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Daggerfall Lags

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First post, by hext1

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I am tryin to play Daggerfall on DosBox .72 and my issue is the gameplay has a lag to it...

I'm running XP home on a p4 2ghrtz and have a GeForce 6200 256m DDR graphics card

I have 1 gig of pc 3200 RAM, and Soundblaster Audigy

A more detailed description of my problem would be I can start and "play" the game, it's just the framerate is not smooth. I tried the XP installer, with running setup w/ VDMS, and that seems smooth, but i cant get the sound fx (midi's ok) to work right, they like drag or skip. Plus I read about the quest monster bug so I dont know if that will work for me anyway, it *was* pretty smooth though...

So I turn to DosBox, which I already use for X-Com, so I have minor experience to start with. I tried tweaking, and then reverting, a few options but probably looked over or dont understand the real issue. I can get it almost playable, holding 15-16k cycles but that suffers in framerate.

I changed setting such as output, aspect, scaler, & core/cyles, to no avail. I read a little about the CVS releases, dowloaded one and either didnt implement it correctly or something is still off.

On a more humbling side note, I've already pulled out my old 98 machine to find it's cdrom unusable, swapped it for another (unworking) computers drive only for that one to not open either... let's just say my fingers hurt 😜

Here's what my dosbox.cfg's look like, this ones my usual, possibly slightly different from my X-Com settings as I've tried a couple things
# This is the configurationfile for DOSBox 0.72.

[sdl]
fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=0x0
windowresolution=original
output=ddraw
autolock=true
sensitivity=50
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=32 #usually 16, during x-com times

[render]
frameskip=0
aspect=true
scaler=none #used 2xsai for x-com

[cpu]
core=auto
cycles=max
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

[mixer]
nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
mpu401=intelligent
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
gus=true
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[joystick]
joysticktype=auto
timed=true
autofire=false
swap34=false
buttonwrap=true

[serial]
serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]
xms=true
ems=true
umb=true
keyboardlayout=none

[ipx]
ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount d d:\ # also lags with iso mounted in F, indifferent
D:\ -t cdrom -usecd 0
mount C C:\dagger
C:
cd dagger
fall.exe z.cfg
[/code]

Now for options, Im open to anything that works. I have the ISO, with dfinstall and patch, daemon tools, and even an orignal (albiet burned) copy of the game. Anything that makes the game work is worth it.

A preferable fix may be fixing the sound for the XP install, but not if there's still the quest monster bug.

A dosbox patch, fix, or CVS that does the job is just as good, and more likely I assume. I have to wonder if its the sound setings.. I believe dosbox may still be following VDMS sb16 settings and doesnt seem to recognize the gravis ultra sound stuff (in the test).... but that's why I need help, I'm completely unsure!

Another thing I'm unsure of s the cycles, set on auto, max, or 30k, it's basically the same (15-16k cycles / 7-13 fps)...

I'm hoping someone has a suggestion or method, or anything that will bring the game up the it's deserved glory.. erm.. framerate. I've had a heck of time since I found this disk.. It's driving me crazy 😖

Reply 2 of 9, by hext1

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right.. great first response >.> if it came to buying something wouldnt it just be a new cdrom for the 98 machine as opposed to a new computer?

I'm looking for help with what I already have...

Reply 3 of 9, by Qbix

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you could try manully cycles setting
and aspect=false and frameskip=1 will help a bit as well.

Water flows down the stream
How to ask questions the smart way!

Reply 4 of 9, by DosFreak

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hext1 wrote:

right.. great first response >.> if it came to buying something wouldnt it just be a new cdrom for the 98 machine as opposed to a new computer?

I'm looking for help with what I already have...

It's the right response. No sense banging away at something if it's not the right tool for the job. You wouldn't hammer a stake with a toothpick would you?

If you think you can get the older machine working with a minimal amount of trouble. Configure it correctly, keep it maintained, "waste" the time trying to get it working. Then go for it.

or

You can get a modern computer and enjoy the benefits it will bring overall to everything you do with your main computer. The P4 was a slow processor on release, everyone who cared about performance at the time bought an Athlon XP or above. The P4 isn't going to be getting any faster.
Buy a C2D and be happy.

DOSBox is an emulator. It requires a fast processor. Not a cheapo processor that Intel didn't give a crap about.

If you want to ignore everything that I've stated above then at least listen to this:

Do not play the game in NTVDM in Windows. Don't even bother.

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Make your games work offline

Reply 5 of 9, by ADDiCT

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Yeah, that PC is too slow to run games via DOSBox in SVGA (which is probably what you're trying to do). I have a 2.6Ghz P4 (DosFreak, it _hurts_ when you say these bad things about my poor little intel! (; ), and i see the same effect. You can verify this easily: just have a look at CPU usage in the task manager.

I think some of the CVS builds are a bit faster than the original build. Try ykhwong's (though last time i checked the forum, it seemed he removed many of the features that made this build so interesting), or Gulizoka's (which is what i'm using now) builds.

You may have better performance with other emulators (like qemu or Bochs), but when it comes to playing DOS games, there's no real alternative to DOSBox. I've tested, for example, Magic Carpet in SVGA resolution in different emulators, and got better framerates with other emulators than DOSBox (can't remember which ones, i think it was qemu), but had problems with missing sound, joystick support, etc. . Not to mention the fact that you'll have to setup a full DOS system, with memory management and everything, which is not a trivial task.

Comparing performance of emulated games vs. (more or less) natively running them with NTVDM is just silly. Emulation in general is very CPU intensive (depending on the emulated system), as all hardware features have to be emulated in software.

Reply 6 of 9, by hext1

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well thanks for responding guys, and yes... a quick look shows my cpu was in the 90's. i got it workin on the, how should i put this.. more old computer.. and it's shameful how good it runs by comparison. btw a paper clip solved my problem 😒

Reply 7 of 9, by wd

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and it's shameful how good it runs by comparison

No that's not shameful.

Reply 8 of 9, by Xian97

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I have found that generally an older spec processor like a P4 will run games that were intended for a 386 under DOSBox, but once you get into the more demanding DOS games then you need to have a faster processor.

Daggerfall was a game that was released in 1996, towards the end of DOS being the dominant PC gaming OS. It's those type of games that I have found really benefit from a newer processor. The Build Engine games such as Duke 3D, Blood, and Redneck Rampage are other examples of ones that will probably not give you acceptable performance levels on a 2 ghz P4.

Reply 9 of 9, by temptingthelure

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I have played daggerfall on my 3ghz p4 with HT at very good framerates. No lag. 😀

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