The game has been discussed before, including mouse support: Re: Tass Times in Tonetown not running correctly
Also Re: Really important feature suggestion to devs.

idspispopd wrote:

The game has been discussed before, including mouse support: Re: Tass Times in Tonetown not running correctly
Also Re: Really important feature suggestion to devs.

Yep. Read it. It says to use a real serial mouse. I neither have a serial mouse, nor a serial port on my computer. So saying "use real hardware" is not an acceptable solution for me. Nor should anybody accept it as a viable solution (even if they have a serial port on their PC and happen by chance to have a real serial mouse). The purpose of an emulator is to AVOID USING REAL HARDWARE, and instead cause already existing hardware (like a USB mouse) to behave like the hardware that is needed to be emulated (a serial mouse, in this case).

videogamer555 wrote:

idspispopd wrote:

The game has been discussed before, including mouse support: Re: Tass Times in Tonetown not running correctly
Also Re: Really important feature suggestion to devs.

Yep. Read it. It says to use a real serial mouse. I neither have a serial mouse, nor a serial port on my computer. So saying "use real hardware" is not an acceptable solution for me. Nor should anybody accept it as a viable solution (even if they have a serial port on their PC and happen by chance to have a real serial mouse). The purpose of an emulator is to AVOID USING REAL HARDWARE, and instead cause already existing hardware (like a USB mouse) to behave like the hardware that is needed to be emulated (a serial mouse, in this case).

Dosbox is an opensource product, why don't you do it yourself?

RacoonRider wrote:

why don't you do it yourself?

It is such an important feature, that it SHOULD be in the official download of the emulator. If I code it myself, it will be in my copy only. If I post my copy on the net for others to download, they will be downloading a copy other than the official copy. It should be in the official copy, and nothing I can do can cause it to be put in the official copy that is downloadable from the official website. I don't have access to the server for the official site, so I have no way to put my version up there for download, or to merge my code with the official code, so that when the next official version is compiled and released it will contain the serial mouse support(not that I have much faith that there will EVER be another version released, as it's now 2015, and the last official version released was back in 2010). The only thing I can do is to prod the developers to put it in, repeatedly, until they decide to put it in the official version. That's the ONLY way that my actions might have even the SLIGHTEST chance of getting this feature put into the official version. So that's what I plan to do.

Are you unfamiliar with the concept of submitting a patch?

The only thing I can do is to prod the developers to put it in, repeatedly, until they decide to put it in the official version. That's the ONLY way that my actions might have even the SLIGHTEST chance of getting this feature put into the official version. So that's what I plan to do.

Doing this yields a zero chance of getting the feature in. It's also a great way to get banned for being obnoxious.

jmarsh wrote:

Are you unfamiliar with the concept of submitting a patch?

That just means I submit a change to the code. It allows somebody else to patch their copy of the DosBox EXE file, to give their own copy of the EXE file the same feature as my compiled modded version of the EXE file. That's assuming that they have the same tool to apply the patch as I have to make the patch. It has no bearing on whether or not it ever gets implemented in the official source code of DosBox.

I should not be forced to compile a version to get a feature that SHOULD have been in the official version, but for whatever reason the devs decided to leave out. "Should have been" means just that, that the developers overlooked a MAJOR IMPORTANT FEATURE when they released their official version. And serial mouse support is MOST CERTAINLY In that "should have been" category.

videogamer555 wrote:

That just means I submit a change to the code. It allows somebody else to patch their copy of the DosBox EXE file, to give their own copy of the EXE file the same feature as my compiled modded version of the EXE file. That's assuming that they have the same tool to apply the patch as I have to make the patch. It has no bearing on whether or not it ever gets implemented in the official source code of DosBox.

I should not be forced to compile a version to get a feature that SHOULD have been in the official version, but for whatever reason the devs decided to leave out. "Should have been" means just that, that the developers overlooked a MAJOR IMPORTANT FEATURE when they released their official version. And serial mouse support is MOST CERTAINLY In that "should have been" category.

So I'll take that as a no.
Submit a source code patch containing the required changes to the dosbox project page on sourceforge and they will (if satisfactory) be adopted into the official project. This is how open source generally works; if you don't like it I suggest you purchase a program that comes with a support plan included.

videogamer555 wrote:

It is such an important feature, that it SHOULD be in the official download of the emulator.

So far you can name exactly one game that requires this feature.

Also, what jmarsh said.

videogamer555 wrote:

not that I have much faith that there will EVER be another version released, as it's now 2015, and the last official version released was back in 2010

The source is being updated frequently, even if there hasn't been a new "official" release in a while. Many open source projects are similar.

The only thing I can do is to prod the developers to put it in, repeatedly, until they decide to put it in the official version. That's the ONLY way that my actions might have even the SLIGHTEST chance of getting this feature put into the official version. So that's what I plan to do.

It is far more likely that such behavior will result in the devs becoming so sick and tired of having to deal with your abuse that they will abandon the project entirely. That happens all too frequently as well (i.e. with open source projects in general). Do you think you're the only person who has ever found some obscure game that won't run for some reason or another but that it should be "MANDATORY" for DOSBox to support?

Just as a side note, I wouldn't use words like "should" or "most certainly" (especially in uppercase) when requesting something additional from the guys who created as a hobby and publishing it free of charge.

The devs are aware of this topic and basically just think it's hilarious that someone's having a meltdown over serial mouse support 😀

It's just not the way to request features... these people are doing this in their spare time, there are no 'acceptance criteria' like in the business world.

To put things in proper perspective, a serial mouse is not NEEDED for Tass Times in Tonetown. You can choose actions and inventory items with the mouse instead of typing same into the text parser, but a keyboard alone is quite sufficient to play the game. Mice were not common PC hardware when the game was released in 1986, so it was a rather progressive feature at that time, particularly for a booter.

Also, if you ever code it yourself and make your changed version of Dosbox available, you MUST also make your changed code available. Otherwise you are breaking the GPL.

I agree with the others that you need to learn some manners in regard to open source projects...

Get DOSBox SVN Daum and set serial1=serialmouse in the config file.

Firtasik wrote:

Get DOSBox SVN Daum and set serial1=serialmouse in the config file.

I shouldn't have to use a mod to get serial mouse support for a specific game. The purpose of DosBox (the main branch) is in fact to support all DOS games. I have just mentioned one game it DOESN'T work with. Therefore DosBox failed in its mission to support all DOS games. That is, unless the developers actually end up adding serial mouse support to the main branch of DosBox.

Manners, please and less entitlement...
Thread locked since it doesn't seem to improve and solutions were presented.

Not to mention that this games IS supported and works fine without the mouse...