So, I think the 86box build is really cool but performance just isn't great. Here's a fork of DOSbox-X with PCX2 support: https://github.com/z2k-retro/dosbox-x/releases/tag/pcx2-v1.0

Enjoy raiding some tombs!

Last thing of the night - here's a wrapper to use PowerVR mode on games on modern Windows. It's designed to work with the ddraw.dll which comes with DGVoodoo2 - drop the two files in the same folder as the executable in Windows 10/11 x64 and you should be able to run it in PowerVR/PowerSGL mode. I know others have tried this (or are working on it currently) but with all the time I've spent on this it felt sensible to make this too. In testing it's essentially identical to the output from the real card.

To be clear it's made with the research done for the 86box version, the code released by Imagination, and a adaptation of the drivers written by Claude for this wrapper. No other wrapper projects were used.

ubertrout wrote on 2026-10-30, 04:58:

Last thing of the night - here's a wrapper to use PowerVR mode on games on modern Windows. It's designed to work with the ddraw.dll which comes with DGVoodoo2 - drop the two files in the same folder as the executable in Windows 10/11 x64 and you should be able to run it in PowerVR/PowerSGL mode. I know others have tried this (or are working on it currently) but with all the time I've spent on this it felt sensible to make this too. In testing it's essentially identical to the output from the real card.

To be clear it's made with the research done for the 86box version, the code released by Imagination, and a adaptation of the drivers written by Claude for this wrapper. No other wrapper projects were used.

My friend, you are a genius! I've just tested this wrapper through Lutris, running vanilla Unreal, and the results are absolutely incredible!!

Thank you so much for all your hard work and for sharing this with the community. Really appreciate it!

ubertrout wrote on 2026-10-29, 02:31:

Version 0.3.2 released - this now correctly emulates all PowerVR PCX2 hardware features, even the ones pretty much no games use: https://github.com/z2k-retro/86Box/releases/tag/pcx-v0.3.2

All throughout the reference repository has also been updated: https://github.com/z2k-retro/powervr-pcx2-tools/. This is intended to be a resource for anyone who wants to create their tools without needing a physical card to build on this project.

What should I do next with this project? What are your experiences using it?

Fantastic, thanks! I’ve been sticking with v.0.3.0, which has already served me very well. *Unreal* has very stable gameplay, as do *Quake* and *Quake 2*. *Tomb Raider*, however, crashes frequently; I’ve only managed to reach the fifth level by emulating a processor no faster than a 100 MHz Pentium. If I increase the power—which makes the game run beautifully, with perfect fluidity—it crashes very often. I suspect it struggles when emulating CD audio; for some reason, opting for a less powerful CPU, like the 100 MHz Pentium, makes the problem almost entirely disappear. Thanks again!

EF PC Vintage Planet wrote on 2026-10-30, 16:22:

ubertrout wrote on 2026-10-29, 02:31:

Version 0.3.2 released - this now correctly emulates all PowerVR PCX2 hardware features, even the ones pretty much no games use: https://github.com/z2k-retro/86Box/releases/tag/pcx-v0.3.2

All throughout the reference repository has also been updated: https://github.com/z2k-retro/powervr-pcx2-tools/. This is intended to be a resource for anyone who wants to create their tools without needing a physical card to build on this project.

What should I do next with this project? What are your experiences using it?

Fantastic, thanks! I’ve been sticking with v.0.3.0, which has already served me very well. *Unreal* has very stable gameplay, as do *Quake* and *Quake 2*. *Tomb Raider*, however, crashes frequently; I’ve only managed to reach the fifth level by emulating a processor no faster than a 100 MHz Pentium. If I increase the power—which makes the game run beautifully, with perfect fluidity—it crashes very often. I suspect it struggles when emulating CD audio; for some reason, opting for a less powerful CPU, like the 100 MHz Pentium, makes the problem almost entirely disappear. Thanks again!

How does the DOSbox-X version I uploaded last night work for you with Tomb Raider?

xabarax wrote on 2026-10-30, 15:28:

ubertrout wrote on 2026-10-30, 04:58:

Last thing of the night - here's a wrapper to use PowerVR mode on games on modern Windows. It's designed to work with the ddraw.dll which comes with DGVoodoo2 - drop the two files in the same folder as the executable in Windows 10/11 x64 and you should be able to run it in PowerVR/PowerSGL mode. I know others have tried this (or are working on it currently) but with all the time I've spent on this it felt sensible to make this too. In testing it's essentially identical to the output from the real card.

To be clear it's made with the research done for the 86box version, the code released by Imagination, and a adaptation of the drivers written by Claude for this wrapper. No other wrapper projects were used.

My friend, you are a genius! I've just tested this wrapper through Lutris, running vanilla Unreal, and the results are absolutely incredible!!

Thank you so much for all your hard work and for sharing this with the community. Really appreciate it!

My pleasure! I feel like the wrapper might be the ultimate output of this project. I feel like I should tell more people about it but I'm not sure who to tell 😀

Made a release 0.1 of the wrapper and you can see source code as well. Output is excellent - even POD (after a update to the wrapper) runs fine.

Please send bug reports. What I'm seeing is mostly problems of running the games generally in Windows 11 rather than wrapper problems.

https://github.com/z2k-retro/pvr-sgl-wrapper/ … leases/tag/v0.1

ubertrout wrote on 2026-10-30, 17:12:

EF PC Vintage Planet wrote on 2026-10-30, 16:22:

ubertrout wrote on 2026-10-29, 02:31:

Version 0.3.2 released - this now correctly emulates all PowerVR PCX2 hardware features, even the ones pretty much no games use: https://github.com/z2k-retro/86Box/releases/tag/pcx-v0.3.2

All throughout the reference repository has also been updated: https://github.com/z2k-retro/powervr-pcx2-tools/. This is intended to be a resource for anyone who wants to create their tools without needing a physical card to build on this project.

What should I do next with this project? What are your experiences using it?

Fantastic, thanks! I’ve been sticking with v.0.3.0, which has already served me very well. *Unreal* has very stable gameplay, as do *Quake* and *Quake 2*. *Tomb Raider*, however, crashes frequently; I’ve only managed to reach the fifth level by emulating a processor no faster than a 100 MHz Pentium. If I increase the power—which makes the game run beautifully, with perfect fluidity—it crashes very often. I suspect it struggles when emulating CD audio; for some reason, opting for a less powerful CPU, like the 100 MHz Pentium, makes the problem almost entirely disappear. Thanks again!

How does the DOSbox-X version I uploaded last night work for you with Tomb Raider?

Hi ubertrout, I just tested the DOSBox-X PCX2 build you provided on my Ryzen 7 5800X3D (Windows 11 Pro), and I am happy to report that it works beautifully!

I mounted the game files along with the TR1 CD image for the audio tracks. The gameplay is extremely fluid and smooth, much more responsive than on 86Box. The slow-motion/time-dilation issue is completely gone, and Lara finally moves at her native, correct speed. I just played through a whole level with full CD music and Sound Blaster effects, and the experience is fantastic. I am also planning to test this build on my second PC with the older Core i5-3470 very soon to see how it performs there.

I really want to complement you and the author for the amazing work done on this project, thank you so much for providing this alternative solution!

EF PC Vintage Planet wrote on 2026-10-30, 21:50:

Hi ubertrout, I just tested the DOSBox-X PCX2 build you provided on my Ryzen 7 5800X3D (Windows 11 Pro), and I am happy to repor […]
Show full quote

ubertrout wrote on 2026-10-30, 17:12:

EF PC Vintage Planet wrote on 2026-10-30, 16:22:

Fantastic, thanks! I’ve been sticking with v.0.3.0, which has already served me very well. *Unreal* has very stable gameplay, as do *Quake* and *Quake 2*. *Tomb Raider*, however, crashes frequently; I’ve only managed to reach the fifth level by emulating a processor no faster than a 100 MHz Pentium. If I increase the power—which makes the game run beautifully, with perfect fluidity—it crashes very often. I suspect it struggles when emulating CD audio; for some reason, opting for a less powerful CPU, like the 100 MHz Pentium, makes the problem almost entirely disappear. Thanks again!

How does the DOSbox-X version I uploaded last night work for you with Tomb Raider?

Hi ubertrout, I just tested the DOSBox-X PCX2 build you provided on my Ryzen 7 5800X3D (Windows 11 Pro), and I am happy to report that it works beautifully!

I mounted the game files along with the TR1 CD image for the audio tracks. The gameplay is extremely fluid and smooth, much more responsive than on 86Box. The slow-motion/time-dilation issue is completely gone, and Lara finally moves at her native, correct speed. I just played through a whole level with full CD music and Sound Blaster effects, and the experience is fantastic. I am also planning to test this build on my second PC with the older Core i5-3470 very soon to see how it performs there.

I really want to complement you and the author for the amazing work done on this project, thank you so much for providing this alternative solution!

I'm glad! DOSbox was the answer for Tomb Raider I think.

This is incredible work. Many many thanks

ubertrout wrote on 2026-10-30, 03:06:

So, I think the 86box build is really cool but performance just isn't great. Here's a fork of DOSbox-X with PCX2 support: https://github.com/z2k-retro/dosbox-x/releases/tag/pcx2-v1.0

Enjoy raiding some tombs!

What are the options in the config file for the pcx2 adapter emulated?

ubertrout wrote on 2026-10-31, 04:08:

EF PC Vintage Planet wrote on 2026-10-30, 21:50:

Hi ubertrout, I just tested the DOSBox-X PCX2 build you provided on my Ryzen 7 5800X3D (Windows 11 Pro), and I am happy to repor […]
Show full quote

ubertrout wrote on 2026-10-30, 17:12:

How does the DOSbox-X version I uploaded last night work for you with Tomb Raider?

Hi ubertrout, I just tested the DOSBox-X PCX2 build you provided on my Ryzen 7 5800X3D (Windows 11 Pro), and I am happy to report that it works beautifully!

I mounted the game files along with the TR1 CD image for the audio tracks. The gameplay is extremely fluid and smooth, much more responsive than on 86Box. The slow-motion/time-dilation issue is completely gone, and Lara finally moves at her native, correct speed. I just played through a whole level with full CD music and Sound Blaster effects, and the experience is fantastic. I am also planning to test this build on my second PC with the older Core i5-3470 very soon to see how it performs there.

I really want to complement you and the author for the amazing work done on this project, thank you so much for providing this alternative solution!

I'm glad! DOSbox was the answer for Tomb Raider I think.

If you could do something for 86Box to make it more stable—given the 'over limits' bug—and improve compatibility with the PCX2, I’d really appreciate it. I'm slowly redesigning the PCX2 drivers myself: I’ve attached some of my work that should make fans of these accelerators pretty happy 😀

rename q1q2q3.zip in opengl32.dll for quake 1 2 e 3

rename lastattempglquake.zip in opengl32.dll this is only for glquake.

I'm trying to work with HSR software, even though the PCX2 is a tile-based architecture 😀

Maybe I'll open a dedicated thread about this soon...

Wishing you all the best!

Excuse my (silly) question, I already have installed vanilla DOSBox-X ver. 2026.08.31 under Linux and it coexists with an original DOSBox ver. 0.74-3 installation, so what would happen with them, if I compile and try to install this DOSBox-X PCX2 build too?

Bladeforce wrote on 2026-10-31, 15:11:

ubertrout wrote on 2026-10-30, 03:06:

So, I think the 86box build is really cool but performance just isn't great. Here's a fork of DOSbox-X with PCX2 support: https://github.com/z2k-retro/dosbox-x/releases/tag/pcx2-v1.0

Enjoy raiding some tombs!

What are the options in the config file for the pcx2 adapter emulated?

Everything is in a [powervr] section:

ini
[powervr]
pcx2=true # turn the card on (off by default)
pcx2 irq=11 # interrupt line; 0 for none (the DOS driver polls anyway)
pcx2 render threads=0 # host threads per frame; 0 = automatic (up to 😎
pcx2 render delay=2.0 # emulated ms from start to end of each render; 0 = instant

It also needs an SVGA machine with a linear frame buffer, and the PCI bus on (the default):

ini
[dosbox]
machine=svga_s3
memsize=32
enable pci bus=true

[cpu]
cputype=pentium
cycles=max

In the Windows package, the included dosbox-x.conf already has all of this set. The card can also be switched on from the menu: Video > 3D accelerators > PowerVR PCX2 card.

If the menus work but the 3D picture is garbage, try ems=false in [dos]. If the game hangs waiting for a frame, try a different pcx2 render delay.

xabarax wrote on 2026-10-31, 15:24:

If you could do something for 86Box to make it more stable—given the 'over limits' bug—and improve compatibility with the PCX2, […]
Show full quote

ubertrout wrote on 2026-10-31, 04:08:

EF PC Vintage Planet wrote on 2026-10-30, 21:50:

Hi ubertrout, I just tested the DOSBox-X PCX2 build you provided on my Ryzen 7 5800X3D (Windows 11 Pro), and I am happy to report that it works beautifully!

I mounted the game files along with the TR1 CD image for the audio tracks. The gameplay is extremely fluid and smooth, much more responsive than on 86Box. The slow-motion/time-dilation issue is completely gone, and Lara finally moves at her native, correct speed. I just played through a whole level with full CD music and Sound Blaster effects, and the experience is fantastic. I am also planning to test this build on my second PC with the older Core i5-3470 very soon to see how it performs there.

I really want to complement you and the author for the amazing work done on this project, thank you so much for providing this alternative solution!

I'm glad! DOSbox was the answer for Tomb Raider I think.

If you could do something for 86Box to make it more stable—given the 'over limits' bug—and improve compatibility with the PCX2, I’d really appreciate it. I'm slowly redesigning the PCX2 drivers myself: I’ve attached some of my work that should make fans of these accelerators pretty happy 😀

rename q1q2q3.zip in opengl32.dll for quake 1 2 e 3

rename lastattempglquake.zip in opengl32.dll this is only for glquake.

I'm trying to work with HSR software, even though the PCX2 is a tile-based architecture 😀

Maybe I'll open a dedicated thread about this soon...

Wishing you all the best!

Are you using the latest version (0.3 or later) with the new dynamic recompiler? I find it gets rid of a lot of those problems.

That's awesome about the DLLs! By all means open a new thread if you like.

analog_programmer wrote on 2026-10-31, 15:31:

Excuse my (silly) question, I already have installed vanilla DOSBox-X ver. 2026.08.31 under Linux and it coexists with an original DOSBox ver. 0.74-3 installation, so what would happen with them, if I compile and try to install this DOSBox-X PCX2 build too?

Here's a perhaps lengthy explanation from Le Claude:

They can live side by side without touching each other. The PCX2 build is a normal DOSBox-X with one extra device, so the only things to keep apart are the program file and the config file. Here’s how on Debian/Ubuntu; on other distros the package names differ but the steps are the same.

1. Build tools and libraries

sudo apt install build-essential autoconf automake libtool pkg-config git nasm \
libsdl2-dev libsdl2-net-dev libpng-dev libpcap-dev libslirp-dev libfluidsynth-dev \
libncurses-dev libxkbfile-dev libxrandr-dev

If configure stops later, it names the missing library; install its -dev package and run the build again.

2. Get the source into its own folder

git clone --depth 1 -b pcx2 https://github.com/z2k-retro/dosbox-x.git ~/src/dosbox-x-pcx2
cd ~/src/dosbox-x-pcx2

3. Build it, but don’t install it

./build-sdl2

This leaves the program at src/dosbox-x inside that folder. Don’t run make install: the build script uses --prefix=/usr, so installing would overwrite the dosbox-x your package manager put in /usr/bin. Nothing outside ~/src/dosbox-x-pcx2 has changed at this point.

4. Give the PCX2 build its own folder and name

mkdir -p ~/dosbox-x-pcx2
cp src/dosbox-x ~/dosbox-x-pcx2/dosbox-x-pcx2

5. Give it its own config file

Make ~/dosbox-x-pcx2/pcx2.conf with only the settings that differ from the defaults:

ini
[dosbox]
machine=svga_s3
memsize=32
enable pci bus=true

[video]
vmemsize=4

[cpu]
cputype=pentium
cycles=max

[dos]
# if the 3D picture is garbage while the menus work, try:
# ems=false

[powervr]
pcx2=true
# pcx2 irq=11
# pcx2 render threads=0 (0 = automatic)
# pcx2 render delay=2.0 (ms of emulated time per frame)

[autoexec]
mount c ~/dos
c:

Change the mount line to wherever your DOS games are.

6. A launcher that always uses that file

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
cat > ~/.local/bin/dosbox-x-pcx2 <<'EOF'
#!/bin/sh
exec "$HOME/dosbox-x-pcx2/dosbox-x-pcx2" -conf "$HOME/dosbox-x-pcx2/pcx2.conf" "$@"
EOF
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/dosbox-x-pcx2

(~/.local/bin is on the PATH by default on Ubuntu. If it isn’t on yours, log out and back in, or call the script by its full path.)

Now dosbox-x-pcx2 starts the PowerVR build, and dosbox-x and dosbox start your existing ones exactly as before.

Why the config files stay apart

Started without -conf, DOSBox-X looks for a config in this order:

dosbox-x.conf in the current folder;
the same file next to the program;
~/.config/dosbox-x/dosbox-x.conf.

The third is the file your 2026.08.31 build uses. With -conf, as in the launcher, DOSBox-X skips that search and reads only pcx2.conf. Your vanilla build never sees the [powervr] section, and the PCX2 build never reads your normal settings. DOSBox 0.74-3 is a different program (dosbox, config in ~/.dosbox/) and isn’t affected at all.

To remove it later

rm -rf ~/dosbox-x-pcx2 ~/src/dosbox-x-pcx2 ~/.local/bin/dosbox-x-pcx2

Nothing else was touched.

I noticed this in the wrapper readme

MDK MDK.CFG must point at the game's data folder. The game's CD check still applies. <have you tried running the executable with -iamapirate
I believe that will bypass the cd check?

ubertrout wrote on 2026-11-01, 04:11:

Here's a perhaps lengthy explanation from Le Claude: […]
Show full quote

analog_programmer wrote on 2026-10-31, 15:31:

Excuse my (silly) question, I already have installed vanilla DOSBox-X ver. 2026.08.31 under Linux and it coexists with an original DOSBox ver. 0.74-3 installation, so what would happen with them, if I compile and try to install this DOSBox-X PCX2 build too?

Here's a perhaps lengthy explanation from Le Claude:

They can live side by side without touching each other. The PCX2 build is a normal DOSBox-X with one extra device, so the only things to keep apart are the program file and the config file. Here’s how on Debian/Ubuntu; on other distros the package names differ but the steps are the same.

1. Build tools and libraries

sudo apt install build-essential autoconf automake libtool pkg-config git nasm \
libsdl2-dev libsdl2-net-dev libpng-dev libpcap-dev libslirp-dev libfluidsynth-dev \
libncurses-dev libxkbfile-dev libxrandr-dev

If configure stops later, it names the missing library; install its -dev package and run the build again.

2. Get the source into its own folder

git clone --depth 1 -b pcx2 https://github.com/z2k-retro/dosbox-x.git ~/src/dosbox-x-pcx2
cd ~/src/dosbox-x-pcx2

3. Build it, but don’t install it

./build-sdl2

This leaves the program at src/dosbox-x inside that folder. Don’t run make install: the build script uses --prefix=/usr, so installing would overwrite the dosbox-x your package manager put in /usr/bin. Nothing outside ~/src/dosbox-x-pcx2 has changed at this point.

4. Give the PCX2 build its own folder and name

mkdir -p ~/dosbox-x-pcx2
cp src/dosbox-x ~/dosbox-x-pcx2/dosbox-x-pcx2

5. Give it its own config file

Make ~/dosbox-x-pcx2/pcx2.conf with only the settings that differ from the defaults:

ini
[dosbox]
machine=svga_s3
memsize=32
enable pci bus=true

[video]
vmemsize=4

[cpu]
cputype=pentium
cycles=max

[dos]
# if the 3D picture is garbage while the menus work, try:
# ems=false

[powervr]
pcx2=true
# pcx2 irq=11
# pcx2 render threads=0 (0 = automatic)
# pcx2 render delay=2.0 (ms of emulated time per frame)

[autoexec]
mount c ~/dos
c:

Change the mount line to wherever your DOS games are.

6. A launcher that always uses that file

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
cat > ~/.local/bin/dosbox-x-pcx2 <<'EOF'
#!/bin/sh
exec "$HOME/dosbox-x-pcx2/dosbox-x-pcx2" -conf "$HOME/dosbox-x-pcx2/pcx2.conf" "$@"
EOF
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/dosbox-x-pcx2

(~/.local/bin is on the PATH by default on Ubuntu. If it isn’t on yours, log out and back in, or call the script by its full path.)

Now dosbox-x-pcx2 starts the PowerVR build, and dosbox-x and dosbox start your existing ones exactly as before.

Why the config files stay apart

Started without -conf, DOSBox-X looks for a config in this order:

dosbox-x.conf in the current folder;
the same file next to the program;
~/.config/dosbox-x/dosbox-x.conf.

The third is the file your 2026.08.31 build uses. With -conf, as in the launcher, DOSBox-X skips that search and reads only pcx2.conf. Your vanilla build never sees the [powervr] section, and the PCX2 build never reads your normal settings. DOSBox 0.74-3 is a different program (dosbox, config in ~/.dosbox/) and isn’t affected at all.

To remove it later

rm -rf ~/dosbox-x-pcx2 ~/src/dosbox-x-pcx2 ~/.local/bin/dosbox-x-pcx2

Nothing else was touched.

Thank you very much for this detailed guide on how to compile and install in Linux without breaking the other DOSBox versions installed! I will check it out later.

ubertrout wrote on 2026-11-01, 04:06:

xabarax wrote on 2026-10-31, 15:24:

If you could do something for 86Box to make it more stable—given the 'over limits' bug—and improve compatibility with the PCX2, […]
Show full quote

ubertrout wrote on 2026-10-31, 04:08:

I'm glad! DOSbox was the answer for Tomb Raider I think.

If you could do something for 86Box to make it more stable—given the 'over limits' bug—and improve compatibility with the PCX2, I’d really appreciate it. I'm slowly redesigning the PCX2 drivers myself: I’ve attached some of my work that should make fans of these accelerators pretty happy 😀

rename q1q2q3.zip in opengl32.dll for quake 1 2 e 3

rename lastattempglquake.zip in opengl32.dll this is only for glquake.

I'm trying to work with HSR software, even though the PCX2 is a tile-based architecture 😀

Maybe I'll open a dedicated thread about this soon...

Wishing you all the best!

Are you using the latest version (0.3 or later) with the new dynamic recompiler? I find it gets rid of a lot of those problems.

That's awesome about the DLLs! By all means open a new thread if you like.

yeah!!

This is an example of what I've managed to achieve by writing a new opengl32.dll from scratch. I applied fixes for Quake III and this is the result with vertex lighting. Now I'm working on the official SDK. It takes time, but I think this is truly a viable path!

Bladeforce wrote on 2026-11-01, 09:49:

I noticed this in the wrapper readme

MDK MDK.CFG must point at the game's data folder. The game's CD check still applies. <have you tried running the executable with -iamapirate
I believe that will bypass the cd check?

I didn't! That would probably be easier 😀