I'm not saying actually do anything illegal. Just standardize naming conventions and allow for running and auditting a single zip file (maybe zip or rar files in a special directory could become directories inside of DosBox?) to ensure that everyone who is playing these games can verify the exact versions as well as if their game is complete (contains all files). All this can be done via a frontend, so maybe the DosBox folks shouldn't even be bothered. This would also make passing the games around very easy. Of course you wouldn't be doing that, but hey, whose fault would it be if others took advantage? 😀 I'd sleep okay knowing that future generations could easily have access and play Dune 2, X-Com, Star Control II, and adventure games. Sure, it's a daunting task as there are far more versions of many DOS games than there are arcade or console games. And if you wanted to factor in patches/cracks, you may come across dozens of versions of the same game. Luckily, the patch trend came about relatively late in DOS's lifespan and could be handled much like MAME where there is a primary zip and the alternate versions only house the files that are changed by a patch. (are different)

-Jim

DosFreak wrote:

This could work for shareware/freeware/demos/Commericials games that have been released as freeware.

Of course there would have to be a dedicated site with enough bandwidth to host the files since most DOS games are packaged with their own installers and I highly doubt any normal file sites would want both an original prepackaged DOS games and a ROM Dos game.....

I think the point is to be able to determine whether copies of games we already have are corrupted or not, by having a database to compare the files to. It would make it easier for forums like VOGONS too, as we could require people to audit their game before asking for help (in case they have a known bad copy).

I was thinking more of a legitmate site offering downloads of programs that were already pre-packaged. I think it would be rather difficult to put it up to the user to package their full versions of the games and then compare their packaged version to another user who packaged their version, it would be far easier to have a main site with the game already pre-packaged.....

Would probably have to build a database into the front-end or an online lookup capability to verify an MD5 or somesuch to verify file integrity....ehhh...lots and lots of work required to identify versions and such.

The less work required by the user the less they can **** it up, it's already difficult enough identifying games without leaving things up to the user.

I personally think that most of the thoughts in this thread are ill conceived but hey what the hell 😀

However, I just happened upon this tonight : http://www.romcenter.com/romcenter/

It's described as a ROM manager but could probably be made to work for PC games (the file format doesn't look difficult). Maybe this could at least be able to verify complete and accurate game installs? This may/may not address what HunterZ was thinking of.

Actually Romcenter is kind of what I was thinking of too, as I've used it my, uh, MAME collection...

IMO, romcenter bites

I prefer:
http://www.clrmame.com/

Does anyone see any reason (other than the shear number of DOS games/ variants) why standardization of naming and content auditing woud not work? The one thing I see as a potential problem is that while console and arcade game files are almost entirely read only, many files within DOS games are meant to be edited. (like ini files/ batch files) I guess I would propose that all the files being written to would be housed outside of the primary zip file that would house a game's files exactly as they looked just after a fresh install. Any files edited while running through a proposed external frontend would be housed outside of the primary game's zip file. The frontend would combine the seperate files (saves, ini, apply cracks or trainers, etc) and the primary resource files from the game's standard file library into a temporary directory within dosbox. Any edited files would be stored outside of the read only primary game file library.

Good things this would do:

1) Having a single zip file per game would sure make it much easier to keep track of one's collection.
2) Having these libraries be read only and auditable would make sure that as time passes and games are passed from person to person the original versions do not mutate and potentially cease to exist.
3) This would also make it much easier to troubleshoot problems and ensure you didn't have a cracked or infected version of a game.
4) The frontend could allow for a very easy way for people to share and receive information about individual game compatibility with DOSBox.

Bad things:

1) Keeping written files seperate could make it hard to pass save games and configurations to others.
2) DOSBox crashes, god knows what happens to the temporarily stitched together temp files.

This crazy talk, or is anyone seeing some merit?