[RESOLVED] anyone running dosbox in gameex?

[katuuuz]

Was wondering ab this while sitting at work. Anyone with info on integrating it into gameex please share!

[Draco1962]

Most of the games I have that are setup to run via DOSBOX I purchased from gog.com . Then I setup an emulator slot called PC games and copied all application shortcuts to a folder named PC Games. I setup the path to the folder and put *.lnk as the ROM filter and used the default ROM FILE settings. Much easier.

[katuuuz]

Sweet was hoping to be able to link the games instead of opening dbox and inputting commands. Care to give me an example??

[Draco1962]

Well I don't have one to give you for the DOSBOX setup as they are preconfigured, however, if you do some searching, you can probably find some setup directions for various games that are DOSBOX compatible, create a shortcut to the .exe, then configure the emulator to look for the .lnk file instead. When I get to my PC, I will post my .initial file for the emulator slot I described previously if you'd like.

[nullPointer]

I think the pertinent part of what Draco was describing is that he's running DOS games purchased from GOG, which just happen to leverage DOSBox for operation. The trouble wiht this is that GOG DOS games generally use heavily customized loaders tailored to each specific game. It makes sense being that if you're purchasing a game you want it to work out of the box with out a lot of faffing about with configuration. If you haven't checked out GOG, you should. They're probably one of the best digital games distributors out there, especially for us retro-weirdos.

I think the most popular solution for running vanilla DOSBox through a frontend is to use D-Fend Reloaded. This way you can set up your own custom DOSBox configs in advance and launch them much more easily. Basically you create your configs in D-Fend, and then launch them directly from GameEx. Krakerman put together a pretty decent explanation for incorporating D-Fend Reloaded into GameEx (be sure to read the remainder of the thread as well).

[Draco1962]

Here is the config I use. The beauty of using the .lnk files is that I can mix and match all PC games (with the exception of those I have running through the integrated Steam, Uplay, and Origin support) regardless of whether they preload with DOSBOX or not.

[Emulator]Enabled=TrueSTARTPAGENAME=PC GamesTITLETEXT=PC GamesStartPageLogo=PC GamesWorkingPath=H:\ROMS\PC GamesRomPath=H:\ROMS\PC GamesROMFilter=*.lnkCommand=""[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]""SnapPath=H:\Assets\PC Games\SnapVideoSnapPath=H:\Assets\PC Games\VideoPlayInScreenSaver=FalseMergeSets=Falseimagenotfound=C:\GameEx\THEMES\Smoked Glass\MEDIA\LOGOS\No_Image.pnglastgame=CustomBackground=PC_Gamesbak.png

[katuuuz]

Thanks guys. Won't be able to meddle with it until tomorrow night.

Thanks for posting your .ini Draco, I understand the logic, but I just have a few old sierra adventure games I wanted to incorporate that I've purchased at least once in my life, but these copies aren't. Will have to read up on creating simple batch files to do so, but I'll first likely look into what Null was referring to.

Anyway thanks guys.

Happy gaming

[katuuuz]

So, I've downloaded and have gotten familiar with Defender. Great suggestion Null. I've got it all set up, GameEx sees, and launches the game, but as the screen goes black to adjust for the game, it goes back to GameEx. Upon exiting GameEx, my game is running in a windowed version of Dosbox. (I have it set to fullscreen on launch in Dosbox.ini)

I've attached my log, emulator config, and dosbox config.

log.txt

dosbox.txt

GameEx.ini

[Draco1962]

First question. Is the game loading and playng well outside of GameEx?

[katuuuz]

Runs perfectly outside gameex. Full screen too.

[katuuuz]

think i need to issue a wait command of some sort, dont think my dos game fires up fast enough.

[Draco1962]

While this is old, I think that the setup info in this thread is still valid. Pay special attention to this suggestied fix for an issue that sounds like what you are reporting.

You will have to go to your Advanced Emulator Setup via Setup Wizard and click on ... next to Advanced Config

When Advanced Config Editor opens, click on the Process Wait tab. It is here that you will identify the process to "wait" before returning to GameEx. Keep in mind I have not played with this much so others may need to contribute input.

[nullPointer]

Spot on. In the post I linked by Krakerman (here), he included an advanced emulator config for D-Fend Reloaded. So download that zip file, extract the contents, and put the file (DosBox.ini) in the following directory: \GameEx\CONFIG\EMULATORS. Now open up the Setup Wizard, navigate to the Advanced Emulator Setup screen for D-Fend Reloaded, go to the field Draco describes above, and there you'll find a new entry called DosBox. Select that. Bada bing, bada boom. I believe that advanced emulator config should still be applicable for current versions of DOSBox.

[katuuuz]

Worked like a charm. Thanks guys!

[nullPointer]

Glad to hear it worked out.