A "How To" for running older games with DOSBox...

[The Coop]

From time to time, people ask about how they can run older games like Wolfenstien 3-D, Wing Commander and various King's Quest games on their XP PCs. It's not fun to try an old favorite, only to have you PC either refuse to install it, or give you the finger when you click on its executable. So, in a effort to try and help out the old schooling folk on OCR, I thought I'd make a thread for those who want to learn a bit about DOSBox, running games in it, and seeking advice on how to get an individual game to run better in it. So, without anymore bullshitting...


DOSBox (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1)

Right there is a link to the DOSBox website. There, you'll find the latest version of this DOS emulator, as well as a forum (which I'll address later). Just hop on over, grab the emulator, and install it. Once you've done that, follow these simple steps to get it ready for just about any game you wanna throw at it...


The Setup...

1) In your C: drive (or whatever the letter is for your main hard drive where you normally install things), make a folder called "DOSGames". Be sure to install all the older games you want to play into a folder of their own in this folder. This makes things a lot simpler as it keeps everything organized, and in one place. As an example, in my "DOSGames" folder, I have folders named "Wing", "Wing2", "Mech2", etc.

2) Go to the folder where DOSBox was installed, and locate the ".conf" file (which is found in the same area as the program's executable). This file is very important, as it contains all the options and aspects of DOSBox that can be tweaked and adjusted to help make it run better, or to help a particular game run better too. In this ".conf" file , go to the very bottom, and add these lines after "[autoexec]"...

loadfix -64
mount f f:\ -t cdrom
mount c c:\DOSGames
mount a a:\ -t floppy
C:

"loadfix -64" helps correct some start up and loading problems with various games. "mount f f:\ -t cdrom" let's DOSBox know which CD drive to use for games that require a CD for music or security checks (use whichever letter is for your CD drive... like if your CD drive was "G", you'd put "mount g g:\ -t cdrom"). "mount c c:\DOSGames" makes DOSBox think that the "DOSGames" folder is the C: drive (don't worry, this doesn't endanger any aspect of your PC), and "mount a a:\ -t floppy" let's DOSBox know which drive to use for floppy disks (again, use whichever letter your floppy drive has... assuming you have a floppy drive). "C:" automatically changes the "Z" to a "C" (it saves a little extra typing to do this).

3) Start DOSBox by double clicking on its executable, and once everything's done booting, type in "cd **the name of the folder where the executable is you want to run**", and hit "Enter". "cd" stands for "change directory", and this tells DOSBox to move from the root of the "C:" drive, to the folder I typed in. As an example, if I wanted to run Wing Commander on my PC, I'd type in "cd wing".

5) Finally, type in the name of the executable, hit "Enter", and you'll be stylin'. As a last example, to run Wing Commander, I'd simply type in "wing.exe".

So altogether, the sequence I had to type into DOSBox was...

cd wing
wing.exe

Keep in mind, that some older games don't put the executable right there inside the main game folder. Some put it in a folder of it's own, or have a folder within a folder. To give you an example, the game Silpheed is like this. The game is installed in a folder called "SIERRA". Inside this folder, is another folder called "SILPHEED", and it's within this "SILPHEED" folder that the game's executable rests. So to set things up for this game, I'd have to type the following sequence into DOSBox...

cd sierra\silpheed
silpheed.bat


It's almost just like what I posted a paragraph up, but I had to add an extra folder to the "cd" command line, so that DOSBox would get to that folder within a folder. It may seem a bit odd at first, but it really does make sense when you look at it.



Sound...

Now, when it comes to sound, DOSBox can emulate just about all the major sound devices back in the day. SoundBlaster, midi, Gravis Ultrasound, MT-32 (Roland)... this little thing can even handle the digitized speech that came with some games.

Usually when the game installs, it'll ask you to set up the sound. As it's setting up, it also chooses the default settings that were the norm for each device (which the DOSBox config file is already set up for). So after choosing "midi", "Soundblaster" or what have you for the music and/or sound effects, all you'll have to do is just keep tapping "Enter" until the sound settings are done. These settings are then saved by the game, and in turn, used by DOSBox when you run the game. So you'll get full sound most of the time (I say most, because some games are still a bit buggy when running in DOSBox).


Adjustments...

So now you've got your game up and running, but the speed seems a bit off. If the game's running too fast, hold "Ctrl" and tap "F11" to lower the number of cycles (this slows DOSBox down). If it's running too slow, hold "Ctrl" and tap "F12" to raise the cycles (this speeds DOSBox up). The number of cycles you're running will be along the top of the DOSBox window. These commands will help get the game you're running to a more normal speed. However, do note that DOSBox can't run every game at a super spiffy speed. Some like MechWarrior 2 or The Elder Scrolls: Arena will run slower than they would have on a good PC back in their day. This is because DOSBox is emulating an DOS environment, which takes processing power by your PC. As a result, the better PC you have, the more you'll be able to speed up the game you're playing. You can make tweaks to the text lines within the ".conf" file, but they'll only go so far. In time, DOSBox will improve and use less processing power, giving the user more of their PC's muscle to use. But as it is, it still does a very good job with a lot of games.

There's also one last thing you can easily use to help a game speed up a bit, or to fix various other performance issues... frame skipping. What it does, is tell DOSBox to literally skip a part of the graphical rendering process within a set a ten frames. So if you set the frame skip to "1", it'll skip one frame in every ten frames being rendered (in both 2D and 3D games). This helps issues like stuttering or crackling sound effects and music, and it can also help the game run a bit quicker. To use this option, hold "Ctrl" and hit "F8" to raise the number of skipped frames, and "F7" to lower it. Do keep in mind, that if you go overboard, your game will get pretty choppy. So try and keep it to between 1 and 3.


How far can you push it?

So now that you know about adjusting what are called "cycles" in DOSBox, just how high can you crank it? Well, there's a very simple way to find out...

First, hit "Alt", "Ctrl" and "Delete" at the same time. This brings up the Windows Task Manager. In this new window, click on the tab along the top that says "Performance". Here you'll see four windows... two long, and two short. Pay attention to the short window in the upper left under "CPU Usage".

With this window open, start up DOSBox, and run the game you want to play that's chugging a bit. Get it to an actual gameplay area (like say, the first mission in MechWarrior 2, or the first dungeon in The Elder Scrolls: Arena) and see where the percentage is under the "CPU Usage" window.

The thing to take heed of, is what type of processor you have. If you have a Hyper Threading Pentium 4, or a similar dual core(ish) processor, know that the highest you'll be able to push the percentage is 50% (50% for each core or "Thread"). If you have a different type of processor that doesn't use Hyper Threading or have a dual core, your number will go up to 100% (note- even if a Hyper Threading processor says 50%, you're still getting full capacity. It's just the way things are read. You're not getting gypped in performance).

Now, once you know what percentage you'll be able to reach, hold down "Ctrl", and begin tapping "F12" to increase the amount of cycles. As you do this, you'll see your CPU Usage level climb. Try not to go above 40% for Hyper Threading/Dual Core systems, and 80% for single core systems. You want to make sure you leave enough room for your CPU to grab power if it's needed, and you don't want your CPU to be constantly running full bore.

As an example, when I run MechWarrior 2 and The Elder Scrolls: Arena, I can crank the cycles up to 30,000 with my Pentium 4 3.00E GHz Hyper Threading CPU. This makes those two games run very smoothly, and it still leaves room for extra power if it's needed during an intense part of the action. Doom and Doom II also run fluidly at this number.

If you're on an older PC, you probably won't be able to push this thing much higher than say 10,000 cycles. But for those with faster CPUs, this'll be a godsend.


Installing from the CD drive...

So you've got your game, and you want to install it, but XP and Vista are being a real prick about running that old "Install.exe" DOS file. Well, there's a pretty easy way to get around that... use DOSBox. If you've followed my guide up to this point, you already have a CD-Rom drive mounted, and ready to go. So here's what you do...

First, right click on your CD-Rom, and choose "explore". What comes up, will be a browsing window that shows all the files on the disc. Some discs have them all right there to be viewed, but others put all or some of the game files into a folder on the disc. Neither one is problem, as both can be run very simply. So, take note of where the file "Install.exe" is... be it on the first browsing screen, or in a folder.

Now, start up DOSBox. Once everything's up, type in the letter that's assigned to the CD-Rom drive you mounted, and hit "Enter". If the "Install.exe" file is right there, then simply type "install". As an example, here's what I would type to install Powerslave...

F:
install


But, if the "Install.exe" file is in a folder on the disc, then you'll need to do the change directory command, followed by the install command. As an example, here's what I would need to type to install Prince of Persia off of Broderbund's Prince of Persia CD Collection...

F:
cd prince
install


Once you do that, the game should install without a problem.



The "Setup" file...

Once you've finished the main installation, now all that's left is to take care of that last bit of the process.

After the "Install.exe" file's done, you'll either have to manually bring up the setup to program the sound configuration, or the game will take you directly to the setup screen once the installation's done. If you have to manually bring the setup on-screen, simply restart DOSBox, and type in the needed info regarding what folder the game was installed into. As an example, here's what I would have to type to start the setup file for Prince of Persia...

C:
cd prince
setup


Once you're on this configuration screen, you really don't have to do much. The sound setup will ask you for a type of digital audio, a type of music, or both. For sound effects, it's usually good to go with the Sound Blaster choice. Many, many games used Sound Blaster cards back in the day, so that should give you what you need (the really old DOS games used the PC Speaker... ugh). The setup chooses the default settings for the Sound Blaster card, so all you have to do is hit "Enter" a few times and you'll be done. For the music, it's much the same. Choose what you want the music to be played with (Sound Blaster and Midi are the norms), and just keep hitting "Enter" until it's done (again, the setup will choose the defaults for what musical source you pick).

With that done, you may have more options... like configuring the control scheme. This is done much the same as an in-game setup, as it simply lets you choose which keys do what. Only this time, it's done outside the game's menu system. So, just select the option that has the word "Control" in it, and set up your keyboard keys and mouse buttons how you like them... or at least, as best as the configuration will allow you to (some games are pretty stingy with their control options). The game has default settings for all its used keys, but all you have to do to change them, is highlight the key you want to change (done usually by using the up and down arrows on your keyboard), hit "Enter" to select the key assignment you want to change, and then press the new key you want to assign that action to. So if "W" isn't to your liking for the "UP" command in a game, just select that line, and press the up directional arrow (or whatever you want to use for up). Do this to whatever other keys you want to change.

And remember, the control and sound choices you make aren't final. If you wind up not liking the way you have them configured, all you have to do is run the "Setup.exe" file again, and change them.


Once you have your sound, controls and what have you taken care of, simply select "Save configuration and Exit" (or whatever similar line is there), and your setup will be saved. Now you're ready to play.




For more DOSBox setup goodies, go to my post right here... (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showpost.php?p=384053&postcount=35)

[supremespleen]

Good post. :]

[Sgt Cpl Sir]

I would like to add to The Coop's awesome post by suggesting probably the most useful tool you can use with DOSBox;

D-Fend (http://members.home.nl/mabus/) is a frontend program for DOSBox which basically makes all the tweaking for individual games so much easier.

It does this by first selecting the .exe file that you want to be run in DOSBox. It then lets you select which drives and folder you would like mounting, also letting you choose whether you want it to be a HDD, CDROM or floppy. Lastly, all the individual tweaks such as CPU cycles, sound settings, frame skips etc can be messed around with, all without touching the .conf file.

I know most of you are OK with tweaking files rather than getting a program to do it for you, the but the feature that really does make D-Fend almost essential is that it sets up each game indiviually. Every different game will need to be tweaked differently, so rather than remember each tweak for each game or keep 50 different .conf files, you just double click the game in the frontend, and if Im not mistaken, can also make a shortcut to that game, with all the tweaks included.

[Nec5]

Great post. Dosbox lets you play ALL the gold box D&D games again. :D No problems.

[Smoke]

Also, you don't have to type file extensions in DOS(Or DOSBox) unless there are multiple files with the same name in the directory and you need to specify the correct one.

And you can write batch files to make starting games easier.

Keep in mind that classic DOS is limited to an 8.3 filename format with no spaces or weird symbols, since I don't use DOSBox I can't say if it's the same for that, but it's easier to use 8.3 than long filenames.

[patella femoral syndrome]

Great post. Dosbox lets you play ALL the gold box D&D games again. :D No problems.

Hooray! I'm not the only one playing these.

I've had to restart Pool of Radiance at least twice now,
but I think I'm almost done with it this time! I can win it!

And I lluuurrrrrvvvee D-Fend and DOSBox.
I like the easy one-click launch icons D-Fend will make for you.

[Synth]

What are some good DOS games? I can't remember any expect doom. I'm sure most of them are floating around the net since there so old.

[Smoke]

What are some good DOS games? I can't remember any expect doom. I'm sure most of them are floating around the net since there so old.

Transport Tycoon is still an awesome game, even if it's over a decade old. And thanks to OpenTTD you don't even need a DOS machine or DOSbox.

Then there's fun stuff like Heretic, Hexen and Hexen 2, Stunts, Lemmings, the Keen series, Space Quest, King's Quest, the Larry games, the Sim City games and others.

Technically, these games are still illegal to download. However, most companies tend to not care about them too much, and in some cases the original company no longer exists. These old games are usually referred to as abandonware, so that should get you started on your search.

[Nineko]

Any help on how to run Fast Tracker 2 with DosBox?
It runs ok with the PC Speaker, but it crashes if I try to use the Sound Blaster, and the sound is all screwed up with the Gravis Ultrasound.

I would really appreciate that, since right now I have to use it in a DOS partition on my other computer.

oh, and for games, I recommend Epic Pinball and Stunts.

[OverCoat]

I'm having a problem with the AdLib emulation. It is super slow! The whole game starts to skip and get like 1 FPS

I know most other people don't have this problem, and I really shouldn't. I mean, christ, I have a 3.2 GHz here. I looked all over the vogons forum and couldn't find anything to fix my problem. Even switching the cpu mode to 'dynamic' did very little. I've fiddled around with all the audio options and I'm thinking, maybe it's something outside of the audio configuration that affects the audio.

I just tested AdLib with Tyrian2000, and that works fine for some reason, but it's a problem in Epic Pinball, Dark Forces, Wing Commander: Armada, and Dark Seed [so far]

Should I post my Dosbox.conf file? :P I bet one of you sharp young lads can figure this out.

[The Coop]

What are some good DOS games? I can't remember any expect doom. I'm sure most of them are floating around the net since there so old.

Tyrian 2000 is a great one, as is The Elder Scrolls: Arena... both of which are freeware now.

Other good ones are MechWarrior 2, Raptor: Call of the Shadows, Wing Commander, Wing Commander II, and the Forgotten Realms Classics pack (10 D&D games from the late 80's and early 90s)... but those aren't free. WC, WCII, the D&D games, and Raptor do run very well in DOSBox though.



SOC- Have you tried using the Sound Blaster sound settings? Might be sorth checking, just to see how the games run under SB. I think posting your config file would be helpful too (or a link to it).

[The Coop]

New addition for the guide...


How far can you push it?

So now that you know about adjusting what are called "cycles" in DOSBox, just how high can you crank it? Well, there's a very simple way to find out...

First, hit "Alt", "Ctrl" and "Delete" at the same time. This brings up the Windows Task Manager. In this new window, click on the tab along the top that says "Performance". Here you'll see four windows... two long, and two short. Pay attention to the short window in the upper left under "CPU Usage".

With this window open, start up DOSBox, and run the game you want to play that's chugging a bit. Get it to an actual gameplay area (like say, the first mission in MechWarrior 2, or the first dungeon in The Elder Scrolls: Arena) and see where the percentage is under the "CPU Usage" window.

The thing to take heed of, is what type of processor you have. If you have a Hyper Threading Pentium 4, or a similar dual core(ish) processor, know that the highest you'll be able to push the percentage is 50% (50% for each core or "Thread"). If you have a different type of processor that doesn't use Hyper Threading or have a dual core, your number will go up to 100% (note- even if a Hyper Threading processor says 50%, you're still getting full capacity. It's just the way things are read. You're not getting gypped in performance).

Now, once you know what percentage you'll be able to reach, hold down "Ctrl", and begin tapping "F12" to increase the amount of cycles. As you do this, you'll see your CPU Usage level climb. Try not to go above 40% for Hyper Threading/Dual Core systems, and 80% for single core systems. You want to make sure you leave enough room for your CPU to grab power if it's needed, and you don't want your CPU to be constantly running full bore.

As an example, when I run MechWarrior 2 and The Elder Scrolls: Arena, I can crank the cycles up to 30,000 with my Pentium 4 3.00E GHz Hyper Threading CPU. This makes those two games run very smoothly, and it still leaves room for extra power if it's needed during an intense part of the action. Doom and Doom II also run fluidly at this number.

If you're on an older PC, you probably won't be able to push this thing much higher than say 10,000 cycles. But for those with faster CPUs, this'll be a godsend.

[The Coop]

A mighty bump.

[The Coop]

It's been a month already? Better nudge this so it'll still be around.

[The Coop]

Giving this another nudge, since I've linked to it on other sites.

[Lord.Roderick.i]

Wow, I never noticed this Topic before, not until after I asked about Win95,
Coop your the man!
:P

[atmuh]

your the man
your my hero

[OA]

I have my old xcom cd that has been uplayable... until now!
thanks a lot! :-)

[The Coop]

Glad I could help.




Installing from the CD drive...

So you've got your game, and you want to install it, but XP and Vista are being a real prick about running that old "Install.exe" DOS file. Well, there's a pretty easy way to get around that... use DOSBox. If you've followed my guide up to this point, you already have a CD-Rom drive mounted, and ready to go. So here's what you do...

First, right click on your CD-Rom, and choose "explore". What comes up, will be a browsing window that shows all the files on the disc. Some discs have them all right there to be viewed, but others put all or some of the game files into a folder on the disc. Neither one is problem, as both can be run very simply. So, take note of where the file "Install.exe" is... be it on the first browsing screen, or in a folder.

Now, start up DOSBox. Once everything's up, type in the letter that's assigned to the CD-Rom drive you mounted, and hit "Return".If the "Install.exe" file is right there, then simply type "install". As an example, here's what I would type to install Powerslave...

F:
install


But, if the "Install.exe" file is in a folder on the disc, then you'll need to do the change directory command, followed by the install command. As an example, here's what I would need to type to install Prince of Persia off of Broderbund's Prince of Persia CD Collection...

F:
cd prince
install


Once you do that, the game should install without a problem.



The "Setup" file...

Once you've finished the main installation, now all that's left is to take care of that last bit of the process.

After the "Install.exe" file's done, you'll either have to manually bring up the setup to program the sound configuration, or the game will take you directly to the setup screen once the installation's done. If you have to manually bring the setup on-screen, simply restart DOSBox, and type in the needed info regarding what folder the game was installed into. As an example, here's what I would have to type to start the setup file for Prince of Persia...

C:
cd prince
setup


Once you're on this configuration screen, you really don't have to do much. The sound setup will ask you for a type of digital audio, a type of music, or both. For sound effects, it's usually good to go with the Sound Blaster choice. Many, many games used Sound Blaster cards back in the day, so that should give you what you need (the really old DOS games used the PC Speaker... ugh). The setup chooses the default settings for the Sound Blaster card, so all you have to do is hit "Return" a few times and you'll be done. For the music, it's much the same. Choose what you want the music to be played with (Sound Blaster and Midi are the norms), and just keep hitting "Return" until it's done (again, the setup will choose the defaults for what musical source you pick).

With that done, you may have more options... like configuring the control scheme. This is done much the same as an in-game setup, as it simply lets you choose which keys do what. Only this time, it's done outside the game's menu system. So, just select the option that has the word "Control" in it, and set up your keyboard keys and mouse buttons how you like them... or at least, as best as the configuration will allow you to (some games are pretty stingy with their control options). The game has default settings for all its used keys, but all you have to do to change them, is highlight the key you want to change (done usually by using the up and down arrows on your keyboard), hit "Return" to select the key assignment you want to change, and then press the new key you want to assign that action to. So if "W" isn't to your liking for "UP" command in a game, just select that line, and press the up directional arrow (or whatever you want to use for up). Do this to whatever keys you want to change.

And remember, the control and sound choices you make aren't final. If you wind up not liking the way you have them configured, all you have to do is run the "Setup.exe" file again, and change them.


Once you have your sound, controls and what have you taken care of, simply select "Save configuration and Exit" (or whatever similar line is there), and your setup will be saved. Now you're ready to play.

[HalcyonSpirit]

Woo! Thank you, Coop! I've been trying to get my MechWarrior 2 game to work on my laptop since forever, but have always failed. This may be just what I need to get it running again. I'll let you know how it goes when I try it later. :-)

[RedSand]

One small problem I'm having that is really confusing me...

I've got dosbox to run the setup off the cd of my game just fine, which is alot further than I was before when not using dosbox, but for some reason when my game asks me what directory to install to, it thinks my C drive only has 110MB of free space left. The game says it needs over 200MB to install and I know my C drive has over 200GIGABYTES of free space. Even when I just open up dosbox and type "dir" to look at the directory, it says I only have 110,xxx,xxx bytes free in my Games folder on my C drive. Is there a maximum amount of disc space I can use with dosbox? I'm really confused.

Thanks.

[The Coop]

Boy, does that sound familiar.

Some games are stupidly picky about the memory or virtual memory that DOSBox "thinks" is there. However, there is a simple fix. Remember those lines you had to add at the very bottom DOSBox config file? Try altering the one where you mounted the "C" drive by adding "- freesize 999" to the end of it. It'll look like this once you do...

mount c c:\Games -freesize 999


This tells DOSBox to free up all memory, and it should trick the game into believing there's plenty of space to install. And if the game complains about needing more memory to run once it's installed (some will), change the "memsize" line in the config file accordingly. Many games will run fine with "memsize=8", but some will need "memsize=16", or even more. Just remember not to go too high with the number, because it will result in some games not running anymore if you do.

Let me know if that works.

[RedSand]

That did the trick exactly. Now I can enjoy my game again.
Thanks, Coop. You are officially the World, Major, Minor DosBox title holder in my book.

[Antipode]

Awesome, I've just set up DOSBox with your help and an abandonia tutorial. I can FINALLY play Magic Carpet 2 again after all these years. This game has a surprisingly great design that I think would even hold up today. If a modern sequel/remake were made of this game with state-of-the-art graphics, it would definitely be in my top 10 of all time.

[RedSand]

Lately I've been having the game I'm playing in DosBox crash. Every time I load up my saved game, I get to play for about 7 minutes before it crashes to dos with this message:

MemMgr::DerefDebug(g0) - null grip! UNITS.CPP line 1181
at line 390, file MEMMGR>CPP
C:\GAMES\BAM

The game I'm playing is D&D: Blood & Magic. I'm not sure if this is the game's problem or a DosBox problem. Plus, I can't locate any of the files (UNITS.CPP or MEMMGR.CPP) the message references. I've tried reloading from different saves and reinstalling DosBox and the game and ever time I get to the same point in the game I get this message after crashing. Anyone know what this is all about?

[The Coop]

Lately I've been having the game I'm playing in DosBox crash. Every time I load up my saved game, I get to play for about 7 minutes before it crashes to dos with this message:



The game I'm playing is D&D: Blood & Magic. I'm not sure if this is the game's problem or a DosBox problem. Plus, I can't locate any of the files (UNITS.CPP or MEMMGR.CPP) the message references. I've tried reloading from different saves and reinstalling DosBox and the game and ever time I get to the same point in the game I get this message after crashing. Anyone know what this is all about?

I've never heard of this error. So, a couple questions...

- Which version are you playing? The original CD version, or the one that came in a 10 pack of other Forgotten Realms games?
- When you set up the sound, did you leave it as midi only, or did you set up the sound with sndset2.exe and choose "auto detect"?
- Which executable are you using... bam.bat, or bammain.exe?
- Which version of DOSBox are you using?
- Can you send the save from the game, so I can see if it crashes first hand (assuming of course, it's not a save that's integrated into a copyrighted file)?

[RedSand]

I've never heard of this error. So, a couple questions...

- Which version are you playing? The original CD version, or the one that came in a 10 pack of other Forgotten Realms games?
- When you set up the sound, did you leave it as midi only, or did you set up the sound with sndset2.exe and choose "auto detect"?
- Which executable are you using... bam.bat, or bammain.exe?
- Which version of DOSBox are you using?
- Can you send the save from the game, so I can see if it crashes first hand (assuming of course, it's not a save that's integrated into a copyrighted file)?

- I have the original CD version 1.0.
- I used the auto detect for sound setup immediately after installation.
- I think I'm using the BAM.bat. After installing it, a message comes up saying to just type "BAM" to start the game. So that's what I've been using.
- Using DoxBox ver 0.72.
- I'll try to send the save to you. I don't think it's copyrighted, it's just called 3.SAV and is about 181KB.

[The Coop]

Sent you a PM RedSand. In the meantime, try using the BAMMAIN.EXE file, just to see if it still crashes. Also, could you describe what you're doing in the game when the crash occurs, so I know when to expect it?

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Is there a way to get DOSbox to output midi data rather than emulating old midi sounds? To put it more concretely, would there be a way to run the music from dosbox through an external synth via the soundcard's midi out?

[The Coop]

Is there a way to get DOSbox to output midi data rather than emulating old midi sounds? To put it more concretely, would there be a way to run the music from dosbox through an external synth via the soundcard's midi out?

I think so, but it's not an area I'm familiar with since I don't have a midi port on my PC. However, this page (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php?page=dosbox.conf) has a listing about setting up the client-number:port-number for a device that's receiving midi data from the DOSBox in program's config file. It's in the "Midi Section" right in the middle of the page.

Hope that helps at least a little. If not, you may have to make a thread on the DOSBox forums (http://vogons.zetafleet.com/index.php?c=7) and ask about it there. I believe they still have guest posting enabled, so you might not have to make an account to ask.

[The Coop]

A much needed bump for this one.

[The Coop]

Bump part deux.

[Didaji]

Awesome guide, never really found a good site to read about how to setup DOSBox, so this was very nice, thanks.

[The Coop]

A small bump, with a couple quick additions.

[The Coop]

GUS Installation

So, how about that Soundblaster music? Like your General Midi? Want something else to listen to for the games that support it? Well, here's how you can get Gravis Ultrasound working with your DOSBox setup.

First, go and download this (http://coop.herograw.net/dosboxguide/GUS.7z) file (if you don't have a program to unzip “7z” files, go here (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=14481) and grab 7zip, which is a very good free compression/extraction program). It contains the GUS410 and GUS411 folders, which have all the needed files to install the Gravis Ultrasound drivers and instruments. Once you have the zip file, extract it, copy both the 410 and 411 folders, and paste them into your “DOSGames” folder.

Now, start up DOSBox, and rev the cycles up to about 10,000 to help speed up this process by hitting “Ctrl” + “F12” repeatedly. Once done, type...

cd GUS410
install

This will take you to the first folder, and the main setup. The first menu that comes up, gives you a few choices for what to do. The obvious one, is “Install Ultrasound Software”, and that's the one to go with. Hit “Enter”, and then select the “C: a local fixed drive” line in the menu that follows. Let the program install to the default drive location (which is “C:\ULTRASND”), and hit “Enter”.

Once the installation is done, the program will start detecting various games that you have in your “DOSGames” folder. Before long, a message will come up with a beep sound, saying the program can't find the Windows folder. All you have to do, is type...

C:\ultrasnd\windows

... and hit “Enter”. Within a couple seconds, the program will finish, and you'll be asked to press any key. Once you do, you'll be taken to another menu, filled with four options on big gray buttons. The one you want is the last one, labeled “Exit Setup”.


Now that you're back to the DOS window, simply type in...

cd C:\

... which will reset your location in DOSBox to just “C:\” (which is a handy shortcut to use later when you want to change games without having to restart DOSBox). Now, type in...

cd gus411
installation

This will get the upgrade started. Just do exactly as you did with the previous 410 program. Every step will be identical, right down to choosing “Exit Setup” at that final menu.

Now it's time for the final part in getting this all ready. Press "Alt" + "Enter" to take DOSBox from full screen to Windowed mode (another handy shortcut to use regularly as well). Open up your config file in the DOSBox folder, and make sure that section under “[gus]” looks like this...

gus=true
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

This is what gets GUS working in DOSBox, and it also tells DOSBox where to look for the GUS patches (aka instruments). Once everything looks right, save your config file. Time to listen to what those Gravis cards sounded like. Unless you accidentally closed DOSBox, it should still be sitting on a DOS screen with “C:\ultrasnd” there. Type in...

mididemo

... and you'll go to a new screen listing 14 songs. Just hit “Enter”, and you can start cycling through them. They range from classical music, to more Electronica-centric. There's even a few titles there you'll likely recognize. If you ever want to come back to this at a later time, just type in...

cd ultrasnd
mididemo

... when you're at “C:\” in DOSBox, and you can hear the tunes again.

Now, to set up any game that uses the Gravis Ultrasound card, just go to a game's folder within the "DOSGames" folder, and start its "Setup.exe" file in DOSBox (or "Install.exe" for some games, as the sound/music option is occasionally in the installation process, and not accessible on its own via a separate executable). Once there, if the game supports the GUS sound card, you'll be able to choose “Ultrasound” for the music and/or sound effects in the menus. Like before, the game will choose the default settings automatically, so just hit "Enter" the needed number of times until it's done. Then, all that's left is to save and exit, and you'll be good to go. Simply delete the “GUS410” and “GUS411” folders from your “DOSGames” folder, and you're all done.


I should note that there are patches available for GUS called “Pro Patches Lite”. These come in 1.50, 1.60, and 1.61 versions, which must be installed in order. However, while they sound better for the most part, they also have a nasty glitch in them that I've yet to read how to fix. The snare drum goes absolutely nuts at times, hitting over and over like it's stuck in a loop while the music keeps playing. Sometimes it lasts for only a few seconds, other times it won't stop until you quit the game. Either way, it's rather annoying, so I'm providing the GUS setup files without those patches. I've yet to run into any musical glitches with the finished 4.11 setup, so that's where I stopped. If enough people want to hear those new patches, I'll add more to this GUS guide.





MT-32 Installation

So... how many remember their MT-32 sound cards from back in the day? I'd imagine not many, though it was a popular sound card then. However, you can have that sound again (or for the first time), and I'm going to walk you through just how to go about it.

First, you need to grab a few files. Get the MT-32 A & B files here (http://coop.herograw.net/dosboxguide/mt32AB.zip), pick up the PCM file here (http://coop.herograw.net/dosboxguide/MT32_PCM.zip), and get Winhex here (http://coop.herograw.net/dosboxguide/winhex.zip). Once you have them, extract all three zip files. Start Winhex, and go under "Tools", "File Tools", "Unify", and "bytewise". In the new window that opens, go to the "mt32AB" folder, and choose "MT32A.BIN" as the first source file. Hit "OK", and then choose "MT32B.BIN" as the second source file, and hit "OK". In the "Select Destination File" window, type "MT32_Control.ROM" in the file name box, and hit "Save".

Okay. Now you should have the Control and PCM files you need. Go and grab the Munt file set from here (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=123616&package_id=135091&release_id=339585), and extract it. Put the Control file you just made, and PCM file you downloaded, into the Munt folder. Then for simplicity's sake, rename the Munt folder to "mt32", and put it in your "DOSGames" folder (which you should already have by now if you've been following my guide).

From here, you can follow the simple steps provided in the "readme" file that came with the Munt download. But, for the sake of this guide, I'm going to post those directions here with any additional comments...

1) Open Control Panel.
2) Double-click on "Add Hardware".
3) Click "Next" until you come to a message asking you whether you have already installed the hardware.
4) Select the "Yes" option and click "Next".
5) A list of installed hardware will appear. Scroll to the bottom of the list and select the last entry, which should be something like "New Hardware". Click "Next".
6) Select "Choose hardware manually from a list" and click "Next".
7) Select "Sound, Video and Game Controllers" and click "Next".
8) Click "Have Disk...".
9) In the window that pops up, click "Browse..." and choose the directory to which you unpacked the oemsetup.inf and mt32emu.dll files. Click "OK". (this will be the "mt32" folder you put in your "DOSGames" folder)
10) If a window pops up complaining about the lack of Windows Logo testing, click "Install Anyway" or similar.
11) "MT-32 Synth Emulator" should have appeared selected in a list. Click "Next" twice.
12) The driver *still* isn't Windows Logo tested, so click "Install Anyway" if necessary.
13) The driver should now have been installed; click "Finish".
14) A dialog box will recommend that you reboot. Go ahead if you enjoy that sort of thing, but it shouldn't be necessary for a fresh installation.

To begin playing back MIDI through the emulator, perform the following:

15) Open "Sounds and Audio Devices" from the Control Panel.
16) In the "Audio" tab, select "MT-32 Synth Emulator" in the drop-down list for the MIDI playback device.



And with that, you'll be able to use the Roland MT32 sound card option in the games that offer it. The music provided by this card sounds quite different from the General MIDI we're all used to hearing, and it does sound quite nice. Keep in mind though, that the emulation isn't perfect. The project died off a while back, but it does work well in many games (like Silpheed and The Immortal). Just remember to put the "Sounds and Audio Devices" back to "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth" when you want to use General MIDI again for other games. It's a bit of a pain to go back and forth between the two MIDI options, but it's nice to have when you're in the mood.

Oh, and no, General MIDI and MT-32 don't mix. If you choose MT-32 in a game without setting your "Sounds and Audio Devices" to "MT-32 Synth Emulator", your music will sound weird and busted. The same goes for the other way around.






Sites of interest...

The Patches Scrolls (http://www.patches-scrolls.de/)- Basically, this site is a massive collection of patches for old and new games. Just about every patch that was released for old DOS games seems to be there, so it's a good spot to check after you've installed those old DOS games.



Well, you now have all you'll likely need to run a given game. Some require a bit of tweaking in the .conf file, but the DOSBox site has a forum where tweaks for individual games can be found. These forums, are right here (http://vogons.zetafleet.com/index.php?c=7). Just type in the name of your game into the search bar at the top, and you'll probably find a thread talking about issues with that game, and how to try and fix them. You can also check on the status of games and how well they run, by clicking the "Games" link at the top of DOSBox's homepage, and finding it in the alphabetical list that comes up. If all else fails, you can ask here, and someone with DOS or DOSBox knowledge can try and help you out. Just keep in mind, that you may not get to run the game, as there's a chance it's simply not runable in DOSBox yet.

So, here's the end of my beginner's guide to DOSBox and getting you're favorite old spare time killers running in it. As a final note, you don't have to type in the names of the files and folders in all caps. If you type in all lower case, they'll still run. DOSBox can be pretty picky, but it's generally not case sensitive. So all lower case will work fine.

Hopefully this helps at least a few people. I know some expect a perfect framerate, but that's not always going to happen. You'll have to be happy with just getting to play these old games again, even if the one you want happens to play a bit slowly.



Edit: All links updated and verified.

[The Coop]

Just giving this thread a long overdue bump. I had something I wanted to add, but I can't until I get a new website. Also, the GUS download I had linked to is gone. Once I get a new site, that too will be back.

[Arek the Absolute]

sticky this
for the love of all that is good
sticky
this

[Nutritious]

sticky this
for the love of all that is good
sticky
this

Seconded! I was really psyched when I first discovered DOSBox. There really are some great old dos games out there. Now I just need to either find MOO or buy a new one :(

[The Coop]

A WAY overdue bump. I'm going to be trying to upload the GUS files in the next few days, and I promise to get cracking on the the next part of this guide during that same time (which also involves some uploading).

Sorry for letting this thing slip so far. It shant happen again.

[The Coop]

Alrighty. The GUS files are up, and the links have all been tested. Everything's good to go for those wanting to have that familiar sound from their younger days, or hear the music in their DOS games in a different fashion. I'm currently writing the next part of this guide, so stay tuned.


Oh, and sorry it took so long. I spent the weekend enjoying some movies (The Mist, The Dark Knight, The Mummy 3, etc.).

[The Coop]

And with that, I've added an MT-32 guide to this. Just scroll up a bit to the now rather long post of mine on page 2.

[The Coop]

A much needed bump for my guide. Don't want this dropping off.

[rafaelsanp]

I have installed Mechwarrior 2 with DOSBox, and the whole process went very smoothly. However, when try to run the program, I get the error message

Error: MechWarrior2 CD-Rom not found.

How do I fix this?

[The Coop]

Several questions come to mind...

- Did you mount the CD-Rom you're using in DOSBox?
- Which version of MechWarrior 2 are you using (v1.0 or v1.1)?
- Did you follow this (http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=4454) guide after it was installed?

[rafaelsanp]

I did some messing around, and now the error message is "CD-Rom not mounted." I have mounted the cd rom using
mount e e:\ -t cdrom
but the error persists. I have v1.1 of MECH2. I did check out that forum, but whenever I try to
imgmount c: c:\DOSGames\MECH2-t iso
it comes up as "image not found," even though the location is correct and I have a .cue .bin and a .img file.

[The Coop]

I did some messing around, and now the error message is "CD-Rom not mounted." I have mounted the cd rom using
mount e e:\ -t cdrom
but the error persists. I have v1.1 of MECH2. I did check out that forum, but whenever I try to
imgmount c: c:\DOSGames\MECH2-t iso
it comes up as "image not found," even though the location is correct and I have a .cue .bin and a .img file.

Try changing what you're calling the CD-Rom in DOSBox. I've had issues with CD-Roms being mounted as "E". Instead, mount your CD-Rom as a higher letter. As an example, my CD-Rom drive's letter is "F", so in DOSBox I have...

mount n f:\ -t cdrom


"N" is what DOSBox will think the drive letter is, while "F" is what my drive's letter actually is.

See if that helps.

[rafaelsanp]

This is what I've got going right now:

The game starts and the opening sequences and menus work fine. When I try to actually start the gameplay, whether training, missions, or trials, the cd rom not found error pops up.

I tried changing the name for the drive like you suggested, but that didn't produce any changes.

Right now I have a cracked file in one folder, which will start the opening sequence as mentioned above, and another folder with .img .cue and .bin images in it, which doesn't work at all. I've tried mounting these images using imgmount, but DOSBox doesn't recognize the image.

Do you have any other suggestions?

[The Coop]

I just got done trying a few things. Here's what I did.

I made a bin/cue file of my MechWarrior 2 disc, and saved it to my desktop. I then mounted the cue file in Alcohol 52% (which has a free version here (http://www.free-downloads.net/programs/Alcohol_52__Free_Edition)), and ran the DOS install. For me, the virtual drive is drive F, and in DOSBox, I have it mounted as N (for reasons I explained earlier). So, I fired up DOSBox, changed the drive letter to N, and typed "install". This brings up the DOS v1.1 for Mech2 on my disc. I did a full install (very important), and then went to the page on Vogons that I linked to earlier (http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=4454). I grabbed the crack for the two executables from the link on that page, and pasted them over the original executable files. Once that was done, I unmounted the disc image, started up the game, and everything's peachy keen.

If you have the DOS v1.0 of Mech2, you need to upgrade it to v1.1. There's a link to the patch on that Vogons page that has the cracks (yes, the links all still work). Install the patch (I believe it must be run from within the Mech2 folder), and then paste the two cracked executables over the original ones. It has to be v1.1 of the DOS game for Mech2 to run in DOSBox.

Even if you have a cracked version, get those executables from the Vogos page, and paste them in anyway. This way, you're sure to have the executables that run fine in DOSBox.

So my suggestion is, delete the current Mech2 folder, to do a fresh full install of your game through DOSBox, make sure it's v1.1, and use those two cracked files from the Vogons page.

[rafaelsanp]

Thanks a bunch! I've got the everything working pretty smoothly now. You've been a big help. Now the gameplay works just fine and everything. The only problem I've found is that the instructor in the tutorial doesn't talk, but that's okay since I already know how to do all of that stuff.

Thanks again.

[rafaelsanp]

Now even the instructor's voice comes through. No problems at all.
Thanks.

[The Coop]

Cool. Glad to hear everything got resolved.

[Cassima]

I tried to run Kings Quest 6 in DOSBox with both the downloaded game in a zip file and on my other computer that has a floppy disk drive (I have the actual game). In both cases, whenever I try to install, it says "fatal error: no text for video prompt". I've read your suggestions and was thinking about uninstalling and starting from scratch but then I wasn't able to locate the .conf file you mentioned. Any suggestions?

[The Coop]

DOSBox .73 doesn't come with a config file like it used to. You have to track it down now. However, it's very easy.

Click on "Start", move your mouse to "All Programs", and find the listing for DOSBox .73. Roll your mouse over that listing, and when the new menu comes up, roll over to "Configuration". You'll see an option called "Edit Configuration". Click on that, and when the window pops up, select "File/Save As", and save the config file to your desktop. Then grab that file, and copy it to your DOSBox folder.

Or, you can just edit it from that Start menu if you like. However you do it, just be sure you save the changes before you try and run DOSBox.


I just downloaded the game, and tried it out. It ran fine, and I didn't experience your issue. Here are my config file settings. Setup you config file like this, and see if the game works for you.

fullscreen=false
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=640x448
windowresolution=original
output=surface
autolock=true
sensitivity=200
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]

language=
machine=svga_s3
captures=capture
memsize=32

[render]

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

[cpu]

core=auto
cputype=auto
cycles=auto
cycleup=500
cycledown=500

[mixer]

nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=20

[midi]

mpu401=intelligent
mididevice=default
midiconfig=

[sblaster]

sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
sbmixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplemu=default
oplrate=22050

[gus]

gus=true
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
gusirq=5
gusdma=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[joystick]

joysticktype=auto
timed=true
autofire=false
swap34=false
buttonwrap=true

[serial]

serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true
keyboardlayout=auto

[ipx]

ipx=false

[autoexec]
loadfix -64
mount a a:\ -t floppy
mount c c:\DOSGames -freesize 999
mount o f:\ -t cdrom
mount n k:\ -t cdrom
C:


Keep in mind, my config file is setup with all my DOS games in their own folders within a folder called "DOSGames" right on drive C: (if you followed my guide, your stuff should be the same way). If you don't have yours set up that way, then be sure to not use anything after the "[autoexec]" line so that DOSBox doesn't look in the wrong spot for the games when it starts.

[Cassima]

Thanks very much. Before you had responded, I actually followed directions from another site that told me to install DosBox within KQ6 so that when you opened DosBox, KQ automatically played. Then after I uninstalled it (I just wanted to play it that one time for memory's sake), my hard drive crashed! So I won't be trying that way again. Anyway, could I use your exact same instructions for installing KQ7, but simply replace all the 6's with a 7? Or is it entirely different?

[The Coop]

Thanks very much. Before you had responded, I actually followed directions from another site that told me to install DosBox within KQ6 so that when you opened DosBox, KQ automatically played. Then after I uninstalled it (I just wanted to play it that one time for memory's sake), my hard drive crashed! So I won't be trying that way again. Anyway, could I use your exact same instructions for installing KQ7, but simply replace all the 6's with a 7? Or is it entirely different?

...

Wow. That game really hated your system ;-)

Anyway, as long as it's a DOS game, that shouldn't be a problem. If you follow my guide, then you can just install it through DOSBox (assuming you have the CD/disc), and it should function fine after you've gone through the game's setup and everything. Or, just "find" the game **cough**, drop its folder into your DOSGames folder, and set it up by pointing DOSBox to it and running the needed files ("setup" or "install" is the usual file... I used the latter to tinker with KQ6's settings since it didn't have a "setup" file).

If you have any questions, just ask, and I'll do my best to help if you run into any problems trying to install/run KQ7. But hopefully, if you go down my guide step by step, things'll work out fine for you.

[Cassima]

Thanks again. Yes, it did hate my computer. But I want to play these games so badly, I don't even care. My hard drive can crash, and they'll send me a new one for free (I have a warranty ;)) Anyway, for some reason, when I try your method, I can never figure out what the hell the executable file text is to type into DOSBox. So, I've gotten KQ5 and 6 to play in DOSBox by installing DOSBox within each separate game folder, tweaking the configuration file, and then running dosbox. I got these directions from Glenn's Guides, but he never responds to my questions. So I'm asking them here. Sorry. Anyway, I've modified the configuration file for DOSBox using this text for KQ5:

mount c c:\games\kquest5
c:
cd kq5
sierra

And the same for KQ6, except replacing the 5's with 6's. Then, when I went to play KQ7, typing that same text into the DOSBox configuration file and replacing the 6's with 7's didn't work! Do you have any idea what text should be added on to the end of the DOSBox conf file(DOSBox said "cannot change directory to kq7; illegal command: sierra) to get it to run KQ7 when DOSBox is opened?

I appreciate all of your help.

[Cassima]

OR, if you don't feel like bothering with all that, could you just tell me what the executable text is for King's Quest 7 that I type into DOSBox to get it to install? Then maybe your steps will work for me.

[The Coop]

If I'm reading your post right, it looks like you have too many steps. The way you have it set up, you should only need...

mount c c:\games\kquest5
c:

... and then type in the name of the executable of the game when you start DOSBox.

Tell you what. Give me the locations for each of the three game executables. I believe I understand what you're trying to set up, I just need to know the exec locations so I can tell you where to point DOSBox.

[Cassima]

And my newbie status is on full display...

What do you mean by location? Where it exists on my comp? Because I already deleted them.

In the meantime, I'll try using what you suggested. Maybe it will work for KQ7.

[Cassima]

I went ahead and downloaded KQ7. I don't see a .exe file, but there is a batch file. Do you think the executable would just be KQ7.BAT? Or would there have to be a cd or a sierra in there somewhere?

[Cassima]

Ok...now I tweaked the configuration file so that I simply added:

mount c c:\games\kquest7
c:

opened DOSBox, typed install.exe, and the game installed. When I typed SETUP, it said it required Microsoft Windows. What now?! This is ridiculous.

[Cassima]

Sorry for all these postings! I got the game to run for 30 seconds after typing SIERRA.EXE, but then it said there was an internal game error. I wonder if there were some other files I was supposed to run or extract in DOSBox that I didn't?

[The Coop]

Dude, slow down with the deletions and such. It's hard to offer help when the situation changes quite a bit with each post :lol:


Now, by location, I mean where the executable (or BAT) file is on your PC. If you right click on it and select "Properties", you'll see string of info next to "Location". That's the info I want.

As for the file types, there are several that can be game running executables. EXE, BAT and COM are the usual suspects. So if you have any such files, give them a try.

Regarding you Setup file, you got that message because that particular file is made to only run in Windows, now DOS. So you'll need to use another file to tweak the settings.

[Cassima]

Sorry about all the postings...I kept finding out new things and didn't know how to edit my existing post to include the updates. Anyway, I think I figured out the issue. The KQ7 that I downloaded was from a torrent file of the entire KQ Collection. When I looked at the text file of the setup or readme or whatever it is, under program type it just said "other", whereas KQ1-6 said "dosbox". So it's not even set up to play in dosbox! And, KQ1-6's executables were "sierra", while KQ7's was "sierraw".

I'll try finding a program that can play it. If I can't, I'll just download KQ7 by itself as a zipfile, and let you know the location of the file so I can run it in dosbox. Thanks again for all your help.

[Cassima]

I couldn't find another program that could play King's Quest VII besides dosbox. If you know of one, please let me know.

So I downloaded a zip file from Dos Gamer. I can't tell you the location of the executable because I don't know what the executable is...otherwise i'd just type it into DOSBox. (install.exe, install.bat, setup, none of those worked)

But if I give you this link for the game file, do you think you could find it? http://dosgamer.com/kings-quest-vii-the-princless-bride/

Thanks!

[The Coop]

I'm not sure what to tell you about KQ7. I found several places that have the game (big CD image), but nothing installed will run in DOSBox (hell, one wouldn't even install). I did however, find out that there is a DOS version, and Windows version of KQ7. Right now, I'm questioning whether or not the two versions come on the same disc, so all I can say is... keep looking. There is a DOS version out there somewhere, but I've yet to find it for testing.

[Cassima]

Strange indeed. I did notice the graphics in most of the screen shots were curiously unpixillated, and didn't look like anything that would run in DOS. In fact, it kind of looked like a Disney cartoon or something 0o.

Two last questions (unless I find a DOS version to plague you with questions over ;))

1). Is it possible to write the image of the CD/Windows version onto a blank CD to play, and then play it through DOSBox or a Windows program?

2). If not, can you recommend any classic games that might be similar to King's Quest to play? I'm not familiar with any other DOS Games.

Thanks again.

[The Coop]

You don't need to burn the disc to use it in Windows or in DOSBox. All you need is Alcohol 52% Free Edition (http://www.free-downloads.net/programs/Alcohol_52__Free_Edition?__utma=1.1413781455829629 700.1249705951.1249705951.1249705951.1&__utmb=1.1.10.1249705951&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1249705951.1.1.utmcsr=google|utmccn=%28or ganic%29|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=Alcohol%2052%25%20F ree&__utmv=-&__utmk=14670647), where you can mount the ISO or Bin/Cue files, and use them like you would a normal CD.

As for games like the King's Quest series, there's the Quest For Glory series, the Space Quest series, and a good number of others. If you go over to Abandonia, and look under their "Adventure" section, you'll find a bunch of them... all DOS-only.

[abomb7682]

Oh, and no, General MIDI and MT-32 don't mix. If you choose MT-32 in a game without setting your "Sounds and Audio Devices" to "MT-32 Synth Emulator", your music will sound weird and busted. The same goes for the other way around.


for this situation i recommend leaving "Sounds and Audio Devices" midi selection on its default.. whatever your soundcard normally offers for general midi.

in DOSBOX at the prompt type mixer /listmidi. remember the number listed for "MT-32 Synth Emulator". Then in the dosbox.conf file under [midi] change the line 'midiconfig=' to whatever number MT-32 was listed as.

This way all your modern programs expecting general midi default to it and your old dos games expecting MT-32 sound.. so... much... better... I find this to be the most elegant solution.

[quatra]

O.k., I read all of the posts.
Now, I got a lot of original DOS games but I want to play them directly from my HDD as that will be a lot faster than from the CD. I know I have to create an image of the CDs (except .iso images).
How and where do I put those? I got ISOBuster.
On the other hand I got Descent2 and Terminal Velocity with a motherboard with the S3D chip back in 1997. It's a OEM release and keeps saying "S3D chip not found or wrong BIOS" whenever I want to play it.
Any way around that?

[The Coop]

O.k., I read all of the posts.
Now, I got a lot of original DOS games but I want to play them directly from my HDD as that will be a lot faster than from the CD. I know I have to create an image of the CDs (except .iso images).
How and where do I put those? I got ISOBuster.
On the other hand I got Descent2 and Terminal Velocity with a motherboard with the S3D chip back in 1997. It's a OEM release and keeps saying "S3D chip not found or wrong BIOS" whenever I want to play it.
Any way around that?

First, get the free edition of Alcohol 52% here (http://www.free-downloads.net/programs/Alcohol_52__Free_Edition). Use it to create MDF/MDS files. This creates a perfect copy of the disc, audio tracks and all, in one main file and a very small sub file. And since this version of Alcohol 52% allows you to create virtual drives (up to six), you can them mount the disc images you just made with it.

You can put the disc images anywhere you want really, but try to keep them all together.

Now, once you've made the virtual drive(s), you'll need to mount them in the DOSBox config file like you would a real CD-Rom drive. Then DOSBox should (barring any odd errors) recognize the virtual drives without any problems, read the disc images as if they were real discs, and play any audio tracks like normal during the game.

As for your D2 and TV problems, I'm not entirely sure what to tell you. DOSBox might not have the ability to mimic the chipset that those games require. However, you can try the various machine types in the config file, and see if one of them allows it to run. You'll find it in the section that reads as such...

[dosbox]
# language: Select another language file.
# machine: The type of machine tries to emulate.
# Possible values: hercules, cga, tandy, pcjr, ega, vgaonly, svga_s3, svga_et3000, svga_et4000, svga_paradise, vesa_nolfb, vesa_oldvbe.
# captures: Directory where things like wave, midi, screenshot get captured.
# memsize: Amount of memory DOSBox has in megabytes.
# This value is best left at its default to avoid problems with some games,
# though few games might require a higher value.
# There is generally no speed advantage when raising this value.

language=
machine=
captures=
memsize=

Perhaps one of those machines types will work.