Well, that isn't going to work. Compile fails right off the bat because 3 files cannot be found. SDL.h, SDL_NET.h, and PNG.h. They don't exist in either the Visual Studio directory or in the SVN I downloaded (the 3858 snapshot.) It seems it also doesn't address the copy command which some installers use. Does it address the Move command (or does DOSBox still use the rename command as the move command?)

For compiling dosbox, read the wiki entry.

Yes, was in the middle of reading it when my e-mail pinged with your post. Right now, I'm trying to find the libraries I need to compile it without removing features (such as the ability to take screenshots.) That's one of the things I didn't like about the SVN build available. If I follow the wiki, all I need is the SDL developer's library (downloaded and installed into VS already.) Now looking for the others. The SDL_Net library wasn't a problem, but the png library is proving to be difficult. It expects a pnglibconf.h file, and I cannot find it.

FeedingDragon wrote:

Yes, was in the middle of reading it when my e-mail pinged with your post. Right now, I'm trying to find the libraries I need to compile it without removing features (such as the ability to take screenshots.) That's one of the things I didn't like about the SVN build available. If I follow the wiki, all I need is the SDL developer's library (downloaded and installed into VS already.) Now looking for the others. The SDL_Net library wasn't a problem, but the png library is proving to be difficult. It expects a pnglibconf.h file, and I cannot find it.

I couldn't get screenshots and capturing to compile using Visual C++, I think you need to compile your own libraries first, then use those libraries to compile a fully-featured DOSBox. Some advice here would be greatly appreciated

I cannot even get it to compile with those features disabled. Kept failing with downloaded libraries for zlib, sdl, sdl_net, png, and curses. So I decided to first start over and follow the wiki to the letter. Deleted everything, re-installed, re-downloaded, the tried again. Again, I ended up with over 300 errors and no compile. Attached the BuildLog below. Had to append the html extension with .txt so Vogons would allow the upload.

I'm wondering if there is a way to have VC actually do that for you, build the libraries first, then build DOSBox with the adjusted includes (or whatever.) I'm also wondering if there is a list somewhere of the libraries you have to collect elsewhere in order to compile DOSBox?

OK, found one problem.... Got the stripped down version to compile by simply using an older version of SDL (1.2.15 instead of 2.0). I wonder if your problem with the other libraries might have to do with version as well? Still looking for a list of what DOSBox needs, hopefully it will include versions as well.

He he, yeah you need SDL 1.2x and SDL-net built against this. SDL2 is something almost completely different and dosbox not compatible.
Unfortunately I cannot help you much. It's been years since I compiled on Windows and back then I used something more unix like(mingw/msys).

Sweet Success 😀 Got it to compile with 3 warnings. Found the pre-compiled png, zlip, and curses libraries at This site. Older versions, but they were the latest ones that were already compiled and ready to go. I had to compile the SDL_Net library myself (v1.2.😎 but it compiled just fine for me. Now to see about the patch....

OK, didn't have to build the SDL_Net library after all. Went back to This page and there is a developers version right there. Oh well 😀

next question, how do I get it to compile a release version? I keep changing it from Debug to Release, but when I build, it switches itself back to debug.

disable-debug option somwhere?

I downloaded the libs from the site FeedingDragon gave and I was able to compile a release build of DOSBox successfully. However, DOSBox requires zlib1.dll and libpng12.dll to start. Okay, I grab the prebuilt binaries from the site. Regular DOSBox does not require these files. However, when I try to take a screenshot, DOSBox crashes. When I try to capture video, only the audio portion will appear. I can capture straight audio. Is there an issue with the libs or the binaries I am using?

I've been crashing when taking screenshots since .74. I crash with .74, with SVN, with Daum, I had always just assumed it was my system. I'm long overdue for a re-install anyways. Just been putting it off till I clean up a lot of this crap I've built up. Going through all these discs and cds for one thing.

I can get the debugger working with pdc34dllw.zip, but is there a newer or older version of libpng and zlib to use with DOSBox?

Great Hierophant wrote:

I can get the debugger working with pdc34dllw.zip, but is there a newer or older version of libpng and zlib to use with DOSBox?

That could be a problem, it would be really nice to know which version DOSBox is expecting. What was .74 compiled with. Are they still using the same versions on the current SVN updates?
I also tried to update the copy command, but instead tried copying the CMD_COPY copy from shell_cmds.cpp from the Daum build. According to the thread I was pointed to earlier, that wasn't implemented with the .diff file. But that didn't work. I was hoping it would, since the SetFile...etc.. routine was taken from the daum build originally. Still working on it.... I'm afraid the code for the copy command goes right past my limited programming understanding 🙁

ripsaw noted that 4dos may provide the required dos command. For others reading this: ykhwong's build already has the date/time functionality in the more common operating systems.

Newest libs should be used but then again, you might need to experiment. Both libpng and zlib have had security updates, but libpng went to some more drastic changes in between 1.4x and 1.6x. Generally when it comes to libs you are in dll hell all over again 😉
When you keep to the major version (1.x,2.x) that was around until recently you should be good, but the next minor version (1.5.x, 1.6.x) could also break little things.

The site Feeding linked to provides mostly ancient versions. AND you shouldn't just mix libs that were perhaps done with a whole different compiler

Dominus wrote:

Newest libs should be used but then again, you might need to experiment. Both libpng and zlib have had security updates, but libpng went to some more drastic changes in between 1.4x and 1.6x. Generally when it comes to libs you are in dll hell all over again 😉
When you keep to the major version (1.x,2.x) that was around until recently you should be good, but the next minor version (1.5.x, 1.6.x) could also break little things.

The site Feeding linked to provides mostly ancient versions. AND you shouldn't just mix libs that were perhaps done with a whole different compiler

I have learned this the hard way. I have finally learned how to compile DOSBox with working screenshots and video capture (and debug and Modem/IPX if I wanted it) by following this thread very, very carefully : Re: Build with libpng, zlib under VC2010?

The problem is I couldn't get any to compile, and the site I linked were the only already compiled ones I could find where I could get the same version in VC lib and Windows DLL format. I was able to compile the SDL_Net binaries just fine, but then, the already compiled ones are the exact same version that I compiled. Although, when I saw the curses library available, I never really looked for those. I sort of just assumed, since they were providing a PD (I assume public domain) version of the library, that the original had to be purchased.

I'm going to go to the tread (post popped up while I was typing this,) and see if I cannot get libpng and zlib to compile myself. Still working on the copy command as well.

The SDL_net and curses libraries seem to work fine with only minimal fuss. The libraries can easily be included with VS 2008. Unfortunately, to avoid crashing with screenshots compiling

Actually, I was incorrect about my earlier attempts at compiling. The videos were capturing fine, its just that recent versions of VideoLAN have a problem with the zmbv codec. Screenshots crashed until I figured out how to compile the libpng and zlib libraries from source. The EmuCR builds also have this problem. I had to use VS2010, not sure whether 2008 would have worked.

Well, got the copy command working right.... Now back to the libpng and zlib stuff again...