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Floppy disk game files not completely installing under DosBox 0.72

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First post, by Diamondfist

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I have searched the forums for this issue, I have read the DosBox Guide forum, I have read the Readme file and looked over my DosBox.conf, and have been unable to find anything related to this. When installing disk-based DOS games under DosBox 0.72, not all of the files install.

I discovered this when the game wouldn't run, so I tried using Windows' Command Prompt and installed the game from there (e.g. Magic Candle) under a different directory. Comparing the two folders, I saw that there were fewer files under the DosBox install of the game than there were from installing under Windows' Command Prompt. This has happened with other DOS floppy disk games as well.

I am mounting the C:\ drive as: mount c c:\dosgames, and I mount the floppy drive a: like this: mount a a:\ -t floppy (and I hadn't mounted the floppy drive since using DosBox until I bought Magic Candle recently, and had to read the readme file on mounting floppy drives).

I made sure that I looked at every resource available before posting this, so I hope that I have been thorough. AFAIK, these games don't utilize xcopy. My system specs are as follows:

Intel P4 1.4 GHz, 512 MB RAM
NVidia GeForce (BFG Tech) 6200 AGP 256 MB
HDD 80GB, Floppy Disk 1.4MB
Windows XP Pro SP3, DosBox 0.72

I didn't think I needed to post my DosBox.conf file, but if it is needed, I'd be happy to post it, and I thank in advance for anyone who takes the time to help. Thank you!

Why do people always wait so long before they go to their gorilla?

Reply 2 of 5, by Diamondfist

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Thank you for answering, DosFreak. I'm a little skittish about upgrading to 0.73, but I will try to work my way up to it.

The games I have problems with currently are Magic Candle 1, 2, and 3. I think maybe the installer utility for those games might be a problem for DosBox (like the xcopy utility integrated with some CD RPG compilations?), or it might be an unknown quantity in my system? I installed Buck Rogers Countdown to Doomsday and Matrix Cubed from the floppies in DosBox, and had no problem (I used Windows Command Prompt thinking they wouldn't install properly, either, and I just tested these now).

These games are all new acquisitions I was very lucky to get from the Amazon marketplace, but so far, it seems to just be the Magic Candle series that is having this problem, so I think it just might be the install utility the game programmers have used. I will at some point upgrade to 0.73, and I appreciate your answering, DosFreak, thank you.

Why do people always wait so long before they go to their gorilla?

Reply 3 of 5, by collector

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Diamondfist wrote:

I'm a little skittish about upgrading to 0.73

Why? It's not like you are risking anything. Just download it, install it and start using it. Each new version of DOSBox brings improvements, bug fixes and increased compatibility.

Reply 4 of 5, by Diamondfist

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Running under DosBox 0.73 exhibits the same behavior.

For example, installing Magic Candle III from the install disks, the file and folder count are as follows: 231 files, 2 folders.

Installing from Windows XP Command Prompt: 244 files, 2 folders.

As I mentioned before it is possible that the original install utility is not very compatible with DosBox, kind of like how some install utilities have xcopy integrated in them (which doesn't work at all under DosBox, I found this out searching these forums). I won't let this be a big deal or issue, I can just use the Command Prompt if I need to install any games from floppy disks in the future. Thank you again, DosFreak for responding and for your help.

Why do people always wait so long before they go to their gorilla?

Reply 5 of 5, by Qbix

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hmm well if it doesn't use xcopy, then it might be a bug of dosbox.
installers in general work fine though

Water flows down the stream
How to ask questions the smart way!

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