DOSBox

DOSBox

Developers
	DOSBox Team
Release dates
Windows	July 22, 2002
Linux	July 22, 2002
macOS (OS X)	March 30, 2006

Key points

DOSBox allows DOS-based games to run properly on modern systems.

General information

Official DOSBox site

Official DOSBox wiki

Essential improvements

Graphical user interface

DOSBox does not use a graphical user interface. However, front ends such as D-Fend Reloaded (an updated successor to the program D-Fend) can be used.

D-Fend Reloaded

Does not require DOSBox to be installed.

Unofficial builds

There are various unofficial builds of DOSBox which provide additional functionality such as support for Glide. A full list can be found on the DOSBox Wiki.

A good one to start with is DOSBox-X. It streamlines the interface and adds support for features vanilla DOSBox cannot do such as Glide support.

For Mac, you should try Boxer. It makes running and installation of games easier by wrapping them in Application Bundles, called "Game Boxes", that can be launched in Boxer by double clicking them as well as having a builtin GUI interface for configuration that more easily integrates into the Mac OS. It also has much over looked audio features; it already includes Gravis UltraSound patches and has builtin CM-32 & MT-32L emulation available through MUNT.

Also, installing FreeDOS (or just it's included utilities) grants a more complete DOS experience.

Windows installation

Windows 3.0 through 98(SE) can be installed inside DOSBox however this is unsupported and instability issues occur. At least one person has gotten Windows ME to work.

You could also, alternatively, try The HX DOS Extender which grants a minimal Windows runtime environment. Note that it only supports Windows console apps and simple GUI ones. An unofficial continuation of the project called HX+ can be found here.

Example input

DOSBox running in Windows:

Z:\>
Z:\>mount c c:\game_directory
Z:\>imgmount d d:\game_disc.iso -t iso
Z:\>cd d:\
D:\>game_install.exe
D:\>cd c:\
C:\>
C:\>game.exe

Substitute the pathways with the given conventions of the host operating system.

Alt+↵ Enter to maximise the window; Ctrl+F4 to switch between mounted disc images. Use double quotes, " ", when mounting folders with spaces ("c:\installation folder"); For mounting multiple disc images, -t iso is required only once at the end of the last disc image, this defines how DOSBox should emulate the volume and iso defines the type of volume.

DOS/32A

DOS/32A is a more advanced extender and open source replacement to DOS4GW. It can improve both performance and stability of many games. More info here.

If DOS/32A gives you issues with a particular game, you could alternatively try the Causeway extender or PMODE/W. Worst-case scenario, stick with the stock extender.

UniVBE

Although DOSBox will not gain the performance improvements this program promises, it will add additional video modes. Although 5.0+ were initially released as commercial software, SciTech later released them as freeware. Versions 1-4 were always freeware though. The 5.x series is generally the best to use with DOSBox. Additional (possibly useful) DOS display utilities can be found here.

Gravis MIDI/Patches

The Gravis Ultra Sound or GUS was a sound card produced by Advanced Gravis Computer Technology, who were best known for their Gravis PC Gamepad. One of the features of the GUS is its ability to use real world sound samples instead of digitally generated instruments. This allows for a richer quality of sound when playing midi sound. Unfortunately, the official patches (drivers/samples) cannot be distributed with DOSBox due to conflicting Licenses. You can however find some here.

DOSBox configuration

DOSBox stores configuration information in *.conf files. Individual conf files can be create for each piece of software used and additional parameters can be appended.

To modify a configuration option within DOSBox, use the config command. For example, config cpu cycles fixed 30000

Input settings

Remapping

The DOSBox Mapper (Ctrl+F1/⌘ Command+F1) can be used to reassign keyboard, mouse and joystick commands.

Controller support

DOSBox has several virtual joystick modes which affect what inputs are seen in-game and also what inputs can be remapped using the Mapper. See the DOSBox manual for details.

Issues fixed

Green or black screen in fullscreen mode

With some video cards, DOSBox's default output mode will render with a green or black screen in fullscreen mode.

Instructions

Instructions

Character/camera/cursor constantly moves in one direction

Instructions

Instructions

Can't remap keys/joystick

Some games have fixed inputs. Use the DOSBox Mapper to remap the controls.

Can't open Steam overlay in-game

The Steam overlay only works in some output modes; OpenGL seems to work the best.

Instructions

Printer support

Official DOSBox builds don't support printing in games that use it.

Instructions