I admit that I'm not up to date on my DOSBox as I'm using v0.74, the last official release. However, I have no idea how to sort through the forks created since then; maybe an answer here might help me.

I outlined three problems I had with DOSBox in a thread is the DOS forum, where they were tangential. I'll repeat them here in what I think is the correct forum. The first, inability to use the real PC Speaker to play sounds that are supposed to be played on it, I know will not be fixed and perhaps can't be.

The major video problem is that 320x200 games (almost all games) are not displayed in the correct aspect ratio, but letterboxed. I know my hardware supports 400-line mode, but DOSBox does not use it. I actually have 1600x1200 available which would allow perfect scaling, but DOSBox won't do this, either - though I believe an experimental build has been mentioned that might.

The other one, minor but more irritating, concerns DOSBox setting the wrong refresh rate for 640x480. I initially observed this in non-game applications using 16-color VGA mode, but since replicated it in a game using 256-color VESA mode. In both cases DOSBox sets 70 Hz (!) - it should use either the original VGA 60 Hz, or keep the system default. Either one would work, but forcing 70 Hz causes my monitor to overscan, and of course re-adjusting for this get it wrongly adjusted for everything else. I assume the authors of DOSBox did know that 640x480 is supposed to be 60 Hz, not 70, on a VGA, so why did they use the latter? Can I correct this behavior? No other program have I ever seen set this refresh rate.

Finally, another issue that I don't really know how to quantify is the keyboard response. Even adjusting the configuration, it still feels wrong much of the time, reducing playability for any real-time game.

These might be dumb questions but they're not answered in the manual and FAQ, which I did read. In all these cases NTVDM behaves correctly, as real DOS would, which is one reason I always try to run programs natively instead of resorting to DOSBox. I am interested in getting the best gaming experience and not just in getting them to run, and I would hope some DOSBox developers would feel likewise.