That is a pretty slow CPU to be running DOSBox on, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was the cause.

I'd say try dosemu or qemu for any game that dosbox is too slow for in your case. Another advantage is greater compatibility because you have three choices for dos games. If setting qemu and doemu is too complicated for you than I'd say upgrade your computer or buy a cheap PC to use as a dos box.

For Ultima 7 you might also want to take a look at Exult.

Well, the speed of my CPU is no longer an issue and the problem still occurs on the new machine. The pauses still exist even when I set the game to 15,000 cycles, but are shorter. (~5,000 cycles seems to be the proper speed.) Do the pauses exist on a contemporary, high speed 386, low speed 486 PC? They certainly don't on my old 800MHz PIII using the Win 9X patch.

I have no particular affinity for Exult anymore because DOSBox can play the games as they are supposed to be played (except for the above issue) and I have an MT-32 compatible sound module. The advanced features of Exult don't appeal to me.

you have to set the dosbox cycles so high that your CPU is just at the edge of being overtaxed. Best run dosbox in a window and run the taskmanager as well to see the CPU load.

MT-32 and Exult: newer code of Exult supports both a real MT-32, a fake one 😀 and the MT-32 emulator.

I'm dealing with the exact same issue and increasing the CPU cycles does not solve the problem:

Ultima 7 issue - pauses while moving, every few steps

5000 cycles does seem to be roughly the proper game speed.

I wonder if the devs have figured out a workaround for this.