I just want to thank you, Steve, for bursting my bubble. Until I read this thread, I thought I had a pretty good amount of technical computer knowledge.

I'm still trying to figure out what I just read.

But I'll keep trying. Because one day, I'd love to be able to play The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy again. I know it's available to play online -- but since you can't save your game, it's kind of pointless to play.

FlyingDutchman, hi,

[quote]When i

Actually, I think DosBox has worked with W 98 since day one. As you say, VDMSound does not.

Looking forward to reading that FAQ!

frazap, hi,

Right now I'm trying to wrap up a The Moment of Silence walkthrough and review. The DOSBox FAQ is my next project right after that. Oh joy, another article to write

Regards,
Steve

Hi Metzomagic!

Good news, I suceeded!
I Installed Dos.box 0.63 I believe and was able
to play "The riddle of master Lu".
Never knew that this was sutch a nice game.
Also My leisure suit larry improved in sound
quality.

Thanks for the help and advice!

THANK YOU, STEVE!!!! :kiss:

I am computer stupid & even I was able to install DOSBox with your copy/paste instructions & am playing (drum roll...) Quest for Glory ONE! Okay, so I have no idea WHAT I did by following your instructions, but whatever it was worked! I've been hanging on to my old computer & waiting for the day I could hook it up again in order to play the gazillion old games I've got. You've given me new hope!

Now....ya wanna tackle instructions for that sound program thingie???

Love, Jen

Jen in Chgo, hi!

Hey, thanks. And you just remminded me... I've got the original Quest for Glory I VGA on *floppies*, and also on CD as part of the Quest for Glory Collection. I'll have to resurrect it and give it a go in DOSBox... when I get some free time

Well, it's best to use DOSBox if you can. But I do have full instructions for installing VDMSound in my original article describing how to get old games running in XP:

Bring Out Your Dead!

Slan,
Steve

I'm really looking forward to your FAQ, Steve. I've played a few games in dosbox, but could definitely use some help.

Thanks for the info!

Melanie

Mel, hi,

The FAQ should be up in a day or two. I just submitted the final draft to the powers that be

Cheers,
Steve

I'm so glad you are giving us the benefit of your knowledge right here on gameboomers.

I'm learning so much & even figuring out dos, which for a person who learned on windows, is something I've wanted to do for a long time.

Melanie

Folks, hi,

Wahey! I polished off the DOSBox FAQ last night, and MaG managed to get it posted in rapid fashion

There's a permanent link to it right at the top of this forum, and in case you want to go to it from this post:

GameBoomers DOSBox FAQ

I'm sure there are questions I haven't anticipated in the FAQ. Everyone's PC is different, and exhibits different classes of problems

This is meant to be an evolving document, so feel free to e-mail me with suggestions for new question/answer pairs (ducks for cover).

Knock yourselves out,
Steve

Thanks so much, Steve!

What do you think of the frontend programs? Do you use any & if you do, will you be adding that info to your dosbox faq?

Melanie

Melanie, hi,

I don't tend go in for GUI front-ends, because I'm well used to messing with configuration files and command lines. But I'm a techie, and I could see how other people might feel differently

However... since there are only 3 or 4 simple parameters you ever need to tweak for DOSBox, I just think a front-end is overkill. It's the same with ScummVM, which, by the way, DOSBox makes effectively obsolete. DOSBox runs: Beneath a Steel Sky, DOTT, The Dig, et. al just fine

Of course, I'm definitely willing to investigate the situation if enough of you tell me that "DOSBox front-end XYZ is the bees knees!"

Cheers,
Steve

Well Done, my friend, ...Well Done!

Inferno

What makes it worthwhile, imo, is that it allows you to set up icons for shortcuts, has a graphical interface so it's like setting up a game in windows rather than dos, and allows multiple folders to organize your games & save their configuration & startup files with profiles. You can also copy & export profiles & it's wizard based.

I'm currently using dosbox without a frontend, thanks to your setups & not having a problem with it.

I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions about my next dosbox game setup though.

Thanks again for such an easy to read FAQ!

Melanie

Melanie, hi again,

OK, you've convinced me Got it running with the settings I've detailed in the FAQ, with only one addition:

ems=false

This discovery renders the Exult engine almost obsolete too. I should probably add a short list of example games that DOSBox will run to the FAQ, just to make people aware of what a powerful tool it is

Cheers,
Steve

What a great thing, metzo......I know a lot of us will be using this information!!! Hurrah!! Thanks so much!!

Steve,

Thanks for taking a look at it. If you think it's not worth the effort just let us know. I haven't done any setups yet with it, just downloaded & played with it a bit.

No rush. As you said I have plenty to keep me busy already, thanks to yours & Inferno's setups. All these oldies but goodies that I never got the opportunity to play are now doable!

Thanks again!

Melanie

hello metzomagic,

I yust wanted to tell you that while I was playing Phantasmagoria (with the newest DOSBOX)
I was(after instalation) instructed to (when
I wanted to continue the game a next time) to
type in C Directory "sierra\scarydos,
phcd and than return. I could play , but had to
run install each time. After typing "sierra\phcd
and return I could start right away without
reinstalling again. Mabye it is usefull to somebody! Greetings from Flying Dutchman 41

FlyingDutchman, hi,

Hmm. This doesn't sound like it's DOSBox related. 'phcd' is probably the .exe or .bat file that runs Phantasmagoria. There's probably a copy of it in both the 'c:\sierra' directory and in 'c:\sierra\scarydos'.

I don't think you needed to reinstall the game every time you wanted to play! After starting up DOSBox, you just need to enter the following commands:

cd \sierra\scarydos
phcd

It's always best to run the game from the directory where it's installed.

Cheers,
Steve

Steve. Once again, I've been away for awhile... and just read your reply to me from nearly a month ago.

And just like that -- I clicked and dragged the now-despised "Wace25" DOS program right into the Trash. Where blessedly, it REMAINED.

The morale of my story is... if at first you fail to delete a DOS program -- disable your antiadware/antispyware program. Apparently, it views DOS programs as part of Windows or your system and tries to protect them. At least, that's my theory. But I'm a little leery of DOS programs now. It'll take me awhile to recover from this experience, I think.

Katsmom, hi,

Sounds like a horror story alright! To get rid of adware, I occasionally use Spybot: Search & Destroy. AFAIK, that only runs when you ask it to

Cheers,
Steve

I see you are back "in town" again "metzomagic".

Sorry for the interruption folks

"See" you later metzo...

Cheers

Lagavulin!

So... we must continue our erstwhile conversation. How exactly did you wind up in Sandymount, pray tell?

Steve

Hi Steve!

I'm playing I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream in Dosbox & followed Bill's setup on Inferno's site with a few changes. (I'm not using Xkey, didn't need it.)

I had to do some speeding up of the cycles, then some slowing down, then speeding up again, etc by using the F12 & F11 keys. The game was doing great until I got to Ellen's character & all of a sudden I'm having temporary freezes & skipping sound again. Any suggestions?

I also have a question about the cycles speed. Dosbox says that one can damage the computer by speeding it up more than the computer can go. How would I know the limits of my cpu? Where would that info be? I have a 4 CPU 2 GHZ processor. Is that the info I would look at and how would it relate to say 9050 cycles?

Thanks!

Melanie