FYI for fellow moderators: Noctis IV is free and sourcecode released under a custom ("WTOF Public License") license.
http://anynowhere.com/bb/layout/html/frameset.html

Why use dosbox, use dos

Davros wrote:

Why use dosbox, use dos

...and the average person is going to have access to a copy of MS-DOS capable of running Noctis IV? The audience the YouTuber I'm assisting targets is more of a technically-curious audience, not a technically-savvy one. The YouTuber's average viewer wouldn't know where to get MS-DOS, nor how to properly set it up in a legal manner. FreeDOS is AFAIK the only legally and freely-available DOS clone for modern users, hence why I'm using it as the VM'd OS. Furthermore, once enough users have tested my provided VM for performance, and assuming the VM is performant, I'll write up a explanation (with accompanying pictures) of how to run it if the YouTuber deems it needed.

Furthermore, the closest thing I could find to system requirements states the game won't run on any version of DOS older than 4.0 - ruling out a compiled version the official Microsoft source code release of MS-DOS 2.0. Plus, I understand the license the code's released under is highly-restrictive, so a successfully-compiled version would likely be unable to be distributed as a VirtualBox VM 'application'.

DOSBox will likely be the fastest unless they are using 32bit Windows with NTVDM or using Linux with DOSEMU.

besides the game doesn't even have sound, running it in NTVDM has no compromise for it.

wish noctis wasn't so insistent on buffer read efffects though, that's where the performance really dies.

Found this interesting discussion: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/linux/kernel/2249638

FWIW for the DOSBox fans, you _should_ be able to boot FreeDOS disk image in DOSBox, no? Maybe with Daum if not out of the box?
...
hang on, performance is _better_ under VirtualBox versus DOSBox? hmm... Okay, think I'll try to test this at some point...

Stiletto wrote:

FWIW for the DOSBox fans, you _should_ be able to boot FreeDOS disk image in DOSBox, no? Maybe with Daum if not out of the box?
...
hang on, performance is _better_ under VirtualBox versus DOSBox? hmm... Okay, think I'll try to test this at some point...

Only when using VirtualBox's virtulization capabilities - then it's like running the game on a mid-range 32-bit XP machine using NTVDM. If you're running the VM supplied without virtualization, it runs only slightly faster than DOSBOX at max settings overall; the game's performance tanks when on a planet (likely due to some more advanced software shading going on from what I could visually observe).

Expack3 wrote:

I'm currently trying to help a YouTuber who reviews MS-DOS games get Noctis IV running at a more reliable speed on lower-end systems than vanilla DOSBox can provide.

If their pc's are that old that dosbox runs too slow chances are they wont be running xp and so will allready have dos. And if they dont there is a version of noctis that comes with dos.

Expack3 wrote:

Plus, I understand the license the code's released under is highly-restrictive, so a successfully-compiled version would likely be unable to be distributed as a VirtualBox VM 'application'.

Again they would not need a vm

Your problems seem to be
1: dosbox is too slow - then use dos
2: they dont have dos - use the version of noctis Iv that comes with freedos

http://www.selb.us/NoctdiskII.zip
http://www.selb.us/NoctdiskII_img.zip Disk image version for those who dont have a usb drive smaller than 512mb (could no doubt get it to run from a cd)

Davros wrote:

If their pc's are that old that dosbox runs too slow chances are they wont be running xp and so will allready have dos [snip/] 2 […]
Show full quote

Expack3 wrote:

I'm currently trying to help a YouTuber who reviews MS-DOS games get Noctis IV running at a more reliable speed on lower-end systems than vanilla DOSBox can provide.

If their pc's are that old that dosbox runs too slow chances are they wont be running xp and so will allready have dos
[snip/]
2: they dont have dos - use the version of noctis Iv that comes with freedos

http://www.selb.us/NoctdiskII.zip
http://www.selb.us/NoctdiskII_img.zip Disk image version for those who dont have a usb drive smaller than 512mb (could no doubt get it to run from a cd)

Installing a version of FreeDOS which already includes Noctis IV onto a USB or ISO may be an option, but one I'd have to ask the YouTuber about since my understanding of the YouTuber's recommendations to their audience involve how to configure a standalone emulation application of some sort which runs on your OS, like DOSBox or, in the case I'm trying to use, VirtualBox. You're right in that people wouldn't need to use a VM to run this game, but the YouTuber I'm working with may find such a solution unacceptable.

Video capture under pure dos may be a problem

I'm semi-interested to see where this thread goes as I've been thinking about covering Noctis IV sooner or later in a filler video or something. Not going to be anytime soon either way but still... :B

I tested it out just now on my 4 GHz system to see how well it performed under DOSBox. With a fixed cycles count of 190,000 (best fixed amount my system could handle with this program) and the CPU core manually set to dynamic mode, I got a framerate of about 17 while on the ship. I've no experience with VirtualBox or FreeDOS, nor do I really have the time to learn how those things work and everything to test that out. Still, 17 FPS isn't TERRIBLE... but it's not ideal all the same and I don't think everyone's got a 4 GHz system on hand. :P

...also interesting that Noctis IV doesn't trigger the dynamic core mode in DOSBox automatically; not many high-end DOS programs/games which are like that. :o

As for using a pre-configured USB flash drive just to play a game, that kinda hearkens back to the old PC Booter games... which TBH, were pretty annoying to get running just because of having to wait through reboots TWICE, once to play the game, again to go back to other software. Not surprised the concept died out in terms of gaming.

You'd write what concrete to do after the game is run to measure the performance.

Curious where this thread ended up. Any news to report, Expack3?

Someone should really test how this runs on a fast VLB video card like the Tseng ET4000 or something.

I do know for a fact that when you have full hardware virtulization support including second level address translation, NOCTIS IV runs amazingly smooth in a DOS VM than DosBOX or any recompiling emulator.