First post, by kolderman
So I've been wanted to do this for years, but lacking any knowledge of delphi was kind of a barrier. But then I discovered my supergrok subscription came with fairly generous credits for Grok Build (the terminal UI coding agent), and I thought what the heck let's give it a try. So after throwing two months worth of credits at it, I finally have the DFend I always wanted.
* New and improved things
- DOSBox-X and DOSBox Staging detection and support (naturally).
- Full support for detection and selection of pixel shaders/presets.
- Support for fluidsynth as a midi device - gain and soundfont path.
- Vsync/inactive screen option.
- Direct Windows MIDI interface detection.
- Rebuilt in RAD 12 with Unicode and modern Windows support.
- eXoDOS support for metadata, media and game import.
- Autoplay ambient music for games with soundtracks.
- Dozens of renamed/removed/changed dosbox config options updated in the config generator.
* Stuff I got rid of
- The classic profile editor.
- Bundled DOSBox classic and FreeDOS.
- Inbuilt video player (audio player remains, upgraded to use bass.dll).
- Numerous bug fixes and issues corrected.
* Stuff I would like to do if I have time
- At least one working metadata update URL (harder than it seems, most have gone behind API keys or paywalls).
- MT32 options support (rom/soundfont paths).
- 64-bit (would be nice).
- WinXP support (maybe one day, possible in theory with deep hacks of the delphi RTL).
Drop any comments or issues here or the github issues page. Note this will install alongside any existing D-Fend installations without conflict. You will have to copy over profiles manually as there is no import tool yet.
https://github.com/cyberfox1/dfendx/releases/tag/2.0.0
EDIT: What is DFendX?
DFendX is a resurrection of one of the OG DOSBox Frontends, D-Fend Reloaded (itself a remake of the even older D-Fend). The name D-Fend literally means D(OSBox)-F(ront)end. D-Fend reloaded was/is one of the most widely used DOSBox Frontends, but development stopped in 2015, before the rise of DOSBox-X and DOSBox-Staging, and lacked compatibility with those popular DOSBox forks, as well as modern Windows. DFendX is a modernization effort of D-Fend Reloaded with a primary focus of support for DOSBox-X and DOSBox Staging, as well as modern Windows support (Unicode, high-DPI etc). Here is a screenshot of DFendX that shows some of the new features added (otherwise identical to how D-Fend Reloaded appeared):
