Some further information about this. Problem 2 in my original post does NOT occur with DOSBox 0.72. TrueType for WordPerfect works exactly as it should under 0.72.

However, under DOSBox 0.73 and DOSBox 0.74 (release version, SVN, MegaBuild5), the problem is as I described, though I should add some additional details:

I wrote that printing with TrueType for WordPerfect locks up the system. That's only partly accurate. What happens is this. The print job starts, but doesn't complete. The system locks up if you try to Cancel the print job from WordPerfect's Printer Control menu; but the system doesn't lock up if you simply exit WordPerfect and answer Yes to the prompt "Cancel all print jobs?" When you return the DOS prompt, there's a message "TTWP still printing. Ctrl-C to cancel... And Ctrl-C cancels the print job safely.

Again, if I use DOSBox 0.72 in exactly the same setup (conf file, etc.), the print job completes correctly.

I tried to explore this by downloading a debug version of DOSBox, but the only one I could find was a debug version of 0.72, and that's how I found out that the problem didn't occur in that version. (The link elsewhere on this forum to a debug version of 0.73 is broken.) The problem doesn't occur in the debug version of 0.72 and also doesn't occur in the release version of 0.72.

Something that changed between 0.72 and 0.73 seems to have affected this. Unfortunately, I can't use 0.72 in the application that I'm putting together. I need features that (with the help of people on this forum) I've patched into 0.74.

Steps to reproduce the problem; this assumes that you have a copy of WordPerfect for DOS 5.1 in C:\WP51.

1. Backup your C:\WP51 directory, because the next steps will add a lot of files that you may not want. (They won't interfere with normal operation; they'll only clutter up the directory.)

2. Download and extract TrueType for WordPerfect from the link in the first post; put the files in a temporary directory.

3. In the temporary directory run TTINSTAL. Press Enter at the first screen.

4. At the INSTALLATION CHOICES screen choose "A DOS WordPerfect product (WP 5.0,5.1 ..."

5. In the DIRECTORY SELECTIONS screen, accept C:\WP51 as the DOS WordPerfect directory. In the TrueType font directory, enter C:\WP51\TRUETYPE. At the next screen, do not copy the sample files.

6. In the TRUETYPE FONT SET screen, you'll probably want to select "Monotype typefaces only" but it makes no difference to the result.

7. At the PRINTER TYPE SELECTION, choose HP LaserJet. In the AMOUNT OF MEMORY... choose 2.5 or more megabytes. In the SHARED OR... screen, choose Connected to this computer, and in the PRINTER PORT SELECTION choose LPT1. In the PRINTING PERFORMANCE PREFERENCE choose either; I use "I prefer faster...". Press Enter until you return to DOS.

8. At the DOS prompt in C:\WP51, enter TTWP. The Select Printer screen will appear; choose TTWP HP LaserJet 4. Press 1 to Select; accept the printer filename and press Enter. Press F7 until you get to the Print:Select Printer screen. TTWP HP LaserJet 4 should be highlighted. Press 1 to select. Press F7 until you exit WordPerfect.

9. At the DOS prompt, use an editor to edit C:\WP51\TTWP.CFG. Find the line that reads: Port1=LPT1. Edit that line by adding a comma and a path that will be used for the output print file, like this:

Port1=LPT1,C:\FOLDER\FILENAME.EXT

10. Save the TTWP.CFG file.

11. At the DOS prompt again, in C:\WP51, enter TTWP.

12. In the WordPerfect editing screen, type some text. Press Shift-F7 for the Print menu. Press F for Full Document. This returns you to the editing screen.

13. Press Shift-F7 again, then 4-Control Printer. Under 0.73 or 0.74, you should see Status: Printing, and that status never changes. Under 0.72, the print job will have completed successfully, and you should see Status: No print jobs (and the file you named in step 9 should now exist with the print output).

14a. Again, under 0.73 or 0.74, still in the Control Printer screen, if you press 1-Cancel jobs and try to cancel the job, WordPerfect (or DOSBox) will lock up and can only be closed by shutting down DOSBox.

OR

14b. Still under 0.73 or 0.74, still in the Control Printer screen, if you simply press Enter to return to the editing screen, without trying to cancel the print job, you can do so; you can then press F7 to exit WordPerfect. Answer yes to the "Cancel all print jobs" prompt. At the DOS prompt, you will see the "TTWP is still printing. Ctrl-C to cancel" prompt, and Ctrl-C will cancel. But the output file will not get written. It does get written under 0.72.

Is there any fix for this that might be possible with a patch to 0.74?

0.72 might indeed have had a bug where we didn't have virtualized lpt devices.
Please remember that dosbox is for games and the MB6 build is not supported.

You are on your own as far as I concerned. I am seriously considering closing this thread.

I understand entirely.

Before you close the thread, may I ask if anyone knows of a working link to the 0.73 debug build? I realize I can build one myself if necessary, but I'd be grateful for a prebuilt one.

I want to correct the wrong suggestion I made in an earlier post, that something went wrong between 0.72 and 0.73. As it turns out, 0.72, 0.73, and 0.74 behave identically when run with their default settings. The differences I saw were the result of using conf files were mismatched with their versions. So what I was reporting had nothing to with bugs, regression or anything else. I don't think there's anything more to be said on this topic, and I'll be perfectly happy if the moderators delete the whole thread.