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DOSBox Feature Request Thread

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First post, by DosFreak

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This thread is for forum posters to suggest features for DOSBox.

DO NOT EXPECT THESE FEATURES TO EVER BE INCLUDED IN DOSBOX.

Thread rules:
DO NOT demand that a feature be implemented. Take the stance that more than likely these features will NEVER be implemented.
DO NOT post DOSBox bugs.
DO NOT post your issues in this thread.
DO NOT request NON game related wishes. DOSBox is for GAMING compatibility. (This is why it's better than any other emulator for DOS gaming)
DO NOT post how you REALLY REALLY want a feature. Post what you want and describe it. We don't care how much you want it.

I take no credit for the following suggestions. All of the suggestions including my own have been lumped together with no credit provided to the person who provided the suggestion.

AUDIO

  • Ability to swap speakers (Left/Right switched)

    Fade to Black
    Redguard
  • MT32 Emulation integrated into DOSBox
    Which is best MT32 support in DOSBox or on the host?
    MT32 support in DOSBox would never be as updated as on the host.
    MT32 support in DOSBox would require the ROM.
  • Interpolation for GUS. Enable and disable.
  • Rename Disney Sound Source to Covox Speech Thing?

CDROM

  • Show MSCDEX present in memory for games that look for it, instead of the program looking for the drive letter. These type of games do not work with "mount -t cdrom"

    Games:

    Litl Divil: Requires "MCDEX" to be loaded.
    Game works fine on real pc.

VIDEO

  • Glide emulation.
    Currently two methods are in development:
    Voodoo 2 (External Emulation)
    Glide patch

    Voodoo 1 (Internal Emulation)
    3dfx voodoo chip emulation
  • Command line command to adjust text mode resolution. Useful for text games.
  • hq4x scalers
  • GLSL shader to emulate a vintage monitor.
    (monochrome, phosphor decay).
    This can be done also with d3d shaders.
  • Modify scalers section as shown below:
    # scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes. # Supported are none,normal2x,advmame2x,advmame3x,advinterp2x,i […]
    Show full quote

    # scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
    # Supported are none,normal2x,advmame2x,advmame3x,advinterp2x,interp2x,tv2x.

    scaler=advinterp2x

    Have it like this:

    # scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
    # Supported are none,normal,advmame,advinterp,interp,tv.

    scaler=advinterp
    multiplier=2

  • Option to change aspect ratio for aspect=true.

    Make it possible to configure 5:4,6:9,1:1, instead of 4:3.

    Mabye have aspect=true adaptive, have it change to the resolution needed to appear in a 4:3 ratio.

    Add an option widescreenmonitor=(true/false) and widescreenmode=(center/normal/stretch).
    If widescreenmonitor is set to true then widescreenmode will take effect. With widescreenmode set to "center" fullscreen video is resized so that it's the height of the screen and in 4:3 and centered horizontal. If mode is set to "stretch" the video fills the screen.

    Option for aspect= to fill the screen on widescreen monitors. DosBox should calculate aspect ratio correctly without a widescreen option. Some people would like their screen to be filled which would make this option usefull. (Is this a DosBox issue? Maybe psychiatric help is needed?)

    I think that for any resolutions that are/were displayed on 4:3 monitors, DOSBox should resize the video to the specified resolution, and for resolutions that are for 15:9 or 16:9 displays, give the user the option of either black bars at the left and right, simple linear stretch to fill the screen, or nonlinear stretch to fill the screen, which minimises distortion in the centre of the image (which is, apparrently, what PowerDVD can do).

    How to get the aspect ratio from a given resolution.

    Like 1280:800 == 128:80 == ... = 16:10
    or 640:480 == 64:48 == 16:12 == 4:3 etc.

INPUT

  • Keyboard layout support. (Being worked on)
  • Option in DosBox.conf to allow selection of the number of mouse buttons. Some games that support 3 button mouse are easier to play with 2 buttons. Tyrian for example.

USER-FRIENDLINESS

  • Hotkey to toggle scalers. (Running out of shortcut keys...possible in a GUI)
  • Overlay display so you can see cycles, frameskip, wave-out settings etc in full screen.

    (Possible in a GUI)
  • Menu or GUI system for DOSBOX.
  • Improved documentation in command-line switches.

    (Within DosBox, not the text file) (Need people to write it)
  • Improve DosBox intro screen.

    Mention that you MUST read the README.
    Suggestions on improving DosBox speed.
    Link to DosBox Forum
  • Add REM'd automount commands in dosbox.conf as examples, also provide explanation of why.
  • Official DosBox unified frontend across all OS's. If not them recommend GUI's for each OS.
  • Ability to scroll up in console windows and also keep important info from console on screen at all times.
  • Color code executable files?
  • Environment variable for DOSBox so that it can be used sytem wide
  • Frontends that handle the documentation for the games. Possibly using mobygames/replacements docs.
    Could be a copyright issue in some countries. This can be done easily for freeware/open source games though.
  • Include HD images with DosBox.

    2gb/1gb/500mb/250mb/125mb/64mb. (Think DosBox only supports a max of 500 something mb)
    Offer image formated with FAT16 and FreeDOS.
  • -RAM cheater. Include byte, word, double-word, and double-double word searches using =., !=,>,<,>-,<= operators.
    Have cheater turn on/off automatically when game loads different executables.

DOCUMENTATION

  • More OS specific documentation.
  • More network documentation for modem/IPX
  • Improve dosbox help text and intro screens.
  • SDL switches documentation
  • Include DosBox Guides/compatibility database/wiki with DosBox.
  • Documentation of some crucial DOSBox functions.
  • Documentation on CD Audio for DosBox.
  • Explain options better in dosbox.conf
  • Documentation on Windows 3.1 drivers for DosBox
  • Mention DOS32a in docs.
  • Mention scitech/univbe in docs.
  • Recommend freeware imaging tools for floppy/CD imaging.
  • Documentation of patches that make it into official DosBox CVS into readme to inform users of what these features actually do and how to use them.
  • Suggest other emulator suchs as Qemu\Bochs\VPC for functions that DosBox is not designed to use yet users ask for anyway.
  • Minimum requirements for DosBox.

    Need general guidelines so people with 266mhz PC's won't be asking why Build/Doom engine games run slow. 🙄
  • FAQ

    Freespace command
    VESA
    loadfix
    Drag and Drop
    LCD Issues
    Differences between scalers
    Frozen game, probably incorrect IRQ
  • Wiki

    Game cracking utilities such as Neverlock
    Game modifying utilities
  • Mention using C: and D: as much as possible. See alot of noob's using the same drive letter as their host for their guest which can possibly cause game problems...not to mention confusion.
  • Comparison chart between VPC, Vmware, Bochs, Qemu, DosBox, Scummvm, DosEmu, NTVDM, Real DOS, Windows 9x command prompt.
  • PDA/Portable game systems documentation (Mabye another DosBox forum to get these guys to post here instead of on their own forum?)

MISC

  • Saved States. (Being worked on)
  • CTRL+C and CTRL+BREAK support
  • Inclusion of documentation of usage of disk/floppy/cd imaging tools.
  • Support Bochs/Qemu/Vmware disks
  • Inclusion of HD image creation tool like the one from bochs
  • Mention DosBox IRC Chan: #dosbox irc.freenode.net
  • Add PhysFS to DosBox

    Also if PhysFS support is added, perhaps require DosBox specific naming convention or extension so that "normal" non-game archives aren't confused with DosBox archives. (These would still be .zip files but with a different name or extension).
  • Printer support
    Games that use the Printer
    Grand Prix 2
    SimCity
    Dreamforge/SSI/Sir-Tech games
  • In DosBox Intro screen mention checking DosBox site for latest official version.
  • Tandy 1000 games support
  • Include S3 acceleration into DosBox. Descent\Terminal Velocity support. (Likely not worth the trouble).

    According to Moe S3 support in Terminal Velocity had messed up textures.
  • Add FreeDOS "edit" program to DosBoz Z:\.

    Handy for quickly modifying game config files across all platforms.
  • Offer skip track feature for CD audio like older CDROMS.
  • CDROM emulation when booting MSDOS from floppy or HD image in DosBox.
  • Real Time Clock
    [feature-request] Please make Real-Time clock configurable
    CMOS clock patch (dates not changing when left overnight)
    Some games have easter eggs that take effect on certain dates of the year.
  • Ability to change Date/Time in DosBox.
  • Ability to boot cdrom images
  • Implement INSERT key functionality into DosBox to allow ability to replace text so you don't have to use backspace or delete to remove incorrect commands.
  • Emulate all modem speeds for emulation of old school feel for slow networking.
  • DosBox Shortcut

    Easy method for users to install/configure/package their DOS game for easy posting on the internet.

    DosBox would have to use PhysFS.

    Need easy way to determine best config options for each game, mabye suggest to the user that these not be changed for best game operation and then only show options that should be changed for user preference.

    Use basline config for all games and differential config within each package for each game or perhaps each config should be stored online instead? Such a feature would need to be cross-platform.

    Physfs is already cross-platform but the interface for packaging would have to be the same across all platforms.
  • Include internal benchmark into DosBox program include capability to upload results once DosBox supports TCP/IP.

    This can be used in the future for a comprehensive comparison of DosBox performance across many different platforms.
  • Multiple joystick axis support.Thrustmaster FCS/TQS Mark II Combo - Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman
  • NMI traps for SBOS/MEGAEM, etc.
  • Warm boot feature for dosbox that resets the memory and reloads the config.
  • Plugin Support

    -Zup is thinking of creating a ESC/P2 or IBM ProPrinter to "any printer" converter.
    -Tandy 1000 fonts problem could be a plugin
    -Hardware which requires proprietary ROM could be a plugin.
    -Anyone who has a device they want to use with dosbox.
  • On the fly image loading like VPC/Vmware. (A GUI in DosBox to choose host images to mount).

POSSIBLE BUT NOT CURRENTLY BEING WORKED ON

SOUND

  • Currently have to slow down DosBox to detect certain soundcards. Either code a fix or workaround so that user does not have to do this.

VIDEO

  • drag resize when in window mode. Using hwscale in ddraw or opengl.
  • Ability to adjust DosBox "monitor" Brightness/Contrast independent of computer monitor.

USER-FRIENDLINESS

  • Autograb mouse focus on dosbox launch.
  • Ability to force shutdown to DOS while in game this would be quite usefull for PC-BOOTER games.

    Currently I've tested about 60 of them and having to launch DosBox again and again gets repetitive.

MISC

  • Get mouse working during Windows 3.x install using dynamic core.

    Mouse works fine once Windows is installed.
  • Get Windows 1.0-2.x working
  • Ability to run MS-DOS command.com for usage of DOS commands and version checking functions.
  • Ability for DosBox to log game usage and amount of Conventional,XMS,EMS,Extended memory to .log to configure dosbox for each game for reduced memory usage (especially for handhelds), for information on memory configuration needed when playing games on REAL DOS hardware, and also for documentation.

NOT FOR THE FORSEEABLE FUTURE

SOUND

  • Native speaker support

    DosBox is an emulator. It's goal is to be as cross-platform as possible. Coding in native speaker support for all platforms does not fit with DosBox goals.
  • MT-32 support

    Yes, MT32 could be built into the Official DosBox, only problem is that the only way you can use it is to have the ROM. To have the ROM you must have the original hardware....not many DosBox users have the original hardware, so what would happen? Behind the scenes distribution of MT32 ROMS and people asking for ROMS, something that the DosBox Devs understandably do not want.
  • Support for the more obscure sound cards like Adlib Gold. (No need seen by Dosbox devs. If you want it prove a need for it)
  • Make default SoundBlaster IRQ 5 instead of IRQ 7?

    Soundblaster cards before the Soundblaster 16 used IRQ 7 by default. Since DosBox is designed for ALL DOS games and not just newer DOS games then NO. The default IRQ for DosBox will stay at IRQ 7. If you wish to use IRQ 5, then simply change the IRQ in DosBox.conf and it will work fine.

    Can then can multiple IRQ's be used for the Soundblaster so that both IRQ 5 and 7 can be used at the same time?

    No, and it would be much more trouble than it's worth.

VIDEO

  • Support for UNIVBE higher than 5.3, such as 6.7 or v7 of SDD. (Possibly alot of work for no real benefit)
  • Direct3D Support?
    Direct3D is not cross-platform.
  • Only draw scene data that the user actually sees. (Similar to occlusion detection in modern video cards).

    No. Even if this were possibly (it's not), and it wasn't a big processing hit (it would be), it would still be a compatibility nightmare.
  • Secondary video window for DosBox monochrome support. Some games also had the option of outputing monochrome to another monitor for debugging purposes.

    For instance in the documentation in one of the

    Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries patches in MERCAI.htm

    there is this blurb:

    "Note: the DOS sim has a -M commandline option which displays various pieces of information about the current state of the AI on a monochrome monitor. This is very helpful for debugging AI behavior. Do not use the -M switch if you do not have a monochrome adapter and monitor."

    Links:
    http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article590.asp
    http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/v2faq/faq12_3.html
    http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia … phics_array.htm
    http://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/dualhead.html

    Supposedly Rise of the Triad supports it:
    http://lib.ru/GAMES/rott.txt

    "MONO - This turns on support for the Monochrome region of video. If you have your system set up with a video card that can access this at the same time you play the game, you will see debug information about the game (such as memory writes, etc). The information here is useless, but if you can see it, here it is!"
  • Dual Monitors under DOS
    http://www.asm32.com/ (Click on shareware link)
    http://www.rdrop.com/users/boothby/SHARE.HTM

PORTS

  • LPT1 support to physical LPT port (Only if proven that a game uses it)

INPUT

  • Dual mouse support (Settlers 1 and 2) (Possible serial might work?)

NETWORK

  • DosBox IPX interoperable with Real DOS IPX
  • TCP/IP support (No DOS games support it)
  • VNC for sharing DOSBox screen for turn-based gaming.
  • Support for kaillera

    Kaillera and Dos Box....
    Implementation would be very very hard. For now use Remote Desktop/VNC

USER-FRIENDLINESS

  • Useable attrib feature in Dosbox. (Best left to the host OS)
  • Cut and paste ability between guest and host. (Not needed for games)
  • Automount (Use a frontend!)
  • File Manager within DosBox. (Best left to the host OS)
  • Long file name support to show host Long file names in DosBox
  • Frontend included with DosBox
  • Add CPU Core to DosBox title bar or to seperate Window.

    (Working towards less cores for DosBox. So not much point.
    It's either fast or slow for the user who doesn't care about core)
  • For official win32 builds add shortcut to SENDTO menu for DosBox.

    Not every game works with it---mounting of more than one dir/CD...use a frontend.
  • Easier dosbox debugger for editing game features (Health/lives/time).

    Use dos app created for such a purpose...debugging is hard.
  • Adjust freespace on mounted drives from CLI without using mount. (No. Unmount and remount)

    Currently either have to unmount the mounted drive or reload dosbox to change filesize.

PROCESSOR

  • Host processor support (virtualization instead of emulation)

    Virtualization is not a goal for DosBox. DosBox's main goal is to be cross-platform between various types of hardware and operating systems. Coding DosBox for a specific processor or type of processors reduces it's compatibility. Virtualization certainly is possible and if someone wants to recode DosBox to do so then go right ahead. Just don't expect the DosBox devs to do it anytime soon.

MISC

  • Enable Modem/Network by default?

    No. May cause problems with games. Also causes firewall notifications
  • Include BASIC support into DosBox to support running BASIC games without having to load GWBASIC/QBASIC.
  • Drag and Drop Basic Support
  • 64bit version of DosBox (Too slow)
  • Option to display 12hr time instead of 24hr time in DosBox. (Not needed for games)
  • -Option to display 12hr time instead of 24hr time.

    "More parameters support" patch offers a time command with a /T switch to display 12hr time.
  • Windows 9x support as a guest. (Use QEMU if you want Windows 9x support)
  • Inclusion of DOS32A (No)
  • Z:\ Drive command for loading device drivers. (Any game reason for this?)
  • Screen that displays what "hardware" (Video/Sound) DosBox is using for the current game. (Not really usefull for games. Only useful for interest)
  • Display settings currently being used by DosBox that differ from default dosbox.conf to further reduce DosBox overhead or unnecessary .conf settings. (Not really usefull.)
  • Ability for DosBox to monitor cycles, frameskip, core usage when an executable is loaded for a certain amount of time to determine optimal cycles, then save data to .txt file to be uploaded to online database.
  • Make memsize= able to specify specific bits instead of just megabytes. (Not user friendly)

    Ex: memsize=16 versus memsize=15,998
  • Offer 2 compiled binary versions of DosBox on DosBox site

    1 a straight gaming CVS, the other included patches on the DosBox site that are usefull but not necessarily for gaming.

    DosBox is a Gaming emulator. Not an all PC features emulator. The patches on the DosBox site require maintenance to keep up with DosBox.... maintenance that would divert attention away from the Gaming aspects of DosBox.

    If you want compiled binaries with these patches then you'll have to compile them yourself or find someone who has already done so.
  • Assign more than 64mb of memory to Dosbox. (Not needed)
  • CP/M guest support

    Emulator: http://www.cpm.z80.de/index.html
    Emulator: http://www.z80.info/z80emu.htm
    Emulator: http://www.viara.cn/en/j80.htm
    Emulator: http://www.retroarchive.org/cpm/archive/unofficial/zrpm.html
    Docs: http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/Cpm
  • OS/2 guest support
  • Plug-In support for DosBox. (No one ever used it)

    Useful for things that DosBox Devs do not want to include in DosBox for legal/support/other reasons. Need to compile a list of possible plugins as an incentive to include plugin support.

ALREADY IN DOSBOX

VIDEO

  • Only update the parts of the screen that need updating
  • TV2X scaler,2xsai, hq2x, hq3x scaler
  • Ability to disable LFB without using NOLFB/Univbe. (Include NOLFB in Z:\) or fix DosBox LFB for games that have trouble with it
  • More textmode resolutions. such as 132*50.

    According to Vasyl in his SVGA patch some of these modes are supported.

INPUT

  • Mapping axis/buttons on joysticks. (Planned)

SOUND

MODEM

  • Modem emulation working again as of CVS in July 05.

NETWORK

  • IPX over UDP for DOS network gaming

CD-ROM

  • CD compatibility increases as of latest CVS.

PORTS

  • Working serial ports

USER-FRIENDLINESS

  • Drag 'n Drop Booter images
  • Include version of DosBox that created a dosbox.conf in the Dosbox.conf comments.
  • Icon for dosbox in X and Win32. On the window as well as using for a shortcut.
  • Integrate "mount -cd" into "mount" command display, so that when you type in just mount it will also display CD drive information instead of just hard drive mounts.
  • Ability to overwrite text in CLI.

    EX: Type in a long command, now press arrow key to the left and change a specific text value. You cannot.
  • Increase default amount of free space on mounted drives to 500mb as default.
    Was increased to 262
  • Ability to disable gamepad/joystick in dosbox.conf
  • Automatic cycle throttling (ability to enable/disable)

    Ex: Should work by keeping the cycles as high as possible while maintaining a certain maximum level of CPU usage (e.g. 95%). (Need crossplatform way to monitor processor usage.)
  • Ability to unmount ISOs mounted with imgmount.
  • Get rid of A-Z drive letters in Windows. Caused by Z: drive being last?
  • Auto-pause feature when alt-tab out of dosbox (configurable)
  • Capability to use CTRL+F4 to swap disks with imgmount.

    EX: Imgmount d CD1.cue CD2.cue CD3.cue CD4.cue -t iso

MISC

  • Games left running in DosBox (because they have no save feature) have issues with DosBox when they go back to play the next day. (Don't have a list of the game)
  • Fix blue intro screen in hercules mode.
  • PAUSE key
  • AVI/image sequence output
  • Link to DosBox Wiki in Intro screen
  • DosBox reports drive space over 1,000+ incorrectly:

    Example: mount d d:\ -freesize 3000

    reports
    3112, 178, 688
    instead of
    3,112,178,688
  • Supress SET statements at beginning of DosBox without disabling the hardware.

    To suppress SET statements add @ECHO OFF to Autoexec section of dosbox.conf.
  • Disable the console window

    You can disable the console window by using the -noconsole switch.

    The console window is also usefull for reporting information to the user but admittedly is not very usefull for the average user at this point in time.

    Old Thread started by ChaosFish:

    DOSBox Wish List Topic:

    Check the DosBox sourceforge site for the official feature list request.

NO LONGER APPLY

  • Improve OGL compatibility with ATI (Kurnov's patch fixes this)
  • Fractional frameskip. (Removed due to Kurnov's patch being so effective)

    Able to choose x number of frames to be displayed BEFORE x number of frames are skipped. A setting of 4 frames displayed before 1 frame is skipped will display 80% of the frames, improving performance as well as improving playability.

    (Qbix: Well I think some people will be confused if we suddenly switch it and I like frameskip to think as something that skips more if you increase the number.)

UNSORTED

Invert mouse feature
Add hq_adaptive_threshold and hq_static_threshold parameters to hq2x filter
Graphic or sound notification of record/stop recording of audio/video
zipped copy of DOSBox on sourceforge
Soundfont suppport
Adjust horizontal\vertical mouse speed
Change capture/release ctrl+F10 to someother combination very easily to hit ctrl+f9 accidentaly
Glide support external and internal
higher guest resolution support
Capture screenshots with scalers
Log file that logs all input commands
Mention xpadder works with DOSBox on dosbox.com website (mabye put other 3rd party stuff there too)
Internal vsync support
Easier joystick setup. (people confused about how to setup....possibly only way to fix is by using a GUI)

Add label support to dir command - (No. DOSBox devs only want it in Mount command)
Available in a patch here: Hack to show volume labels via DIR command

Official support for non-PC devices (where legal of course)

On mounting a folder to a drive in DosBox mention the limitation of HD space .

EX:

"mount c ."
Drive C is mounted as local directory .\.
110meg forced limitation.

4DOS has the ability to exit a "/P" command such as "dir /p" with the ESC key.

This feature should be in the DOSBox dir command by default.
Add link to 3rd party netbios.exe from Novell on DOsBox website

A warning on any .ISO mount that CD Audio will not be supported and that they MUST use CUE/BIN.

Have the MOUNT (and IMGMOUNT) command set ERRORLEVEL in case of an error/unsuccessful mount.

Make DOSBox exit if memsize is greater than 63.
Tired of seeing people recommend memsize greater than 63.

Cut, Copy and Paste support
Rendition emulation

Fork of DOSBox for guest Windows support or add Windows guest support to DOSBox (mabye a new core?)

Change CPU Cycles and Frameskip by typing the number
Turn on/off (increase/decrease) some functions durning pause (capture WAVE/MIDI/AVI/snapshot; Frameskip; CPU Cycles)
Choose different audio/video compression driver for recording AVI files.

Games with printer support:
The first Sherlock Holmes adventure from Electronic Arts used the printer to print Watson's Diary,
The Fool's Errand.

Add the ability to use the cursor keys (or any key really) as mouse in the mapper.

scale4x
http://scale2x.sourceforge.net/snapshot1.html

hq4x
http://www.hiend3d.com/

Added hq2xS, hq3xS, hq2xBold, hq3xBold, EPXB and EPXC filters
http://www.fantasyanime.com/emuhelp/emuhelp_snes9x.htm

Load device drivers from command line.
Needed for Japanese DOS/v games for loading $font.sys and $disp.sys

Is it possible to support mode.com in next build ?
It is useful for change MS-DOS mode Keyboard response speed & rate, for ease of control (increase attack speed or decrease move speed in some 2D RPG).
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentat … e.mspx?mfr=true

hotkey to cycle multiple mapper files.

Internal vs external soundfont support. Which is better? Is internal soundfont support worth it?
Compatibility across all OS but may be too difficult?

Link to 3rd party soundfont programs on dosbox.com website.

Improve emulation to support copy protected discs. (This is mostly for floppies and since most people don't have floppies anymore then not much of a point to this)

.ISZ support

Take screenshots while paused. (Can do this using host already)

D3D support for Windows hosts

Add an option widescreenmonitor=(true/false) and widescreenmode=(center/normal/stretch).
If widescreenmonitor is set to true then widescreenmode will take effect. With widescreenmode set to "center" fullscreen video is resized so that it's the height of the screen and in 4:3 and centered horizontal. If mode is set to "stretch" the video fills the screen.

Mention fullresolution=0x0 in DOSBox documentation and dosbox.conf

An equivalent of the dos XCOPY command that allows duplication of entire directory trees (useful for copying games if you need multiple configs).

MOVE command

/p switch for TYPE command

Link to 4DOS on Dosbox.com website http://4dos.zzl.org/

If I may, I'd like to suggest a way of sorting the suggestions.

Divide them up into the following categories:

1. Will definitely be included in a future official distribution, even if it does take a few years.
2. Might be included in a future official distribution by the devs, but more likely to show up if you implement it for them.
3. Not planned for any future official distributions, but you're welcome to implement it anyway for use in custom compiles.
4. Possible, but highly impractical and generally regarded as not worth the trouble to try and implement. Feel free to try anyway, though.
5. Not possible to implement.
6. Already present in the latest CVS build.

Categories 5 and 6 could go into a sticky thread for features not to request.

Remove compatibility mode option on DOSBox executable in Windows OS.
Renaming DOSBox.exe to any other executable extension works (.bat,.cmd)

The following registry entry is used to store what Compatibility Mode applies to the exe but doesn't get rid of the tab.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
"C:\\Users\\XXX\\Downloads\\dosbox_28.04.2009\\dosbox_28.04.2009.exe"="WINXPSP2"

Windows XP components that are eprotected with WFP do not offer the ability to use Compatibility Mode

Mabye check version info using GetVersionEX() to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Windows NT\CurrentVersion?

http://www.codeguru.com/forum/printthread.php?t=351101

CTRL+F4 floppy switching support for floppy images mounted with imgmount
Currently have to use host Virtual Floppy Drive program.

List of games that use it:
Serra adventure games?
Ultima6+ games?

Embedded IRC client (either internally in DOSBox or alongside DOSBox using SDL)
http://www.brutman.com/mTCP/IRCjr.html

Easy tech support with DOSBox issues.
Useful for asking a question on getting past a point in a game.
Mabye provide the ability

Last edited by DosFreak on 2011-08-23, 15:25. Edited 114 times in total.

Reply 1 of 298, by dudejo

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is it planned to integrate the "MORE" command?

like when you want to split a TXT file in different pages instead of the "TYPE" command which only shows the file's last lines.

once i wanted to quick-reference a game's README without having to go into Windows or its command prompt but i couldn't use the "MORE" command.

imo, it would help save time in certain situations if we could use the "MORE" command in DOSBox.

Reply 3 of 298, by mr_bigmouth_502

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This is sort of a dumb idea, but a built-in "benchmark" to determine what CPU speed your current cycle count is equivalent to would be pretty cool, especially considering that the overall "speed" of a certain cycle count can vary from computer to computer.

The way I see it, It would first be developed as a small DOS application that would be tested on various machines with different CPUs to determine what "scores" they would achieve, then it would be bundled in with DosBox to allow users to see their scores and compare them against an index of the scores taken from the original machines so that they can fine-tune their cycle counts to achieve specific speeds.

Last edited by mr_bigmouth_502 on 2011-07-30, 20:03. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 4 of 298, by Qbix

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no, the same cycle count is the same speed on all computers.
It is different for each game though.

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Reply 5 of 298, by h-a-l-9000

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> considering that the overall "speed" of a certain cycle count can vary from computer to computer.

No damnit, as long as you are not overloading your CPU 10000 cycles are 10000 cycles on every computer.

1+1=10

Reply 6 of 298, by Nekto

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1. Please include support for Teledisk 2.1x images, and maybe other advanced floppy copiers like Floppy Disk Analyser 6.1, DiskDupe 7 Pro, etc. These copiers may correctly make images of retail floppies with copy protection, such images are used for 100% preservation.

2. Make support for aspect=true in text modes, in now moment only for graphic modes it works.

Reply 7 of 298, by Joey_sw

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May i request feature to show:
number of cycles/millisecond emulated when cycles=max or cycles=auto ?

those settings usually works for most game i have, but some don't.
some games were run too slow, and to my surprise, on cycles=auto then hitting unlock speed key (ALT-F12) the game runs many-times faster than what i remember on old Pentium 100 MHz.

If i could get the data on cycles differences between normal auto/max mode .vs. unlock-speed mode,
that would be very helpful to create game-specific-config-files that have the most fine-tuned the cycles=### settings.

Edit:
one of such 'slow' game that still exist on my HD is: EXP: The Excellent Potato - PC-DOS (1996)
It need to use loadfix to pass the intro sound. (DosBox 0.74)

Last edited by Joey_sw on 2011-08-18, 01:27. Edited 1 time in total.

-fffuuu

Reply 9 of 298, by banjkeee

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1. Please include support for Teledisk 2.1x images, and maybe other advanced floppy copiers like Floppy Disk Analyser 6.1, DiskDupe 7 Pro, etc.

yeah. that would be great

Last edited by banjkeee on 2011-08-30, 19:14. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 10 of 298, by robertmo

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Joey_sw
EXP: The Excellent Potato - PC-DOS (1996) works for me with proper speed. It is definitelly not too slow, actually if it was any faster it would be too fast. If you still have a problem with this game start a new tread about it posting your pc configuration and dosbox configuration.
For example it takes 10 seconds to walk from left to right city wall (at the bottom there are no obstacles). Same speed on real Pentium 166 MMX.

Reply 11 of 298, by Jorpho

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I thought this thread was gone for good.

Capability to use CTRL+F4 to swap disks with imgmount.

EX: Imgmount d CD1.cue CD2.cue CD3.cue CD4.cue -t iso

Doesn't this already work?

dudejo wrote:

is it planned to integrate the "MORE" command?

As I recall, "more" is a .com file; you can extract more.com from a FreeDOS install, and put it in a directory mounted with autoexec. (DOSBox supports the PATH variable, doesn't it?)

Reply 12 of 298, by DosFreak

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Jorpho wrote:

I thought this thread was gone for good.

Capability to use CTRL+F4 to swap disks with imgmount.

EX: Imgmount d CD1.cue CD2.cue CD3.cue CD4.cue -t iso

Doesn't this already work?

Read what section that it's under.

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Make your games work offline

Reply 14 of 298, by RaVeN-05

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in config file

1. "fulldouble=false" change to "fullbuffering=(off,double,triple)"
2. "fullresolution=original" to "fullresolution=(0x0x0,640x480x0,800x600x32)"
0x0x0 it will use desktop settings, 640x480x0 use desktop bit depth,
800x600x32 force 800x600 resolution and 32 bit color depth, the images must be stretched to selected resolution, and video system forced to work with 32 bit color depth must not to change screen (video restart), for example in dos use 4 bit color depth i enter to the game and it make video shutdown and re initialize it again, this must be avoided.
3. "output=ddraw" add direct3d (dos resolutions must be stretched, fill screen if used fullresolution and aspect=false)
4. add vsync=(false,true) default false
5. add hz=(0,60,100,..) if 0 it will use desktop settings default 0

6. Audio CD emulation through mp3 and/or ogg files (minimize size of audio by way making rips)

https://www.youtube.com/user/whitemagicraven
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Reply 15 of 298, by xander771

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4. add vsync=(false,true) default false
6. Audio CD emulation through mp3 and/or ogg files (minimize size of audio by way making rips)

these would be good

Last edited by xander771 on 2011-09-26, 16:08. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 17 of 298, by Mithloraite

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Hello,
I am new here and, to start, I can not say how great is the Marvel of Dosbox. You have my deepest gratitude.

Having an MT-32 connected by an ordinary MIDI cable and seeing all sysexes working is like magic indeed. It's simply great ^^
Sorry for the slightly too loud words, these things are dear to me.

Though I might have two suggestions about the Dosbox functions.

The first is adding chorus and reverb effects, like AWE32/64/SB32 was doing it.

The echo of fireballs through Adlib sound effects... So much better than the ordinary SB/Adlib could have.
Adding the echo effects to Adlib music in Wolfenstein makes it sound brilliant in ~that corridors~...

I dare suppose that AWE was important for the gaming history (not just MPU-buggy) so it could get some support for its best features.

The second idea is also Adlib sound related. I may be wrong but I suspect some Adlib-based sound effects can not be reproduced through any SB mode in DosBox.

For example, the Raiden fatality in Mortal Kombat 1 uses the "thunder" effect when blowing away the opponent's head. No SB mode in DosBox seems to give this effect. Some "sweesh" sound is used instead.
With ESS audiodrive as FM source it is right, and with real SB Pro it should also be. MT-32 also makes it right, under DosBox too (but not just everyone will use an MT with DosBox)

addind these features could make DosBox sound like the real thing, and advanced at that. Otherwise, the need for old hardware is not quite gone...

Which can be good or bad of course 😀

Reply 18 of 298, by ripsaw8080

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adding chorus and reverb effects, like AWE32/64/SB32 was doing it.

Some modern soundcards can do this. On my Audigy soundcard it works for all of the sound that DOSBox produces (except MIDI, of course). Probably not identical to the post-processing done by older Creative cards, though.

I may be wrong but I suspect some Adlib-based sound effects can not be reproduced through any SB mode in DosBox.

For example, the Raiden fatality in Mortal Kombat 1 uses the "thunder" effect when blowing away the opponent's head. No SB mode in DosBox seems to give this effect. Some "sweesh" sound is used instead.

Some games will use digital sound effects in preference to FM sound effects, so creating an FM-only environment may cause the games to use the FM sounds you remember. It might not be obvious that config options sbtype=none, oplmode=opl2 will emulate an AdLib card.

Reply 19 of 298, by Mithloraite

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oops, I didn't see this message. something wrong with my e-mail notifications 😖 Sorry!)

ripsaw8080 wrote:

Some modern soundcards can do this. On my Audigy soundcard it works for all of the sound that DOSBox produces (except MIDI, of course).
Probably not identical to the post-processing done by older Creative cards, though.

That's a good idea. But I have heard more people now use the MB integrated audio... or some simple soundcards with poor (or faulty) features.

So DOSBox better have it's own feature to do that.

Also it would lead to more genuine sounding chorus and reverb. and no bugs!.. ^^ (ideally)

Some games will use digital sound effects in preference to FM sound effects, so creating an FM-only environment may cause the games to use the FM sounds you remember. It might not be obvious that config options sbtype=none, oplmode=opl2 will emulate an AdLib card.

Well it might work I think. But in this case if I set the "Sound Blaster" to None and OPL to OPL2 (in D.O.G Dosbox frontend) the game can't initialize the Adlib sound. am I doing it wrong...

And in any case this game really needs the digital sound effects too 😵 It's this mixed digital-and-FM effects type of game. So a working enabled SB environment is needed ~and~ a great FM-compatibility...

Does it ask for too much, this buggy game? 😀

It might seem so, but is it not just a basic "100% SB Pro compatible sound" requirement?
Only that, and we have no problem. 😀

That's why I hope DOSBox could address this matter.