bacchuspup wrote:

Z:\>mount A "A:\Video Games\PC\1986-1990\SimCity Enhanced"

mount C "A:\Video Games\PC\1986-1990\SimCity Enhanced"

Then just press enter at all of the setup program's default settings.

BTW, if the disc image is in ISO or BIN/CUE format then you don't need Daemon Tools and can directly mount the image in DOSBox: IMGMOUNT D SimCityE.cue -t iso

Don't use A or B for your external hard drive but if you want to be contrary then at least when you mount your external hard drive in DOSBox then use the letter "C" instead of "A". ex: "Mount c "A:\xxxxx"

A & B are for floppies.

Modern Windows actually doesn't need to use drive letters but Microsoft hasn't gotten rid of them due to backwards compatibility.

Thanks, guys... I'm clearly a lot more clueless than I thought. I've always used frontends in the past with DOSBOX, and I think I'm going to have to read up more to fully understand how it works. Meanwhile, yes, the game works, and it's on my external drive.

Ripsaw, the image file I've got is actually four files - ccd, cue, img, and sub. I haven't seen that before (all I've seen is iso and bin/cue), so I'm not sure how to mount that directly in DOSBOX, if it's possible at all. If not, I'll look online to see if there's a way to convert the files into a compatible format.

I hate to impose further on your expertise, but is there a way for me to set this all up so that a simple desktop icon will start the game in fullscreen? Like I said, I'm trying to make it as easy as possible for my wife and kids.

DosFreak - I wasn't trying to be contrary 😀 My external hard drive defaulted to G when I plugged it in, and I just thought it was easier to use A as its path since I use it so much. You mean I shouldn't generally use A or B for external hard drives? It hasn't caused a problem for me before, but I always wondered why the internal hard drive was C and it seemed that A and B were not utilized. I guess this is a relic from when A and B were for floppy drives?

Okay, so I think I figured this out. I think I was getting all turned around because I forgot that what DOSBOX does when you mount a file is create a virtual drive out of whatever file you sent it to. Anyway, here's what I've done so far:

1) Created a folder for the game - A:\Video Games\PC\1986-1990\SimCity Enhanced.
2) Mount the cue file in Daemon tools.
3) Started DOSBOX without any frontend.
4) Entered the following commands:
Z:\>mount C "A:\Video Games\PC\1986-1990\SimCity Enhanced"
Z:\>mount D "D:\" -t cdrom
Z:\>D:
D:\>install

That got the game installed to my folder on my A external hard drive. Then I went into the image file in my D drive (as bellarmine suggested) and copied the VIDEO and AUDIO files to the file that had just been created on my A drive (A:\Video Games\PC\1986-1990\SimCity Enhanced\SIMCITY), started the SCSETUP.EXE file in DOSBOX, changed the video and audio paths to C:\SIMCITY\VIDIO & C:\SIMCITY\AUDIO, and voila - no more need to mount the disc image. Now all I need to do is set up a DOSBOX shortcut with the SimCity executable in the target, figure out how to get the game to start in fullscreen, and I'm good to go!

Thanks so much, guys - I wouldn't call myself a newbie, but I'm clearly re-learning this stuff, and I appreciate the patience.

Sheesh - all I needed to do to make it fullscreen on start was change the config file. Like I said, I'm re-learning all this... 😀

Had a small hiccup when I created the desktop icon, but all I had to do to fix it was:

1) Mount as my DOSBOX C file the full path to the folder that held the SimCity executable (in my case, A:\Video Games\PC\1986-1990\SimCity Enhanced\SIMCITY);
2) Run SCSETUP in DOSBOX and change the video and audio paths to C:\AUDIO and C:\VIDEO;
3) Add the executable to the end of the target line in the DOSBOX shortcut.

Gravy. Now I (or more importantly, the rest of my family) can run the game by just clicking on the desktop icon.

Thanks!

bacchuspup wrote:

Ripsaw, the image file I've got is actually four files - ccd, cue, img, and sub. I haven't seen that before (all I've seen is iso and bin/cue), so I'm not sure how to mount that directly in DOSBOX, if it's possible at all. If not, I'll look online to see if there's a way to convert the files into a compatible format.

That's a CloneCD image. The IMG file is the same thing as a BIN file, so you should be able to IMGMOUNT the CUE file in DOSBox, but the descriptor (CCD) and sub-channel (SUB) files are not used.

*Let's move it to its proper place*

bacchuspup wrote:

You mean I shouldn't generally use A or B for external hard drives? It hasn't caused a problem for me before, but I always wondered why the internal hard drive was C and it seemed that A and B were not utilized. I guess this is a relic from when A and B were for floppy drives?

Yes, A and B were historically for floppy drives. I'm sure someone somewhere out there has written a program that assumes no one would ever be running it from drive A or drive B, and that will likely crash horribly (at best) if you try to run it from drive A or drive B. But as Mr. DosFreak suggests, modern Windows is pretty good about preventing programs from crashing horribly in such a fashion and you may very well never encounter a modern program that finds this problematic.

DOS programs are another story entirely. Some DOS programs don't even expect to be run from "C:\" and expect their executable to be in a subfolder like C:\SIMCITY, as I believe is discussed in the 60 Seconds Guide. But evidently it works here.

bacchuspup wrote:

Z:\>mount A "A:\Video Games\PC\1986-1990\SimCity Enhanced"

Z:\>mount C "A:\Video Games\PC\1986-1990\SimCity Enhanced"
Z:\>C:
Remember, C: is emulated, not real.

IIGS: Yeah, that's what was tripping me up - forgetting that DOSBOX creates virtual drives. I know that seems fundamental to using DOSBOX, but I totally forgot how it works since the last time I used DOSBOX without a frontend. I'm good now.

Jorpho: Thanks - I never knew that. I guess I'll keep using A: for my external hard drive just because it'd be a pain to change it at this point, but I won't use it as a virtual drive in DOSBOX.

Ripsaw: Thanks for the info. I'll keep that in mind, although now I hopefully have learned enough to play a DOS game without having to mount a virtual drive. I like setting up shortcuts on my desktop.

bacchuspup wrote:

I'll keep that in mind, although now I hopefully have learned enough to play a DOS game without having to mount a virtual drive. I like setting up shortcuts on my desktop.

Did you also see the bit in the 60 Seconds Guide about setting up separate .conf files with different commands in the "autoexec" section? Then you can set up shortcuts on your desktop that can launch games but also do things like mount disc image files before launching.

If you don't like making separate .conf files, the relevant commands can also be entered with the "-c" switch, though that gets a bit unwieldy.

ooooo.... no, I didn't see that. I'm going to go try that for Dune II... thanks!