Mafiascum.net

Now if you have all of the game files on your hard drive then the process is rather simple just place them in their own folder under old games, for example, C:/oldgames/AOD. Launch DOSBOX and type
mount c c:/oldgames/AOD
C:
Game.exe

Where c:/oldgames/AOD is the path to the game
and Game.exe is the executable of the game with a extension of .exe, .com, or .bat

You might have to tweak some setting for optimal performance. It is best to look on the dosbox wiki (http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Main_Page) for specific game settings. You might also have to run the game's sound setup in order to hear sound when you play.

If your game is on a CD/floppy it gets more complicated...
Mount c c:/oldgames -freesize 2000
Mount (d/a) (drive letter for cd/floppy):/ -t (cdrom/floppy) -label (the label that the cd/floppy has. Can be found by looking at in your file manager)

Where use d for cdrom mounts and a for floppy mounts in (d/a)
Substitute the drive letter of your floppy or CD rom drive you want to mount (usually d for a cdrom drive and a for a floppy drive)

next type d: or a: depending if it is on a floppy or cd
install.exe (or the instillation program on the cd/floppy)
Follow the instruction, however, when it asks you for the install directory just direct it to C:/gamename. It will actually install to C:/oldgames/gamename on your actual hard drive, but the game doesn't know that

Once the install is finished you can type:

C:/
cd gamename
play.exe (or whatever your game's executable is)

In order to play again you will have to remount the CD just as you did to install it except that you don't have to run the install program. You can eventually create a .conf file for dosbox that will automatically do this for you, but that is a discussion for another day.

1) Check to make sure dosbox supports it: http://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?letter=a

2) check dosbox wiki for answers: http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Main_Page

3) check to make sure that your dosbox options match up with your game settings. This mostly has to do with sound settings which can, ironically enough, lead to full game crashes.
I would suggest running the "Setup" or "sound set" utility that most games come with and setting the sound card to soundblaster or soundblaster16 if available. leave the IRQs/channels at their default and see what happens. If it doesn't work, go into you dosbox configuration file (~/.dosbox in Linux, Your installation directory (if I remember correctly) in windows) and makes ure that all of the sound related options match the settings in the game (or vice versa). MAKE SURE THAT THE "gus" SETTINGS ARE CORRECT!!!

Also make sure that the game supports the selected graphics card (listed under "machine" in dosbox settings). I have a few funny stories about selecting different graphics cards!

I would also suggest upping the "memsize" from 16 to 32. Especially if you are playing an older dosgame (duke nukem 3d, carmagedon, blood, etc.)

4) Check for a source port for your game. Doom, for example, doesn't run very well at all in dosbox. Instead, for the full dos feel, you should try running it in chocolate doom (but if you prefer a more modern feeling doom game try zdoom). I have also ran into trouble running duke nukem 3d in dosbox, so I found a great source port called eduke32 (might even have a 64 version now ) that runs flawlessly.

5) Still having problems? It might be time to try to virtualize. Read below how to vivtualize windows 3.1 without dosbox. YOu could also try directly virtualizing DOS using the same method.

6) That doesn't work for you? Well, you can always try original hardware. That will never fail

In your dosbox config file (can be found from your start menu, or ~/.dosbox in Linux) change the default setting to the following:

output= ddraw (or opengl on Linux and mac. This will basically let you use directx to render the game. Or OpenGL...)
machine= svga_3 (if not already. This basically sets the emulated graphics card to be a good one...)
memsize= 24 or 32 (24 for will under all games. Use 32 for newer games that want to hog memory. Older games might not like 32 MB of memory)


a great video with the above tricks and more: http://www.pixelships.com/adg/epf003.html

XP and early windows version (2000, 98, 95, etc.) are very much compatible with many, but not all, older windows games. All that you have to do is right click on the .exe file that you want to run, click properties, compatibility, run in compatibility mode, and select windows 3.1 or windows 95. It may also help to run it in 256 colors and at a lower more "classic" resolution. Some versions of windows (win 2000) have this properties tab disabled, in order to enable it just follow the instructions here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/279792

This method works perfectly for me 90% of the time.

You need to boot windows 3.1 in dosbox. Actually this is pretty simple now that we have pre built instillations that work like a charm. Simply create a folder C:/Oldgames/Windows Unzip this: http://files.abandonia.com/extras/Progr ... DOSBox.rar into the C:/oldgames/windows folder. You will need 7-zip or winrar in order to do this (the default arcive manager in most linux distributions will have rar compatibility by default, Mac users ????). So you should have something like this:

C:/Oldgames/Windows/A bunch of files and a windows.bat file

Now simply drop the unzipped/copied off cd into the windows directory. If you have your game on a cd/floppy I would recommend coppying off all of the files into a folder, or mounting the cd drive along with windows and seeing how that turn out.

Now simply go to dosbox and type the following (amending depending on your hard drive structure as always)
Mount c c:/oldgames/windows
c:
windows.bat

Now navigate in side of windows an click "main". After that "file manager" and then you should see the folder for your game right there (if not, navigate to the root directory in windows). Double click on it and find the .exe file that you want to run and enjoy. If you need to install a game then just keep in mind that if you enter "C:/" as the install path it will actually install to "C:/oldgames/windows" on your actual hard drive.

If you have sound problems simply unzip this: http://files.abandonia.com/extras/Progr ... %20fix.rar

into your windows 3.1 directory. Enjoy!

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/how-to ... virtual_pc
Will work for you. Just follow that guide. It might even work better than DOSBox.