game? mountings? dosbox verison? dosbox config? 😖

game?

None
- DOSBox won't even run, does it matter what game?

mountings?

none
- DOSBox won't even run, can't even get that far.

dosbox verison?

Windows 0.73 Win32 installer
- Thought that was implied when I said downloaded and installed new version.

dosbox config?

Default
- In the version on my laptop the config file was in the root directory of DOSBox, but there's not one in this new installed one, so I don't know?

Found the config. My windows Shell doesn't use a start menu, I build launch icons for apps I use, but I found it in the odd location of C:\Documents and Settings\usr\Local Settings\Application Data\DOSBox
do you want me to copy-paste it here?

DOSBox uses SDL which is pretty simple, can you use other SDL apps like ScummVM?

DOSBox uses SDL which is pretty simple, can you use other SDL apps like ScummVM?

ScummVM? I can't say I've heard of that. I'll check.

Aye, scummVM works it seems, at least it loads GUI unlike DOSBox which near-kills my system and does nothing

Change the output= in dosbox.conf to be something other than surface. Also set fullscreen=false.

I'll bet it's trying to set some kind of fullscreen 8-bit color mode, which seems to make a lot of modern video cards and/or Windows choke.

HunterZ wrote:

Change the output= in dosbox.conf to be something other than surface. Also set fullscreen=false.

I'll bet it's trying to set some kind of fullscreen 8-bit color mode, which seems to make a lot of modern video cards and/or Windows choke.

1fullscreen=false
2fulldouble=false
3fullresolution=original
4windowresolution=original
5output=surface
6autolock=true
7sensitivity=100
8waitonerror=true
9priority=higher,normal
10mapperfile=mapper.txt
11usescancodes=true

That was default/current, going to try out

1output=opengl
2output=openglnb
3output=ddraw

and I'll reply with results

opengl locks up system 2-10 seconds when alt-tabbing and when starting up. Performance appears fine aside from that. I *need* to be able to swap between apps without it taking that long, so that's simply unacceptable
openglnb is same as opengl
ddraw had the same issues as before, screen flashes black, only a lot more rapidly

so far all those options cause the entire system to freeze up while the dosbox window loads up

going to try overlay now
overlay caused flashing, app to never load, and the performance was better, didn't murder my system, but dosbox didn't work on the other hand either

Is there any message in the console window?

Are you getting any error messages in the DOSBox console window?

Are you trying to span any of the DOSBox windows across monitors?

What nVidia driver version are you running?

BTW, the place in which you located your dosbox.conf is normal for 0.73. It is placed there because newer versions of Windows (Vista, Win7) try to prevent modification of files under the Program Files folder as an idiot-proofing measure.

Mabye it's the additional monitor?

Are you getting any error messages in the DOSBox console window?

No, none that I saw.

Are you trying to span any of the DOSBox windows across monitors?

Nope

What nVidia driver version are you running?

*shrugs* I updated them last month. I need to check for updates again, I highly doubt it'll fix the issue, but won't hurt to try

BTW, the place in which you located your dosbox.conf is normal for 0.73. It is placed there because newer versions of Windows (Vista, Win7) try to prevent modification of files under the Program Files folder as an idiot-proofing measure.

This is why I stick with XP still, Vista+ offers nothing but stupidity, difficulties, a new layout of configuration (took me an hour to -find- my connections so i could set tcp/ip to static ip to connect to my non-dhcp router) bleah .. so much effort in relearning for something that's ultimately a downgrade of an OS to me.

DosFreak wrote:

Mabye it's the additional monitor?

Doesn't make a difference what display it is on.

I do run linux X-Server through this computer, and I can get v 71 to work from debian pkgmgr. It actually works, but it's SLOW, way too slow to run my games on. However, I don't know where the config file is located, so I don't know where to look to change settings for it.

http://wolfandphoenix.net/mystuff/DOSBox.png
- I can get it to run, Linux has errors with config and windows just has a problem with attempted murdering of my PC when I click in and out of the DOSBox window. If I can get one of them working then I'll be set, but I can't get either to run properly. They all seem functional, except the unacceptable crippling feature of clicking in and out of Windows lags entire system, and the linux ones just run SOOOO slow.

Wow, you've got a ton of stuff going on there. Could be anything. Running 3 copies at once won't help (?)

2 different operating systems there, 2 running through Linux, one through Windows. Was showing that linux has an issue normal and through sudo

I've been at this for a while now, and I'm thinking my system just can't run it.

The only time I remember hearing an issue like this is of people using multiple monitors. Disabling cloning/spanning solved it that time. Don't think I've heard of it happening with DOSBox.

You could also try setting the variable SDL_Videodriver=WINDIB before booting DOSBox and see if that has any effect. (if you are too lazy to do that then you can just quickly disable DirectDraw in dxdiag and then launch DOSBox)

DosFreak wrote:

The only time I remember hearing an issue like this is of people using multiple monitors. Disabling cloning/spanning solved it that time. Don't think I've heard of it happening with DOSBox.

You could also try setting the variable SDL_Videodriver=WINDIB before booting DOSBox and see if that has any effect. (if you are too lazy to do that then you can just quickly disable DirectDraw in dxdiag and then launch DOSBox)

I'm not using cloning/spanning, just extended desktop/dualhead (each screen is independent, not spanning from one to the next without a break. The OS identifies each screen as independent for resolution and elements (such as taskbar).
But oh-well, I'll look into making the linux version work decently. I just need to solve the missing config error issue for it and try to get the lag on it down as much as possible. A 1995 DOS video game running at 0.7 FPS is simply laughable.