DOSBox is still alive, with a new bug fix release available

If only they would fix their window management to allow you to easily change resolutions at runtime, alt-tab, multi-monitor management, etc.
Then again, Wine has similar problems with its virtual desktop, so maybe emulation (yes, yes, Wine is not an emulator, but who cares) devs think window management is something dirty.


Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 27 June 2019 at 8:36 am UTC

If only they would fix their window management to allow you to easily change resolutions at runtime, alt-tab, multi-monitor management, etc.

I somewhat (not fully) addressed it in https://github.com/dreamer/steam-dos - my project supports multi-monitor setups and prevents DOSBox from changing the native resolution of your display. I can't address alt-tab without patches to the DOSBox itself, though.

Glad to see new DOSBox released, but last time I checked 0.74-3 from SVN it had glaring bugs :/.

They're also still working on the next major release with DOSBox 0.75

I know, it's just a number, but isn't DOSBox at 0.74-x for more than a decade? :D


Last edited by sub on 27 June 2019 at 9:00 am UTC

They're also still working on the next major release with DOSBox 0.75

I know, it's just a number, but isn't DOSBox at 0.74-x for more than a decade? :D

The problem is, for such a project keeping compatibility for so many titles must be a pretty huge order.

What are some of your favourites you still play thanks to DOSBox?

I wrote a game in the mid-nineties, a scrolling breakout published as shareware. It had a really dumb bug(*) which made it impossible to run on modern system, so DOSBox was the means for me to try my own game again.

(*) I measured the time to draw the game some hundreds of times and divided the number through the time. On modern systems, the time in the given accuracy was zero, so some hundreds divided by zero... *boom*

They're also still working on the next major release with DOSBox 0.75

I know, it's just a number, but isn't DOSBox at 0.74-x for more than a decade? :D

Few things are as slow as DOSBox development cycle.
To be fair, it's not like new games are coming out to catch up with and it kinda works reliably, but on the other hand, there are so many glaring issues that just are not getting tackled, it's just weird.

Quite frankly, DOSBox is not a good example of how to develop software, but it's the only thing we have doing what it does. *shrugs*


Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 27 June 2019 at 9:54 am UTC

What are some of your favourites you still play thanks to DOSBox?

Civilization 1, and 2 -- the latter on windoze3.11 which runs very well inside dosbox. (It would be so great if these two were on GOG, with the original booklets, etc. I have a jewel case budget release of Civ 2, which comes with a 'tech tree' poster, but I've never owned a legit copy of Civ 1.)

Also Volfied ... I've been playing it for more than 20 years now, and I think I've beaten it *once*.

They're also still working on the next major release with DOSBox 0.75

I know, it's just a number, but isn't DOSBox at 0.74-x for more than a decade? :D

Few things are as slow as DOSBox development cycle.
To be fair, it's not like new games are coming out to catch up with and it kinda works reliably, but on the other hand, there are so many glaring issues that just are not getting tackled, it's just weird.

Quite frankly, DOSBox is not a good example of how to develop software, but it's the only thing we have doing what it does. *shrugs*

This is a direct result of using centralised SVN instead of Git, using old forum instead of e.g. mailing list and having closed Wiki - making life difficult for people who want to contribute to the project, making it hard to do automatic testing, etc.

There are several DOSBox "distributions", that try to include community developed patches on top of upstream SVN version (e.g. DOSBox-ECE) and at least one well-maintained fork: DOSBox-X - it includes features such as changing options in runtime (e.g. scaler) and includes some patches from DOSBox-Daum (which seems defunct, but is used by several DOS games on Steam).

Quite frankly, DOSBox is not a good example of how to develop software, but it's the only thing we have doing what it does

https://github.com/stsp/dosemu2
also, unlike $subj not a horrible resource hog. you won't need an i9 to play anything decent. IF it works for your game at all, that is. DosBox has a lot of quirks thats true.

Quite frankly, DOSBox is not a good example of how to develop software, but it's the only thing we have doing what it does

https://github.com/stsp/dosemu2
also, unlike $subj not a horrible resource hog. you won't need an i9 to play anything decent. IF it works for your game at all, that is. DosBox has a lot of quirks thats true.

DOSBox is not that big resource hog TBH. It can run most games comfortably, as long as you configure it properly - this is the tricky part (use exclusively output=opengl or openglnb, avoid setting cpu.cycles, do not go overboard with forced scalers, never use frameskip, etc). But DOSBox has terrible defaults and it's documentation gives an impression that you need powerful CPU (maybe by 2001 standards).

Good to know there is an alternative, though - I'll check out if I can add dosemu2 support in steam-dos :).

I also wasn't aware there was a dosemu 2.
Is there any guide on how to actually run a game with it?

I never had a DOS machine (we Amiga users laughed at your text-mode single-tasking OS... although we stopped when Doom came out), but I occasionally use DOSBox, rather than UAE, to play the original Settlers because it can run in a higher SVGA resolution. It's only - off the top of my head - 640x480, but it seemed huge back in the day compared with 320x200 (or 256 on PAL Amigas), and it's definitely more comfortable to play.

It doesn't have the two-player split-screen mode though, so ner. :P

{Edit: Actually, now I think about it, that's not true. It does. But Player 2 has to use a joystick rather than a second mouse. Eurgh. }


Last edited by Dunc on 27 June 2019 at 2:35 pm UTC

When are they going to start supporting XDG base directory spec? $HOME/.dosbox really should retire already.

And they should switch from Sourceforge to something more fitting the times.


Last edited by Shmerl on 27 June 2019 at 3:08 pm UTC

When are they going to start supporting XDG base directory spec? $HOME/.dosbox really should retire already.

And they should switch from Sourceforge to something more fitting the times.

It's a pain indeed.

Amazingly, I still have a business software package that needs DOS. I have been happily running it in Dosbox for a decade. DosEmu just didn't work properly when I first set it up.

There are a few things that might make Dosbox more pleasant, but I am hugely appreciative to the devs for making it.

Is Dosbox pure 64-bit software? I would hate to lose it to Ubuntu's 32-bit purge.


Last edited by no_information_here on 27 June 2019 at 4:42 pm UTC

I play MOO 1 & 2 with DOSBox. Mostly 2, but sometimes 1. Master of Orion 2 is still one of the best space 4x games. But Master of Orion 1 is interesting to go back to, just to see how differently people thought about planet/city and technology development before Civilization came out.
So for instance, where in MOO 2 you have all these different production and other buildings unlocked with different technologies like in a Civilization city, MOO 1 has an abstract industrial capacity, where you're building like 10 factories per turn on this planet up to the maximum it can have, and new technologies increase the amount of production a given population can control with improved robotics. And like, your planet's production has sliders--rather than building either one thing or another thing, you can devote x much to shipbuilding and y much to improving industry and such. And again, rather than researching one single tech in a tree, you split research up between tech areas with sliders. But after Civilization II came out, everyone did stuff Civ-style for years and years after, and that influence is still fairly strong. Once in a while I like to go back to original MOO just to do things different.

I've been playing some old edutainment games on DOSBox that my partner insisted I try out.

Super Solvers is a fun series (so far), the two games I tried are reading-comprehension based and math based. The math one you zap robots with a remote control at a TV station to find clues to where the "Master of Mischief" is hiding. The reading one you use a magnifying glass to zap the robots, but the same general idea: zap the robots, do puzzles, get clues, and find the Master of Mischief before midnight, or it's Game Over!

It sounds completely ridiculous, but it's actually fun. :)

My favourites on DOSBox (so far) are probably Duke Nukem 2 (that soundtrack!), Dune, EcoQuest 1, and The Island of Dr. Brain.


Last edited by namiko on 27 June 2019 at 5:51 pm UTC

Is Dosbox pure 64-bit software?

Yes.

Dune (CD) version ,Centurion defender of Rome,Command and conquer (Dos) version and rise of the triad still games that oh and desert strike cannon fodder and lemmings.

I've been playing some old edutainment games on DOSBox that my partner insisted I try out.

Super Solvers is a fun series (so far), the two games I tried are reading-comprehension based and math based. The math one you zap robots with a remote control at a TV station to find clues to where the "Master of Mischief" is hiding. The reading one you use a magnifying glass to zap the robots, but the same general idea: zap the robots, do puzzles, get clues, and find the Master of Mischief before midnight, or it's Game Over!

It sounds completely ridiculous, but it's actually fun. :)

My favourites on DOSBox (so far) are probably Duke Nukem 2 (that soundtrack!), Dune, EcoQuest 1, and The Island of Dr. Brain.

Outnumbered was one of my first games as a child on our green screen 8086. I still remember the music of the TV station. Treasure Mountain and Gizmos and Gadgets were also a blast. My parent recently found our old floppies and copied them over (along with Lemmings!).

Ps, if your using the num pad, you can "hover" over Telly by jumping over him and just going back and forth with the 7 and 9 key. It made 5yoa me very happy. You couldn't do that in Treasure Mountain (the elves could steal you gold) or Gizmos and Gadgets (I think you'd get hit).