Hi everyone,
I have written a patch against dosbox-cvs dated from 2004/03/31. I probably won't fiddle with it any longer, but if you want to play with this here is the patch attached. I do not have a clue if it compiles with windows.
I don't know if it will patch the current cvs version. Since it modifies several files, the chances are high that you will have to modify something to have it working.
Basically, all the patch does is to save every global variable from the most important files to one file. These files concern cpu (except dynamicX86), paging, iohandling, memory and pic. I also had to mess with several other files (mainly to be able to resolve/reload handlers).
Since the patch does not save vga/audio/whatever state, restoring only works if the dos program is in the same mode when you suspended dosbox. To suspend dosbox, press + on the keypad. This creates a file "/tmp/dosbox.suspend". There is not (yet) a way to suspend to a different file. To restore, press the / (divide) on the keypad.
The patch allowed me to save/reload game states for dos games that don't allow saving themselves. It is not stable. Saving always produces a dosbox.state file, but restoring freezes dosbox once in a while (maybe every 10th attempt). probably this is due to a inconsistency in the state of dosbox-hardware/game-software, which the patch does not save.
have fun with it,
miargep