I noticed the same thing a while ago. According to someone who has reverse-engineered the game, the monitor type selection does nothing (in the original booter). There's a routine that checks the selection and adjusts some kind of offset, but it ends up being the same value no matter what mode you're in.

From your post, I can't tell for sure if you've actually seen this additional composite color palette in action. It's possible that different revisions of the game exist, but I haven't come across one where it actually works.

I did used to see it in action when I was a kid, from the same disk.

To clarify - you've imaged the same disk that had composite graphics working on real hardware in the past, and that's what you're booting in DOSBox?

VileRancour wrote:

To clarify - you've imaged the same disk that had composite graphics working on real hardware in the past, and that's what you're booting in DOSBox?

Yes, I imaged it on my 286 and sent it over to my Mac Pro via FTP.

Hmm, should be interesting to see how it behaves under other emulators (PCE/PCem/MESS). I wonder if it isn't one of those odd routines that fail on newer CPUs such as what DOSBox emulates.

Haven't had much luck with other emus. Interestingly though, the BCW section at http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wolfenstein/wolfenstein.htm also says, "The PC version looks the best [...] and there is support for composite monitors for improved color".