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DOSBox

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Revision as of 00:25, 23 December 2016 by Keith (talk | contribs) (Undo revision 306633 by 65.96.167.232 (talk))
July 22, 2002
DOSBox
DOSBox cover
Release dates

Key points

DOSBox allows DOS-based games to run properly on modern systems.

General information

Official DOSBox site
Official DOSBox wiki

Essential improvements

Graphical user interface

DOSBox does not use a graphical user interface. However, front ends such as D-Fend Reloaded (an updated successor to the program D-Fend) can be used.

D-Fend Reloaded

Does not require DOSBox to be installed.

Unofficial builds

There are various unofficial builds of DOSBox which provide additional functionality such as support for Glide. A full list can be found on the DOSBox Wiki.

A good one to start with is DOSBox SVN Daum. It streamlines the interface and adds support for features vanilla DOSBox cannot do such as Glide support. It is used in some of GOG.com's DOS game releases.

It can be downloaded from the Official Site.

Windows installation

Windows 95 and Windows 98 can be installed inside DOSBox however this is unsupported and instability issues occur.

Example input

DOSBox running in Windows: 

Z:\>
Z:\>mount c c:\game_directory
Z:\>imgmount d d:\game_disc.iso -t iso
Z:\>cd d:\
D:\>game_install.exe
D:\>cd c:\
C:\>
C:\>game.exe

Substitute the pathways with the given conventions of the host operating system.

Alt+↵ Enter to maximise the window; Ctrl+F4 to switch between mounted disc images. Use double quotes, " ", when mounting folders with spaces ("c:\installation folder"); For mounting multiple disc images, -t iso is required only once at the end of the last disc image, this defines how DOSBox should emulate the volume and iso defines the type of volume.

DOSBox configuration

DOSBox stores configuration information in *.conf files. Individual conf files can be create for each piece of software used and additional parameters can be appended.

To modify a configuration option within DOSBox, use the config command. For example, config cpu cycles fixed 30000

Video settings

Template:Video settings

Input settings

Template:Input settings

Remapping

The DOSBox Mapper (Ctrl+F1/⌘ Command+F1) can be used to reassign keyboard, mouse and joystick commands.

Controller support

DOSBox has several virtual joystick modes which affect what inputs are seen in-game and also what inputs can be remapped using the Mapper. See the DOSBox manual for details.

Issues fixed

Green or black screen in fullscreen mode

With some video cards, DOSBox's default output mode will render with a green or black screen in fullscreen mode.
Instructions
Instructions

Character/camera/cursor constantly moves in one direction

Instructions
Instructions

Can't remap keys/joystick

Some games have fixed inputs. Use the DOSBox Mapper to remap the controls.

Can't open Steam overlay in-game

The Steam overlay only works in some output modes; OpenGL seems to work the best.[1]
Instructions

Printer support

Official DOSBox builds don't support printing in games that use it.
Instructions


References