2.are there really problems with Dos games solved by anything other than plain SVN of Dosbox? Except for 3dfx emulation almost nothing of the forks will make it into Dosbox. Reasons: not necessary for dos games or not crossplatform features, or blost 😉
3.Maximum compatibility and stability: plain svn of Dosbox

Daum usually merges the megabuild and X into itself and tries to keep up with them for each release, that's probably the 'big one' you're looking for anyhow. Most of the things it adds are novelty (like win9x "support"), though some are things i can't live without now (like Direct3D9 shaders)

Thanks for the answers, guys. More questions: 😀

1. So, taking the latest plain SVN build is equivalent to taking the latest official release? Are there any plans to making another official release any time, or is the plan to continue indefinitely with the SVN?
2. Are there any features in the now obsolete Megabuild still not present in SVN/Daum? Specifically, anything in the list parallel port passthrough and file forwarding, virtual printer, SVGA enhacements, OPL passthrough"
3. What is the deal with the MT-32 support? I see it mentioned as a feature of the Daum build, but then my plain Dosbox.conf also has an MT-32 section. Is the support level different somehow?

1. no, svn is a means to store and manage source code. With SVN we mean the latest code checked done by the official developers. If a new release were done today this would be used. Latest source isof course not the same as the release years ago.
2. i think everything in the megabuild is now in Daum's version
3. mt32 support is not mt32 EMULATION support. Plain Dosbox supports the real hardware mt32 (or can make use of the munt mt32 emulation driver). Daum has the munt mt32 emulator built in.

1. Yeah, sorry, I realized that I did not word this question properly. What I meant is - would it be equivalent to the latest official release, if such a release was done today, and you answered that.

3. Got it. So Daum is basically equivalent to plain DOSBOX + MUNT driver?

3. yes 😉 (in that regard)

dr_st wrote:

1. Yeah, sorry, I realized that I did not word this question properly. What I meant is - would it be equivalent to the latest official release, if such a release was done today, and you answered that.

Bug fix wise yes. Major feature wise no.

There is an important thing about last Daum builds. Builds of 2015 differ much from previous ones. They are more buggy, slower, many redundant settings in config.

^^^

That's disappointing to hear.

Looking at the feature lists on the wiki page, and reading the explanations here, I believe I would probably want to stay on the main branch anyways. But one nice thing I see in Daum is the menu which allows some settings to be changed on the fly, which are normally configured through dosbox.conf, and as such require a restart. It would be nice to have something like this in the mainline version.

Tertz wrote:

There is an important thing about last Daum builds. Builds of 2015 differ much from previous ones. They are more buggy, slower, many redundant settings in config.

And now you know why not every modification is adapted by official DOSBox unless there is some more compelling reason.

Dr_st: you can change these settings in plain Dosbox as well, just not while a game is running 😉
Seriously, though, once you set up a game with its correct settings you don't need to do on the fly changes anyway...

I guess it boils down to one's method of using DOSBox. If you mostly use one config per game, and set up DOSBox to load the game directly from Windows, with the optimal settings already set up (as many of the DOS games sold by GoG do, for instance), then yes - there is no need whatsoever to change the config on the fly.

I use DOSBOX to emulate my entire DOS machine. It mounts all my original drives with all the games, and I often like to go between them on-the-fly, staying within the DOSBOX prompt. I set up my settings in a way that works with 90% of the games, but there are still some than don't work with my default configuration, or benefit from a different settings. One example is the MIDI device config - if I have the MUNT drive installed, I can point DOSBOX to use it for games that work well with an MT-32, but for other games, I'd like to use a different MIDI device, which emulates General MIDI.

Now, if there are ways to change settings such as that from within DOSBox, via the internal command interpreter, that's great for me. In fact, where possible, it's even better than using the menu, cause it is more true to the DOS experience.

Yes, those that work without restarting dosbox can be entered on the prompt.
For example "core dynamic" or "cycles 11000".
I use this to have batch files in the game folders called start.bat

Awesome. 😀

Tertz wrote:

There is an important thing about last Daum builds. Builds of 2015 differ much from previous ones. They are more buggy, slower, many redundant settings in config.

I didn't know that. What is the latest version that we should use, then, instead of the slower, buggy version, please?

And can I download that version from the Older Builds page at http://ykhwong.x-y.net/ or s there a separate download URL?

Come to think of it, which is the fastest DOSBox build? Is it v0.74, or a Daum build, or what?

I would imagine either stock 0.74 or plain vanilla SVN. Adding all of those extras increases bloat.

dr_st wrote:

[*]Is there a plan in the community at some point to take the new features of the various branches, merge them into the trunk (if they are not already there) and issue a new official release?

It is a pain in the ass and a lot would break the idea of portability (Direct3D for Linux or OS X, anyone?).

Dominus wrote:

2.are there really problems with Dos games solved by anything other than plain SVN of Dosbox? Except for 3dfx emulation almost nothing of the forks will make it into Dosbox. Reasons: not necessary for dos games or not crossplatform features, or blost 😉

For me it was save states. The only thing that allowed me to complete Arkanoid 2 in DOS (a game which is almost literally impossible without save states - yeah, stupid game design because they give you no continues).

Dominus wrote:

3. mt32 support is not mt32 EMULATION support. Plain Dosbox supports the real hardware mt32

How many people have a hardware MT32 these days? 2? 3? Probably about as many have an old PC running real DOS.

(or can make use of the munt mt32 emulation driver). Daum has the munt mt32 emulator built in.

And so should DOSBox. Setting up munt in the OS and piping it through to DOSBox is a huge PITA, compared to dropping in a couple of MT32 ROMs. I say this having tried both ways of using Munt; through the OS, and through built-in with Daum. Heck, I don't even know how you configure a different MIDI driver in Windows 7, 8, and Windows 10. They've damn near hidden the configuration. "Virtual MIDI cable"?

I got to admit, save states are a very nice thing. Most emulators have them, which gives them an advantage over the real hardware, and DOSBox being an emulator benefits from them as well, so it would be nice to see in the main trunk.

Regarding MT32, I am somewhat indifferent, both because I really don't play that many MT32 games, and because I found that it's really not that big of a deal to install the Munt driver. However, if you have many systems, or use DOSBox in a portable way, it is of course much more preferred to have the support built into the package, and not having to depend on external software.