DosBox is emulating the processor. The game your playing is very processor heavy, so your 3.2ghz computer is still too slow to emulate such a processor intensive game.

There may be some things your not optimizing tho.

1. Post your dosbox.conf
2. What DosBox version are you using?
3. Are you using DOS32A?

1) i got the latest dosbox version 0.65 atm

2)
[sdl]
# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullfixed -- Don't resize the screen when in fullscreen.
# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen, use together with fullfixed.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,ddraw.
# hwscale -- Extra scaling of window if the output device supports hardware scaling.
# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lower,normal,higher,highest.
# Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.

fullscreen=false
fulldouble=false
fullfixed=false
fullresolution=1024x768
output=ddraw
hwscale=1.00
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=highest
mapperfile=mapper.txt

[dosbox]
# language -- Select another language file.
# memsize -- Amount of memory dosbox has in megabytes.
# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,vga.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=256

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
# Supported are none,normal2x,advmame2x,advmame3x,advinterp2x,interp2x,tv2x.

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=none

[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: simple,normal,full,dynamic.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.
# Setting this higher than your machine can handle is bad!
# cycleup -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

core=normal
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

[mixer]
# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will
# probably lower their sound quality.
# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering
# but sound will also be more lagged.
# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=4096
prebuffer=10

[midi]
# mpu401 -- Enable MPU-401 Emulation.
# intelligent -- Operate in Intelligent mode.
# device -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
# This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.
# config -- Special configuration options for the device.

mpu401=true
intelligent=true
device=win32
config=

[sblaster]
# type -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.
# base,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.
# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the dosbox mixer.
# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.
# On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.
# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.

type=sb16
base=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=44100

[gus]
# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
# base,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the
# Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)
# rate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory. In this directory
# there should be a MIDI directory that contains
# the patch files for GUS playback. Patch sets used
# with Timidity should work fine.

gus=true
rate=44100
base=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# Tandysound emulation is present if machine is set to tandy.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=44100
tandyrate=44100
disney=true

[bios]
# Nothing to setup yet!

[dos]
# xms -- Enable XMS support.
# ems -- Enable EMS support.

xms=true
ems=true

[modem]
# modem -- Enable virtual modem emulation.
# comport -- COM Port modem is connected to.
# listenport -- TCP Port the modem listens on for incoming connections.

modem=false
comport=2
listenport=23

[directserial]
# directserial -- Enable serial passthrough support.
# comport -- COM Port inside DOSBox.
# realport -- COM Port on the Host.
# defaultbps -- Default BPS.
# parity -- Parity of the packets. This can be N, E or O.
# bytesize -- Size of each packet. This can be 5 or 8.
# stopbit -- The number of stopbits. This can be 1 or 2.

directserial=false
comport=1
realport=COM1
defaultbps=1200
parity=N
bytesize=8
stopbit=1

[ipx]
# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.

ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

3) euhm dont realy know what a dos32A is.. 😒

You get a major speed hit with emulating most systems, a PC w/ DOS no exception.

You do however have a very fast system, and I'd expect most games from '96 to be playable, though probably not super-smooth.

Don't know if it'll help, but here's my guide to speeding DosBox up:
---
Quick steps for making dosbox faster:

Make sure you're using a recent DosBox version - either 0.65 or a CVS version. See DOSBox SVN Builds for CVS version info and download links.

Change "core=normal" to "core=dynamic" in dosbox.conf [1]
Increase cycles with Ctrl F12 (or change "cycles=" line in dosbox.conf) [2]
Change frameskip with Ctrl F7/F8 (or change "frameskip=" line) [3]

To edit dosbox.conf, simply open in your favourite text editor (eg. notepad).

Other speed-up tips:

Use GUS (Gravis UltraSound) for audio, if supported by game (Ensure "gus=true"in dosbox.conf).
Use General Midi for music, if supported by game.

Check How to speed up DOSBox (by robertmo and mirekluza) for more tips.

[1] - Some games won't work with this setting, but it's usually much faster, allowing cycles to be set higher. Only supported on x86 processors (eg. Pentiums).
[2] - The optimal value varies from game to game. If you set cycles too high, the sound will start breaking up or slowing down. Use Ctrl F11 to lower cycles again.
[3] - Increasing frameskip allows more cycles to be emulated. Optimal setting varies from game to game.
---

Ok, looking at that config, I'd try setting core=dynamic, and maybe frameskip=1.

DOS32A is a replacement for DOS4GW, used by many games. It often allows the game to work better with DosBox. Take a look at http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php?page=dos32a if you want to try it.

thx a lot man..

im just wondering.. its strange that when i run dosbox my computer his processor is on like 20% - 40% i wish i could make it work a little harder or something to get better preformance..

that memsize=256 doesn't do anything. DosBox only goes up to 64m which is more than any DOS game will ever need. So if you feel you must then set memsize=64. Even in 1996 most computers had 32mb or less, not 64m

If your using a P4 3.2ghz then your processor supports HyperThreading which means that your processor is showing Windows XP that you have 2 processors when you really only have one. In a dual-processor system when one program eats up 100% of the processor it'll only show as 50% in Task manager because Task manager looks at both processors.

It's possible that disabling HyperThreading might give DosBox a speed boost but it's doubtful and if you switch between DosBox and multiple applications alot then disabling HyperThreading may result in a speed hit so it's probably best to leave it enabled.

wel i got a:
• Pentium 4-processor met Hyper-Threading-technologie 3,2 GHz -- 800 MHz FSB
• 2 MB Level 2 cache
• 1024 MB RAM

so euhm i think thats 1 processor divided in 2 by windows rite? so that hyper -threading disabling thing might work?

so how do i do that?

that DOS32A helped a little bit.. i get a better result from that but its still slow and laggy as hell but it helped a bit.. thx man!

I'd guess the hyperthreading setting, if there is one, is in your BIOS options. Usually you have to press some key (F8 maybe?) to get into it when your system is booting up. But HT doesn't really split your CPU in two. It's a bit hard to explain, but rest assured, even though windows says you're only using 50% of your CPU, you're really using 100%. Like DosFreak says, you might get a slight speed increase by disabling it, but lots of other stuff will slow down.

Did you try core=dynamic, and then increasing cycles a bit higher?

yea i did.. it also adds a tid bit but no real big improvments.. the game is playable dho.. only laggy like im playing on a 386 and running a 486 game or something 😀

Some people have been able to get it to work with VDMSound on Windows XP, which is probably way faster. It looks a bit complicated though.
/viewtopic.php?t=2231

There's a few games which definately use the 64Mb - Battlespire for one. I wonder if it would use 128Mb.

Oh, and Pandora Directive works fine on my PC which is an AMD 64+ 3000. It's not supersmooth in some areas, but everything runs very well.

Also, definately use DOS32 and maybe you can set it so the game goes to lower-res mode when you move around, that will make a huge change.