a configfile is infact an overlay to the default values.
so you can only use the changes. (well sections are needed for the parser)

my configfile looks like this:

[cpu]
cycles=8000

[sdl]
output=overlay

[render]
frameskip=1

[autoexec]
@echo off
@mount d /tmp > nul
@mount e /mnt/cdrom -usecd 0 -ioctl >nul
@echo on

(so i can do dosbox ./ to start it)

Great, just wanted to make sure.

Thanks!

Qbix: May I ask why do you use scaler=normal2x together with surface=overlay?

I live under the impression that harekiet coded
some intelligence into the scaling routines...

I recall being told that hwscale and regular scale work together to achieve the goal. Would have to look it up to be sure though

(so incase there is hardware scaling avaible it would scale 2x when normal 2 is selected)

That's what I'm using for quite some time now.
I put my settings in files like *.dosbox with individual settings like cycles and autoexec and associated *.dosbox with dosbox.exe -conf "%1".
Together with a custom iconhandler this is pretty nice;-)

If you just call them "dosbox.conf", you won't have to use autoexec or associate anything to anything.

DOSBox looks by default for a local dosbox.conf (same goes for mapper.txt, etc.).
So you can just create a shortcut that starts in the game's directory and the only command line parameter you will need is the game's file.
Remember that DOSBox needs the full path name of the game's file, though.
Then again, you can easily "bypass" it by just using ".\" before the name.

I guess a picture is worth a thousand words, so just check out the attachment.
If I click that shortcut, DOSBox will use "c:\games\archon\dosbox.conf".

However, I myself prefer right clicking so I also showed you what that would look like (done with a simple registry hack for EXE, BAT & COM files).
That way, the "start in" folder is automatically the current one.