D-Fend Reloaded (DOSBox) ?

[Krakerman]

I went back to D-Fend V2 Brian and it works again so it looks like I'll have to stick with converting all my D-Fend Reloaded DOS games over to D-Fend V2 until some finds a fix to this problem.

[Brian Hoffman]

I went back to D-Fend V2 Brian and it works again so it looks like I'll have to stick with converting all my D-Fend Reloaded DOS games over to D-Fend V2 until some finds a fix to this problem.

Ill re address this soon. Dont go too crazy re-doing everything. I have some ideas up my sleeve.

[Krakerman]

Looking forward to see what you come up with

[Brian Hoffman]

Looking forward to see what you come up with

This is done using default install paths. Edit as needed

Included in zip are this config to import using the gameex advanceconfig. Also included is the advaned config file (named dosbox). Copy it to the C:\Program Files\GameEx\CONFIG\EMULATORS Directory.

[Emulator_13]
Enabled=True
STARTPAGENAME=Dos Box
TITLETEXT=Dos Box
StartPageLogo=
ROMFilter=*.prof
RomPath=C:\Program Files\D-Fend Reloaded\Confs
SnapPath=
TitlePath=
BoxPath=
CartPath=
ManualPath=
ControlPanelPath=
InstructionsPath=
WorkingPath=C:\Program Files\D-Fend Reloaded
MapKeys=False
WaitBeforeKeys=
SendKeys=
ReplaceDash=True
ReplaceUnder=True
Capitals=True
RemoveBrackets=True
ShowDesktop=True
Debug=False
MAPFile=
AlsoLaunch=
Command=DFend.exe "[rom]"
OLDatZip=
LaunchBefore=
LaunchAfter=
configFile=DosBox
ExcludedFiles=
CustomBackground=
PlayMusic=
DontShowInfo=
PlaySelectionMusic=
SelectionMusicFolder=
PCGame=
DATABASE=
UseDbName=
GamesIn7Zips=
PlayInScreenSaver=False
ShowMostPlayed=
RandomMostPlayed=
CDCheck=
CDCheckFile=
CustomArtName1=
CustomArtPath1=
CustomArtName2=
CustomArtPath2=
CustomArtName3=
CustomArtPath3=
[GENERAL]
DumbyValue=

Now lnks (shortcusts) are not needed. Also ESC does NOT close emu process. This will allow you to play games that need the ESC key to function.

Tested with the latest version of gameex

Now Im off to tackle steam..

config.zip

[Krakerman]

Didn't work did just as you said and config exactly and ESC still exits back to GameEx, sorry ! (Using latest GameEx also)

Hell with it I'm sticking with D-Fend V2 since I pretty much converted most of my library over and it works fine that way. I do appreciate the time spent and help trying Brian, but I do think it's a bug with GameEx that is the problem. We just need an option in the menu that just disables ESC to GameEx feature that makes it plain and simple (And works like it says)

Help Tom .... future request !!

[Brian Hoffman]

Didn't work did just as you said and config exactly and ESC still exits back to GameEx, sorry ! (Using latest GameEx also)

Hell with it I'm sticking with D-Fend V2 since I pretty much converted most of my library over and it works fine that way. I do appreciate the time spent and help trying Brian, but I do think it's a bug with GameEx that is the problem. We just need an option in the menu that just disables ESC to GameEx feature that makes it plain and simple (And works like it says)

Help Tom .... future request !!

The feature works fine. If you give up fine..

It works for me. So it must be a diffrent issue. If it were a program issue it wouldnt work for me.

[Krakerman]

I believe you bro ... don't know what it is. Oh well not that big of a deal since the other method you showed me work good as well.

Like I said I thank you very much for trying and helping me out

[kicker75]

Hey Krakerman,

I'm in the process of setting up old dos games too at the moment, and was figuring out a way to make them work in gameex, so I did a little search here, and downloaded d-fend reloaded latest version, configured 2-3 dos games within the program, everything worked well, but it didnt once in gameex, just like you, everything looks as it would start but closed and returned to gameex.

So after fiddling a bit, I noticed that you could start d-fend with the commandline by supplying the game name in d-fend... but starting it like this didnt worked as well in gameex.. (dfend "Black Thorne").

So after reading a bit more this long thread, I noticed brian's post that included his config files.. his config pretty much seemed like mine, except for one difference, he specified an advanced config file for it, named dosbox (dosbox.ini that you need to put in the directory of gameex/CONFIG/EMULATORS). So I grabbed his config files, didnt used the import one since it was pretty much like mine already, but copied the dosbox.ini in gameex's CONFIG/EMULATORS folder, and dos games works from gameex now.

So you probably skipped that part, to copy the dosbox.ini file and specify it in the emulator config. Try it, it should work.

[Avarghaladion]

This solution does work guaranteed but you have to follow the process perfectly. I had to re-read a lot of this and do some trial and error, so for anyone else who may have the same problem, here's a step-by-step walkthrough of how to fix it using Brian's advice:

(This is in super-layman's terms so anyone can do it, not trying to insult anyone's intelligence)

1) Create game profiles in D-Fend Reloaded for all of the games you want to load through GameEx.

IMPORTANT NOTE: D-Fend Reloaded automatically removes some symbols (like : ' & and probably more) from games' Profile Names when it goes to make the File Names. When loading your games like this through GameEx the File Name and Profile Name need to match up. Also, the names displayed in GameEx will be the names of the .prof files we're about to create. What does this mean for you? You need to either a) not use certain symbols when making your game profiles or b. manually re-insert the proper punctuation into the names of the .prof files after they've been exported so that they display properly in GameEx and match up with the profile you want to run. If this doesn't match up right, you'll get a message like this: "Error There is no game-record with the name Kings Quest - Quest for the Crown. This is a pretty lame little issue but it only takes a few moments to fix manually fortunately.

2) Make a new folder in your D-Fend directory called "Confs" so now there should be "C:\Program Files\D-Fend Reloaded\Confs"

3) Once you have all of the profiles created, still in D-Fend Reloaded, go to File -> Export -> Create prof files, then check all of the games you want to load through GameEx, then set the destination folder to "C:\Program Files\D-Fend Reloaded\Confs" and hit ok.

4) Download the config.zip file that Brian has provided above. Extract dosbox.ini to C:\Program Files\GameEx\CONFIG\EMULATORS. (You can extract "Dosbox Import Config.ini" to anywhere just remember where you put it).

5) Open GameEx's Advanced Configuration (ie. Run "C:\Program Files\GameEx\GameExConfig.exe")

6) Hit "Next Page" once or twice until you see an unassigned emulator (it will say "Emulator <#>" so "Emulator 13" for example). Select an unassigned emulator slot.

7) From here, second option from the top, select "Import Emulator:" and choose the "[browse For File]" option at the very top of the list. Then click the "Import" button and browse for the "Dosbox Import Config.ini" file you extracted in step 4.

8) The appropriate configuration will be imported and if you need to you can change the pathways (if you followed this guide exactly you shouldn't have to). You can also verify, on the second page, that "Advanced Config:" is set to "DosBox" as it should be if you extracted DosBox.ini properly in step 4.

GameEx should now properly load your D-Fend Reloaded/DosBox games.

Thanks Brian!

[Brian Hoffman]

Avarghaladion,

Thanks for taking the time to spell it all out. I have a bad habit of explaining things like others know exactly what I'm talking about.

I'm glad you have found emulation success with this method. It's funny how some of these old topics get new life breathed into them. If you asked me today how to set this up Id have to re-invent the wheel, Im constantly changing things and I currently do not even have this setup anymore.

[Avarghaladion]

Avarghaladion,

Thanks for taking the time to spell it all out. I have a bad habit of explaining things like others know exactly what I'm talking about.

I'm glad you have found emulation success with this method. It's funny how some of these old topics get new life breathed into them. If you asked me today how to set this up Id have to re-invent the wheel, Im constantly changing things and I currently do not even have this setup anymore.

No problem. I'd just finished getting all of the old Sierra adventures to work (which is painful enough for some) and I really wanted them to work through GameEx so this thread was really helpful. I'm still having one tiny problem though.

My goal is to never have to manually insert a CD or DVD or anything like that so I ended up having to make two seperate PC emulator categories:

1) DosBox emulation through D-Fend Reloaded .prof. Basically any game that runs through DosBox and that doesn't require changing of CDs while playing. This way I could either copy the audio resource files into the game directory and change the game config, or I could copy the contents of the game CD onto a HDD and have D-Fend use that directory as the CD drive.

2) Games that won't run through DosBox (because D-Fend doesn't make .prof for them on export). For these games I have to use windows shortcuts which works fine for most games like Crysis or any game that I can link directly to the executable.

For a few games, where I can't use a no-CD crack and need to mount the .iso, the .lnk won't work. It would appear that the reason for this is that the shortcut opens D-Fend, which opens your game and then closes immediately and lets the game keep running. GameEx treats D-Fend as the desired program (instead of the game, because the link runs D-Fend which runs the game, and not the game directly) so as soon as D-Fend closes it cuts back to GameEx. This is why the game is still running even though we get yanked back to GameEx. If there were some way to make D-Fend wait until the game closes to shut itself down, .lnk would work fine.

As a temporary solution for this problem, I'm using batch files for the few games that I need to mount (Phantasmagoria 1 & 2, Shivers 2, Gabriel Knight 3, etc.). For these games I just have the .bat mount the image and then rely on the autorun feature to let me start the game, which is still pretty convenient. I originally had the same problem as with the .lnks, GameEx would consider the .bat to be the program, and not the game itself, so when the .bat closed GameEx would come back up. I fixed this by putting "pause" at the end of the bat, so that I could just close the .bat manually when I was done playing to bring GameEx back up.

Eg.

cd "C:\Program Files\Elaborate Bytes\VirtualCloneDrive\"

VCDMount /l=l "K:\Emulation\Sierra Adventures\The Gabriel Knight Collection\Gabriel Knight 3 Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned\gk31.iso"

pause

Here's my problem: This works through GameEx (ie. it runs the game and GameEx acts like it should and stays minimized) but the application window for the .bat is hidden, even though the process remains open (it only does this in GameEx, when I run the .bat normally the cmd window remains open). I have to end the cmd.exe and gameex.exe processes in the task manager and then restart GameEx when I want back in. Any ideas?

[Brian Hoffman]

No problem. I'd just finished getting all of the old Sierra adventures to work (which is painful enough for some) and I really wanted them to work through GameEx so this thread was really helpful. I'm still having one tiny problem though.

My goal is to never have to manually insert a CD or DVD or anything like that so I ended up having to make two seperate PC emulator categories:

1) DosBox emulation through D-Fend Reloaded .prof. Basically any game that runs through DosBox and that doesn't require changing of CDs while playing. This way I could either copy the audio resource files into the game directory and change the game config, or I could copy the contents of the game CD onto a HDD and have D-Fend use that directory as the CD drive.

2) Games that won't run through DosBox (because D-Fend doesn't make .prof for them on export). For these games I have to use windows shortcuts which works fine for most games like Crysis or any game that I can link directly to the executable.

For a few games, where I can't use a no-CD crack and need to mount the .iso, the .lnk won't work. It would appear that the reason for this is that the shortcut opens D-Fend, which opens your game and then closes immediately and lets the game keep running. GameEx treats D-Fend as the desired program (instead of the game, because the link runs D-Fend which runs the game, and not the game directly) so as soon as D-Fend closes it cuts back to GameEx. This is why the game is still running even though we get yanked back to GameEx. If there were some way to make D-Fend wait until the game closes to shut itself down, .lnk would work fine.

As a temporary solution for this problem, I'm using batch files for the few games that I need to mount (Phantasmagoria 1 & 2, Shivers 2, Gabriel Knight 3, etc.). For these games I just have the .bat mount the image and then rely on the autorun feature to let me start the game, which is still pretty convenient. I originally had the same problem as with the .lnks, GameEx would consider the .bat to be the program, and not the game itself, so when the .bat closed GameEx would come back up. I fixed this by putting "pause" at the end of the bat, so that I could just close the .bat manually when I was done playing to bring GameEx back up.

Eg.

cd "C:\Program Files\Elaborate Bytes\VirtualCloneDrive\"

VCDMount /l=l "K:\Emulation\Sierra Adventures\The Gabriel Knight Collection\Gabriel Knight 3 Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned\gk31.iso"

pause

Here's my problem: This works through GameEx (ie. it runs the game and GameEx acts like it should and stays minimized) but the application window for the .bat is hidden, even though the process remains open (it only does this in GameEx, when I run the .bat normally the cmd window remains open). I have to end the cmd.exe and gameex.exe processes in the task manager and then restart GameEx when I want back in. Any ideas?

I have alot of ideas. Most should work even.

1. Gameex has a section for advanced config that you can specify additional processes to wait for this way you can specify what to listen for before gameex closes and reopens. Try toggling showdesktop in the emu config so see the desktop rather than the black screen.

2. An autohotkey script can be used to run multiple processes and wait for the process to close also.

3. If you go with making AHK scripts to run its nice because you do not have to see a cmd window like with running bat files.

[Krakerman]

re-read above post and installed the latest D-Fend Reloaded tonight that works with DOSBox 0.73 and got it working correctly!!!!

Thanks again for all the help you all put into getting this to work ! (Very much appreciated)

[Cabirus]

I did everything according to the guide above. Now the Dos-Games start correctly, but after that GameEx returns immediately to the surface, with DosBox running in the background.

The problem must be that D-Fend Reloaded closes after it starts DOSBox with the game profile, so GameEx "thinks" the Emulation has ended and returns to the surface. Is there a way around this?

[bkenobi]

You need to add the appropriate process into watch process list of the advanced emulator config you are using. The only alternative is to use a loader that remains present until that process closes. The loader is a work around for something that can be accomplished nicely in GameEx, so I would not go that route.

[Cabirus]

Thanks, that did it!

You need to add the appropriate process into watch process list of the advanced emulator config you are using. The only alternative is to use a loader that remains present until that process closes. The loader is a work around for something that can be accomplished nicely in GameEx, so I would not go that route.