Author Topic: DOSBox Help - For beginners  (Read 13353 times)

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Goatmeal

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DOSBox Help - For beginners
« on: June 06, 2013, 10:56:58 PM »
        While there are various front-ends available for DOSBox, here is a guide for getting it to run the old-fashion way...  And we will be discussing Windows here -- your Operating System (OS) may vary.

        (Any and all suggestions for updates are welcome!)


DOSBox System Requirements
        • 500 MHz minimum / 1 GHz or faster recommended
                Note that the faster your machine is, the better DOSBox will work
        • Windows 2000/Windows XP minimum
        • DOS programs and/or DOS games

* For Windows 95/98 machines, it's best to use the native DOS mode along with a program to reduce the computer's speed, like MoSlo, Cpukiller or Turbo.



1. Install the latest version of DOSBox (currently 0.74)

                http://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1

2. Search for the file "DOSBox 0.74 Options" from the Start Menu

        Start -> Programs -> DOSBox 0.74 -> Options ->  DOSBox 0.74 Options
       
        (It should open in Windows Notepad as "dosbox-0.74-conf", and can be edited like a text file.)

        This is the configuration file that DOSBox uses when starting up.  Most settings are set to Auto or True for the initial install.  However, when you become more familiar with the program, you can change the settings to make DOSBox act like a Tandy computer, behave like you have a Disney soundcard installed, change a virtual IRQ setting, run as a 386 computer, etc.

        For now, it's easier to leave the settings at the default.

        DOSBox interacts with the particulars of your computer system at the end under the [autoexec] section.

2a. Mounting virtual drives

        You need to tell DOSBox where your DOS programs are.  By "mounting" a virtual drive, you are simply telling DOSBox the folder/directory on your hard disk where the DOS programs will be stored and data files will be kept.  A folder/directory becomes a "virtual drive" as far as DOSBox is concerned.  Here is the format:
                MOUNT [Virtual Drive Letter] [Actual Drive:\Directory Path]

        It's best to simply create a new folder/directory than use one that Windows has created.  That way, there's no possibility that your Windows OS will be affected by DOSBox.  To your Windows OS, it's just a folder/directory of data; to DOSBox, it's an entire virtual drive with usable programs.

        At a minimum, you MUST mount a non-Z drive.  You can use any letter for mounting a drive in DOSBox [A–Y] except [Z] because the Z: virtual drive is reserved by DOSBox for its operations and tools.

        Here's an example mounting a folder/directory.  In Windows Explorer, I made a new folder/directory in my actual C: drive called dosgames.  Then, you mount it in DOSBox by adding the following under the [autoexec] section:
                MOUNT C C:\dosgames

        Even though it's also called a C: drive in DOSBox, it will not affect your computer's actual C: root drive in any way -- as far as DOSBox know, the entire 'world' is only found in your computer's C:\dosgames folder/directory and nowhere else; changes in DOSBox only affect the contents within the C:\dosgames folder and subfolders on your actual computer.

        Note that while DOSBox allows you to use your actual C: drive as the virtual C: drive, it is NOT recommended because it is possible to delete important Windows files that way.  Again, it's best to create a brand-new folder specifically for DOSBox purposes.  Plus, if you want to back-up your DOS programs and files to a flash drive or transfer to another computer of yours, everything is all in a single folder/directory!

        ********************

        To have DOSBox recognize a CD or DVD drive, use the following format:
                MOUNT [Virtual CD/DVD Drive Letter] [Actual CD/DVD drive]:\ -t cdrom

        Here's an example:   
                MOUNT D F:\ -t cdrom

        You are telling DOSBox that your actual F: CD-DVD drive will be the D: virtual drive in DOSBox.

        Note that your actual CD-DVD drive letter may be different than the example.

        ********************

        To have DOSBox recognize a Floppy drive, use the following format:
                MOUNT [Virtual Floppy Drive Letter] [Actual Floppy drive]:\ -t floppy

        Here's an example:   
                MOUNT A A:\ -t floppy

        You are telling DOSBox that your actual A: Floppy drive will be the A: virtual drive in DOSBox.

        Note that since most DOS games assume your floppy is the A: drive when installing games, setting the virtual floppy drive as A: in DOSBox is recommended.

        ********************

        You can also mount ISO or CUE/BIN images (not discussed here, though).

        ********************

        From the examples above, here is the initial set-up under [autoexec] that should serve most purposes:

                [autoexec]
                # Lines in this section will be run at startup.
                # You can put your MOUNT lines here.

                MOUNT C C:\dosgames
                MOUNT D F:\ -t cdrom
                MOUNT A A:\ -t floppy

        Remember, your C: folder/directory for DOS games and CD/DVD drive letter may vary.

        Note that DOSBox always starts in the Z: drive.  To have it start in the C: virtual drive (C:\dosgames actual drive), add C: to the end of the [autoexec] section to change the drive letter automatically upon start-up:

                MOUNT C C:\dosgames
                MOUNT D F:\ -t cdrom
                MOUNT A A:\ -t floppy
                C:


2b. Save the configuration file

3. Run DOSBox without the console

        Start -> Programs -> DOSBox 0.74 -> Extras ->  DOSBox 0.74 (noconsole)

4. In the DOSBox environment, you must use DOS commands or similar variants.  Here is a refresher:

        • To change the drive, type [mounted Drive Letter]:
                Z:\> C: (enter)
                C:\>

        • To create a new folder/make a new directory, type md [folder/directory name]
                C:\> md sierra (enter)

        Note that when creating folders/directories, it is best to follow the 8.3 DOS naming conventions, with no spaces or special characters.

        • To remove a folder/directory, type rd [folder/directory name]
                C:\> rd sierra (enter)

        • To change the folder/directory, type cd [Drive Letter:\directory path]
                D:\> cd C:\sierra\sq4cd (enter)
                C:\sierra\sq4cd>

        • To go to the root directory, type cd\
                C:\sierra\kq5> cd\ (enter)
                C:\>

        • To go to the next-highest folder/directory in the current branch, type cd..
                C:\sierra\fpfp> cd.. (enter)
                C:\sierra>

        • To view the contents of a folder/directory, type dir (enter)

        • To quit DOSBox, type exit (enter) or press [Ctrl–F9]
                Alternately, click the "X" in the top-right of the DOSBox window when not in full-screen mode.

        Note that you can alter the contents of the DOSBox folder using external programs like Windows Explorer while you are running DOSBox or while swapping-out diskettes or CDs/DVDs.  However, you may need to press [Ctrl–F4] to refresh DOSBox so any external changes to directories, files or media are recognized.

5. While using DOSBox, here are some useful shortcuts:

        [Alt–Enter]       Switch between full-screen and a window
        [Alt–Pause]      Pauses/resumes emulation
        [Ctrl–F4]          Refresh/update cached information for mounted drives;
                                  useful if you change something on a mounted drive outside of DOSBox
        [Ctrl–F9]          Closes/exits/quits/"kills" DOSBox
        [Ctrl–F10]        Captures/release the mouse (if mouse is needed within DOSBox)
        [Ctrl–F11]        Decrease DOSBox cycles (slows down the emulation)
        [Ctrl–F12]        Increase DOSBox cycles (speeds up the emulation)

6. Now that you are running a DOS emulator, start installing and playing those great old DOS games!



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Re: DOSBox Help - For beginners
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2013, 10:26:46 AM »
While some games can be run by copying and pasting the Executable directly onto the dosbox folder this is not reccomended as it often cuts off the pathways to other resources used in the game. Instead mount the drive as described or paste the entirety of the folder your game resides in. This is not reccomended for games where saving is important or importing is common such as Quest for Glory.

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Re: DOSBox Help - For beginners
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2013, 11:25:16 AM »
While some games can be run by copying and pasting the Executable directly onto the dosbox folder this is not reccomended as it often cuts off the pathways to other resources used in the game. Instead mount the drive as described or paste the entirety of the folder your game resides in. This is not reccomended for games where saving is important or importing is common such as Quest for Glory.
This won't work for anything that relies on more files than the EXE. If no other changes to the default settings are required nor additional mountings needed like a CD-ROM drive, a very easy way to start a game in DOSBox is to drag a shortcut to your desktop from dosbox.exe. You can then simply drag and drop the game's main EXE onto the DOSBox shortcut. This will automatically mount the game's folder as C: then start the game. In fact, this is what I do to test a game when tweaking a game for which I am writing a new installer.

One thing that newbies should realize, most games do fine with the default DOSBox settings. Outside of possibly needing to lower cycles for timer bugs, the essential thing for setting DOSBox is to mount the game's folder as C:.

You still need to install/configure the game itself. This part is often more involved than what is needed for the DOSBox part. The game's configuration file may not exist or may be incomplete. In the case of Sierra SCI games, the defaults are not useable for most. The audio default is very often is set for Roland sound. Unless you have and MT-32 module or are using MUNT, this will sound horrible. Selecting GM or SoundBlaster/AdLib will be the best option.

Another reason that you may need to run the install/setup is that floppy games may have their resources split across several disks and needs to be concatenated or rejoined and possibly decompressed.

One last thing to keep in mind is that you should use the exact same mountings for installing a game as you will later use to run the game. If you do not, any paths to the game's resources stored in the game's config file will be wrong and the game will not be looking in the right place for its resources. Additionally, DOSBox won't see anything elsewhere on your computer's hard drive than what is currently mounted. Anything outside of the mounts will not be accessible.

thehawk

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Re: DOSBox Help - For beginners
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2013, 12:08:30 AM »
I also add a few other pieces to make my life easier, because I'm lazy:

I set up my directory structure as:
C:\Games
 ->C:\Games\DOSBOX
 --->C:\Games\DOSBOX\CONFIG
 ->C:\Games\CDROM
 ->C:\Games\%GAMEDIRs%

I copy each CD into C:\Games\CDROM, under its own directory ( .\Regret, or .\Remorse, or whatever)

I mount C:\Games as the C:\ within DOSBox.
Each games has its own .config file and associated shortcut (shortcut looks like C:\Games\DOSBox\dosbox.exe -conf "C:\Games\DOSBox\CONFIG\moebius.conf")

then at the bottom of the config file I mount the directories and CDROM if required (in addition to any other settings I had to tweak to make the game run the way I want):
Code: [Select]
[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount c c:\games
mount d c:\games\CDROM\regret
c:
cd crusader
cd regret
regret

This way, C:\Games is completely self-contained and portable (except that it's gotten pretty big.  All the CDROM assets are right where they need to be (and as mentioned before, this is where things get installed from).  Each game has its own shortcut that I can double-click and have it automagically start.  The shortcuts are also all portable from machine to machine.
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DrSlash

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Re: DOSBox Help - For beginners
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2013, 05:32:47 AM »
...I just drag game's .EXE file over dosbox and everything works fine for me so far, haha (I've heard it can cause some problems, but I haven't noticed anything like that myself yet).
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Re: DOSBox Help - For beginners
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2013, 06:18:01 AM »
I've got a Dosbox directory under my Personal folder which is my C: mount point, my physical DVD drive is D: (since I use physical CDs for a significant number of games), and I mount Y: to a directory where I can store video files, just for convenience. All of that is in my default config file, which works for almost every game I've ever played, and I just start DOSBox from a generic shortcut and navigate to the game I want to play using DOS commands, because I actually used DOS before Windows 95 made everyone hate command prompts and typing and I'm fine with it.

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Re: DOSBox Help - For beginners
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2013, 08:15:19 AM »
...I just drag game's .EXE file over dosbox and everything works fine for me so far, haha (I've heard it can cause some problems, but I haven't noticed anything like that myself yet).

Quoted for truth.

People much around a hell of a lot with DOSBox and for the most part simply dragging the executable onto the icon works just fine.
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Re: DOSBox Help - For beginners
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2013, 10:15:50 AM »
I like using a GUI front-end myself.  But I mostly use dosbox on my glorious iMac, so mucking around with the Dos terminal itself makes me feel all yucky.
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Re: DOSBox Help - For beginners
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2013, 01:36:32 PM »
People much around a hell of a lot with DOSBox and for the most part simply dragging the executable onto the icon works just fine.
Keep in mind that this does not necessarily work on non Windows machines. It is an unintentional  byproduct of the Windows APIs. That aside, there are usually only a couple of things that keep this from happening. Either the game in question has not been setup or it requires additional mounting. Either of these can be fixed by dropping the game's folder instead of the EXE on DOSBox. This automatically mounts the game's folder as "C:" so you can add any other mountings or run any setup or configuration utility needed.