As the new millenium rolled around, all semblance of support for DOS has been eliminated from Windows, and with it support for the games we once loved the most. Is there any hope short of keeping an old 486 in the closet?

But then I heard about this free program called DOSBox, and supposedly it was going to turn my computer into the equivalent of an old 386-33 system. DOSBox is not geared to any specific sort of game or even any specific sort of software, it is just a complete MS-DOS emulator which includes a functional speedup / slowdown option (to avoid the emulator itself running too fast and defeating the whole purpose). Its available for all platforms, will run DOS games even on a very fast modern computer and for nostalgia junkies like me it almost seems too good to be true. If you have Windows 9x-XP and you want to play DOS games, download DOSBox and spend 20 mins setting it up and learning how to use it, for anyone who has any DOS experience its going to take you around 5 mins. Then when youre playing a favourite classic on your brand new laptop youre gonna realise just how good this little program really is.

... A Guide to DOSBox and DOS Commands ...

First of all you will have to download the latest version for your operating system from their website, probably the Windows Win32 Installer from one of the many mirror servers they provide (its free, roughly 1MB and works with all versions of Windows), then install it as you would any other piece of software. To run DOSBox look in your start menu for the link, also supplies an uninstall option and a link to the 'dosbox.conf' file. To put a shortcut to DOSBox on your desktop just right-click the link in your start menu and choose 'Create Shortcut' then drag the new link from your start menu onto your desktop and rename it.

Next you need to tell DOSBox where you store your games on your system. Lets say for example you have a folder on your hard drive that you have unpacked several games to called 'C:\OLDGAMES', one of your games would be in folder 'C:\OLDGAMES\GAMENAME'. Try to keep all your DOS games folder names to 8 characters or under, it makes everything much simpler. DOS does not support file names that are longer than that, you will end up with the dreaded ~1 extension i.e. 'GAMESFOLDER' would become 'GAMESF~1' a total nightmare, so a game like Eye of the Beholder 1 will usually be shortened to something like EOB or EOB1.


... Setting up your Games Folder ...

When you first open DOSBox it defaults to a virtual drive called Z: and you wont be able to run anything from here. The idea is to get DOSBox to use your own games folder on your hard drive as drive C: (the mount command tells DOSBox to make drive C: the specified folder). You have to tell DOSBox where your games folder is by typing in the following command lines replacing 'C:\OLDGAMES' with the correct path to your own games folder:

MOUNT C C:\OLDGAMES
C:

Instead of typing these lines in every time you run DOSBox you can configure it to mount your games folder automatically each time you run it. Just browse to the folder where you originally installed DOSBox and look for a file called 'dosbox.conf', or look in your start menu for the link. This file needs to be opened with notepad (its important that you are able to view the contents of this file and are able to save it when you have made any changes). To open it you will probably have to right-click it and select open, then choose notepad from a list of programs, if you want you can select the option to have windows always open .conf files with notepad.

Once you have opened the 'dosbox.conf' file scroll right down to the bottom and there should be a couple of lines that look like:

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

In the empty lines immediately below this you should add the two lines for mounting your games folder (make sure you use the correct path to your own games folder, remember this is just an example), so it looks like this:

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
MOUNT C C:\OLDGAMES
C:

Take the following for example, you would use these lines if your games were stored in folder 'Games\Oldgames' on your second partition drive D:

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
MOUNT C D:\Games\Oldgames
C:

Thats it, you just have to close the 'dosbox.conf' file and SAVE it on exit. Now when you run DOSBox you will see that below the Z: it has already mounted your games folder as drive C: so you can get on with playing the games.


... Screensize ...

Hitting ALT-ENTER will switch to fullscreen and back while DOSBox is running.

One setting you might want to change is the fullscreen option (right near the top of the dosbox.conf file) which is set to 'false' by default, all you have to do is change this to 'true' and DOSBox will open in fullscreen mode every time you run it.

Hitting ALT-TAB will minimize the DOSBox window and take you back to your desktop, just click on the program tab in your taskbar to bring it back up, this is useful when you need to quickly do something else like read a solution file without exiting your game.


... DOS Commands ...

The following is a list of some of the basic DOS commands that you will need to use (commands in DOS are NOT case sensitive e.g. DIR/W is the same as dir/w, but make sure you include any symbols or spaces), all DOS commands are typed in at the C:\> Command Prompt and you execute a command by hitting enter:

'HELP' - Displays the DOS help

'EXIT' - Exits the program back to windows

'DIR' - Displays the contents of the Drive / Folder you are currently in

'DIR/W' - Same as DIR but displays the contents in a wide view (recommended)

'DIR/P' - Same as DIR but only used when the number of files in a certain folder cannot all be viewed on the screen at the same time, pauses at each screenfull allowing you to hit Space when youre ready for the next page, same for DIR/W/P

'CD GAME' - Where 'GAME' is the name of a specific folder inside your main games folder, this command stands for Change Directory to the folder titled 'GAME' i.e. go forward one folder. Also the command 'CD GAME\GAMENAME' will take you to the folder GAMENAME bypassing the folder GAME

'CD..' - Takes you back one directory i.e. C:\GAMENAME will go back to your main directory C: and C:\GAMENAME\SAVEGAME will go back to C:\GAMENAME

'CD\' - Takes you back to your root Directory C: in DOSBox this would be your main games folder

'GAME.EXE' - Where 'GAME' is the name of a program file you want to run in one of your games folders, the most common file extension will be .EXE but you will also come across .COM and .BAT files (you dont have to use the extension for this command to work, just typing 'GAME' will also load the file)


... Running A Game ...

First of all would advise that you use Windows Explorer or My Computer to take a look at the files in any games folder before you load DOSBox, just to get an idea of what file you might be looking for when you come to run the game.

Lets say youve just unpacked a game you want to play to a folder on your hard drive called C:\OLDGAMES\GAMENAME. So you run DOSBox and if you have mounted your games folder correctly it will open to the C:\> command prompt, first you should type 'DIR' or 'DIR/W' to view all your available game folders, followed by 'CD GAMENAME' to change directory to the game folder you want. Next you should type 'DIR' or 'DIR/W' to view all the files in this folder, you are looking for the .EXE (executable) to run the game. It will usually be called 'gamename.exe', lots of sierra games have program files called 'sierra.exe'. At the command prompt you type in the name of this file e.g. GAMENAME.EXE to run the game. Please also note that its not always so simple.... take Jones in the Fast Lane for instance, the file you need to run to play it is called 'sciv256.exe' so sometimes its just got to be trial and error till you find the right one.

To run Star Control 2 with the correct colours in DOSBox you should use the following command line 'STARCON2.EXE /G:BIOS', dont ask why but this will run it properly (something to do with using the correct colour set).


... Emulation Speed ...

You can configure DOSBox to run at different speeds depending on which game you want to play, how old it is etc. To understand this you have to go back to the 'dosbox.conf' file. Once again open this file using notepad and about 1/3 of the way down there is a section on cycles that looks like this:

[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: simple,normal,full,dynamic.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.
# Setting this higher than your machine can handle is bad!
# cycleup -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

core=normal
cycles=3000
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

You can edit the number of cycles to alter the speed, 3000 is the default value, remember to save the 'dosbox.conf' file after you make any changes. The shortcut keys to increase/decrease cycle speed by the cycle up/down amount while running DOSBox are:

CTRL-F11 - Slow down emulation (decrease DOSBox cycles)
CTRL-F12 - Speed up emulation (increase DOSBox cycles)

You will probably want to experiment with this if you need more/less speed for a game by using the shortcut keys while DOSBox is running or by altering the value and then re-running your game to see if it has changed sufficiently e.g. Recently went to play Double Dragon and the game was running so fast that it was unplayable, checked the cycle settings and it was set at 4000 from playing a much newer game. After trying a few settings decided that a value of 1000 worked just fine, it had slowed down to a speed that you would expect it to run at. This gives you an idea of whats possible. There are rumours of people setting this value as high as 9000, but as the warning next to the cycles line in the 'dosbox.conf' file says... Setting this higher than your machine can handle is bad!

Another setting you might want to change if youre having problems with game speed is the frameskip value, if you look in the 'dosbox.conf' file for the section on frameskip you will see something that looks like this:

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
# Supported are none,normal2x,advmame2x,advmame3x,advinterp2x,interp2x,tv2x.

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

The default Frameskip amount is set to 0. If you increase the Frameskip amount DOSBox will render less frames possibly giving you better performance, although you wouldnt want to set this too high or you wont be seeing much of the action. The shortcut keys to increase/decrease the frameskip amount while DOSBox is running are:

CTRL-F7 - Decreases Frameskip
CTRL-F8 - Increases Frameskip

NOTE: The top of the DOSBox window will display the current settings for Cycles and Frameskip as you change them (not in fullscreen mode though, just hit ALT-ENTER to switch to non-fullscreen, then make your changes and hit ALT-ENTER again to change back). Adjust these settings as needed until your game runs as smoothly as possible, please also keep in mind that not all games will run smoothly in DOSBox. If you have problems its likely to be with the higher end DOS games.


... Screenshots/Audio/Panic ...

CTRL-F5 - Saves a screenshot inside a folder called 'capture' in your DOSBox folder, you can use this repeatedly to save as many images as you want. Screenshots are saved as type .png which can be opened / edited with any graphics program, in the format GAMENAME_000.png, GAMENAME_001.png, GAMENAME_002.png etc, where GAMENAME.EXE is the name of the program file you are running.

Ctrl-F6 - Stop/starts recording sound output to a wave file on your hard drive, this means you can record a games music or sound fx. The file will be saved as type .wav in your DOSBox capture folder.

CTRL-F9 - This kills (closes) DOSBox in the event of panic/emergency.

So now you have all this information under your belt you should be able to get on and have some serious classic gaming. Much more detailed and extensive knowledge about DOSBox is available from their Website and Forums.

The End

(this is ripped from nowhere, i actually wrote it!! hope it helps some people out there!!)

[Wally]

Thats a very nice guide you have there..

Better than the others at least.

Im gunna modify it a bit so its easier to see everything

[highpass]

bounce... ive seen so many people asking how to use it... or how to get such and such game working in xp.

[Larry Laffer]

I was VERY close to flaming you for reviving this thread . But you'r right.

Hope people have the patience to read all that stuff.

[highpass]

Bounce!

Again i've seen so many posts asking how to play this or that game in XP, or how to slow down such and such a game, or how do you use DOSBOX etc..

[dosraider]

Added [XP only] on the topic title, 'cause it won't work for 99% of the Vista users.
C: is protected (FINALLY!) in Vista.

[highpass]

Thanks dosraider [sorry man!]

As yet i've not taken the daunting step of upgrading (if you can call it that) to windows vista

Did I not read a story just the other day that microsoft have now started the previewing of their 'new' operating system Windows7 ??? Already!! Sheesh!!!

[dosraider]

Who the f*ck is 'raider'?


And yes, (pre-)Alfa Win7 is been tested right now.
Security on this one is even more tight-arsed then on Vista, and for good reasons.
It's about time if you ask me.
None on UNIX/Linux would even dream to install shitload of user crap on the system root.
The only thing that is left to change is the 'ADMIN' login, should be called the 'IDIOT' login.