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First post, by littbarski

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Hello,

we really enjoy playing the old DOS games in the family, like Chaos Engine but also Jump'n Run like the Kellogg's game or Eismann's or Nesquik.
Most of the time we used the overlay or openglnb options, but always there was a bit of image stuttering. I just discovered that with the ddraw option and double buffering the scrolling is really smooth for the first time since we use DOSBox.

Only problem now: the sound is stuttering 😀. I see that this is related to CPU speed, the double buffering and the PC that I am using. On one laptop it's better than on another laptop. The frameskip does help for the sound and the image stuttering is back then... Same is true for the overlay and opengl options as we had used them until now. I would like to stay at ddraw.

Is there any hidden hint for me in the DOSBox or perhaps a fork just for scrolling games on low end hardware?
I understand that the hardware is important, but for old DOS games even with emulating and so on? I tested all CPU options of DOSBox already.

So my hope is just that someone also loves the smooth scrolling of the ddraw double buffering and solved the sound issue perhaps.

Thank you
littbarski

Reply 1 of 5, by littbarski

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hello again,

sorry just had a new idea... normally I use D-Fend reloaded, just because it's easier and better as a starting point also for the children (click on the different screenshots). I also use sometimes the pixel perfect DOSBox or the DOSBox-X. Normally the new DOSBox-X has also always had image stuttering, but somehow I just kept all my setttings in D-Fend Reloaded and just put DOSBox-X as to use in D-Fend Reloaded (I tested Nesquik). And I don't understand why and what setting exactly was now the reason but it's working now smoothly and with sound.

...and while am writing this and my kid is playing somehow it's stuttering the image again and I don't remember the setting where it was working 😀. I will have to look into this later.

Reply 2 of 5, by littbarski

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ok when I choose in D-Fend: surface, no double buffering, fullscreen, CPU around 3000 -5000 and normal, scaling normal2x and then include the DOSBox-X, it starts to become better and better, both smooth scrolling but also nice sound. I also have to put in DOSBox-X a value (in my case 60) in the refresh rate and in the sync rate (although vsync is "off").

I can also include the DOSBox-X settings in D-Fend for keyboard mapping. The only thing I am missing now (and my guess is this is not only related to D-Fend) is a setting in a conf file to reload the setting which I give in refresh rate and sync rate.

So how can I load a game in DOSBox-X while including the refresh rate and sync rate?

Reply 3 of 5, by littbarski

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I found out that I can set the sync rate in the vsync section in the conf file.
But also after long searchin in the internet I did not find any source explaining how to set the refresh rate (usable in the DOSBox-X menu) can be set in any ini or conf file ?
Could this be a question for another forum because this is about DOSBox-X, if yes, which one?

Reply 4 of 5, by littbarski

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I found the VFRCRATE external command which seems to work, but I will have to check if this and the sync rate and so on will work - and in which game in what way 😀. But finally all questions are answered, perhaps it helps also other people in the future.

Reply 5 of 5, by littbarski

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To summarize I am quite happy with the setting now. I only use DOSBox-X anymore without D-Fend and have just used the normal conf file with minor adaptions: direct3d and syncrate 60 (if it matters, as I don't use vsync but it could be), scaler none or normal2x. And of course the mentioned external command for the refresh rate, I think here everybody has to test depending on the hardware and resolution.