I think GOG still offers the DOS version of MK3. Perhaps you should check in the forums there?
https://www.gog.com/game/mortal_kombat_123

Of course, if you are using an illegal copy downloaded from who-knows-where, it's not unthinkable that you're encountering some devilish copy protection check.

unbirthday wrote:

Can dosbox do savestates or something similiar so that I can save on Shao, and then test furthermore?

Yes, some of the SVN builds have savestate support.

Nope, it's a legal version. It was only £3.50. I made a bin/cue image, and that's how it's being mounted in dosbox.

I'll have a look in the gog forums and report back if I find something.

This is a glitch in the DOS version of MK3 that I seem to remember happen even when playing in pure DOS. Cannot be 100% certain, since I find it difficult to test at the moment, but about 90% certain.

Works okay with latest svn.

I've just tried with svn archive "EmuCR-Dosbox-r3995". It still does the stuttering, although somehow I managed to kill him this time so I'm feeling better.
I'm not sure what version of MK3 it is, but MK3.EXE has a CRC-32 of 5D36570F and an SHA-1 of E99981632F918C63D7405C260FE750AE0B7ABE84 and it's 1496497 bytes in size. There were occasional stutters throughout the game too, but it was still worse on Shao. I was just lucky.

Yep, this SHA1 indicates the original unmodified MK3 DOS executable. So far I reproduced it in DOSBox 0.74 and in SVN r3995. The stuttering fighting Shao Kahn is not always the same. Sometimes it's very mild and sometimes terrible. I just learned to live with it. Like I said, I am pretty sure I experienced it in pure DOS as well, but I don't have access to my DOS machine at the moment to double-check.

That's unbelievable! It's a game killer for me. Other than that, it's one of the best versions of MK3. CD quality soundtrack, 44KHz sound, zero loading, difficulty setting, playing as the bosses cheat (only available in UMK3 on other systems inc arcade), tournament mode, 50/60fps (usually). In many ways it's better than the original arcade, except for this smeggin' stutter.

@dr_st
Do you know if MK2 (PC-CDROM version) is like this too? I've heard that it's perfect except for 30fps only. Do you know if it's frame limited?

unbirthday wrote:

That's unbelievable! It's a game killer for me.

It's usually not that big of a deal, if you use the "crouch in the corner and uppercut him after he shoulder charges you" technique.

unbirthday wrote:

In many ways it's better than the original arcade, except for this smeggin' stutter.

Well, graphics are not as sharp as the Arcade.

unbirthday wrote:

Do you know if MK2 (PC-CDROM version) is like this too? I've heard that it's perfect except for 30fps only. Do you know if it's frame limited?

I never bothered investigating frame limits in MK (or any other game, for that matter), but MK2 PC is very smooth. Again, graphics are not as sharp as the Arcade version (and the aspect ratio is a bit off, just like MK3 for that matter), but other than that - it's the best port. No stutter at any point. One thing missing for some reason is the actor roster presentation at the end of the game.

Things that I like more about the Arcade version of MK2:
* Graphics look better
* Goro's Lair music is awesome
* Challenger Hack ROM exists, which allows you to play Kintaro and hidden characters anywhere in the ladder

Things I like more about the PC version of MK2:
* Hidden cheat menu available
* For whatever reason, Kintaro feels harder; you cannot spam him with jump kicks and win 90% of the time, which seems to be the case with the Arcade version. You really have to fight him, and he is the best boss in all early MK games, and the most satisfying to beat.

unbirthday wrote:

That's unbelievable! It's a game killer for me. Other than that, it's one of the best versions of MK3. CD quality soundtrack, 44KHz sound, zero loading, difficulty setting, playing as the bosses cheat (only available in UMK3 on other systems inc arcade), tournament mode, 50/60fps (usually). In many ways it's better than the original arcade, except for this smeggin' stutter.

I wonder if it could be some sort of weird sample conversion issue? Aren't there a lot of unique sound clips played during the Shao fight?

Yes, there are, but I did try with digital sound disabled, and it still happened from time to time...

Well bugger it then. MK3 is for 2 player only. I might build the debugger version of dosbox and hack MK3 so that you can play as the bosses in single player too. At a later date anyway, too busy for x86 assembly at-the-moment.

I've just given MK2 a play, and it seems really really good. The 30fps limit doesn't seem bothersome at all. Sadly it's some shabby version I found just to test it before I buy. I know that there are 3 versions of MK2 at minimum. The original floppy version without CD audio. Another version on CD. And a last version, bundled as MK1 + MK2, which I understand to be rare and more expensive. Which version is the best? I definitely want CD audio, and so I'm not putting up with that awful rat-a-tat synth shite. I just tried gus emulation, which was much better, but still not good enough.

You are thinking MK1. We had a thorough discussion of MK1 PC versions here:
Versions of Mortal Kombat (1) (DOS port)

Whether distributed on floppies or on a CD, all MK2 versions are the same. None of them have CD audio.

That is twisted beyond all reason. Why on earth would they do such a stupid thing? The music in MK2 is some of the best music ever made.

Has anyone ever interfaced with the CD player through mscdex? I wonder if it's just a couple of assembly interrupt instructions which could be inserted into the binary whenever the music is changed. That way you could just patch it to play a custom red book CD, or just an image of it...but saying that, it would require to rip the music from someplace else... Damn. Unless the music is on the CD and is simply not played?

unbirthday wrote:

That is twisted beyond all reason. Why on earth would they do such a stupid thing? The music in MK2 is some of the best music ever made.

Well, it's not as if the digitized music present in the home ports is that bad, or is it?

unbirthday wrote:

Has anyone ever interfaced with the CD player through mscdex? I wonder if it's just a couple of assembly interrupt instructions which could be inserted into the binary whenever the music is changed. That way you could just patch it to play a custom red book CD, or just an image of it...but saying that, it would require to rip the music from someplace else... Damn. Unless the music is on the CD and is simply not played?

No, there is no music on the CDs. But if you're actually willing to go through all that hassle and to spent a real shitload of money, there's your chance: Dan Forden's "Mortal Kombat II: Music From The Arcade Game" (starting from 125 US$) 😉

Yesterplay80 wrote:

Well, it's not as if the digitized music present in the home ports is that bad, or is it?

Yes, most of it was junk. The arcade original sounds absolutely amazing compared them all. The only thing that could better it, would be CD audio of the original tracks before compressing into the arcade roms.

Yesterplay80 wrote:

No, there is no music on the CDs. But if you're actually willing to go through all that hassle and to spent a real shitload of money, there's your chance:

Hassle? Pfft, it sounds like an interesting challenge. But if the original audio isn't there, then there's no point really. I'd just prefer the original arcade version then. DOS is really shitty for arcade type games. It's better for early 3D games and strategies.