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DOSBox ECE (for Windows & Linux)

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Reply 1320 of 1550, by _Rob

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Khvostik wrote on 2021-04-14, 08:00:

Oh, yea, thank you, I found it, I create a .conf file in the AppData folder. Was a bit confused, it'd be awesome maybe if the .conf file would be right in the download? And README was for standard DOSBox, so I was not bothered to read it duh. Thank you for your answers
Hmm, interesting, so fluidsynth doesn't work with CrisisGeneralMIDI301.sf2 SoundFont... and can't find instruments for in-game flight in "Air Power Battle in the Skies"... but well, this is probably questions for another topic.

I don't know this soundfont, but not all soundfonts have all instruments. I normally use FluidR3_GM.sf2

Reply 1322 of 1550, by Qbix

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Giuliano wrote on 2021-04-22, 03:49:
Qbix wrote on 2021-04-13, 09:30:

Please give 4445 a try

Hi Qbix, sorry it took me so long to try it. Version 4445 is back to normal (and also no stuttering in my case).

Thanks a lot!

Thanks for reporting back

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

Reply 1323 of 1550, by JSO

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I was using DOSbox since 2004 until 2010 when I had abandon the vintage gaming experience.

I was messing at some point, on 2014, 2015 with SVN Daum relesases, but many compatibility issues with DOS applications such as Professional Write, Lotus 1-2-3 and DBase. They worked only with regular DOSBox release, so a desire caught me for pure hardware experience and I build multiple vintage machines from 386 to Athlon and Voodoo 3 era, alongside with laptops of Pentium MMx and II era.

At the end of 2017 I've discovered PCem and never looked back to DOSBox for vintage gaming...

But...

Last week I've tested the latest ECE version and all the applications I mentioned, are working without issues! Also I was excited with the fluidsynth integration! Fatboy soundfonts are the best! And the ECE version had replaced the regular one... 3Dfx works with Tomb Raider Gold. So... We're back in business!

DOS IS THE POWER OF OUR CHILDHOOD MEMORIES!

Reply 1324 of 1550, by NewRisingSun

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I would like to request the conditional removal of a sanity check. 😉 In dos/cdrom_image.cpp, it says in line 393:

	// The maximum storage achieved on a CDROM was ~900MB or just under 100 minutes
// with overburning, so use this threshold to sanity-check the start sector.
else if (start > 450000)
LOG(LOG_MISC, LOG_WARN)("Game tried to read sector %lu, which is beyond the 100-minute maximum of a CDROM", start);

There is one game that comes on two CDs that only differ in their audio tracks. I would like to combine both CDs into an oversize CUE+ISO+WAV image that is about 481000 sectors long, so the player can conveniently play the entire game with correct audio tracks without having to swap mounted disk images. Doing so works well in the old DAUM build, and from what I can tell, the only thing that prevents it from working in ECE is this hard limitation, as all tracks play correctly right up to the 450000 starting sector number limit.

Would you mind either making this check optional or modifying it to just display a warning message in the Status Window but still continue down the code path that plays the track? That would enable me to post the script that creates the oversize image and makes few necessary changes to the game code, without having to ask users to compile their own DOSBox ECE build to make all tracks play properly.

Reply 1325 of 1550, by krcroft

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Yesterplay, context into these sanity checks (and others in the CD-DA patch) was to catch and inform users when things have really gone off the rails - for example: bad CD dump, broken/incompatible CUE sheets (which make it beyond the mounting phase), corrupt memory or integer overflows, and the most likely scenario: bugs in my own code that I added or changed.

There are other checks that still bound reads and seeks to the actual limit of the media provided - so I don't see any harm in removing this one entirely.

NewRisingSun - that sounds like a very nice patch! Being able to enjoy a game without the CD swaps is a very welcome usability improvement.

Reply 1326 of 1550, by truemaster

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after long time ive tryed to install win98se to the dosboxece version and i am impressed no errors at all compared back to daum builds. but something is missing to be perfect an ide emulation just like it was with daum builds. and optional an imagemake feature. so can these 2 features added to the next releases?

Reply 1327 of 1550, by _Rob

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truemaster wrote on 2021-05-05, 15:11:

after long time ive tryed to install win98se to the dosboxece version and i am impressed no errors at all compared back to daum builds. but something is missing to be perfect an ide emulation just like it was with daum builds. and optional an imagemake feature. so can these 2 features added to the next releases?

You should probably have a look at dosbox-x in that case. And for installing Win9x be sure to check the dosbox-x wiki for the walk-through.

Reply 1328 of 1550, by Yesterplay80

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NewRisingSun wrote on 2021-05-04, 15:57:

Would you mind either making this check optional or modifying it to just display a warning message in the Status Window but still continue down the code path that plays the track? That would enable me to post the script that creates the oversize image and makes few necessary changes to the game code, without having to ask users to compile their own DOSBox ECE build to make all tracks play properly.

I commented out the two lines you mentioned before building r4452, so please give that version a try.

My full-featured DOSBox SVN builds for Windows & Linux: Vanilla DOSBox and DOSBox ECE (Google Drive Mirror)

Reply 1330 of 1550, by NewRisingSun

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Yesterplay80 wrote on 2021-05-05, 21:31:

I commented out the two lines you mentioned before building r4452, so please give that version a try.

Yes, all tracks now play correctly. Thank you.

Reply 1331 of 1550, by Macron

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Hello. Just made the test of old "Mach 3" game (dos, 1987). With "DOSBox r4454" the sound (pc speaker emulation) is fine, but with "DOSBox ECE r4454" it sounds louder and with noise/cracks/clicks. Windows 7 user.

Reply 1332 of 1550, by Macron

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One more thing. I'm using "Volkov Commander" file manager (something like Norton Commander). When I press Up or Down button in the old "ykhwong 20150125 Dosbox" build, the cursor starts moving immediatelly up or down direction. But the same action either with the "DOSBox r4454" or "DOSBox ECE r4454" produces a slight annoying delay. It would be fine to correct this.
But I found some temporary solution. It helped many years ago with the real 286/386 machines too. Just run "x.exe" from "F-29 Retaliator" game folder. And then the cursor starts moving without delay.
In the "Windows 7" command line window you can implement the same effect of fast keyboard reaction with the command: "mode con rate=32 delay=0".

Last edited by Macron on 2021-05-15, 23:48. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1334 of 1550, by krcroft

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NewRisingSun wrote on 2021-05-04, 15:57:

I would like to request the conditional removal of a sanity check.<snip>
That would enable me to post the script that creates the oversize image and makes few necessary changes to the game code <snip>

NewRisingSun wrote on 2021-05-09, 07:37:
Yesterplay80 wrote on 2021-05-05, 21:31:

I commented out the two lines you mentioned before building r4452, so please give that version a try.

Yes, all tracks now play correctly. Thank you.

NRS - I know this is thread probably isn't the right thread to post your script that creates the oversized image, but if/when you do - can you drop a reference here? (just to close this loop for those like myself who might not know where to look - thank you!)

Reply 1335 of 1550, by villeneuve

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Hi,
I just tried to find the latest Linux version of DOSBox ECE and while doing so discovered that https://dosboxece.yesterplay.net/ seems to be down. It just shows a default page from the webhoster Strato.

*EDIT* Today it's working again or to be precise it now redirects successfully to https://yesterplay.net/dosboxece/ 😀 No Linux build current enough to be worth trying though.

*EDIT 2* Got a question considering ECE includes the "Soundblaster volumes patch created by Qbix & James-F": Does it render having "mixer master 40" (supposed to avoid clipping at all times) in [autoexec]-section of dosbox-ECE.conf obsolete?

Reply 1336 of 1550, by Yesterplay80

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villeneuve wrote on 2021-05-19, 01:14:

I just tried to find the latest Linux version of DOSBox ECE and while doing so discovered that https://dosboxece.yesterplay.net/ seems to be down. It just shows a default page from the webhoster Strato.

I moved my blog and ECEs homepage away from my webhoster and on my NAS running at home, that's what caused the downtime. Everything should be running normally again.

As for the Linux version: My VM still won't boot and I simply didn't have the time yet to set up a new one. I hope I'll be able to fix it in the near future.

My full-featured DOSBox SVN builds for Windows & Linux: Vanilla DOSBox and DOSBox ECE (Google Drive Mirror)

Reply 1338 of 1550, by Yesterplay80

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Avenger wrote on 2021-05-13, 02:31:

Please add LFN support.

Honesty, I don't see much benefit in adding LFN to ECE, if any at all, as it's primary use is still running DOS games. And I think using long file names with those would create more problems than it would be useful. Why don't you just use on of the other, more advanced forks that offer LFN support, like DosBox-X?

xcomcmdr wrote on 2021-05-25, 12:58:

Could you use wsl ? (if you use Windows)

I probably could, but I didn't want to have to set up everything form the start again.

So I sat down once again and finally managed to get my VM to boot again. And look what it spilled out: A fresh linux version. 😀

Last edited by Yesterplay80 on 2021-05-27, 09:42. Edited 1 time in total.

My full-featured DOSBox SVN builds for Windows & Linux: Vanilla DOSBox and DOSBox ECE (Google Drive Mirror)

Reply 1339 of 1550, by exofreeze

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There is a cd emulation error within ECE. We have found it in 3 games recently. The easiest to find example is with The Secret of Monkey Island VGA CD. This issue is confirmed to only exist within the ECE build. It does not exist in other DOSBox forks. I have tested the most recent build (4456) as well as builds going back several years. SVN 4456 does not have the issue, so it is not being inherited from there.

In Monkey Island, take Guybrush to the Scumm Bar and speak with the first pirate in the bar. You will get a loud screeching noise until the next CD track gets called. We have seen this issue when the timing is incorrect in a cue file, or when dosbox incorrect reads a cue file. The issue does not occur in ECE if I use a different program to mount the game's image, which helps isolate it to the way ECE is handling things.