Do you think there's any hope that DOSBox may allow you to configure a specific VGA chipset?
Back in the days before VESA specs, certain old games only run in 256 colour SVGA mode on certain chipsets (Tseng, Trident etc.). I guess these would be documented since game companies had to program their games to use them.
Probably a low priority suggestion, but it would still be very nice.
dosbox tries to look like a S3 trio 32/64 videocard with some hacks for better cga/tandy support, but programs like univbe should find it and work with it correctly. Well for 256 color modes anyway sicne higher aren't supported
Yes, I know it tries to emulate a S3 card, but my point was do you think down the line you could try to emulate other specific cards, since as I said, many old games featured SVGA support only on specific chipsets.
hehe many old games, how about you making a list then that contains many games 😀
Well, just one that my mother plays, Hong Kong Mahjong Pro. It only works on Trident or Tseng Labs chips. Also Populous 2 that I remember.
I do know that if its just a single mode that needs to be emulated (and the games rely on the BIOS), then most likely it shouldn't be too hard to implement. Since I don't have those games, I'd need more information as to what modes are used and whatnot.
Well it actually checks the BIOS for those specific chips and only runs in 256 colour mode if it finds one of them, otherwise runs in 16 colours.
I'm happy to send you the Mahjong game if you like, or find a link on an abandonware site.
"Virtual pool" would be a good candidate for trying to implement specific modes for various vga cards. It has at least 10 drivers.
I had an S3 805 VLB card which worked very well with it in a special 640x480 mode in which game looks much better than standard 320x240.
Besides, game supports even 1024x768 on a specific card (diamond?)
and 640x480 VESA mode which doesn't produce anything in dosbox (and even not natively on a modern vesa capable cards).
VP is not hard to find on abandonware sites (lost treasures).
I don't know if it's directly related or not, but Deluxe Paint II enhanced comes to mind, although it had VESA support.
This is supposed to be a list of games that support SVGA and not in accepted VESA modes. Might not be at all accurate though, but should give some ideas.
http://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,12
"I see a little silhouette-o of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you
do the Fandango!" - Queen
Stiletto
It should be browsed together with:
http://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,11/
to exclude games supporting VESA
Ok,
Amazon: Guardians of Eden
switches to svga when you press alt-v 😉
