Emulator:DOSBox/Sandbox

The Right Way to Configure Wah!Cade for DOSBox

About

DOSBox emulates an Intel x86 PC, complete with sound, graphics, mouse, joystick, modem, etc., necessary for running many old MS-DOS games that simply cannot be run on modern PCs and operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, Linux and FreeBSD.

Configuration

Platform	Version	Device	Exec	Type	commandline_format
Linux	0.74	Original Media	/usr/bin/dosbox	D	[rompath]/[name].[romext] -exit -conf [rompath]/conf/[name].conf

Getting Started

Prerequisites

This guide assumes that the following apply to all of your DOS games:

• The game's files exist on your harddrive. They are either already unzipped from a ZIP archive, or extracted by an executable self-installer program.
• The game must be run from an executable file, as opposed to being self-booting.

This guide does not cover how to run games from changeable media like floppy disks or CD-ROMs.

Installing DOSBox

Visit DOSBox's download page for the most up-to-date versions of the software. Choose and download the package appropriate for your system.

On Debian-based systems like Ubuntu, simply open a Terminal and type:

  sudo apt-get install dosbox

Follow the prompts and DOSBox will be downloaded and installed automatically. Test the installation by typing dosbox at the prompt. Type exit in the DOSBox window that appears to close it.

DOS Game Folder Structure

Create a main folder where you will keep all your DOS games. The example used in this guide will be named ~/roms/dos.

Create the following subfolders in ~/roms/dos:

• conf
• keymaps
• screenshots

I'll get to the purposes of these subfolders in a bit.

Also create a subfolder for each of the DOS games you want to set up. I will use two favorites of mine as examples:

• ROUND42
• XCUTE

It's important that you name your games' subfolders using only eight characters or less. Remember that DOS did not support file and directory names longer than 8 characters back in the day, and DOSBox behaves the same way. A good rule of thumb is to name it similar to the game's main executable file.

You'll notice that I named my game subfolders in capital letters and my non-game subfolders in lowercase letters. I use this convention for my own benefit, so I can easily differentiate those that contain game files apart from those that don't.

Now that your folder structure is set up, copy each of your game's files into its corresponding subfolder. Make a note of the main executable filename for each game.

Batch (.BAT) Files

Back in your ~/roms/dos folder, create a new text file. Name it identically to one of your game's subfolder, and give it a .BAT file extension. This is called a DOS batch file. Open the file and give it text like the following:

  @echo off
  cd round42
  round42.com

(Unless you've already guessed, replace "round42" with the folder name and executable name of one of your games.)

The batch file serves two main purposes:

• The first is to change the current working directory to the game's subfolder before running the game itself.
• The second purpose is to specify the type of file being executed. A DOS game's executable file will almost always be a .EXE file. There are some rare cases, particularly with older games, where the extension is .COM. COM files are executed in the same manner as EXE files. In the batch file you can specify either type, meaning you don't have to rely on a game's extension being EXE for it to be visible in your Wah!Cade game list.

The "@echo off" statement merely hides the batch commands from view when they are used in the DOSBox window.

Save and close the batch file. Test it:

  dosbox ~/roms/dos/ROUND42.BAT

If all went well, DOSBox should have executed the game. Exit the game, or force terminate using CTRL-F9 if necessary.

Repeat the batch file creation for all of your games.

DOSBox Configuration Per Game

CONF File Creation

On DOSBox's first run, it creates a config file in ~/.dosbox named dosbox-version.conf. Copy this file to ~/roms/dos/conf.

Make as many copies of this file as you have DOS games, naming each one identically to the game's subfolder name with a .conf extension (e.g.: ROUND42.conf).

Editing a CONF File

Open one of your conf files in a text editor (vim or gedit). You will see many different options to change. You'll also notice some documentation is provided for most settings.

Some common things you may want to change:

  fullscreen=true
  fulldouble=true
  fullresolution=original
  windowresolution=original
  output=openglnb

You will see an option called mapperfile. Set this to a (currently) nonexistent file in your ~/roms/dos/keymaps subfolder. For my ROUND42 example:

  mapperfile=~/roms/dos/keymaps/mapper_ROUND42.txt 

Adjust your settings in each of your games' conf files, making sure you have set your mapperfile paths properly for each one. Also edit the captures option. Set it to ~/roms/dos/screenshots. You'll see why later on.

Some older games may require different machine types in order to work properly. For example, try setting the machine option to tandy for games that ran on the Tandy 1000 line of computers.

For games that did not use sound cards, you will need to make sure you set pcspeaker to true in order to hear the PC "beep" sound effects.

You will also see options for frameskipping, cpu type, and many others. Most of the time you can leave these as they are. DOSBox's official documentation on these options is available at this link: Dosbox.conf.

Test a game using the appropriate conf file:

  dosbox ~/roms/dos/ROUND42.BAT -conf ~/roms/dos/conf/ROUND42.conf

Again, the game will come up. This time, using the options as you configured, like fullscreen.

Run the Games' Setup Utilities

Don't forget to run the setup/install utilities for the games that have them. Display modes (CGA, EGA, VGA) and sound settings (Sound Blaster, AdLib) need to be configured just like they did in actual DOS.

Execute the setup utility with DOSBox. For example:

  dosbox ~/roms/dos/GAMENAME/setup.exe

Most of the time default Sound Blaster settings work well. Just make sure the settings you set for the game match those you defined in the game's conf file.

Refer to your game's readme files or help docs for more info.

Key Mapping

Creating a Custom Mapper File

While in the game, press CTRL-F1 to activate the keymapper. Feel free to change a few of the keys.

I won't go into much detail here on how the keymapper works, but complete documentation can be found here: Mapper

Reset Mapper To Default

If you take a look in the ~/roms/dos/keymaps subfolder, you'll see that a mapper file has been created. If you ever want to reset a game's keymapping, simply delete this file and a fresh one will be generated next time you activate the keymapper while in a game.

Snaps / Screenshots

Where To Keep Screenshots

Store screenshots of all your games in ~/roms/dos/screenshots. As with all platforms in Wah!Cade, the image filenames must exactly match the names of the roms. The "roms" in this case are the batch files you created.

How To Create Screenshots

While playing a game in DOSBox, pressing CTRL-F5 will take a screenshot and save it to the captures subfolder you specified in the game's conf file.

Adding DOSBox To Wah!Cade

In Wah!Cade Setup Editor, under the Emulators tab, add DOSBox as a platform. Set your rom path to ~/roms/dos, rom extension to BAT, your commandline format to [rompath]/[name].[romext] -exit -conf [rompath]/conf/[name].conf, and your artwork 1 path to [rompath]/screenshots.

Alternatively, you can edit your dosbox.ini file in ~/.wahcade/ini accordingly:

  ### dosbox.ini (wahcade v0.99) ###
  ### by codefenix ###
  
  emulator_title                          Dosbox v0.72
  
  ### List Generation Settings ###
  rom_path                                ~/roms/dos
  rom_extension                           BAT
  dat_file                                
  nms_file                                
  catver_ini_file                         
  list_generation_method                  rom_folder
  
  ### Execution Settings ###
  emulator_executable                     /usr/bin/dosbox
  commandline_format                      [rompath]/[name].[romext] -exit -conf [rompath]/conf/[name].conf
  alt_commandline_format_1                
  alt_commandline_format_2                
  game_specific_config_path               
  
  ### Artwork Locations ###
  artwork_1_image_path                    [rompath]/screenshots
  artwork_2_image_path                    
  artwork_3_image_path                    
  artwork_4_image_path                    
  artwork_5_image_path                    
  artwork_6_image_path                    
  artwork_7_image_path                    
  artwork_8_image_path                    
  artwork_9_image_path                    
  artwork_10_image_path                   
  movie_preview_path                      
  movie_artwork_no                        1
  
  ### Screen-Saver Settings ###
  enable_music_in_screensaver             0
  saver_type                              slideshow
  movie_path                              
  movie_fullscreen                        1
  quit_delay                              30
  wrapper_executable                      
  wrapper_commandline_format              [name]
  scr_file                                
  
  ### External Application Settings ###
  ipc_file_or_path                        
  app_1_executable                        
  app_1_commandline_format                
  app_2_executable                        
  app_2_commandline_format                
  app_3_executable                        
  app_3_commandline_format                
  auto_launch_apps                        
  
  ### Additional Settings ###
  music_path                              
  lcd_display_file_path                   
  lcd_fe_text                             
  
  ### Settings used by MAMEWAH ###
  current_list                            0

You'll note that the -exit parameter is used in the commandline format. This tells DOSBox to close itself after the game terminates.

If you did everything right, when you launch Wah!Cade you should be able to select DOSBox as a platform and browse the list of games. Select any game and start it, and DOSBox will use the appropriate config and keymap settings automatically. You will be returned back to Wah!Cade upon exiting the game.

Cabinet-Friendliness Tips

A game's ability to be 100% playable using MAME-like arcade controls is referred to as its cabinet-friendliness. If you're using DOSBox with Wah!Cade in an arcade cabinet, you'll soon realize that not all of your DOS games play very well using the controls, especially those that require full use of the keyboard.

You will need to carefully evaluate each of your games and decide which ones are good candidates to be included in your setup. Often times a game allows you to redefine the keys however you want, and you can define them to those used in MAME. On the other hand, if a game does not support key redefinition, you can sometimes make creative use of DOSBox's built-in keymapper.

Exit on ESC

By default DOSBox can be force-terminated by pressing CTRL+F9. This is referred to as "shutdown" within DOSBox. Using the keymapper, you can remap shutdown to the ESC key for many games that don't already have a simple method of quitting.

See: Cabinet-Friendly DOS Games

Suggested Layouts

Use any of the following layouts for your DOSBox platform in Wah!Cade Layout Editor:

• DOS Layouts

External Links

• DOSBox Homepage - All things DOSBox, including a FAQ page, forum, and game compatibility listings.
  
• DOSBoxWiki - The official Wiki page of the DOSBox project.
  
• Wikipedia's article on DOSBox - For everything else.
  
• Cabinet-Friendly DOSBox Games thread at anti-particle.com - A work-in-progress listing of cabinet-friendly DOS games.