[Thread moved to DOSBox Games/Apps. Section]

System specs? DOSBox .conf settings? Have you tried setting cycles to a fixed value?

Thanks, but you have to be a bit more specific....
I use a 7 ultimate, with 2.93GHz.
I have not set any cycles....

What else would you like to know?

Do you mean Ms Pacman from Atarisoft ('83)?

if so try typing the following command in DOSBox before you start the game:
cycles 280

see if this makes any difference.

No, that's not it... Now the game starts off in a crawl, when I start with 280...

I have no idea if it is the atari. It must have been 15 years since I downloaded it. I have kept it because it is 100% identical with the arcade game.

Strangely enough it perfectly on my old HP laptop, withb the XP SP3 1,6GHz, while it will not run on my wife's desktop also XP SP3, but only two years old.....

Thanks for trying. I guess this is maybe just too much effort. I will plug in the laptop again when ever I want to play....

Seems like there are quite a few versions of Ms Pac Man for DOS, at least according to my MobyGames search (select "DOS" or "PC Booter" as the platform). If you can pinpoint the exact one, that would help.

If you manage to find the one, please post your DOSBox config settings to help identify the issue.

Though I might suggest that if you want a 100% arcade-identical experience, other emulators would do a better job (e.g. MAME).

I have no idea what the name of the version is. I have had it for ages and I only have it because it is precisely the game as in the arcade game.
It is just that about once a year I stumble on another article somewhere, which tells me that I can run old games on Windows. I have simply by now wasted so many hours on these different kind of advice, none of which really works....that now I will simply stop, and keep on playing it on my notebook with XP on it.

Thanks for trying, but.... this is it!

Is this one the PC version you're playing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2pvFCltSSg

If so, it is a real mode game, and seems to work fine with cycles=auto/3000, but it also works with cycles=max. Try all these values before giving up.

MsPacPC homepage: http://www.jrok.com/games_orig.html

probably your 2.93ghz cpu stepping up and down... make sure you're plugged in and pick "maximum performance" in the windows power options; you might also try disabling turbo boost.

That's exactly what solved my issues. And it applies to laptops as well, the constant up and down "speed-hunting" of the cpu. Dos box apparently has some load sensing and when you get the two going together you'll see slowdowns.

I had this issue with Duke3D ages ago.

Just to let you know, using F12 to speed up the amchine did the trick. It now works steady.

Thank you all for your help, and sorry about the delay

mm.. you're fooling the speed detect by keeping the cpu artificially high. but if it works then who am i to argue..