Have you tried using core=normal. I don't have the game but core=normal or trying different versions of dosbox may work.

It was already on normal, so I fiddled with the other settings and that didn't work either.
It's odd, it runs fine on XP, I just don't get any sound. Plus, I don't like playing fullscreen anyway.

Tried dosbox 0.65 or dosbox 0.63 to run the game?

Did you already use up all the ????? that i sent you?

Oh yah i forgot about the question marks.

I just found another one and donated it to your posting 😀

Tried dosbox 0.65 or dosbox 0.63 to run the game?

Same result... Did this game ever work in DOSBox? 😕

I have it working in DOSBox 0.70. I have the normal core running with auto cycles. Make sure you choose the following settings for your soundcard.

Type: Soundblaster (Haven't tried others, but they might work too)
Address: 220
IRQ: 7
DMA channel: 1

Use F10 to save the settings. Doublecheck the cfg file to make sure the right settings are there. It should work then.

Finally! Turns out it was running incredibly slow, so I never stuck around long enough to see the title screen. I guess the warning didn't mean anything.

I sped it up so that it runs faster, the only thing now is that a frame or two is missing, and the transitions from menu to map to level take too long.

If the game works fine under XP but without sound, you may consider using VDMSound.

That gets me an error message:
"16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem
C:\DOCUME~1\Owner\LOCALS~1\Temp\~VLP0D9F.PIF
Invalid program file name, please check your pif file. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application."

Rename the .pif and start the real executable. If it doesn't work that way
rename the pif file back and edit the target path.

It would appear that the .pif doesn't actually exist. And Google turned up no results on it.
What would I rename it anyway?

How do you start it then? Batch file?

Right click, "Run with VDMS".

Does it work with other games that way?

Out of my collection, only Dangerous Dave in Copyright Infringement, Leo the Lion, Lord of the Rings, Mega Man, Pinball World, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Rogue and Tetris. And none of them run with sound.
The rest I get the same message or they don't run at all.

The Smurfs came with two executables, the DOS version and the windows version that should run fine in xp. The .pif is generated by windows when you change the propierties for the game. And make sure the game isn't "read only" or you'll never be able to change the configuration.

Already tried the Windows version:
"An privileged instruction was executed at address 00408a31
Click on OK to terminate the program"

Hmm. An error message with bad grammar? 😒