VOGONS


Windows 10 Dosbox

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First post, by Radio

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I have a small issue with DosBox games in Windows 10 and I'd like some help please.

Whenever I start the game it shows a black screen interrupted by part of the window behind.

The attachment start_screen.jpg is no longer available

Whenever there is a transition between gameplay and a cutscene it shows either a cursor divided in two parts, or the last played scene before cutscene (like the screen is split into two and the colors are inverted).

The attachment transition.jpg is no longer available

Plus when I choose to exit the game, there is a screen before it returns back to the desktop.

The attachment exit_screen.jpg is no longer available

Please note that it takes about 2-4 seconds to make the transitions between cutscenes and gameplay and to get me out of DosBox.

None of these affect the overall gameplay, but I'd like to get rid of them anyway.

When I had Windows Vista none of that ever happened. Just a black screen between start, transitions and exit screens and that's all.
Furthermore , in Vista there was an option "disable Visual themes", or "disable Desktop composition" which helped for situations like this. There is no such option in Windows 10.

Is there a way to fix that?
I already tried changing scaler, output and other settings in dosbox.conf. Nothing changed!
When I switch the game to window mode the transitions are faster, but the screens remain the same.

Reply 1 of 31, by olddos25

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That's weird. Try reinstalling DOSBox.

Just another user that likes old OSes and videogames, nothing interesting to see here...
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Reply 2 of 31, by Radio

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olddos25 wrote:

That's weird. Try reinstalling DOSBox.

I'm using a portable version of DosBox.
Besides I don't think DosBox is the problem. It worked perfectly with Windows Vista. Those things started with Windows 10. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with "desktop composition" or "visual themes" but there is no such option in W10.

Reply 3 of 31, by olddos25

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It works perfectly for me in Windows 10. Try downloading DOSBox again.

Just another user that likes old OSes and videogames, nothing interesting to see here...
Other places to find me:
DraStic: http://drastic-ds.com (as dsattorney)

Reply 4 of 31, by Silanda

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In my experience, Dosbox doesn't play nice with the DDraw renderer in Windows 10 and can cause problems like this. I see from another thread that you say that the OpenGL renderer doesn't work in Win10. That's not my experience at all, and it's pretty bulletproof for me. What graphics card are you using?

Reply 5 of 31, by Radio

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Silanda wrote:

In my experience, Dosbox doesn't play nice with the DDraw renderer in Windows 10 and can cause problems like this. I see from another thread that you say that the OpenGL renderer doesn't work in Win10. That's not my experience at all, and it's pretty bulletproof for me. What graphics card are you using?

I have an NVIDIA GTX 965M 2Gb with its latest drivers installed.

Reply 6 of 31, by Radio

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olddos25 wrote:

It works perfectly for me in Windows 10. Try downloading DOSBox again.

I never said it doesn't work. It works perfectly, but it has this small issue.
I don't see why I should replace DosBox. It's not corrupted or anything. It worked just fine in Vista 32bit, without small pauses in switch mode or exiting.
Besides, the same thing happens when I install an old game from GOG. The same screens, the same pauses.
I firmly believe it has something to do with desktop composition, but I don't know how to force DosBox to disable it.

Reply 7 of 31, by v8tomatojew

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Have you tried turning off transparency under Settings->Personalization->Colors->Transparency Effects?

Reply 8 of 31, by Radio

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v8tomatojew wrote:

Have you tried turning off transparency under Settings->Personalization->Colors->Transparency Effects?

Nothing's changed, still the same pauses and screen glitches.

Reply 9 of 31, by Osprey

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I get the same issues. Switching to DOSBox SVN Daum and setting output=direct3d eliminates them. Try that.

Reply 10 of 31, by Radio

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Osprey wrote:

I get the same issues. Switching to DOSBox SVN Daum and setting output=direct3d eliminates them. Try that.

I was under the impression that Direct3D is no longer supported in DosBox and from what I can remember, setting a game to Direct3D made the cutscene videos really small. Like a small square in the center of the screen. And no matter what resolution I'd put, it would stay like this unless I'd switch it back to Ddraw. I don't know about you but I like my games in full screen.

As for this DOSBox SVN Daum, I don't know anything about it. I have 300-500 Dos games (maybe more) and you are telling me to take them one by one, rip DosBox and put this Baum instead?

Reply 11 of 31, by gdjacobs

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Daum is old, unsupported, and broken in several ways. If you do use it, please understand that you have no developer to help you if you run into problems.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 12 of 31, by Osprey

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Radio wrote:

I was under the impression that Direct3D is no longer supported in DosBox and from what I can remember, setting a game to Direct3D made the cutscene videos really small. Like a small square in the center of the screen. And no matter what resolution I'd put, it would stay like this unless I'd switch it back to Ddraw. I don't know about you but I like my games in full screen.

I've never had issues with cutscenes using Direct3D in the SVN Daum build. They've always been fullscreen for me. I wouldn't have recommended it if they weren't.

Radio wrote:

As for this DOSBox SVN Daum, I don't know anything about it. I have 300-500 Dos games (maybe more) and you are telling me to take them one by one, rip DosBox and put this Baum instead?

I'm simply telling you what works for me in eliminating all of the issues that you complained about above. What you decide to do is up to you. If you're set up so that you have to go through all 300-500 games one by one to make a change in how DOSBox behaves, any other solution that someone would've given you would've required a similar amount of effort on your part. If you have that many games, perhaps you should look into a frontend, so that all 300-500 use the same DOSBox and you can replace it only once.

gdjacobs wrote:

Daum is old, unsupported, and broken in several ways. If you do use it, please understand that you have no developer to help you if you run into problems.

It was last updated two years ago. Compared to the official DOSBox, that's recent 😉. Which SVN build (preferably with save states and pre-compiled) do you recommend?

Reply 13 of 31, by gdjacobs

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I use SVN with Nuked FM patched in, but DOSBox ECE is one of the better ones as it includes a sensible set of patches to improve accuracy and add peripheral emulation.
http://blog.yesterplay80.net/dosbox-ece-en/

Also, Yesterplay is active and engaged in the Vogons forums.

Regarding save states, it sounds like that patch is in bad disrepair.
DOSBox SVN Builds

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 14 of 31, by 95DosBox

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gdjacobs wrote:
I use SVN with Nuked FM patched in, but DOSBox ECE is one of the better ones as it includes a sensible set of patches to improve […]
Show full quote

I use SVN with Nuked FM patched in, but DOSBox ECE is one of the better ones as it includes a sensible set of patches to improve accuracy and add peripheral emulation.
http://blog.yesterplay80.net/dosbox-ece-en/

Also, Yesterplay is active and engaged in the Vogons forums.

Regarding save states, it sounds like that patch is in bad disrepair.
DOSBox SVN Builds

You guys are serious DOSBOX users. I don't even use 0.74 and go with 0.72 to avoid the splash screen. I'm still annoyed by the DOS commands and syntax not being entirely real DOS accurate.

Reply 15 of 31, by Osprey

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gdjacobs wrote:

I use SVN with Nuked FM patched in, but DOSBox ECE is one of the better ones as it includes a sensible set of patches to improve accuracy and add peripheral emulation.
http://blog.yesterplay80.net/dosbox-ece-en/

I tried DOSBox ECE yesterday and it does seem to be solid, but I really dislike the splash screen. Is there a way to disable that?

gdjacobs wrote:

Regarding save states, it sounds like that patch is in bad disrepair.
DOSBox SVN Builds

That's a major reason why I settled on SVN Daum. I like having that option, particularly for arcade games and platformers, like Prince of Persia, which you're expected to beat in one sitting.

95DosBox wrote:

You guys are serious DOSBOX users. I don't even use 0.74 and go with 0.72 to avoid the splash screen. I'm still annoyed by the DOS commands and syntax not being entirely real DOS accurate.

I'm probably no more serious than you. Downloading an SVN build of DOSBox because 0.74 doesn't have a behavior that I like is not really any different than you downloading 0.72 for the same reason. BTW, I don't like DOSBox's splash screen, either, and I eliminate it by simply adding a "cls" command in the [autoexec] section of dosbox.conf (just after "@echo off"). The splash screen is cleared before I even see it. I then have my mount and other commands and finish up with a second "cls" so that I don't see those commands, either. DOSBox appears to launch directly and cleanly to the C: prompt.

Reply 16 of 31, by gdjacobs

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Osprey wrote:

I tried DOSBox ECE yesterday and it does seem to be solid, but I really dislike the splash screen. Is there a way to disable that?

gdjacobs wrote:

Regarding save states, it sounds like that patch is in bad disrepair.
DOSBox SVN Builds

That's a major reason why I settled on SVN Daum. I like having that option, particularly for arcade games and platformers, like Prince of Persia, which you're expected to beat in one sitting.

There's a new version of the patch available, but ECE hasn't included it as it would have to incorporate with the audio and video changes Yesterplay has included.
Dosbox SVN r4019 + savestates Build (Alpha)

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 17 of 31, by Radio

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Osprey wrote:
I've never had issues with cutscenes using Direct3D in the SVN Daum build. They've always been fullscreen for me. I wouldn't hav […]
Show full quote
Radio wrote:

I was under the impression that Direct3D is no longer supported in DosBox and from what I can remember, setting a game to Direct3D made the cutscene videos really small. Like a small square in the center of the screen. And no matter what resolution I'd put, it would stay like this unless I'd switch it back to Ddraw. I don't know about you but I like my games in full screen.

I've never had issues with cutscenes using Direct3D in the SVN Daum build. They've always been fullscreen for me. I wouldn't have recommended it if they weren't.

Radio wrote:

As for this DOSBox SVN Daum, I don't know anything about it. I have 300-500 Dos games (maybe more) and you are telling me to take them one by one, rip DosBox and put this Baum instead?

I'm simply telling you what works for me in eliminating all of the issues that you complained about above. What you decide to do is up to you. If you're set up so that you have to go through all 300-500 games one by one to make a change in how DOSBox behaves, any other solution that someone would've given you would've required a similar amount of effort on your part. If you have that many games, perhaps you should look into a frontend, so that all 300-500 use the same DOSBox and you can replace it only once.

gdjacobs wrote:

Daum is old, unsupported, and broken in several ways. If you do use it, please understand that you have no developer to help you if you run into problems.

It was last updated two years ago. Compared to the official DOSBox, that's recent 😉. Which SVN build (preferably with save states and pre-compiled) do you recommend?

I don't know how you do it but whenever I set a game to Direct 3D, cutscenes will always be shown in a small window in the center of the screen. The result will be the same, even with the lowest resolution.

FIY I'm having this issue with GOG games too. How is it that I'm the only one that is running games with a broken Dosbox, while others who have the same games don't have those issues?
Besides like I said, these glitches started with Widnows 10. In Vista the games were running seamlessly. Did Dosbox broke during my transition from Vista to 10?

Reply 18 of 31, by Qbix

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Something on your system (videocard drivers ?) on windows 10 isn't very compatible with DOSBox.
This is not a common problem, as most of us use DOSBox on windows 10 without a problem.

Water flows down the stream
How to ask questions the smart way!

Reply 19 of 31, by 95DosBox

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Osprey wrote:
I tried DOSBox ECE yesterday and it does seem to be solid, but I really dislike the splash screen. Is there a way to disable tha […]
Show full quote
gdjacobs wrote:

I use SVN with Nuked FM patched in, but DOSBox ECE is one of the better ones as it includes a sensible set of patches to improve accuracy and add peripheral emulation.
http://blog.yesterplay80.net/dosbox-ece-en/

I tried DOSBox ECE yesterday and it does seem to be solid, but I really dislike the splash screen. Is there a way to disable that?

gdjacobs wrote:

Regarding save states, it sounds like that patch is in bad disrepair.
DOSBox SVN Builds

That's a major reason why I settled on SVN Daum. I like having that option, particularly for arcade games and platformers, like Prince of Persia, which you're expected to beat in one sitting.

95DosBox wrote:

You guys are serious DOSBOX users. I don't even use 0.74 and go with 0.72 to avoid the splash screen. I'm still annoyed by the DOS commands and syntax not being entirely real DOS accurate.

I'm probably no more serious than you. Downloading an SVN build of DOSBox because 0.74 doesn't have a behavior that I like is not really any different than you downloading 0.72 for the same reason. BTW, I don't like DOSBox's splash screen, either, and I eliminate it by simply adding a "cls" command in the [autoexec] section of dosbox.conf (just after "@echo off"). The splash screen is cleared before I even see it. I then have my mount and other commands and finish up with a second "cls" so that I don't see those commands, either. DOSBox appears to launch directly and cleanly to the C: prompt.

I think DosBox 0.73 and higher adds the splash screen but also adds a slight delay to it. It could be as much as 1.0 seconds or 0.5 seconds. Anyhow Qbix explained their reason but it's still rather annoying being a pure DOS user you learned the quirks of DOS. The DOS syntax wasn't exact on certain DOS commands as well of course that wasn't the purpose of DOSBOX.