Dosbox-pure has save states that work well

I tested it, in fact the save feature is very good, no fails at all.
The only problem is the retroarch frontend. I'm unable to configure the dosbox itself. I would like to enable xBRZ scaler and other stuff.
The DOSBOX-SVN by daum seem to have a good save state too, but the scalers and shaders don't work.
Every incarnation of DOSBox has somethings that work good and something that don't.
I only ask for xBRZ fullscreen without distortion and save states, but it's probably too much.

Shaders aren't too difficult to get working in RetroArch. Here is the official guide: https://docs.libretro.com/guides/shaders/#shader-presets

The shader you are going to want is in the
'RetroArch-Win64\shaders\shaders_glsl\xbrz'
or
'RetroArch-Win64\shaders\shaders_slang\edge-smoothing\xbrz' folder depending on the renderer.

Shader Presets are combinations of one or more shaders. They can be loaded via Quick Menu -> Shaders -> Load Shader Preset and i […]
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Shader Presets are combinations of one or more shaders. They can be loaded via Quick Menu -> Shaders -> Load Shader Preset and if you want to keep the shader between play sessions, you can save them as an "automatic" preset via Quick Menu -> Shaders -> Save -> Save Global/Core/Content Directory/Game Preset.

Global presets are automatically applied in any content for any core, while the Core presets are applied in any content for that specific core. Content Directory presets apply to all content in a certain folder and Game presets apply just to one game. Note that content directory and game presets are also core specific.

If more than one automatic presets exist that could be applied, the most specific one wins out, so for example, if both a global and a game preset exists, the game preset will be used.

You can also save other shader presets via Quick Menu -> Shaders -> Save -> Save Shader Preset As, so if you create your "perfect" combination of shaders you can recall this at any time with Load Shader Preset then continue on to save it as an automatic preset. This will save time if using the same preset for multiple games or cores.

By default automatic presets will save to the retroarch config directory

E.G. /config/"name-of-core"/"name-of-core/directory/"game".slangp|glslp|cgp

or

/config/global.slangp|glslp|cgp

Presets saved with save as are saved in the base shaders directory. The shader directory can be changed via Settings -> Directory -> Video Shader.

There are plenty of user created presets that come bundled with the RetroArch installation and these can be updated from Main Menu -> Online Updater -> Update Slang|Glsl|Cg Shaders (You can find these presets in the shaders_glsl, shaders_slang, or shaders_cg subfolders of your shaders directory.)

I applied exactly the shaders in the folders you pointed, but they simply don't smooth anything.
The ones in the glsl can't be selected. The ones in the slang I can select. Many of them work, but the ones in smooth edges folder don't work.

Probably each type of shader must be applied to the appropriate renderer, but also I can't find any option to change the renderer.

gfca wrote on 2026-01-24, 18:29:

What's the best frontend or DOSBox version concerning save states?
I've tried DOSBox-x but there must be some problem with save states. Anytime I load a state it says there is some memory difference, sometimes it loads correctly but most time it just crashes or loads a buggy game. Playing Prince of Persia during tests.
It seems save states are not a popular topic around doxbox. Is this correct?

They screwed up something in the most recent version. Try Dosbox-X from December and it will work. You can download it on Github.

eM-!3 wrote on 2026-01-25, 11:15:

They screwed up something in the most recent version. Try Dosbox-X from December and it will work. You can download it on Github.

You're right. Previous version worked well with the same game files.