Dosbox recompiled with gl libs?


Solstar

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2006
Messages
293
as i noticed in this thread http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/14058-wine/page-16#entry271633 i was wondering how come the devs managed to make windows games almost playable while dosbox still struggle on my pandora for a very basic 3d game called Continuum,(which is made up of flat polygons anyway),even with tweaking dosbox options ,using swapfile etc..nothing can speed up dos emulation.so,as ingoreis suggested,i'm asking if a kind soul can recompile dosbox using those gl libs mentioned in the topic
 
Last edited by a moderator:
DOS didn't have any practical 3D acceleration to speak of. Back in the day 3D was always CPU rendered.

Windows games using directX and OpenGL are making library calls which (usually) redirect to the hardware, but in emulation that hardware needs to be done in software. By adding OpenGL support, that emulation can then be pushed back onto the hardware, thus freeing up CPU for other stuff.

But with DOS, there is no hardware acceleration, it was already done in software, so there's nothing that can be "put back" into hardware. Does that make sense?

edit: to be fair there are some games which used 3DFX acceleration, a very specific card at the time, which might be possible to convert calls into openGL. Continuum (or Alpha Waves as it was known elsewhere) is not one of them, it was software rendered as I mentioned. Even if a 3DFX->OpenGL code were added it wouldn't help your game at all.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Another aspect to consider is the methods used for CPU emulation. Dosbox uses what they call a C dynamic recompiler. This only runs certain operations natively (i think only memory operations). This gives an improvement over the normal interrupter cpu emulation.

As I understand QEMU it will recompile the target instructions (x86) to an internal instruction set, which is in turn compiled to native instructions (ARM).

Basically since more is being recompiled natively for QEMU it can achieve higher efficiency than Dosbox,
 
as i noticed in this thread http://boards.openpa...-16#entry271633 i was wondering how come the devs managed to make windows games almost playable while dosbox still struggle on my pandora for a very basic 3d game called Continuum
Hmm i can test this Game under Qemu for you when you want,maybe it work little better than Dosbox because it dont use 3D Accelerration.

But for DosBox is it very interesting Thematic ^_^

There exist a Glide 3DFX Patch for Dosbox who uses OpenGL

mixed German and English Links ;)

http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Spiele/DOSBox_mit_Glide

http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=21839

http://www.tobiasmaasland.de/2009/06/02/dosbox-3dfx-games-mit-opengl-auf-linux/

http://www.si-gamer.net/gulikoza/glide.html

and many many others.

One of the Persons who have the Knowledge must use the LinuxBochs GL Lib with a 3DFX OpenGL Wrapper

and recompile Dosbox too.

It is possible ;)

Then have we maybe Windows95 with a 3DFX Acceleration on Pandora.

By adding OpenGL support, that emulation can then be pushed back onto the hardware, thus freeing up CPU for other stuff.
Yepp what i think too ;)

DOS didn't have any practical 3D acceleration to speak of
Yes right but 3DFX was very popular in the Past:

Here are Lists for Games who used that under Dos:

http://www.bttr-software.de/articles/voodoo.htm

http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=35721

Windows games using directX and OpenGL
Much old Games have Glidesupport too ^_^  

When you Compile a Dosbox 3DFX Version with Linuxbochs GL Lib is then maybe

a Windows95 with 3DFX support possible on Pandora and many 3DFX Games ;)

I am curious when anyone do this about the Speed with that ^_^
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I dont think it worth bothering since CPU speed is too low for any game that would support 3d accel, at max dosbox reaches low 486 speeds.
 
Hmm we can see it when anyone try it ;)

Maybe it work better than we think :rolleyes:

GTA or Terminal Velocity with 3DFX or maybe the 3DFX Patch for Blood or Elder Scrolls Daggerfall.

I have Fatal Racing/Whipsplash using 3DFX under Dos here original ^_^
 
Ah yes. I remember the first N64 emulator just appearing one day out of nowhere with Glide support. Had to jump through a few hoops to get a Glide->OpenGL wrapper working. Glide wrapped in OpenGL wrapped in OpenGLES, like an onion!
 
Hmm we can see it when anyone try it ;)

Maybe it work better than we think :rolleyes:

GTA or Terminal Velocity with 3DFX or maybe the 3DFX Patch for Blood or Elder Scrolls Daggerfall.

I have Fatal Racing/Whipsplash using 3DFX under Dos here original ^_^
Carmageddon 3DFX style? Yes Please! XD
 
Is there a chance the latest DOSBox SVN could be packaged up Pickle? There's bound to be some nice changes within the last 12 months.
 
Any News?Tried anyone this?


Even a newer Dosboxversion is good because in one Year happend a lot of Patches :)


Glide for Dos would be realy cool,maybe you give it a short try :)
 
Hmm we can see it when anyone try it ;)

Maybe it work better than we think :rolleyes:

GTA or Terminal Velocity with 3DFX or maybe the 3DFX Patch for Blood or Elder Scrolls Daggerfall.

I have Fatal Racing/Whipsplash using 3DFX under Dos here original ^_^
Carmageddon 3DFX style? Yes Please! XD
yes please indeed.. ;) i played forsaken on pandora the other day,and while i aknowledge that is a windows 3d game and recompliled for the pandora,it amazes me the speed that the pandora can reach..that's why i can't ease my mind about the state of dos emulation on pandora :(
 
Don't confuse emulation (dosbox) with native code (forsaken).


Emulation speed will always be way slower that native running programs.
 
Is there a chance the latest DOSBox SVN could be packaged up Pickle? There's bound to be some nice changes within the last 12 months.
I built the latest with the last M-HT patch. Didnt really feel anything different from the previous. I think the main project has only been adding fixes here and there.

I added a HW and SW applications to the pnd, which means scaling. I need to readd the touchscreen code i added from the gp2x version, it at least fixes up some games.

There was supposed to be a 'newer' branch of dboxfe, but it would need to be rearranged to fit 800x480 like the current version I have. (Any volunteers :))
 
Back
Top