(I'm assuming that you're using the game.ins file to imgmount the game.)
In trying the game, I found that the game.ins uses the windows method to mount the files. You're going to need to open it up and change the case, as well as the directory symbol to match what it should be for linux.
For me, as an example
FILE "music\Track05.ogg" MP3
becomes
FILE "MUSIC/Track05.ogg" MP3
And you're going to have to change all the files in game.ins appropriately.

thanks for answer. I did this, but nothing changed :c
is this game even playable in DOSbox? and how windows-users plays? I assume they also use DOSbox, because GOG installation has it. I tried launch it with WINE, and all was even worse - I can hear sound from intro, but screen is completely black.
so, it seems this is an old bug https://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?showID=2985&letter=B
but some people manage to play this game with mounting .cue images

Add this line to the the SPIRE.BAT file ... after the line:
echo Starting Battlespire...

1set causeway=MAXMEM:71;PRE:40;NAME:spire.swp

Dagar wrote on 2023-11-09, 14:01:

Add this line to the the SPIRE.BAT file ... after the line: echo Starting Battlespire... […]
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Add this line to the the SPIRE.BAT file ... after the line:
echo Starting Battlespire...

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1set causeway=MAXMEM:71;PRE:40;NAME:spire.swp

it is install from GOG, it already has all those patches and other things.

I ended up with Windows XP in virtualbox. I've been told that winXP can run DOS programms. but it still didn't work without DOSbox, but for some reason it actually works. I need to set screen ratio to 4:3 or DOSbox can not correctly render the game. don't ask why I use winXP instead of MS-DOS. I tried, but this is freaking hell.

Worked fine for me last night once I made some fixes.
I combined dosbox_battlespire.conf with dosbox_battlespire_single.conf to create dosbox.conf, and changed the mount c to point to where the game actually was, because it was trying to point a directory lower based on how I was starting differently than I suspect gog intends.
I did run the install.exe just to make sure that the audio settings were right, but that might not be necessary.
Then I did have to edit the imgmount command as it wasn't finding the game.ins so I used the complete path to the file rather than the relative path.
For me I changed
imgmount d "..\game.ins" -t iso
to
imgmount d /opt/gog/archive/windows/battlespire/drive_c/battlespire/game.ins -t iso
(Sane people would probably install their game on a different path. 😀 You'll need to use your actual path.)
If you're running dosbox from your actual battlespire directory with the dosbox.conf right there, you might be able to get away with just

mount c .
imgmount d game.ins -t iso

Followed by me doing the previously mentioned editing of the game.ins file.

Personally I suggest commenting out or just removing the spire.bat line in dosbox.conf to make sure that everything is mounting correctly.
Something like
Drive C is mounted as local directory (Path to mountpoint)
MSCDEX is installed.
Drive D is mounted as (Path to game.ins)

And I believe the game.gog and game.ins are the cue image.

dougdahl wrote on 2023-11-10, 07:06:

Worked fine for me last night once I made some fixes. I combined dosbox_battlespire.conf with dosbox_battlespire_single.conf to […]
Show full quote

Worked fine for me last night once I made some fixes.
I combined dosbox_battlespire.conf with dosbox_battlespire_single.conf to create dosbox.conf, and changed the mount c to point to where the game actually was, because it was trying to point a directory lower based on how I was starting differently than I suspect gog intends.
I did run the install.exe just to make sure that the audio settings were right, but that might not be necessary.
Then I did have to edit the imgmount command as it wasn't finding the game.ins so I used the complete path to the file rather than the relative path.
For me I changed
imgmount d "..\game.ins" -t iso
to
imgmount d /opt/gog/archive/windows/battlespire/drive_c/battlespire/game.ins -t iso
(Sane people would probably install their game on a different path. 😀 You'll need to use your actual path.)
If you're running dosbox from your actual battlespire directory with the dosbox.conf right there, you might be able to get away with just

mount c .
imgmount d game.ins -t iso

Followed by me doing the previously mentioned editing of the game.ins file.

Personally I suggest commenting out or just removing the spire.bat line in dosbox.conf to make sure that everything is mounting correctly.
Something like
Drive C is mounted as local directory (Path to mountpoint)
MSCDEX is installed.
Drive D is mounted as (Path to game.ins)

And I believe the game.gog and game.ins are the cue image.

by the nine, you are the best! it works! thank you! it is so simple, but I would never have guessed. are you an IT-guy or just very smart? wow, that was a big quest. why on earth GOG didnt make Linux version? just put Linux DOSbox with configs.

I should have indicated in the topic that this all about Linux, so maybe all future people could easily find this solution. can I edit it now?
by the way, this game is pretty nice, but it still feels for me like a DLC. no gold, no merchants, no rest, just one huge dungeon. too bad that we must spent points not only for character attributes, but also on equipment. did I miss something? if it is supposed to be an exam, our hero should already have minimal equipment. what is really good in my opinion that we can talk to all creatures, even if they can only answer "HRRRRRR". this is what I like in Daggerfall and miss in Skyrim. I don't like to be a stupid kill-all-moving-things machine. it even seems like NPCs can become scared and run away (or maybe it just strange glitches of old game).

Not IT, and while I would like to think I'm smart, the evidence seems to be to the contrary. Just had some experience with problems with games, linux, dosbox, and various combinations of the above, and once I have some glimmer of what seems to be the problem, it's usually so unique that google is pretty good about spitting out the solution with first few results.

And Battlespire always was a bit of an odd duck to me. A RPG with some of the things that are good and useful in RPGs cut out to make something much more focused on combat and exploration. My personal suspicion is that either they wanted to make a game quick, or that some game came a bit earlier that was pretty successful, and the executives tried to repurpose the daggerfall engine to copy it. I'd say Diablo, but that doesn't feel right.
It's been a long time, but I seem to recall that once you started getting more potions, better equipment, etc that the game really got a fair bit easier. Definitely could have used a tutorial or some way of getting some better starter gear rather than hoping that you can kill the first monsters and get good enough gear/potions before getting killed.