Decrease the number of cycles?

Jorpho wrote:

Decrease the number of cycles?

I tried different variations and the problem persists 🙁

It sounds more like DOSBox is not reading the key as "held". In DOTC when using the catapult, the longer you hold down the key before releasing, the harder the bolder is thrown. Too hard, and it flies over the castle. Not hard enough and it never reaches the wall. If the bolder is just dropping out of the catapult, it is at minimum strength, as if you had barely tapped the enter key instead of holding it down.

FeedingDragon wrote:

It sounds more like DOSBox is not reading the key as "held". In DOTC when using the catapult, the longer you hold down the key before releasing, the harder the bolder is thrown. Too hard, and it flies over the castle. Not hard enough and it never reaches the wall. If the bolder is just dropping out of the catapult, it is at minimum strength, as if you had barely tapped the enter key instead of holding it down.

Yes, that's exactly the problem. The boulder is thrown in a second no matter how much time I hold down the enter key. Is there any parameter in dosbox I can change to fix that?

Which version of DOTC? The one that supports both CGA and EGA graphics, or the one that only supports CGA graphics?

ripsaw8080 wrote:

Which version of DOTC? The one that supports both CGA and EGA graphics, or the one that only supports CGA graphics?

I was playing CGA only version. Now you asked, I ran EGA/CGA version, and the problem persists, but the game seems to work a little different. In the siege stage, its a little accelerated, and the key is released again even if I keep pressing it, but it throw the rock farther, because in the same second than the CGA version, as it goes accelerated, it can low the rock longer.

Sorry my poor english, I'm not sure how to explain that. The problem seems to be just exactly the same in both versions. Can you play it without problems? Maybe it has something to di with my PC configuration, not sure (My keyboard is a Logitech G15 v2).

What amount of fixed cycles are you using in DOSBox? I'm not familiar with the siege part of the game; does it require you to hold down keys for more than half of a second? Both versions of DOTC use the keyboard hardware interrupt handler in BIOS that buffers keys, so the keyboard's typematic delay and repeat rate may influence gameplay. The CGA/EGA version of DOTC is actually a booter (although unofficial DOS conversions were made), so you were forced to live with the boot-up typematic defaults. Try running the freeware Turbokey utility (link) in DOSBox to change the typematic settings. The command "turbokey m2" will set the delay and repeat rate to the boot-up defaults used by most older PC compatibles.

Turbokey seems to be "almost" the solution. Does it have a limitation setting the delay? I tested turbokey m2 and I found it worked, but it wasn't enough. The, used m4 and it got even better, but still not everything I needed to the siege stage. Then, I changed it to turbokey m10 and it looks like it does nothing, the game is running by default. Turbokey seems to be the solution, but I need more delay. I have to keep Enter key for 3-4 second I think.

I use 7500 or 10000 cycles. In 7500 cycles I have sometimes slowdowns, so I use to set 10000, works great with it.

The letter (A-Z) is the repeat rate, A is the fastest; the number (1-4) is the delay, 1 is shortest. I think you need to change the repeat rate rather than the delay.

The amount of cycles you're using seems far too high for a game from 1987, something less than the default 3000 cycles seems more appropriate. Any "slowdowns" are probably what occured on PCs made around the time the game was released.

I have tested right now with different letters and nothing looks different, it does exactly the same using a4, m4 or z4, the only thing that seems to affect is the number, but 4 is not enough 🙁

I used to play DOTC when I was nine on a Amstrad PC 1512, and the game worked flawless on it, with no slowdowns in any way. Using something less than 7500 give me problems specially in sound. I've run it now at 2000 cycles and th game is playable, but sounds sometimes is a little strange...

Which settings should I use to emulate exactly my old Amstrad PC 1512?

Thank you very much for all your help ripsaw8080

Which OS? Win8? Is the keyboard device detected as a general HID input device in "device manager"? Also, try cycles=500 or lower, just to confirm ripsaw's proposal.

To my knowledge the PC1512 has an 8 MHz 8086, so cycles of 500-1000 should be a closer match for that, although there is no precise equivalent between cycles in DOSBox and CPU clock rate. However, it should be clear that 10K cycles is unrealistically high.

Some PC types offered the option to *disable* typematic on the keyboard, such as the PCjr and certain models of PS/2, but I don't know if the PC1512 had such an option. Maybe try playing the game in PCEm, which has a cycle-accurate PC1512 emulation.

According to here, Defender of the Crown - EGA version, the EGA version is fully playable. Same result in the compatibility page. (I also noted mobygames lists the game as supporting DOS and PC booter versions, in addition to every system imaginable).

See here at 3 minutes where catapult works as expected: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNefGeJidSo