First post, by swaaye
swaaye
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l33t++
Ok, I've spent many hours messing with TIE Fighter and DOSBOX. I'm using the latest CVS compile from the Unofficial DOSBOX Forum.
Here's my DOSBOX.conf:
[sdl]# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.# fullfixed -- Don't resize the screen when in fullscreen.# fullwidth/height -- What resolution to use for fullscreen, use together with fullfixed.# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,ddraw,direct3d.# hwscale -- Extra scaling of window if the output device supports hardware scaling.# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.# highpriority -- Run dosbox in high prioty, helps sound output alot.fullscreen=falsefulldouble=falsefullfixed=truefullwidth=1280fullheight=800output=overlayhwscale=1autolock=truesensitivity=100waitonerror=truehighpriority=truemapperfile=mapper.txt[dosbox]# language -- Select another language file.# memsize -- Amount of memory dosbox has in megabytes.# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,vga.# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.language=machine=vgacaptures=capturememsize=16[log]# Message not Found!logfile=vga=truevgagfx=truevgamisc=trueint10=truesblaster=truedma=truefpu=truecpu=truepaging=truefcb=truefiles=trueioctl=trueexec=truedosmisc=truepit=truekeyboard=truepic=truemouse=truebios=truegui=true
misc=trueio=true[render]# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.# aspect -- Do aspect correction.# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.# Supported are none,normal2x,advinterp2x,advmame2x,advmame3x,hq2x,interp2x,tv2x.# hq2x_threshold_adaptive -- The adaptive threshold used to detect edges in hq2x# Possible values are 0-100, can be modified with Ctrl+Alt+F5/F6# hq2x_threshold -- The static threshold used to detect edges in hq2x# Possible values are 0-255, can be modified with Ctrl+Alt+F3/F4frameskip=0aspect=falsescaler=nonehq2x_threshold_adaptive=75hq2x_threshold=0[cpu]# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: simple,normal,full,dynamic.# cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.# Setting this higher than your machine can handle is bad!# cycleup -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.# cycledown Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.core=dynamiccycles=15000cycleup=500cycledown=250timesynched=false[mixer]# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will# probably lower their sound quality.# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering# but sound will also be more lagged.# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.nosound=falserate=22050blocksize=2048prebuffer=10[midi]# mpu401 -- Enable MPU-401 Emulation.# device -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.# This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.# intelligent -- Operate in Intelligent mode.# config -- Special configuration options for the device.mpu401=trueintelligent=truedevice=defaultconfig=[debug]# Nothing to setup yet![sblaster]# type -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.# base,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the dosbox mixer.# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.# On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.type=sb16base=220irq=7dma=1hdma=5mixer=trueoplmode=autooplrate=22050[gus]# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.# base,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the# Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)# rate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory. In this directory# there should be a MIDI directory that contains# the patch files for GUS playback. Patch sets used# with Timidity should work fine.gus=truerate=22050base=240irq1=5irq2=5dma1=3dma2=3ultradir=C:\ULTRASND[speaker]# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.# tandy -- Enable Tandy 3-Voice emulation.# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.pcspeaker=truepcrate=22050tandy=truetandyrate=22050disney=true[bios]# Nothing to setup yet![dos]# xms -- Enable XMS support.# ems -- Enable EMS support.xms=falseems=false[modem]# modem -- Enable virtual modem emulation.# comport -- COM Port modem is connected to.# listenport -- TCP Port the momdem listens on for incoming connections.modem=falsecomport=2listenport=23[directserial]# directserial -- Enable serial passthrough support.# comport -- COM Port inside DOSBox.# realport -- COM Port on the Host.# defaultbps -- Default BPS.# parity -- Parity of the packets. This can be N, E or O.# bytesize -- Size of each packet. This can be 5 or 8.# stopbit -- The number of stopbits. This can be 1 or 2.directserial=falsecomport=1realport=COM1defaultbps=1200parity=Nbytesize=8stopbit=1[ipx]# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.ipx=false[autoexec]mount c c:\games\dosbox\gamesmount e f:\ -t cdromc:# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
With these settings, my Athlon 64 1.8GHz (3000+) can run me around 15,000 cycles with dynamic core. This game is shockingly demanding in SVGA mode. I'm also using dos32a instead of DOS4GW.
I used Chris's CBENCH to measure DOS VGA performance. It turns out that with my R9600, Overlay is definitely faster. I get ~44 fps vs. 35 fps with the same cycles with overlay instead of surface. DDRAW and Direct3D are similar in speed to Overlay. The SVGA Bench included with CBENCH isn't fast no matter what I do. DOSBOX's VGA emulation is just stunningly demanding.
Ideally, we could use VESA display modes in XP natively. That would instantly solve all speed problems. With DOS32A, TIE Fighter runs suprisingly stabily in XP. The loss of SVGA isn't acceptable though.
Anyone else have tips to share?
