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60 seconds guide to getting your game to run in DOSBox

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First post, by MiniMax

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For Windows users (see below for other platforms)

  1. Create a folder for your game, e.g. in your Documents folder - usually C:\Users\your-user-name\Documents\DOSBox stuff\MyGame" (if you are still on Windows XP, the folder will be something like "C:\Documents and Settings\your-user-name\My Documents\DOSBox stuff\MyGame").
  2. Insert the CD with the game in your CD/DVD drive.
  3. Start DOSBox.
  4. In DOSBox, tell DOSBox which of your real folders and real drives to use as the emulated DOS drives C: and D:

    Z:\>mount C "C:\Users\your-user-name\Documents\DOSBox stuff\MyGame"
    Drive C is mounted as local directory C:\Users\your-user-name\Documents\DOSBox stuff\MyGame

    Z:\>mount D "D:\" -t cdrom
    MSCDEX installed.
    Drive D is mounted as CDRom D:\

    Z:\>C:
    C:\>

    (assuming that D:\ is your real CD/DVD drive. )

    Note 0: Please remember to use the double-quotes (") around the path names. They are important if the path contains spaces.

    Note 1: It is highly recommended that you always use C and D for the emulated drives. It doesn't matter what your real drives are.

    If your "DOSBox stuff\MyGame" folder is located on say your real F-drive, then do a mount C "F:\DOSBox stuff\MyGame"
    If your real CD-ROM drive is E:, then do a mount D "E:\" -t cdrom


    Note 2: Unless you are prepared to re-install and re-configure the game, DO NOT CHANGE the way you mount the C and D drives for this particular game.

    Note 3: The first time you assign (mount) a CD/DVD (or a diskette for that matter), DOSBox will scan the media and remember which files that are on the CD. This means, that whenever you swap CD's, you need to press CTRL-F4 to force DOSBox to re-scan the media and re-build its view of what is on the CD.
  5. Switch to the D: drive and install the game (to C:)

    C:\>D:

    Have a look at the files with the dir command, and see if you can spot an install or and a setup program or whatever the command to start the installation is called. Check your Manual/Installation Guide for MyGame for the exact command to use.

    D:\>dir /w

    D:\>install
  6. Configure sound, configure graphics, ...

    A safe bet with configuring sound, is to select General MIDI or SoundBlaster. Don't try stuff like Gravis Ultrasound (GUS) or Adlib. If you are asked about details like IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA addresses when configuring the game to use SoundBlaster for sound, use IO = 220, IRQ = 7, DMA = 1 (and sometimes High DMA = 5).
  7. Start the game.

    Again, the installation program and/or the manual will tell you how to to do this. Typically, you will need to locate a file called MyGame.Exe, MyGame.Bat or something similar. Check your Manual/Installation Guide for MyGame for the exact command to use.

    If you don't have a clue how to start the game, you can try to locate the file yourself. If you are not already seeing the C:\> prompt in DOSBox, switch from the emulated D-drive to the emulated C-drive with:

    D:\>C:
    C:\>

    Then have a look at the files with the dir command:

    C:\>dir /w

    Use the cd name-of-folder command to move into a folder (also known as a <DIR>ectory), and cd .. to move out again. In each folder, do a dir /w until you see the MyGame.Exe / MyGame.Bat file. Now start it with:

    C:\>MyGame

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If you have more than 60 seconds to spare, go to Start => Programs => DOSBox-0.73 > Edit Configuration. That should start Notepad on the (semi-hidden) configuration file.

On Windows Vista the file will be something like C:\Users\your-user-name\AppData\Local\DOSBox\dosbox-0.73.conf.
On Windows XP, it will be %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\DOSBox\dosbox-0.73.conf.

Add the mount commands to the section named autoexec (at the bottom of the file):

[autoexec]
mount C "C:\Users\your-user-name\Documents\DOSBox stuff\MyGame"
mount D "D:\" -t cdrom
C:

That way, the mount commands will automagically be executed by DOSBox everytime you start DOSBox.

OBS: If you have a lot of games, a single configuration file will often not be enough.

You have 2 solutions:

  1. Copy the dosbox-0.73.conf file to somewhere in your Documents folder and name it according to which game or configuration you want, e.g. MyGame-0.73.conf.

    Next, edit your DOSBox shortcut (or make a new one, call it Run MyGame) and change the target into something like
    %ProgramFiles%\DOSBox-0.73\dosbox.exe -conf "C:\path\to\your\MyGame-0.73.conf"
  2. Install one of the DOSBox frontends that makes it a breeze to edit and create game-specific configurations.

_________________

For more information on DOSBox and how to use it, please visit some of these pages:

  • The DOSBox ReadMe file.
    Essential reading and your first source of information on how to start DOSBox, how to mount drives, change keyboard layout, etc, etc.
  • The DOSBox Wiki. A good supplement to the ReadMe file.
  • All the other DOSBox guides here at VOGONS.
  • ErikGG's DOSBox FAQ.

_________________

Last edited by MiniMax on 2009-06-18, 17:36. Edited 32 times in total.

Reply 1 of 1, by MiniMax

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For Mac OS X users (see above for other platforms)

  1. Create a folder for your game, e.g. in your Documents folder - "/Users/your-user-name/Documents/DOSBox stuff/MyGame".
  2. Insert the CD with the game in your CD/DVD drive.
  3. Launch DOSBox.
  4. In DOSBox, tell DOSBox which of your real folders and real drives to use as the emulated DOS drives C: and D:

    Z:\>mount C "/Users/your-user-name/Documents/DOSBox stuff/MyGame"
    Z:\>mount D "/Volumes/name-of-your-CD" -t cdrom
    Z:\>C:
    C:\>

    Note 0: Please remember to use the double-quotes (") around the path names. They are important if the path contains spaces.

    Note 1: It is highly recommended that you always use C and D for the emulated drives.

    Note 2: Unless you are prepared to re-install and re-configure the game, DO NOT CHANGE the way you mount the C and D drives for this particular game.

    Note 3: The first time you assign (mount) a CD/DVD (or a diskette for that matter), DOSBox will scan the media and remember which files that are on the CD. This means, that whenever you swap CD's, you need to press CTRL-F4 to force DOSBox to re-scan the media and re-build its view of what is on the CD.
  5. Switch to the D: drive and install the game (to C:)

    C:\>D:

    Have a look at the files with the dir command, and see if you can spot an install or and a setup program or whatever the command to start the installation is called. Check your Manual/Installation Guide for MyGame for the exact command to use.

    D:\>install
  6. Configure sound, configure graphics, ...

    Hopefully the installation program (or the manual) will tell you how to configure the game. In many cases the installation program will have created a SETUP- or CONFIGURE-program somewhere on your emulated C-drive, and it will tell you how to start it from DOSBox.

    A safe bet when configuring sound, is to select General MIDI or SoundBlaster. Don't try stuff like Gravis Ultrasound (GUS) or Adlib. If you are asked about details like IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA addresses when configuring the game to use SoundBlaster for sound, use IO = 220, IRQ = 7, DMA = 1 (and sometimes High DMA = 5).
  7. Start the game.

    Again, the installation program and/or the manual will tell you how to to do this. Typically, you will need to locate a file called MyGame.Exe, MyGame.Bat or something similar. Check your Manual/Installation Guide for MyGame for the exact command to use.

    If you don't have a clue how to start the game, you can try to locate the file yourself. If you are not already seeing the C:\> prompt in DOSBox, switch from the emulated D-drive to the emulated C-drive with:

    D:\>C:
    C:\>

    Then have a look at the files with the dir command:

    C:\>dir /w

    Use the cd name-of-folder command to move into a folder (also known as a <DIR>ectory), and cd .. to move out again. In each folder, do a dir /w until you see the MyGame.Exe / MyGame.Bat file. Now start it with:

    C:\>MyGame

_________________

If you have more than 60 seconds to spare, you can create a DOSBox preferences (configuration) file with instruction for DOSBox to automagically mount the emulated C and D drives every time you start DOSBox.

Launch TextEdit, open "/Users/your-user-name/Library/Preferences/DOSBox 0.73 Preferences" and add the mount commands to the section named autoexec (at the bottom of the file):

[autoexec]
mount C "/Users/your-user-name/Documents/DOSBox stuff/MyGame"
mount D "/Volumes/name-of-your-CD" -t cdrom -ioctl
C:

That way, they will automagically be executed by DOSBox everytime you start DOSBox.
_________________

For more information on DOSBox and how to use it, please visit some of these pages:

  • The DOSBox ReadMe file.
    Essential reading and your first source of information on how to start DOSBox, how to mount drives, change keyboard layout, etc, etc.
  • The DOSBox Wiki. A good supplement to the ReadMe file.
  • All the other DOSBox guides here at VOGONS.
  • ErikGG's DOSBox FAQ.

_________________