Hm but then only the comments in the preference file differ,
and could maybe merged (cores: normal,...,dynamic (intel mac only)) ?

I spent some time on creating a more sophisticated OSX install image. This one displays a background graphic inside the Finder window with some informations printed in it: http://www.spam-filter.de/~rhoenie/DOSBox-0.7 … iversal.dmg.zip

It looks like this when you open it:

And when you scroll down a bit further it looks like this:

Its a first try and I don't know if this one works for others too. If you want to change the looks and provide a better one here is the PSD file I used with Gimpshop: http://www.spam-filter.de/~rhoenie/Background … MGContainer.psd

Maybe one of the readers has the software FileStorm 1.9.1 and can provide us with a professional looking DMG?

Nice! I don't like the black-on-blue text though. And could you make the icon of the README file blink, shake, and wobble so people will notice it 😀 😀

MiniMax wrote:

config -writeconf "/Users/your-login-name/Library/Preferences/DOSBox Preferences"

Mac users, be sure to not have a space char in this path. I just checked this line in my MacOS X system and this command saved the file as "/Users/your-login-name/Library/Preferences/DOSBox"

😅

IIGS_User wrote:

Mac users, be sure to not have a space char in this path. I just checked this line in my MacOS X system and this command saved the file as "/Users/your-login-name/Library/Preferences/DOSBox"

😅

Hmm... Will it work if you do a

config -writeconf "/Users/your-login-name/Library/Preferences/DOSBox\ Preferences"

I've got a lot of catching up to do!

First, Rhoenie, I tried out your new drop system. I love the idea.

The Dosbox app went to the applications folder, but no success for the preferences. I'm running 10.3.9 on a G5. I ended up with something that looked like this (see attachment)[/img]

did you add the mount command to the preferences file ?

No, I didn’t. It wasn’t in the readme or in Rhoenie’s instructions. I assumed that his way, it would be automatic.

Pisomojado - didn't it strike you a bit odd with the double Z:\> stuff? I am not blaming you for trying to follow the guide to the letter, but don't be afraid to use your critical sense too.

Actually, it didn’t strike me as odd at all. I have no critical sense as a programmer. I’m not a programmer. I’m starting to learn, but most of it still looks like martian to me.

Second Try! Here’s the head to head comparison. Inside Rhoenie’s DOSBox Preferences for PowerPC is this:

[sdl] # fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen. # fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen. # fullresolution […]
Show full quote

[sdl]
# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).
# windowresolution -- Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay.
# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lowest,lower,normal,higher,highest.
# Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.
# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.
fullscreen=false
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=original
windowresolution=original
output=opengl
# output=surface
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
# waitonerror=true
priority=highest,lower
# mapperfile=mapper.txt
# usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
# language -- Select another language file.
# memsize -- Amount of memory dosbox has in megabytes.
# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.
language=
machine=vga
# captures=/Users/rhoenie/Desktop/Captures
memsize=64

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
# Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,advinterp2x,advinterp3x,tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.
frameskip=4
# aspect=true
apect=false
# scaler=none
scaler=normal3x

[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: simple,normal,full,dynamic.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.
# Setting this higher than your machine can handle is bad!
# You can also let DOSBox guess the correct value by setting it to auto.
# Please note that this guessing feature is still experimental.
# cycleup -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.
# core=dynamic
core=normal
# cycles=auto
cycles=7000
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

[mixer]
# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will
# probably lower their sound quality.
# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering
# but sound will also be more lagged.
# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.
nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
# mpu401 -- Type of MPU-401 to emulate: none, uart or intelligent.
# device -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
# This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.
# config -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put
# the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.
mpu401=none
# mpu401=none
device=default
# device=coreaudio
config=

[sblaster]
# sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.
# sbbase,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.
# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the dosbox mixer.
# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.
# On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.
# All OPL modes are 'Adlib', except for CMS.
# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.
sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=11025

[gus]
# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
# gusbase,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the
# Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)
# gusrate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory. In this directory
# there should be a MIDI directory that contains
# the patch files for GUS playback. Patch sets used
# with Timidity should work fine.
gus=false
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
# ultradir=/Users/rhoenie/Documents/DOS/ULTRASND/

[speaker]
# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).
# For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.
pcspeaker=true
pcrate=11025
tandy=auto
tandyrate=11025
disney=true

[bios]
# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: none, 2axis, 4axis,
# fcs (Thrustmaster) ,ch (CH Flightstick).
# none disables joystick emulation.
# 2axis is the default and supports two joysticks.
joysticktype=2axis

[serial]
# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.
# Can be disabled, dummy, modem, directserial.
# Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
# parameter:value. Parameters for all types are irq, startbps, bytesize,
# stopbits, parity (all optional).
# for directserial: realport (required).
# for modem: listenport (optional).
# Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000
# serial1=modem listenport:45000
serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[printer]
# printer -- Enable printer emulation.\n"
# dpi -- Resolution of printer (default 360).
# width -- Width of paper in 1/10 inch (default 85 = 8.5'').
# height -- Height of paper in 1/10 inch (default 110 = 11.0'').
# output -- Output method for finished pages:
# png : Creates PNG images in the DOSBOX directory
# ps : Creates Postscript documents in the DOSBOX directory (default)
# bmp : Creates BMP images (very huge files, not recommend)\n"
# printer : Send to an actual printer (Print dialog will appear)
# multipage -- Adds all pages to one Postscript file or printer job until
# ALT-F8 is pressed.
printer=false
# dpi=300
# DIN A4 = 8.3 ◊ 11.7 inches
# width=83
# height=117
# output=ps

[dos]
# xms -- Enable XMS support.
# ems -- Enable EMS support.
# umb -- Enable UMB support (false,true,max).
xms=true
ems=false
umb=true

[ipx]
# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.
ipx=true

# I use this to mount all stuff needed for the game Dark Forces
# at startup.
#
[autoexec]
# @ECHO OFF
# MOUNT C: /Users/rhoenie/Documents/DOS
# MOUNT D: /Volumes/DFORCES
# C:
# IPXNET STARTSERVER 2130
# IPXNET STATUS

I altered the bottom to look like this.

[autoexec]
# @ECHO OFF
# MOUNT C: /DOS/
# MOUNT D: /ddrive/ -t cdrom
# C:
# IPXNET STARTSERVER 2130
# IPXNET STATUS

My games are in folders, not on cds because they came off of floppies long ago. As I understand it, I have to fool DOSBox into thinking those folders are cds. For this purpose I created a folder called “DDrive”.

I got tired of retyping a long path when mounting over and over, so I put both the DOS and the DDrive folder right on the hard drive.

At any rate, I put the Preferences file in the appropriate Preferences folder and restarted DOSBox. I don’t think it saw my preferences (see screenshot).

Second, I retried MiniMax’s method by opening DOSBox and typing
Z:\>config -writeconf "/Users/xx/Library/Preferences/DOSBox Preferences" (including the space)

It worked! A preferences folder was created in the expected place. I opened it. Inside was this:

[sdl] # fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen. # fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen. # fullresolution […]
Show full quote

[sdl]
# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).
# windowresolution -- Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb.
# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lowest,lower,normal,higher,highest,pause (when not focussed).
# Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.
# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.

fullscreen=false
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=original
windowresolution=original
output=surface
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
# language -- Select another language file.
# memsize -- Amount of memory dosbox has in megabytes.
# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=16

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
# Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,hq2x,hq3x,
# 2xsai,super2xsai,supereagle,advinterp2x,advinterp3x,
# tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: normal,simple.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.
# Setting this value too high results in sound dropouts and lags.
# You can also let DOSBox guess the correct value by setting it to max.
# The default setting (auto) switches to max if appropriate.
# cycleup -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

core=normal
cycles=auto
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

[mixer]
# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will
# probably lower their sound quality.
# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering
# but sound will also be more lagged.
# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
# mpu401 -- Type of MPU-401 to emulate: none, uart or intelligent.
# device -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
# This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.
# config -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put
# the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.

mpu401=intelligent
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
# sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.
# sbbase,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.
# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the dosbox mixer.
# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.
# On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.
# All OPL modes are 'Adlib', except for CMS.
# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.

sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
# gusbase,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the
# Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)
# gusrate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory. In this directory
# there should be a MIDI directory that contains
# the patch files for GUS playback. Patch sets used
# with Timidity should work fine.

gus=true
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).
# For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[joystick]
# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: auto (default), none,
# 2axis (supports two joysticks), 4axis,
# fcs (Thrustmaster), ch (CH Flightstick).
# none disables joystick emulation.
# auto chooses emulation depending on real joystick(s).
# timed -- enable timed intervals for axis. (false is old style behaviour).
# autofire -- continuously fires as long as you keep the button pressed.
# swap34 -- swap the 3rd and the 4th axis. can be useful for certain joysticks.
# buttonwrap -- enable button wrapping at the number of emulated buttons.

joysticktype=auto
timed=true
autofire=false
swap34=false
buttonwrap=true

[serial]
# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.
# Can be disabled, dummy, modem, nullmodem, directserial.
# Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
# parameter:value. Parameter for all types is irq.
# for directserial: realport (required), rxdelay (optional).
# for modem: listenport (optional).
# for nullmodem: server, rxdelay, txdelay, telnet, usedtr,
# transparent, port, inhsocket (all optional).
# Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000

serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]
# xms -- Enable XMS support.
# ems -- Enable EMS support.
# umb -- Enable UMB support.
# keyboardlayout -- Language code of the keyboard layout (or none).

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true
keyboardlayout=none

[ipx]
# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.

ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

I edited it as follows:

[autoexec]
mount c "/dos/"
mount d "/ddrive/" -t cdrom -ioctl
c:
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

That worked too! I opened the free pacman game again, and it actually worked better than it had before, with smoother sound and no stuttering!

Pisomojado wrote:

I altered the bottom to look like this. […]
Show full quote

I altered the bottom to look like this.

[autoexec]
# @ECHO OFF
# MOUNT C: /DOS/
# MOUNT D: /ddrive/ -t cdrom
# C:
# IPXNET STARTSERVER 2130
# IPXNET STATUS

😀 The # is used to start a comment line, so DOSBox read those lines and ignored them. So no mounting took place.

Pisomojado wrote:

I got tired of retyping a long path when mounting over and over, so I put both the DOS and the DDrive folder right on the hard drive.

You can use ~ (tilde it is called) as a shorthand for you home directory. So ~/DOS and ~/ddrive would refer to your /Users/your-login-name/DOS/ and /Users/your-login-name/ddrive.

MiniMax wrote:

Hmm... Will it work if you do a

config -writeconf "/Users/your-login-name/Library/Preferences/DOSBox\ Preferences"

Wow. Take a look to the result: 🤣

Another thought:
On Non-Mac platforms, this file is called "dosbox.conf" or "config.conf".
If I enter the command as "config -writeconf "/Users/your-login-name/Library/Preferences/config.conf" I've no problems with the file name.

First, Rhoenie, I tried out your new drop system. I love the idea.

Fine 😀

The Dosbox app went to the applications folder, but no success for the preferences. I'm running 10.3.9 on a G5. I ended up with something that looked like this (see attachment)

Yeah, seems like the symbolic link for the preferences folder isn't resolving properly. It still points to /Users/rhoenie/Library/Preferences/ even on other systems and even though I tried to avoid this.

I will try to make a new one today. This time installing the file into the global Preferences folder (/Library/Preferences/).

Edit:
Now this is interessting: since putting a symbolic link into the DMG container that points into the $HOME of the user that opens it isn't working I used a link to the global preferences folder now. But obviously this isn't working too! 😳

Look at this:

1$ strings /Applications/DOSBox.app/Contents/MacOS/DOSBox | grep Preferences
2/Library/Preferences/DOSBox Preferences
3$ /Applications/DOSBox.app/Contents/MacOS/DOSBox 
4CONFIG: Using default settings. Create a configfile to change them
5MIDI:Opened device:coreaudio
6^C
7$ ls -la "/Library/Preferences/DOSBox Preferences"
8-rw-r--r--   1 rhoenie  admin  6902 25 Mär 11:39 /Library/Preferences/DOSBox Preferences

The global preferences path seems to be defined somewhere in the binary but it isn't read at startup. Seems like its prepended with the content of the $HOME env variable so it never points to /Library/Preferences but always to /User/foo/Library/Preferences - I'll have to check that in the sources.

At least that would explain a some problems a few mac users have reported in the forum.

Update:
Yes, it is like I thought it would be. In sdlmain.cpp you will find this code:

1   // First parse the configfile in the $HOME directory
2   if ((getenv("HOME") != NULL)) {
3      config_file = (std::string)getenv("HOME") +(std::string)DEFAULT_CONFIG_FILE;
4      if (control->ParseConfigFile(config_file.c_str())) parsed_anyconfigfile = true;
5   }

So on any unixoid OS the configfile has to be located somewhere under $HOME. Maybe this should be changed - or let's say extented - to search for the config file in two places: a global one and a local one. The local one has precedence to the global one.

hmm yes. I thought the readme did specify this behaviour as well ( ~/.......)
It's not totally inline with the global preferences thing on unixoid things, but we don't support that on any os.

I tried the process you reccomended mcquiddy, but it still will not work. I keep getting "directory C doesn't exist".
I typed in ( '~' being my name & the folder 'dosgames' where I'm holding the games on my Mac);
mount c /users/~/dosgames.

remove the /users/ part
or substitute ~ with your real username

Yeah,

if you've created the folder called dosgames in your documents folder, type

mount c ~/documents/dosgames

remember, the ~ sign represents for your users folder. 😉