I really can't recall ever coming across a PC game that required joystick input with no option to use the keyboard. What are you trying to play?

Well for example the first thing I tried was Budokan, which supports both keypad and joystick, but it seems I would need to map an 8-key numpad to make it work. I'd rather just use the 4 arrow keys if possible since my Mac doesn't have a numpad and some games will require both the keyboard and a keypad/joystick.

usedtowork wrote:

it seems I would need to map an 8-key numpad to make it work. I'd rather just use the 4 arrow keys if possible since my Mac doesn't have a numpad

I don't get it. Your four arrow keys will not be able to effectively map to an 8-key numpad. Aside from Ctrl, Alt, and Shift, keyboards aren't really designed to register simultaneous keypresses; that's why so many old games use Ctrl, Alt, and Shift for their "buttons".

and some games will require both the keyboard and a keypad/joystick.

Huh?

The wirless apple keyboard is not really suited for dosbox, it's misding other keys as well.
You will have to experiment with the keymapper to find suitable keymappings for such games.

Try PPJoy. I think it can emulate a joystick with a keyboard. Dosbox should be able to use the virtual joystick.

I really can't recall ever coming across a PC game that required joystick input with no option to use the keyboard.

Tie Fighter is pretty unplayable without a joystick.

Isn't ppjoy Windows only? (the op mentions his mac somwhere)

Jorpho wrote:

I don't get it. Your four arrow keys will not be able to effectively map to an 8-key numpad. Aside from Ctrl, Alt, and Shift, keyboards aren't really designed to register simultaneous keypresses; that's why so many old games use Ctrl, Alt, and Shift for their "buttons".

Well for example I use VICE to play old C64 games, and it uses the 4 arrow keys to emulate an 8-way joystick without any trouble. Just looking for a way to do that with DOSBOX on my Macbook.

If I'm not mistaken, the C64 joystick is the same as the 9-pin joystick common to many systems of the era – it is a digital joystick that registers movement in four directions. The standard PC joystick is analog and operates very differently.

Jorpho wrote:

the C64 joystick is [...] a digital joystick that registers movement in four directions. The standard PC joystick is analog and operates very differently.

While that is true, many PC games, especially early games that aren't flight simulators or similar stuff, don't need the "analogness" of the input at all. They work well with a digital stick, which could indeed be emulated with the keyboard arrow keys. Two simultaneous keypresses should be handled without a problem by any modern keyboard worth its salt. And if I am not mistaken, digital sticks for the PC game port did exist back in the day (and in fact any C64 style joystick that uses three-pin microswitches can be easily rewired for the game port).

To the OP, how about using an actual joystick? There are joysticks for USB available these days, including small ones that don't cost an arm and a leg. I'm personally using the Competition Pro remake stick, which is a digital stick for USB.

It's not the keyboards having trouble but SDL...