VOGONS


First post, by swaaye

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Ok, I've spent many hours messing with TIE Fighter and DOSBOX. I'm using the latest CVS compile from the Unofficial DOSBOX Forum.

Here's my DOSBOX.conf:

[sdl]
# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullfixed -- Don't resize the screen when in fullscreen.
# fullwidth/height -- What resolution to use for fullscreen, use together with fullfixed.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,ddraw,direct3d.
# 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.
# highpriority -- Run dosbox in high prioty, helps sound output alot.

fullscreen=false
fulldouble=false
fullfixed=true
fullwidth=1280
fullheight=800
output=overlay
hwscale=1
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
highpriority=true
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=16

[log]
# Message not Found!

logfile=
vga=true
vgagfx=true
vgamisc=true
int10=true
sblaster=true
dma=true
fpu=true
cpu=true
paging=true
fcb=true
files=true
ioctl=true
exec=true
dosmisc=true
pit=true
keyboard=true
pic=true
mouse=true
bios=true
gui=true
Show last 158 lines
misc=true
io=true

[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,advinterp2x,advmame2x,advmame3x,hq2x,interp2x,tv2x.
# hq2x_threshold_adaptive -- The adaptive threshold used to detect edges in hq2x
# Possible values are 0-100, can be modified with Ctrl+Alt+F5/F6
# hq2x_threshold -- The static threshold used to detect edges in hq2x
# Possible values are 0-255, can be modified with Ctrl+Alt+F3/F4

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=none
hq2x_threshold_adaptive=75
hq2x_threshold=0

[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=dynamic
cycles=15000
cycleup=500
cycledown=250
timesynched=false

[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=2048
prebuffer=10

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

mpu401=true
intelligent=true
device=default
config=

[debug]
# Nothing to setup yet!


[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=22050

[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=22050
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.
# tandy -- Enable Tandy 3-Voice emulation.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=true
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[bios]
# Nothing to setup yet!


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

xms=false
ems=false

[modem]
# modem -- Enable virtual modem emulation.
# comport -- COM Port modem is connected to.
# listenport -- TCP Port the momdem 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]
mount c c:\games\dosbox\games
mount e f:\ -t cdrom
c:
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

With these settings, my Athlon 64 1.8GHz (3000+) can run me around 15,000 cycles with dynamic core. This game is shockingly demanding in SVGA mode. I'm also using dos32a instead of DOS4GW.

I used Chris's CBENCH to measure DOS VGA performance. It turns out that with my R9600, Overlay is definitely faster. I get ~44 fps vs. 35 fps with the same cycles with overlay instead of surface. DDRAW and Direct3D are similar in speed to Overlay. The SVGA Bench included with CBENCH isn't fast no matter what I do. DOSBOX's VGA emulation is just stunningly demanding.

Ideally, we could use VESA display modes in XP natively. That would instantly solve all speed problems. With DOS32A, TIE Fighter runs suprisingly stabily in XP. The loss of SVGA isn't acceptable though.

Anyone else have tips to share?

Reply 2 of 5, by Cthulhus

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

You have a nice computer ... U just have a 1800+ and Tie Fighter is too slow ...

Sorry for my poor english ! 😉 But, try to speak french like I'm speak english ! 😀 It's not easy !

Reply 3 of 5, by swaaye

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

It's almost not playable really. If I put it in VGA it's super playable, but SVGA is just so much more demanding.

I just installed WIn98SE and am going to play with it in there. I think native VESA will work fine in 98, and DOS32A should make it easier to get up and running.

Oh, and I found DOS drivers for my notebook's AC97 audio 😀

Reply 4 of 5, by swaaye

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Oh bummer. The VIA VT8235 sounthbridge doesn't have DOS drivers....VIA only supplies DOS drivers for 686A/B.

So, that eliminates running TIE in pure DOS with any sound. I doubt I could get a USB joystick working either.

Inside Win98 I can get sound SBPRO audio out of the southbridge since the drivers emulate it there, but I get no FM or wavetable. Sadly either the Radeon's VESA support sucks, or Win98 is messing it up. VDMSound for 98 is really rough, barely working at all....but the fact that SVGA is unusable basically rids Win98 as useful for TIE.

Hopefully DOSBOX will see more optimization that can get TIE Fighter running smoother in SVGA. It is very stable, but it is just so demanding. I find it hard to believe that there isn't room for improvement from optimization or compilation flag adjustments.