DOSBox X with NGlide Passthrough.... Is kicking my rear end for the past 2 days....

I am following the "how to" for Jet Fighter III here:
https://www.tales-from-darkenedroom.com/post/ … ide-passthrough

After a day I figured out that I was using a 64 bit version of DOSBox X with 32 bit NGlide

After more of a struggle I was able to get DosBox X to generate the glide2x.ovl file in Z\System.

As of now the game still crashes when I select a mission and go fly.... no 3dfx splash screen either... which tells me something is STILL incorrect.

Any ideas out there?
I think I'm to my limit on it.... 🤣

I made a post about an issue recently and was redirected to post it here instead since I'm using Dosbox X. I'm experiencing crashing when saving a state while playing the game Abuse. I've played quite a few games on Dosbox X so far using savestates. I have not had any issues with any other game so far using savestates until now. The game crashes as soon as I try to save a state. Both with using a save slot and trying to use a save file. Anybody know why this is happening? My Dosbox X version is "2025.05.03 Visual Studio SDL1 64bit". I've created a custom config for running the game but I also ran the game with the default config to rule out potential config issues. Also, I'm using Abuse v2.00.

Hi all,

I have acquired .FDI and .D88 disk images of Sublogic Flight Simulator II for PC-98. These are boot disk images, and I have no problem running them in the Neko Project II emulator. I would like to get them running within DosBox-X but have so far been unsuccessful. All I see is a blank black screen.

To summarise, I have machine = PC98 and the autoexec commands as below (dosbox-x.conf attached):

imgmount 0 "F:\FSIINEC.FDI" -t floppy -fs none
boot -l a

When I run the debugger (boot -l a --debug), I get the following (log file attached).

The obvious stand out in the log is the "PC-98 boot: Unable to determine boot drive type for ssize=512 heads=2 cyls=80 sects=9. Guessing".

Is this a problem that can prevent booting? If so, what can I do about this?

There are a couple of other noteworthy logs in the log file (there could be others that I have failed to recognise the seriousness of...):

1) Memory I/O complexity optimization enabled aka option 'memory io optimization 1'. If the game or demo is unable to draw to the screen properly, set the option to false.
I have tried both 'true' and 'false' settings with no appreciable difference between the two.

2) 0 ERROR SBLASTER:Only Sound Blaster 16 is allowed in PC-98 mode
I assume the 0 above means this is not an error? The DosBox-X.conf file has sbtype=16

I'd really appreciate any insight and advice anyone can give to this. I'd prefer to exhaust troubleshooting within DosBox-X first, before I go away and try to figure out how to convert .FDI files to other format structures or remaking boot disks etc. I know next to nothing about all of that sort of thing and want to make sure that is research and actions of last resort.

Thanks everyone.

Trent

DOSBox-X is not able to determine how to present the floppy disk image from the geometry.

The memory complexity optimization code at this time is only concerned with EGA/VGA emulation and the potentially complex raster byte operations involved with planar memory. When enabled, DOSBox-X will use faster simpler video memory emulation when those more complex planar operations are not in use.

Is that PC-98 game available online somewhere? Such as, the Internet Archive Neo-Kobe collection? It sounds like something to test DOSBox-X against.

Hi TheGreatCodeholio! Appreciate the quick response!

First of all, it would be remiss of me to fail to thank you (and anyone you might happen to work with) for the hours of enjoyment that DosBox-X has provided me. I have absolutely no skill in this area, and really appreciate you applying your skills in such a way that brings enormous enjoyment to myself and many many people.

This game is a very difficult one to find, and isn't available in any public repository that I'm aware of. However if you're interested in looking into this further, or using this for testing purposes, I'd be prepared to share the images I have with you. Please do PM me if you are interested (I'm not yet able to initiate PMs).

While I have your attention, some time ago I logged issue 5869 on the github tracker in relation to another game that perplexes me, because it works fine on DosBox-X at a lower resoution, but as soon as I try for the higher resolution, I get a garbled display. I suspect the reason is because of creative hacks the creator used in creating the higher resolution driver and there probably isn't too much DosBox-X can do about it. Anyhow, I mention it because it hasn't received a lot of attention (which is fine, I understand things are prioritised differently) and I'm curious if you wouldn't mind taking a quick look and off the top of your head letting me know what you think? Ie. this is probably caused by a known issue and will be addressed at some point in the future, or this just looks totally bizarre and I have no idea what might be the problem. Perhaps your thinking is somewhere in the middle of those?

Thank you again for all the time and effort you give.

Trent

Hi all,

New question, unrelated to the above questions: Am I right in understanding that DosBox-X can support the mounting of one or several floppy disk images to drive A, but only if none of them are boot disks?

The problem I have is trying to run MS Flight Simulator 2 with multiple scenery disks (for CGA machine, not PC-98).

I have been able to do this by loading the FS disk and associated scenery disks via the BOOT command. This has worked well.

However, as it boots straight into FS, I think what is happening is that the DOS mouse driver is not being loaded. So while the game and it's scenery disks work, I have no mouse. It's not the end of the world, but if I can get all this to work as desired, that would be nice.

When I try to mount even just the one FS disk image to the A drive (using IMGMOUNT A F:\FS214.img) and then run fs.com (which works well enough in DosBox 0.74.3 - albeit without scenery disks) it just freezes. As mentioned earlier, this method will load the program in DosBox and is also the suggested practice in the FS manual to enable the mouse to work.

Very interested in understanding this a little more and for alternative approaches to determine if I can get it to do what I want, or not.

Thanks everyone.

Trent

Hi again, apologies for the message spam!

I've been reflecting on the above, and while I've asked the following in a round-a-bout way above, I want to ask this question very clearly:

Can anyone help me understand why the below works successfully in DosBox pure, but not in DosBox-X?

IMGMOUNT A "..\..\VirtualHD\Microsoft Flight Simulator 2.14\FS214.IMG"
A:\FS

The FS214.IMG disk image file is bootable (ie. replacing A:\FS above with BOOT A: works well), however the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2 manual advises that the disk can be run by inserting it and running FS.COM. This works well enough in DosBox pure, but not in DosBox-X where it just hangs.

I'm very interested in trying to understand why this occurs and would appreciate any alternative methods I might try in order to run FS.COM off the disk (as this would allow mouse driver to load).

Ultimately, I'm trying to figure out how I might run FS.COM off the disk (if possible), as well as having a number of other scenery disks mounted at the same time in order to be able to switch among them in game.

Happy new year everyone!

Trent

Hasn't been brought up for a while, but I'd like to see 8514 graphics support 🤞. Such would seem to allow for higher resolution output from the Razzle Dazzle eyecandy software.
https://netizen.club/~wildweasel/blaugh/posts … ng-of-Life.html

I’m a big fan of DOSBox-X and the amazing work you’ve done. I have a TND232 device that I’d love to use with DOSBox-X, but I need support for Tandy serial / USB output over a serial connection.

Project:
TND232 - Tandy SN76489 on USB / Serial (COM/RS232) Sound Adapter

I’m not a very experienced programmer, but I’ve attached a crude hack for dosbox 0.74.3 I made (w/assistance) that outputs sound to a serial port for the SN76489. It’s far from perfect, but I hope it might help illustrate what I’m trying to achieve. I would really appreciate any guidance or help you could offer in adding proper support for this.

Thank you so much for considering my request!

retrosprite440 wrote on 2025-09-19, 01:33:

I made a post about an issue recently and was redirected to post it here instead since I'm using Dosbox X. I'm experiencing crashing when saving a state while playing the game Abuse. I've played quite a few games on Dosbox X so far using savestates. I have not had any issues with any other game so far using savestates until now. The game crashes as soon as I try to save a state. Both with using a save slot and trying to use a save file. Anybody know why this is happening? My Dosbox X version is "2025.05.03 Visual Studio SDL1 64bit". I've created a custom config for running the game but I also ran the game with the default config to rule out potential config issues. Also, I'm using Abuse v2.00.

Config file matters, don't use a custom config maybe because the variables change, be sure to compare config file comments.

BlueSox14 wrote on 2025-12-31, 05:10:

Hi again, apologies for the message spam! […]
Show full quote

Hi again, apologies for the message spam!

I've been reflecting on the above, and while I've asked the following in a round-a-bout way above, I want to ask this question very clearly:

Can anyone help me understand why the below works successfully in DosBox pure, but not in DosBox-X?

IMGMOUNT A "..\..\VirtualHD\Microsoft Flight Simulator 2.14\FS214.IMG"
A:\FS

The FS214.IMG disk image file is bootable (ie. replacing A:\FS above with BOOT A: works well), however the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2 manual advises that the disk can be run by inserting it and running FS.COM. This works well enough in DosBox pure, but not in DosBox-X where it just hangs.

I'm very interested in trying to understand why this occurs and would appreciate any alternative methods I might try in order to run FS.COM off the disk (as this would allow mouse driver to load).

Ultimately, I'm trying to figure out how I might run FS.COM off the disk (if possible), as well as having a number of other scenery disks mounted at the same time in order to be able to switch among them in game.

Happy new year everyone!

Trent

Please try running LOADFIX -a before running FS.COM.

Older code has issues if loaded too low in memory and XMS is enabled (and the A20 gate is on).
It's the same issue that causes "Packed file is corrupt" errors.

matze79 wrote on 2026-01-31, 13:57:

I’m a big fan of DOSBox-X and the amazing work you’ve done. I have a TND232 device that I’d love to use with DOSBox-X, but I nee […]
Show full quote

I’m a big fan of DOSBox-X and the amazing work you’ve done. I have a TND232 device that I’d love to use with DOSBox-X, but I need support for Tandy serial / USB output over a serial connection.

Project:
TND232 - Tandy SN76489 on USB / Serial (COM/RS232) Sound Adapter

I’m not a very experienced programmer, but I’ve attached a crude hack for dosbox 0.74.3 I made (w/assistance) that outputs sound to a serial port for the SN76489. It’s far from perfect, but I hope it might help illustrate what I’m trying to achieve. I would really appreciate any guidance or help you could offer in adding proper support for this.

Thank you so much for considering my request!

The attachment tandy_sound.cpp is no longer available

Submit a pull request and I'll accept it. Make sure your pull request includes listing your change in the CHANGELOG. https://github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x

I recently added some code to DOSBox-X related to loading and executing an EXE file that you guys might find interesting enough to use.

The code can detect four variations of the Microsoft EXEPACK decompression stub in the EXE file, and then decompress the EXE in memory directly instead of executing the stub.

The emulator is doing it, which means you're unlikely to see "Packed file is corrupt" messages even if the EXE was loaded too low in memory.

Interested?

https://github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x/bl … xecute.cpp#L476

TheGreatCodeholio wrote on Today, 03:43:

I recently added some code to DOSBox-X related to loading and executing an EXE file that you guys might find interesting enough […]
Show full quote

I recently added some code to DOSBox-X related to loading and executing an EXE file that you guys might find interesting enough to use.

The code can detect four variations of the Microsoft EXEPACK decompression stub in the EXE file, and then decompress the EXE in memory directly instead of executing the stub.

The emulator is doing it, which means you're unlikely to see "Packed file is corrupt" messages even if the EXE was loaded too low in memory.

Interested?

https://github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x/bl … xecute.cpp#L476

personally I dont like the idea of running code behind my back to decompress the exe. I'd rather things be left alone (make it a config switch maybe).
I also dont like that you turn off the A20 but dont turn it back on, if it was on already, you dont even check you just turn it off.

BloodyCactus wrote on Today, 11:58:

TheGreatCodeholio wrote on Today, 03:43:

I recently added some code to DOSBox-X related to loading and executing an EXE file that you guys might find interesting enough […]
Show full quote

I recently added some code to DOSBox-X related to loading and executing an EXE file that you guys might find interesting enough to use.

The code can detect four variations of the Microsoft EXEPACK decompression stub in the EXE file, and then decompress the EXE in memory directly instead of executing the stub.

The emulator is doing it, which means you're unlikely to see "Packed file is corrupt" messages even if the EXE was loaded too low in memory.

Interested?

https://github.com/joncampbell123/dosbox-x/bl … xecute.cpp#L476

personally I dont like the idea of running code behind my back to decompress the exe. I'd rather things be left alone (make it a config switch maybe).
I also dont like that you turn off the A20 but dont turn it back on, if it was on already, you dont even check you just turn it off.

The A20 option in DOSBox-X is NOT enabled by default. Switching off A20 is another option to avoid the Packed file is corrupt error message bug in EXEPACK.
DOSBox-X by default, if XMS is enabled, switches A20 back on when INT 21h is called, which is apparently what happens under real MS-DOS especially if DOS is loaded into the HMA.
XMS calls to copy/move memory were also noted to switch the A20 gate back on as well. You have full control of that code through dosbox.conf and you can turn it off. It will always tell you in the log output if it detected EXEPACK and what it's doing.

You could always incorporate it, but have it OFF "none" by default.