Set timed=false in dosbox.conf. Or don't change the cycles ingame.

think i've tried the timed thing but I'll double check when i get home and report my findings, as for the not changing the cycles, do you mean don't change them and start the game off on a higher cycle or just not to go over 3500 cycles, cause that just makes the game unplayable.

I will get this working.......

Although i might sound frustrasted with this i will say any game i've tried that doesn't involve a joystick has worked near perfect for me, so I am loving dosbox and the work you guys have done, just typical it's always your favourite game that doesn't quite work right with emulators (perfect dark 🤣 )

the first thing.
increase cycles and afterwards start game

Huh? 3500 cycles is too slow imo. Unless you have an older computer. I meant change the cycles before starting the game and not while running it.
Btw you can recalibrate your joystick ingame (at the menu, not while fighting) by pressing alt+j.

With timed=false it definitely doesn't drift for me.

I'll give it another go later to double check. Quick question HAL, do you use a frontend? I've got a feeling in might be my frontend causing the problems as i can't see why people using the same version and control pad as me can solve this by changing the joystick setting yet for me it has no effect.

EDIT: sorry didn't see the two previous posts, i'll try the alt+j recalibration and starting the game on a higher cycle and report my findings when i get home in a couple of hours.

wing commander 2 is a bit dodgy on my machine with it's frame rate, starts off ok at 3500 but on the second mission it starts to slow down when there's a bit more going on, that's why i'm constantly changing the cycle rate cause then it runs to fast once you've killed some kilrathi and there's less ships on screen.

my PC is getting a bit old in the tooth.

windows xp
amd athlon 2500+
radeon 9800 256mb
1024 RAM
10,000 RPM SATA hard drive.

sorry if i'm being a pain in the bum, i can usually solve these sort of things by myself and don't have to resort to hassling people when they've probably got better things to be doing but i'm coming across as a bit of newb. I do actually work for a software company would you believe and used to work in the games industry 😖

No I don't use a frontend.
For a quick test type timed on the DOSBox prompt and it will return the current setting. That is if you can persuade the frontend not to close the window after exiting the game.

thanks for that, the frontend definately leaves dosbox open after closing a game (cause it was annoying me last night) so I'll see what that returns.

thanks for your patience and help ppl, i'll get there in the end 😁

OMG!!!!!!!

i just wrote out the biggest reply stating my findings and the solution to all the problems, went for a cigarette, when i came back the internet had dropped and everything was lost LOLOLOLOLOL

i am the luckiest guy 😵

i'm not writing all that out again so here it is in summary

-frontend bugged
-changing joystick settings in frontend don't actually do anything, they are always set to dosbox default
-timed=true in dosbox even when timed=false in frontend
-setting timed=false in dosbox config irrlevant as frontend still sets it to true
-D.O.G. was frontend + informed makers of DOG

specific for WC2:

-setting cycle to a higher number before starting up solves drifting problem
-upping the cycle by around 4000 in game screws up the calibration but ALT+J and recalibrating sorts it out

if anyone needs me to expand a bit more I'd be more than happy to

THANKS PPL MUCH APPRECIATED

(my original post was much more appreciative) 😁

Hi dovonob,

Also recieved the guestbook note,

Hi […]
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Hi

great front end, I’ve never been bothered to get dosbox working properly but I tried it with this as i was bored and got everything i tried working which was fantastic.

You do have a lovely joystick bug though, the joystick settings seem to have no effect whatsoever (dosbox 0.71) you can even set them to joystick turned off and it still picks it up. The biggest problem is that even if you have ’timed’ set to false, dosbox is still running it as ’true’. Makes playing certain games impossible (WC Privateer).

Cheers

The bug with the joystick in D.O.G. 1.53 and DOSBox 0.70 and up is already fixed in the experimental D.O.G. 1.54. […]
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The bug with the joystick in D.O.G. 1.53 and DOSBox 0.70 and up is already fixed in the experimental D.O.G. 1.54.

D.O.G. 1.54 contains a lot of bugfixes for the DOSBox 0.71 release and other issues, also improves setting up multiplayer games (IPX).

To use D.O.G. 1.54, backup the entire D.O.G. 1.53 directory with an archiving tool like WinZip or WinRar, then extract the D.O.G. 1.54 version to the D.O.G. directory overwriting all files. You won’t loose your profiles or information.

Try it out and if you like D.O.G. 1.53 better then empty out the D.O.G. directory and extract the backup back to this directory.

Thanks,

Erik.

D.O.G. 1.53 is buggy for DOSBox 0.70 and up on the joystick part.
The experimental build of D.O.G. 1.54 has the fix for this.

-D.O.G. was frontend + informed makers of DOG

Thanks for the input. Makes me remember I need to finish and upload the official D.O.G. 1.54 this month.

Also I'm just one guy. 🙄

Thanks,

Erik.

Hi Erik

no worries, probably a good thing the joystick bug was there cause it made me learn how to use dosbox without a frontend 😀 it did send me crazy for 2 days though 🤣

I'll try out the 154 version as i'd still prefer to use a frontend and that was the only problem I had with it, the rest of it was great so keep up the good work mate. 😁

p.s. best thing is, all the hassle i went through to get privateer working, once i'd played it for 10 minutes i thought it was a bit crap 🤣