DosBox emulators: which one is the best?

[TrashyMG]

but I've seen zero issues with nub movement.

 really? I always get my mouse stuck into a small random square on screen. Which dosbox do you use?

Dosbox w/dboxfe

If you get that error, you just alt-enter into window mode and do it again to bring it in fullscreen mode. I've seen this behavio(u)r on the PC version of DOSBOX too. For reasons unknown this puts the mouse boundaries back into proper size for the screen.

 

[doragasu]

Edit: You dont need Windows to run Dos CDs like Xentar or RebelAssault, just use one of my premade Images with CdRom Support and be shure that your Images are in ISO Format.


Other that Iso Format work only with DaemonTools in Emulated Windows.


But pure Dosgames dont need Windows

I think @mamemaniac is right, when using QEMU, you need Windows + Daemon tools if you want to run CD-ROM games with music in CD-AUDIO format. QEMU can emulate CD-ROMs by mounting ISO files, but AFAIK, it cannot mount BIN+CUE images, needed for multitrack data+audio CD-ROMs. It could work if something like the IMGMOUNT command used in DosBox worked in MSDOS, but I don't know if it does.

BTW, I have just installed W95OSR2 in my PC using QEMU, copied the disk to the Pandora, and booted it without problem! Time to search for Daemon Tools 3.47 to test how it works.

 

[ekianjo]

For reasons unknown this puts the mouse boundaries back into proper size for the screen.

DO you have to do this several times when playing or once is enough ? 

 

[TrashyMG]

^ Usually once.

 

[doragasu]

Copying files from the mounted folder to the disk under QEMU is PAINFULLY SLOW!!! Is there a way of doing it faster? It is taking around 6 minutes to copy a 50 MiB file...

 

[doragasu]

Getting Daemon Tools 3.47 to install is being a real PAIN IN THE ASS. First it requested me to install Microsoft USB Support. Then it asked for Internet Explorer 4. This took more than two hours to install on my Pandora. Then it wanted to install Microsoft Installer 2.0. And not it refuses to install with a stupid error:



Any suggestions?

 

[dsleaf67]

I perfer a pickles but I had chosen to use picklelauncher instead of FE for myself.  It gives me some of the simplicity of EX but allows me to still have full control to modify.

 

[ingoreis]

Try to run it from the Image,please not from the Shared Folder.


Copy it into the Image, restart without Cdrom drivers and shared folder.


Make Scandisk before you install Daemon Tools and then should it install when you run it from the Image.

 

[doragasu]

Try to run it from the Image,please not from the Shared Folder.

That's exactly what I did, I copied it to the internal disk and installed from there. Also tried installing it with and without CDROM driver. I'll try the scandisk stuff, and also not mounting the shared folder.

 

[mamemaniac]

Copying files from the mounted folder to the disk under QEMU is PAINFULLY SLOW!!! Is there a way of doing it faster? It is taking around 6 minutes to copy a 50 MiB file...

Dont know if this can help you but i remember you must activate DMA mode in Hardware manager. It speeds up a lot all my data transfer and games installation in Windows.

 

[doragasu]

I was finally able to install Daemon Tools. I started a fresh install using my PC, got D-Tools working and then transferred the file to my Pandora. D-Tools works and is able to mount ISO files, but when I try to mount the .CUE file of AitD, I got the following error: "Unable to mount image. Cue sheet line 4 - Unknown file type". The cue sheet worked perfect with DosBox, it's just a ISO + WAV files, nothing exotic. Line 4 is the one corresponding to the first WAV file. The entire cue-sheet is:

FILE "ALONE01.iso" BINARY
  TRACK 01 MODE1/2048
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE02.wav" WAV
  TRACK 02 AUDIO
    PREGAP 00:02:00
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE03.wav" WAV
  TRACK 03 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE04.wav" WAV
  TRACK 04 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE05.wav" WAV
  TRACK 05 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE06.wav" WAV
  TRACK 06 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE07.wav" WAV
  TRACK 07 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE08.wav" WAV
  TRACK 08 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE09.wav" WAV
  TRACK 09 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE10.wav" WAV
  TRACK 10 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE11.wav" WAV
  TRACK 11 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE12.wav" WAV
  TRACK 12 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE13.wav" WAV
  TRACK 13 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE14.wav" WAV
  TRACK 14 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE15.wav" WAV
  TRACK 15 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE16.wav" WAV
  TRACK 16 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "ALONE17.wav" WAV
  TRACK 17 AUDIO
    INDEX 01 00:00:00

I can't find what the problem is, the CUE sheet looks perfect to me.

 

[ingoreis]

Wow,i never edited,opened a Cue Sheet.

Worked here with the Cue Sheets from IMGBURN Perfectly.

Which Game do you want again to run?

Maybe have it Copy Protection?

Edit: saw Alone in the Dark.

Its very slow in Qemu,maybe Windows versions work better.

Tried it long Time before.

Do you realy need the CD Tracks?

Maybe you can Install the Game and run it simply with a NOCD Patch from your Image.

 

[doragasu]

It has no protection, it's a very old game. I want the CD version because it has way better music. Do you have a cue sheet from a game with data + CD audio tracks? If you have it, could you post it here for reference?

I'm almost sure I will end playing AitD using DosBox (it runs perfect in it), but I'm so near of getting it, and it took me so much time... I would like to see it running in QEmu.

 

[thatgui]

My experience with Qemu and DosBox is that you typically have broader compatibility with Qemu, but with a "loss in details" - like music not working correctly in Qemu, but working right in dosBox. There also isn't a general rule that games run faster/smoother in Qemu or Dosbox, it's on a per game basis.

I used only DosBox with FE, as EX sacrifices adustability for an only minimal improvent in comfort

 

[ingoreis]

Here my V2000 Cue,had that Game working in my Qemu under Windows95


FILE "V2000.BIN" BINARY
TRACK 01 MODE2/2352
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
PREGAP 00:02:00
FLAGS DCP
INDEX 01 12:09:28
TRACK 03 AUDIO
FLAGS DCP
INDEX 01 20:00:70
TRACK 04 AUDIO
FLAGS DCP
INDEX 01 27:19:65
TRACK 05 AUDIO
FLAGS DCP
INDEX 01 35:03:07
TRACK 06 AUDIO
FLAGS DCP
INDEX 00 40:57:45
INDEX 01 41:00:24
TRACK 07 AUDIO
FLAGS DCP
INDEX 01 46:57:41
TRACK 08 AUDIO
FLAGS DCP
INDEX 01 52:01:19
TRACK 09 AUDIO
FLAGS DCP
INDEX 00 55:30:37
INDEX 01 55:32:38
TRACK 10 AUDIO
FLAGS DCP
INDEX 01 58:34:73
TRACK 11 AUDIO
FLAGS DCP
INDEX 01 58:42:38
REM LEAD-OUT 75:24:40

Seem that Your Cue is invalid because ervery Index is 0 in your Post.

Rip it again and it should work.

I recommend IMGBURN

 

[doragasu]

The indexes in my CUE file are right, because I have used one file for each track (instead of a single BIN file for the entire disc). It looks like D-Tools don't support ISO+WAV CUE files. I originally ripped the CD to a CUE+BIN file (and it looked exactly like the one you posted, including non-zero indexes), but converted it to CUE+WAV+ISO. I'll rip it again (I use Brasero, as I don't have a Windows machine ATM) to test again.

Thanks!

 

[doragasu]

Ripped the CD again, copied it again to QEmu machine (took an eternity), mounted it with D-Tools (this time without problems), installed it, started the game and... I only get a black screen. The game doesn't run (at least the version I have). I have to switch to qemu console, send a ctrl-alt-delete and close the game, it doesn't run

I think I leave it here. I'll only use qemu for the games it's really needed. My experience with qemu has been extremely painful and time consuming .

I'll return to it when Diablo is fullspeed (if that ever happens).