DOS Gaming with DOSBox. Full Installation, Game Download and Setup - Everything to start DOS gaming
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
- DOSBox is the best and easiest way to play DOS games from the 80s and 90s. With thousands of classic titles waiting for you, simply boot up this great emulator and play the games hassle free. No hardware incompatibility, missing drivers or other native DOS issues.
Make sure you check out my BytesNBits blog post for full information.
https:\\bytesnbits.co.uk/dosbox-install
DOSBox
www.dosbox.com
Native DOS setup
• DOS Gaming with Sound ...
TamperMonkey tutorial
• Fix the Emuparadise Do...
0:00 Introduction
2:24 Installation
3:41 DOSBox settings and mount hard drive
11:09 First Boot
11:53 Downloading and installing a game - Doom
17:22 Other games
18:21 Harder to install games - CDROM and floppy
24:38 Conclusion
This was awsome. Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for a great guide.
Glad it helped!
Really useful - I've been wanting to revisit some classics and discover some things that passed me by - this is invaluable!
Glad you enjoyed it!
VICTORY! DOSBox installed and Heroes of Might and Magic 2 running smoothly! Thanx so much! Couldn't get it work well on VirtualBox nor PCemu on Windows 98. This is so great, makes my workdays so much more enjoyable.
PS. In DOSbox when I went to the correct file on C\DOSbox\Downloads\HOMM\dir the directory was blank (it had only "." and ".." files. Don't know what it means, but then I just executed the INSTALL file and the HEROES2 file, and it is time for a adventure My Lord.
the . and .. directories are standard system shortcuts found in every directory. Great to hear you're got it working.
Thank for the very entertaining video. Very much appreciate all the tips and instructions especially setting up DOSBox.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for this guide its really helpful. I’ve used dosbox and set it up OK, but it requires quite a bit of reading and you need to follow it quite carefully to get the settings. right. The trouble is when you haven’t used it for a while you then forget and have to relearn it all again to recreate a set up, so its a bit time consuming in this regards. I’ve noted the comments about Dosbox X and other GUI based ‘forks’ which sound great. Thanks again.
Thanks. I used DosBox-X in the next DOS setup video - czcams.com/video/ZzpiP_mNFn8/video.html.
It is a nicer system to use as the settings are all done through menu screens.
phenomenal tutorial! thank you so much!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Looks so cool :)
Thanks
Classic time travelling Retro Gaming...t's pretty good...I liked this video Bytes N Bits yes!!!!👍😅
Glad you enjoyed it. Have fun with the games.
Just a thank you for your time spent making this vid, I have not downloaded any games yet but your vid got me to rediscovering things I used to know but have forgotten, after many years I have got Quake2 running on windows 7 just like I used to have it on windows 95 ( with a joystick ) took some working out, but can't get it to work in dosbox ( yet ) using the original CD to install from maybe I need to download it? anyway thanks for taking me back years as to how we used to use computers.
Thanks for your comment. Hope you have great fun!
Dosbox-X (a fork of doxbox) is a much better option: GUI drop-down menu, Built-in graphical configuration tool, Save and load state support, Automatic image file and drive mounting, CPU speed optimization and Turbo mode, Improved Windows 3.x and Windows 9x emulation, Support for long filenames, Support for the mounting VHD, HDI, QCOW2 disk images and MAME CHD CD images, cue sheets with FLAC, MP3, WAV, OGG Vorbis and Opus CD audio tracks, 3dfx Voodoo chip and Glide emulation, Roland MT-32 emulation, pixel-perfect scaling video mode... and so on
thanks for the tip. Just had a look and it does seem a lot easier to work with. I'll probably use this going forwards.
If there is a Dosbox X app for android i like to try it.
Thanks for saving me the headache, Ivan! Setting it up now.
Could come in useful....QCOW2 is UTM extension as well isn't it?
Thanks. I learned some new things.
Glad it was helpful!
Ey ich hab ein problem. ich kann in dosbox nicht \ eingeben.-.
Just what I needed!
Glad it helped.
Glad dosbox is away to play classic pc game's 😊😊
Have fun!
- Output opengl does bilinear filtering. If you want blocky pixels use the openglnb (no bilinear) option instead
- I think the option "cdrom" is now recommended for CD-image files as well (it used to be "-t iso" but changed at some point)
- Putting all your mount commands in the autoexec gets old real fast if you have lots of games. I only have my C-drive mount there and create a batch script for each game that needs a CD mounted (mount -u to unmount).
- DOSBox was created for games and does not emulate all aspects of real DOS. Some non gaming applications might not work due to missing emulation (such as share.exe)
Thanks for the hints and tips.
Retro gaming at it's finest
Do have a play. Some great games out there!
Hi What a concise tutorial WOW! Thank you very much. I have to load Generic CADD6 from the 80's, I've been using on my AST tower as a dedicated cad machine since then but after several moves the latest SW France its died. I am a 71 year old designer / builder / shopfitter now retired but need my CAD working to design a timber roof with cutting and joint details for a ancient mill house I am rebuilding. the design is plotted to my A0 plotter and I have a full size paper template of each joint....well that's the plan. I now have to try and get things working on another windows 10 machine. Thanks again, all the best Steven King, Cayriech SW France
Hi Steven. Good luck in getting it all up and running.
There is a second option if you have trouble getting this route working. You can install DOS directly onto modern machines using FreeDOS. I'm not sure what interface your plotter uses but this might give you better access to the PC hardware. I made a video a while back looking at DOS from a gaming viewpoint but the only downside was no sound, which I guess won't affect you.
czcams.com/video/HUHwOA_gC1o/video.html
@BytesNBits thank you very much for your kind attention. I have loaded dosbox on a win10 machine but didn't assign it correctly for files ie c: so I will have to reload. I've been preparing all the oak ready for cutting, so it's getting close for serious computing and plotting. It's an important part as one main oak beam is 5.5 mtrs and a 1/4 ton so I don't have room for errors. Thanks again yours sincerely Steve king SW France
Hi Thanks for your help. I am sorry to trouble you again. have now got dosbox installed no problem. I have copied my cadd6 files to dosbox as instructed these were on a usb thumbdrive, i copied the 3 floppy discs over to the usb stick a few years back when i had a floppy drive in another machine.....now the problem i am having is when i go to dir cadd6 and in dos install it goes through the process but then asked for inserting disc 1 into drive c. I have the original floppies to hand all 3 of them that I purchased from generic cadd many years ago, as I got updates from the 80's can you suggest where i have gone wrong or a solution many thanks Steve King ....cheers oh! my current machine does not have any disc drives just USB inputs @@BytesNBits
I put all executable that i used at most like choice. exe in the mounted folder and i start DosBox with a PATH command that points to this DosBox "drive". Because we can start all executable in the path enviroment variable from any sub-folder without to specify the location.
At last i start a batch file with a menu made with the choice command and with checking the errorlevel in reverse order highest first using the if command with a goto command to jump forward in the batch file.
That sounds like a good solution.
I am on an Android tablet with a DosBox app installed for programing tiny executable for DosBox.😊
Sounds great. Does that all work ok on Android?
@@BytesNBits Yes, the DosBox emulation works good on Android ARM CPU. The Magic DosBox free app starts in 16 bit BIG Real Mode with ems=true and together with a segment size of 4 gb for DS, ES, FS and GS segment + 21 address line on, but for CS and SS segment 64 kb limit. That allows to write into the linear framebuffer for svga-S3 emulation in C0000000 in VBE mode 800x600x32 resolution using 32 bit instructions with an address size and operand size prefix from 16 bit mode. With the official DosBox version on a PC we have to change to ems=false and switch into the 16 bit Big Real Mode first with an application to write into the linear framebuffer.
@@BytesNBits More details on my channel.
@@maxmuster7003 It sounds like you're really into your DOS coding. Do you develop directly in DOSBox or do you use modern development tools?
@@maxmuster7003 Thanks. I had a quick look. Looks great.
excellent
Thanks!
I was trying to find out this autoexec.. thanks
Hope you got it working.
20:58 I like the imgmount command... That's new to me... Probably explains why i need to brush up on my DOS style
i'm familiar with mount commands and syntax, so makes sense,, I would prefer keeping as iso images though just because it 's cleaner all around., otherwise you'll have hundreds of folder structures and files within sub--directories.
Ah, the good old days.
If it works for you it's the best solution.
There a a lot of forks from Dosbox (Dosbox-X, DosBox ECE, DOSBox SVN Daum ...) It would be nice if you do a comparison!
Thanks. There are almost too many to choose from. Good idea for the comparison video.
My dream is to have a full working vbe 3 bios in DOSBOX on android with an emulated intel 64 bit CPU quad core. 😅 Ready to startup all cores and switch into 64 bit mode from DOS.
Thank you
You're welcome
Hi Update...well i had a tiny success but could not get passed the c: drive loading problem....BUT! I decided to strip down my AST tower blow heat into it give a clean, we had a lot of rain here and living in a motorhome whilst rebuilding our mill house. re-built it ...its resurrected after resetting its running CADD6 perfect....so thanks for your help I will continue to try and get cadd working on my other windows computer for future all the best Steve SW France Merry Christmas
Hi Steve. Thanks for the update. Great to hear you're back up and running again. Hope you get the modern PC solution sorted. Merry Christmas to you too.
This guide is very informative, thank you so much! I followed it step by step all the way up to the section where you talk about mounting games with a cd rom instead of iso. I have 4 games I want to try on dosbox but I don't know if they'll work, not sure if they are strictly windows games or not. The game I was installing following your tutorial video is called Jumpstart 3rd Grade Mystery Mountain. I am having a command prompt say illegal command: win. after typing in setup. I don't want to waste your time so I didn't know if I could discuss over email or some other form of communication. I didn't want to make this comment too long with all my questions. Thank you for any help you can provide. I will greatly appreciate it.
DOSBox allows you to emulate a DOS PC. If you want to run Windows 3 or Win 98 games you can install these inside DOSBox and then run the games from there.
Oh okay thank you very much for letting me know. So when I install windows 95 onto DOSBox is there anything different I need to set up in the command prompt to install the windows 95 games or do I need to mount anything differently or can I select the setup exe. once I have the windows 95 installed on DOSBox?@@BytesNBits
I am using dosbox-x can you run SBEMU in it? Also, can you make it point to it, and use it? I'm having music problems.
I haven't tried that. I'm not sure if it's possible as DOSBox provides the Sound Blaster emulation itself.
Nice tutorial i have a problems with the config settings i tried to install brain dead 13 and as expected it took me to the bd13 utilities screen but every time i save my utility it keeps saying configuration error! I watched a few tutorials of how to get the configuration folder but nothing worked so you are kinda my only hope to make this game's sound work.
You'll probably need to play around with the DOSBox setup. You can change the sound cards it emulates, ports, etc. have a look at the game documentation to see what it needs and then try to match that in DOSBox. Also have a look at DOSBox-X. It makes the setup a lot easier.
also to make things easier so you dont need to keep typing in commands to get the the needed file. just drag the file that has your game in it and it will mount it so all you need to do is type the game in. my dosbox still displays z: but i drag that file and its c: the file is in the c folder
Thanks for the tip. I'll try that out.
@@BytesNBits np =) have you tried it yet?
What do you do when the installatiion batch file, is asking you to insert the next disc, or multiple ISO files?
Try mapping both iso files as cd drives. Or you can use DOSBox-X. It's a much better version of the emulator with a menu system that will let you hot swap the iso files as if you were changing the CD.
What is the space shooter game that is being played at the end of the video just after the Word Star demo? I seem to remember playing it on my Amiga 500 but I can't remember the name.
Xenon 2 Megablast
Hi, great tutorial. One slight issue for me is the Sierra DOS game I have installed and ran starts but then hits a black screen after the first screen hits. Is this common. Have tried surface and openglnb but issue still happens. Is there another option for output to work or is this an issue with my graphics card driver? It hasn't had an update.
Some games do need a bit of messing around to get them working. There were a range of hardware options for PCs over the years. Try to find the manual for the game online - you should find it quite easily. These usually tell you what spec machine they are aimed at. Try to set DosBox up close to that spec.
There are some that just don't work in the emulator so if you find yourself going round in circles with little success call it a day.
@@BytesNBits thanks, will give the manual a go. I did get it working on my machine about 2 years ago so might just roll it back to then in case I had a bad update. 👍
Is there a minimum system requirement for DOSBox ? Will it work on a old laptop using i3-6100U using integrated graphics ?
DOSBox will run on most machines, but the performance in some games will be limited. Having said that you'll probably find that Windows is the biggest resource hog. I did make a video a while back with an old Atom based laptop (really low power) where I used a light version of Linux with DOSBox to create a DOS gaming PC that worked great. If you're free to rebuild the laptop in Linux that could be a better way to go. czcams.com/video/ZouWIX9pW9w/video.html
I3 CPU cores are very powerfull.
Excellent video.
However, how can I run my DOS game from their floppies using a USB Floppy drive on a DOS emulator?
Thanks! DosBox allows you to mount the usb floppy drive as a floppy drive. Have a look in the documentation.
You should also explain SCUMM would be the perfect companion with Dosbox. They let you run all the CD iso from Lucas arts and Sierra titles..
I've not played with SCUMM yet. Looks like it could be another video. Thanks!
Great video! But i have an issue it doesnt make a DOSBox folder on my PC
When you specify an installation folder in the setup program does it copy the files there, but just doesn't put them in a folder? Can you find where the files have been saved?
I have a question, I have a Windows 8 laptop but I can't play my XP games because of admin privileges will this surpass them?
Possibly. You can install XP inside a DosBox system but I think it's a bit of a hassle. If you get it set up it should play your XP games. Or use VirtualBox to set up a virtual Win XP machine.
so how to you start the game after you have installed played the game and shut it down? How do you start the game again? Because all i can do now is reinstall it to play it.
If the game has an install feature it will usually copy the game files to a folder on your DosBox hard drive. Inside that folder you'll find the file you need to run to restart the game. Try looking for the manual for the game online. It will talk you through the process.
It keeps telling me Drive C does not exist!You must mount it first. Type intro or intro mount for more information.Even though I already mounted Drive C.
Try checking your config code to make sure you're got the syntax correct. If you're still having problems try using DOSBox X. It uses a much better user interface for setting things up - czcams.com/video/ZzpiP_mNFn8/video.html
Thanks. DosBox X actually worked for me a bit better.
I have so much trouble with Dos box. Main issue is I'm trying to mount my main drive from an external hard drive to take my favorites on the go. The normal method shown isn't working to mount the drive. help?
It should all work as normal, but make sure your hard drive is connecting on the same drive letter each time.
If anyone can get Kingsqust 6 working with speech. I have sound but no speech. And can't figure it out. I have gotten other games to work via mounting the cd iso etc. But this.....zero luck... and the only one I want to play with voice-over
It sounds like you've tried most things I'd suggest. I think some games are doing things that aren't compatible with the emulator.
Hello
Could I change file directory of the .conf ? now it save in the hidden path....
I'm not sure. Have a look in the documentation
I understand the common feeling that if i dont feel like going through all of this, I shoudlnt be playing video games or whatever... but really, im a busy guy. I just dont want to have to travel throught the command prompt just to play a game for 10 minutes just for the sake of nostalgia.
Somehow, years ago, i got a DOS emulator on apple that had a complete interface and eliminated half this process, and worked fine.
Sure, im a jerk for choosing convience, but like i said i have other things to do most of the day.
What exactly is the issue with just having an interface here?
I have a ton of games, and i dont even remember what they all are. On a given day around midnight, i may play on 5 different emulators in the span of a couple hours before i sleep. This one, while having the best experience, is just too difficult. This "8-letter code" thing makes it difficult to decipher what games im looking at in the command prompt.
Is there any working DOS emulator with an interface for windows?
Sorry for the long disclaimers, but I can never ask things without needing to defend myself against the anonymous abuse that asking for help on the internet brings.
You can connect DosBox up to something like Launchbox (or really any of the front end applications). You can then import your games and just use the point and click interface to run the games.
What if I don’t hear anything? (I’m playing theme hospital and the game volume is at 100%)
You'll need to play with the settings to make sure Soundblaster emulation is running. Then make sure the game is using the matching settings to drive the emulator. There will still be some games that probably won't work fully, but I know I've had Theme Hospital running OK with sound.
so if i wanna run a game installed whenever, what is the command
You need to brush up on your DOS command line. The general process is to cd to the folder where the game is installed, either on the hadr drive or a mounted CD etc. Then run the game startup file. You might need to have a look at the game instructions for this. Usually it's quite obvious which file to run. Do a dir command and look for a .bat or .exe file.
Im new to pc gaming and i really want to do stuff like this but its to confusing lol, ive been trying to do it but nothing works, it can never detect any drives
Make sure you follow all the steps in the video. It goes through setting up and attaching a C drive to DosBox.
Did u get it to work? I'm having the same issue.
great tutorial, I just dont know how to save the game progress
If you use DosBox-X you'll get a save state feature. This saves the whole state of the PC rather than just the game. Set up DosBox-X using this video - czcams.com/video/ZzpiP_mNFn8/video.html
thank you @@BytesNBits
Is OS (C:) a drive? I don't have anymore, I have a laptop
Dosbox just uses a folder on your hard drive as it's drive c. This can be on whatever drives are attached to your laptop.
David is a greedy goblin holy crap who dug up all the dirt around my city and i have no resources left.
Not sure what you're talking about but thanks for the comment.
hai, can you help me, why my mouse can't detect?, only keyboard.
Don't forget that the mouse isn't used by all programs in DOS and definitely not on the console screen. Have you tried this in a mouse enabled game or some other app? If it's definitely not working have a look at dosbox-x.com/wiki/Guide%3AMouse-support-in-DOSBox%E2%80%90X for some tips. Hope you get it going :)
For me I get stuck at installing the game, it tells me I need Windows 3.1 or higher but I'm on Windows 11
DOSBox will only be able to install and run DOS games. It looks like you're trying to install a Windows 3.1 game. If you want to pay it you'll need to set up a virtual PC running Windows 3.1.
I got to the install. my screen doesnt look anything like yours though
Does DOSBox boot up OK? Not sure why it would be very different.
Will this work with silent hill 2 I need to replay this. First time trying it on pc
I tried the game from abandonware and it keeps asking for the cd :(
Did you try attaching the game files as a CD drive. DOSBox lets you attach virtual CD drives for this situation. Have a look in the DOSBox documentation to see how to do it.
i need help playing dungeom master 2 on here idk how to get it to load plz help
Have a look at the new video for eXoDOS. czcams.com/video/yYueHu49m9o/video.html. That does most of the hard work in setting up games for you.
@@BytesNBits i was able to get it to work, i was having a hard time finding what file to load but it was the dm2.bat i was looking for a exe.
I set up my drive but it's telling me it doesn't exist. I did it the same way. Did anyone else run into this issue?
Make sure you've got the file path correct to point at your folder. Don't forget DOS uses the \ for folder separators not /.
@@BytesNBits thanks I figured it out through a comment in a different video. I just had to be VERY specific lol.
how do i get the cd iso thing or is it different for each game
You attach the iso files as a cd in the same way for any iso image.
@@BytesNBits thanks for help but i still have no idea what u mean im so stupid with this stuff if u can explain abit more ill rly appreciate it i have like 0 experience with dos i only got it to play a terminator game but i know theres a few others id enjoy i know it works because ive managed to get dune and the demo for terminator to work so i think its just the disc drive thing i fkd up on
mic set too high when u can hear mouth noises
You know people may not be able to afford food or a house right now in Canada but at least we can pirate games legally!
Is downloading game roms legal in Canada?
dosbox wont even launch for me. it just flashes a window for a second then dissapears.
Did you change the settings in the configuration file? Try running with the default values first to see it it loads. Then try tweaking it from there.
@@BytesNBits I did. I was trying to launch it on a remote server and I dont think it liked that.
It works fine on my local PC.
Question does this work with fallout?
You can play Windows games in DOSBox but you first have to install Windows 98 and then install the game inside that.
I got Fallout 1 from a page on the internet archive and am playing it right this very second without having had to install Win98, so I'm guessing there's been an update that addresses this in the time since this comment was made, or it's a non-windows version of Fallout.
In fact, that's the reason I'm even on this video with a question of my own, which is: how do I get the game to be full screen? DBox runs in full screen but when the game starts it's just a square box in the middle of a black screen. Would this be an aspect ratio setting issue, or something else?
it says that file c dosnt exists
Be careful with the path value. make sure you get the \ the right way round for DOS.
How install Dos Box pkg in ps3 ?
Sorry. I don't have a PS3. If there isn't a commercial app for that I guess you'll have to run some sort of hack.
SWAP MESSAGE: Insert the disk with KEYB. SQZ Press RETURN to continue or ESC to cancel._
I have problem with information before start game what will I doing ?
You lost me during the Mounting setup. I just want to play it from my c drive with no other external hard drive🤦♀
DosBox needs to have a folder on your c drive that it will use as it's own c drive. It will store all of it's data etc. into that folder which you will then see as a full hard drive inside DosBox. Mounting folders just the way that DosBox emulates hard drives, floppy drives, etc.
Hi Thanks for your help. I am sorry to trouble you again. have now got dosbox installed no problem. I have copied my cadd6 files to dosbox as instructed these were on a usb thumbdrive, i copied the 3 floppy discs over to the usb stick a few years back when i had a floppy drive in another machine.....now the problem i am having is when i go to dir cadd6 and in dos install it goes through the process but then asked for inserting disc 1 into drive c. I have the original floppies to hand all 3 of them that I purchased from generic cadd many years ago, as I got updates from the 80's can you suggest where i have gone wrong or a solution many thanks Steve King ....cheers oh! my current machine does not have any disc drives just USB inputs @BytesNBits
Just to check, you've got your hard drive folder mounted as drive C and the USB thumb drive mounted as drive A.
Have you copied all of the floppy disk files into the root folder of the USB drive? This should work, but sometimes the disks have a method of identifying themselves, maybe by volume name etc. If this is the case you might need to create a USB drive for disk one, then two , etc.
If you can't split out the files and work out the volume names I'd suggest buying a USB floppy drive and using the original floppies - great that you still have them! This might actually be your easiest option.
Hope this helps.
Spending an hour matching up file paths and digging through directories just to run a 30 year old game is not fun at all!
That's all part of the fun!
[autoexec]
PATH=%path%;C:/
mount c: "/storage/emulated/0/BATCH"
c:
Menue.bat
Thank you
You're welcome