>Did it crash BEFORE you installed dfend again? That is with a clean
>installation of dosbox 0.70?

I didn't try that.. Does dfend change dosbox in some way? I assume it just loaded with it as front end.

that exact message i saw full screen seems to be in the stdout.tx files, so here's a copy

CONFIG:Loading primary settings from config file C:\Program Files\dfend\Confs\spg.conf
MIXER:No Sound Mode Selected.
MIDI:Opened device:win32

It greatly comlicates finding what causes it if you always install additional
things. Keep it at a CLEAN installation WITHOUT dfend and stuff. If that
works you might mess around with as many frontends as you like.

The full-screen window is the DOSBox status-window and the messages you saw are perfectly normal. But it is not normal for the status-window to fill the whole screen. It should only be slightly larger than the main DOSBox window (unless you yourself have modified the settings for your CMD-windows?).

Please don't install D-Fend yet. We need to keep it simple.

Are you saying that you can run a clean install of DOSBox just once? Next time you run it (from the CMD-window), it fails?

dbarton wrote:

Does dfend change dosbox in some way?

We don't know. Ask the author of D-Fend.

dbarton wrote:

I assume it just loaded with it as front end.

Remember: assume rhymes on makes an ass of u and me. Never ass-u-me. Test, examine, and know.

ok, i rebooted, ran dosbox, ran ok, but witth the annnying full screen status with that same messag i think.

then i closed dosbox, ran again, now it it crashes every time

if i reboot, will run once agin i assume.

[if you need me to i can delete it all and reinstall clean again]

oddly though, even once dosbox wotn run on its own. dfend runnign dos box works 100% of the time

Ok PLEASE forget COMPLETELY about dfend. I don't know if it's compatible
with 0.70 and i'm sure you installed it wrong anyways as it should never
occur in the dosbox folder.

Anyways with a clean installed 0.70 dosbox that crashes, grab the readme
and go through the troubleshoot section. Especially the stuff about output=
and if you're through with it report back here.

Your DOSBox directory should only contain these files:

12007-03-02  12:26    <DIR>          capture
22007-03-02  12:26    <DIR>          zmbv
32007-03-02  11:43             6 863 dosbox.conf
42007-03-02  11:18           326 656 SDL.dll
52007-03-02  11:18            13 312 SDL_net.dll
62007-03-02  11:18         3 107 840 dosbox.exe
72007-03-02  12:26            34 358 uninstall.exe
82007-03-02  11:03               269 AUTHORS.txt
92007-03-02  11:03            18 332 COPYING.txt
102007-03-02  11:03             2 411 INSTALL.txt
112007-03-02  11:03            20 980 NEWS.txt
122007-03-02  11:03            44 845 README.txt
132007-03-06  22:04                 0 stderr.txt
142007-03-06  22:04                 0 stdout.txt
152007-03-02  11:04               730 THANKS.txt

getiing closer:

ok i eleminated Dfend, rebooted and installed DoSbox again.

It does seem to work most of the time, runs my app and all (!), but I can always make it crash by switching to the status screen (which always runs in FULL screen mode for some reason)

Once dosbox has crashed, it takes a reboot for it to work again.
I can see its actually still running by looking in task manager, but killing the process does not work. Its stuck there. After a few mins the process will dosappear, but the program will still crash everytime right away until i reboot.

Any use is seeing my dosbox.conf file?

dbarton wrote:

getiing closer: […]
Show full quote

getiing closer:

ok i eleminated Dfend, rebooted and installed DoSbox again.

It does seem to work most of the time, runs my app and all (!), but I can always make it crash by switching to the status screen (which always runs in FULL screen mode for some reason)

Once dosbox has crashed, it takes a reboot for it to work again.
I can see its actually still running by looking in task manager, but killing the process does not work. Its stuck there. After a few mins the process will dosappear, but the program will still crash everytime right away until i reboot.

Any use is seeing my dosbox.conf file?

It seeme to me that when i run dosbox it tries to first load the status page, but once that is full screen, dosbox crashes before it even loads. Is there a way to have status NOT run full screen? am i barking up the wrong tree?

If I NEVER open the staus page, dosbox seems to run just fine after a fresh reboot

No, this is either

1) A problem caused by the status-window going full screen, or
2) A problem with your video-drivers.

Go to Start => Programs... => Accessories. Right-click on Command Interpreter, select Properties, go to the Options tab, and select Windowed-mode instead of Fullscreen. Press Apply & OK.

Then launch the Command Interpreter with Start => Programs... => Accessories => Command Interpreter.

Now go to the top-left corner, click on the little C:\ icon, select Standard values, go to the Options tab, and again select Windowed-mode. Press OK.

(if it asks if you want this Windowed-mode to apply to all Cmd-windows, say YES).

Now try DOSBox again.

Getting MUCH better.

Now if I start my *app* in fullscreeen, it will crash when i switch away for that screen. If I start the app in a WINDOW, then alt enter to go to full screen, it seems to work most of the time. When I am FS and tab to another window and come back it has gone back to a window even if i left when in FS /full screen, so seems ok. If I remebr to go back to wondow before tabbings, seems to work fine.

I'd just run this in a window, but when i do at 1280x1024, its window is offset to the right and need to be dragged into place. Kinda awkward. Run at 1024*768 an dthe box is too small.

Is there some setting that will allow my windows 1280*1024 to open centered??

Heres that sectiomn of config since i think some of this may hekp:

[sdl]
output=overlay
fullscreen=true <-------- change to false and it wont crash so far.
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=1280x1024
windowresolution=1024x768
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
usecancodes=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt

where does output=overlay come from again???

its one of the choices right above, and if I dont use it, the screen sizes are smaller.. is it not ok? I tried each one and that one looked the best.

if I use none of those, my app sits in a a very small wndow in the middle of my rather large screeen.

I've posted this in some unrelated topic on the beta board.
Dosbox does not check if overlay locking succeeded. Overlay lock will fail if the underlying direct draw surface is lost (which probably happens when the status window is set to full screen)

Is there some way to have my app run in a window in non overlay mode, but not be a tiny window on my large screeen?

The app is from 640*480 days, and I run 1280*1024.