DOSBox settings for Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994) \ VOGONS

DOSBox settings for Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994)

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First post, by AlexV

Posted on 2018-11-14, 20:03

AlexV Offline

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Joined: 2018-11-13, 04:03

I'm building a DOSBox setup to host Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (the CD-ROM version) using Roland Sound Canvas VA to get the best experience of this mythic game.

I have a powerhouse to host this (Windows 10, 4 GHz i7, 64 GB RAM, GeForce 1080 @ 4K resolution...) and I have 2 problems:

#1 performance is not that good (some choppiness and the MIDI music is "slow"). I have somewhat fixed this with frameskip=1 but I'm wondering why I need this as it's the fist time I'm having performances issues in DOSBox.

I tested a myriad of settings (windowed /full screen, etc) and the only setting helping me is setting frameskip to non zero. Take note that my (real) CPU load is under 10% at all time while DOSBox is running.

#2 The MIDI tracks don't sound like the real SC-55 with the Roland Sound Canvas VA. Yes Roland Sound Canvas VA is processing the MIDI (I see the equaliser and instruments moving). I don't have a real SC-55 to compare but the Macintosh CD-A track on the CD are much better and YouTube captures of real hardware is much in line with the CD-A than what I get with the Roland Sound Canvas VA. What settings do you use (in Warcraft's SETUP.EXE and in Roland Sound Canvas VA)?

This is my DOSBox conf file (comments removed for clarity):

1[sdl]
2fullscreen=true
3fulldouble=false
4fullresolution=desktop
5windowresolution=1280x960
6output=overlay
7autolock=true
8sensitivity=100
9waitonerror=true
10priority=higher,normal
11mapperfile=mapper-0.74-2.map
12usescancodes=true
13
14[dosbox]
15language=
16machine=svga_s3
17captures=capture
18memsize=16
19
20[render]
21frameskip=1
22aspect=true
23scaler=normal2x
24
25[cpu]
26core=auto
27cputype=auto
28cycles=26800
29cycleup=10
30cycledown=20
31
32[mixer]
33nosound=false
34rate=44100
35blocksize=1024
36prebuffer=25
37
38[midi]
39mpu401=intelligent
40mididevice=default
41midiconfig=1
42
43[sblaster]
44sbtype=sb16
45sbbase=220
46irq=7
47dma=1
48hdma=5
49sbmixer=true
50oplmode=auto
51oplemu=default
52oplrate=44100
53
54[gus]
55gus=false
56gusrate=44100
57gusbase=240
58gusirq=5
59gusdma=3
60ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

…Show last 39 lines

61
62[speaker]
63pcspeaker=true
64pcrate=44100
65tandy=auto
66tandyrate=44100
67disney=true
68
69[joystick]
70joysticktype=auto
71timed=true
72autofire=false
73swap34=false
74buttonwrap=false
75
76[serial]
77serial1=dummy
78serial2=dummy
79serial3=disabled
80serial4=disabled
81
82[dos]
83xms=true
84ems=true
85umb=true
86keyboardlayout=auto
87
88[ipx]
89ipx=true
90
91[autoexec]
92@echo off
93mount C "..\Warcraft II"
94imgmount D "..\Warcraft II CD-ROM\WARCRAFT2.CUE" -t iso
95c:
96cls
97WAR2.EXE
98exit

Thanks for your help!

Reply 1 of 6, by ripsaw8080

Posted on 2018-11-14, 20:20

ripsaw8080 Offline

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Rank: DOSBox Author
Posts: 5102
Joined: 2006-04-25, 23:24

Try output=opengl, and make sure v-sync is not forced ON in the video driver because that can cause choppiness in DOSBox.

I believe Sound Canvas VA emulates an SC-88, and although it might not be completely the same as an SC-55, it should sound good. I see that you have midiconfig=1 in settings; does the MIXER /LISTMIDI command show that the Sound Canvas VA is device 1?

Reply 2 of 6, by lightmaster

Posted on 2018-11-14, 20:20

lightmaster Offline

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Posts: 627
Joined: 2005-10-01, 12:09
Location: Sol III

Runs nicely since 2012. There must be another config somewhere in these forums, please search.

Reply 3 of 6, by AlexV

Posted on 2018-11-14, 20:28

AlexV Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 2
Joined: 2018-11-13, 04:03

ripsaw8080: Yes Sound Canvas VA is indeed device 1. And with Sound Canvas VA you can select wich SC you want to emulate. I use SC-55 for my tests.

lightmaster: Yes I read everything I found here and on the Web. Tried different things for hours before posting.

Reply 4 of 6, by lightmaster

Posted on 2018-11-14, 21:10

lightmaster Offline

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Posts: 627
Joined: 2005-10-01, 12:09
Location: Sol III

I just cannot understand and or comprehend why did you said "..performance is not that good (some choppiness.."..

Last edited by lightmaster on 2018-11-14, 21:34. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 5 of 6, by DosFreak

Posted on 2018-11-14, 21:16

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Location: Milliways

Sounds like could be vsync and normal core to me but would have to test.

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Reply 6 of 6, by MrFlibble

Posted on 2018-12-01, 11:08

MrFlibble Offline

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Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1123
Joined: 2013-06-07, 19:56

A while ago I came to the conclusion that using a fixed cycles value may not be the best option. As suggested by the DOSBox wiki, I started using the limit cycles option instead:

1cycles=auto 70% limit 26800

DOSBox developers please correct me if I'm wrong on this, but from my experience this produces neat performance including that for Warcraft, although I cannot say for your version which I don't have (BTW your dosbox.conf says WAR2.EXE).

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