Please unbold your text first. 😉

If you think frontends are too complicate, use dosbox without a frontend, that's as pure dos as it can get.

If you have several games of different generations, you want DOSbox launched with those games' optimal configs. Frontends are too complicated, so I use PStart/ASuite as simpler alternatives, where each entry is DOSbox -conf [game].conf (where [game] is the name of the game, for which the config goes). So, what remains is a simple config writing tool.

Hmm just looked at PStart and ASuite and they seem kind of pointless compared to just making Windows shortcuts.

I've always wanted to make .conf files for each game I have, but I've always been too lazy. Instead I just make quick edits to the main dosbox.conf as needed.

I'd really like to see a frontend that lets you create .conf's for individual games by starting with a generic template and just overriding the particular settings that need to be different for a particular game. That way you could also make changes globally by changing the template itself. Maybe I should try to write one sometime as an exercise in GUI programming.

Placing multiple shortcuts, or just one - that's the difference. I use pStart/ASuite as a menu of all configs. Need a complicated multiple-drive machine to play a late X-com release, a config for a Hercules-only release game, a set of CGA games or multi-card output for a 1991-1994 game? Do not bob with all the configs, write each set as a machinetype.conf and get them all as shortcuts... Small monitor, can't fit all the shortcut, or just want a nice-looking menu for those configs? here comes pStart/ASuite.

...except that you can make menus out of shortcuts using the Start Menu or Quick Launch toolbar, without the need for running an extra program.

HunterZ wrote:

...except that you can make menus out of shortcuts using the Start Menu or Quick Launch toolbar, without the need for running an extra program.

what if you want DOSbox and all games to be on a pen-drive, or just want a nice-looking menu for your collection? Plus, by adding a config writer into pStart's list, you turn it into a full frontend.

After all, a frontend made just of pStart and config writer with year picker would be easy for about every DOSbox newbie.

In that case I'd probably just use .bat files instead of shortcuts, and not worry about how pretty it looks. That's just me though.

Think about what newbies feel if both DOS prompt and front-end applications are confusing for them (and they want to play a game they played on a game club computer 15 years ago).
They downloaded e. q. Lemmings 3D, and - GAH! - NT 6 lacks full-screen mode for DOS. They downloaded DOSbox, and can't understand it. How should they feel? So they know "Lemmings 3D - 1995 year". A frontend that lets them make a .conf with the game's desired PC (guessed by year) and the game itself mounted, and an option to add DOSbox with that .conf to either the front-end list or to desktop... such a frontend with a short PDF manual would help such a newbie out.

Sadist boar wrote:

Think about what newbies feel if both DOS prompt and front-end applications are confusing for them (and they want to play a game they played on a game club computer 15 years ago).
They downloaded e. q. Lemmings 3D, and - GAH! - NT 6 lacks full-screen mode for DOS. They downloaded DOSbox, and can't understand it. How should they feel? So they know "Lemmings 3D - 1995 year". A frontend that lets them make a .conf with the game's desired PC (guessed by year) and the game itself mounted, and an option to add DOSbox with that .conf to either the front-end list or to desktop... such a frontend with a short PDF manual would help such a newbie out.

Well, they could legally buy the game from GOG and not have to worry about such things, instead of illegally downloading zips of the games from an abandonwarez site.

In many cases you don't need to change anything in dosbox configuration.
When you start dosbox there is intro that explains everything in a nice way.
If you are too dumb to understand there are pictorial guides on forum.
Frontends are not difficult. They have some extra options but noone forces you to using them. Most of these options are required. Some of them are just for describing the game - will be hard not to understand 😉
Both DOSBox Game Launcher and D-Fend Reloaded have ready profiles for many games, and also general ready profiles for games from a different year.
D-Fend also has a creator that guides you step by step.

"a "year detector/guesser" function, making a config of the most powerful IBM-compatible PC of the game's year of release" is not possible to make. If you think it is possible please tell us how.

HunterZ wrote:

I'd really like to see a frontend that lets you create .conf's for individual games by starting with a generic template and just overriding the particular settings that need to be different for a particular game. That way you could also make changes globally by changing the template itself. Maybe I should try to write one sometime as an exercise in GUI programming.

This is _exactly_ what DBGL does.

Off a screenshot, both DBGL and d-fend reloaded look complicated. So DBGL's config writer + a menu tool with categories like pStart/ASuite would be nice (or if d-fend reloaded had a "mini mode"). Here is my screenshot of pStart having DOSbox with Volkov Commander and Win3.1

Off a screenshot every program (even windows) is complicated too. Luckyly you are not meant to watch screenshots, you are meant to use program. And when you use it, it is not complicated.

robertmo wrote:

"a "year detector/guesser" function, making a config of the most powerful IBM-compatible PC of the game's year of release" is not possible to make. If you think it is possible please tell us how.

The game, most likely, includes timestamps of when it was developed/released. A set of year/generation templates is used - a 1983 game "Digger" will run too fast on a Warcraft-1 era computer. Plus a game might require loading up a sort of DOS mod like OpenDOS or a specific video card (like one of the rare SVGA ones or early Hercules one). If a game comes in a .com without read-me files/inner timestamps, hardware detection might be difficult - so a database like yy-YY.dgb might be needed (yy - beginning of the era, YY - end of the era). The .dgb is just a tree-like document, looking like

11982
2  CGA
3    Dig-dug
4      cpu=
5      ram=
6      pcspk=f
71983
8  CGA
9    Digger
10      cpu=
11      ram=
12      pcspk=t

Where CPU= and RAM= are CPU and RAM specifications, pcspk=t/f - PC Speaker true/false. The list can include needed hardware as tag= - for example, sblast=t would enable SoundBlaster support for the game.

[quote="rcblanke"][quote="HunterZ"]I'd really like to see a frontend that lets you create .conf's for individual games by starting with a generic template and just overriding the particular settings that need to be different for a particular game. That way you could also make changes globally by changing the template itself. Maybe I should try to write one sometime as an exercise in GUI programming.[/quote]This is _exactly_ what DBGL does.[/quote]Tried DBGL and disliked it...

try D-Fend Reloaded

What I'd like to see is a simple tool where you just type in the game's path, get it's required PC stats off some game database, and save it as a .conf with those specifications and game's path mounted - should be possible to make it in C# or C++. I'm a sad fatty, not a coder. So, a fontend consisting of ASuite and a config writer would be the only frontend that would suit all my DOSbox-related needs. 😠 😳

that is a little more complex than what you think, since games need to run their OWN setup too , for soundcards etc...