Cool App: DOSbox

Mercutio

Mercutio

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I made a neat little find last night. These guys have developed a free, functional 386/DOS emulator that supports soundblaster sound, and VGA graphics.

Why is this cool, you ask?

Well, maybe I'm the only guy that still plays games in DOS, but I'll bet a couple of the rest of you have one or two old titles you like that just don't work in 2000/XP.

I tried scorched earth, command and conquer (the original one) and master of magic with this thing, on my laptop. They all worked beautifully, including sound (after some tweaking).

Even cooler, DOSbox supports Linux, so many DOS games can run, with sound - something that DOSemu doesn't handle - on that platform as well.
 
LiamC

LiamC

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Outstanding Merc. I've been looking for something like this for ages - > Long Live MoM and MoO!

UFO (X-Com) as well :)
 
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jtr1962

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Sorry to bump such an old thread but I recently tried version 0.72 available here. My main reason for trying this was because EMM in cmd hasn't been working for some time (I think it happened after I upgraded my video card). My DOS-based PCB CAD program sometimes needs EMM when working on a large board. VESA graphics modes are greatly improved over earlier versions of DOSBox. The only problem I've encountered so far is that I can't get into VESA mode 105h (1280x1024, 256 colors) whereas this mode works just fine with cmd in XP. Therefore, I'm restricted to 105h (1024x768, 256 colors) for my CAD program. No big deal really, it just means a little more moving around. The major change I've noticed from previous versions of DOSBox is that version 0.64 and up defaults to only 634K free conventional memory instead of the 637K of prior versions. Again, no big deal, and actually the built-in mem function is a little pessimistic anyway. Windows mem gives me 635.4K and 638.3K free, respectively. No that it matters. I've yet to see any DOS application which requires more than about 620K free conventional RAM. Besides that, the best I could ever get on a pure DOS system was around 635K free (DOS 5.0 or 6.22), or 631K free (DOS 7). Also, EMM works just fine in DOSBox even if it doesn't in cmd. I can have up to 64M EMM and XMM.

Anyway, for those who might still have a DOS app or two which they can't part with, the new and improved DOSBox should be able to run it if cmd can't. And don't forget that 640K ought to be enough for anybody. ;-)
 
LiamC

LiamC

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Dang, I forgot about the GUS—Gravis ultra sound for those that remember...
 
Pradeep

Pradeep

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Ahh, the Ultrasound. Sounded brilliant in the few games that explicitly supported it. Then I went to an SB16 with WaveBlaster daughterboard.
 
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Fushigi

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640K. Sheesh. I had 704KB conventional in my Zenith Z-151 back in college. Basically replaced the RAM PAL chip with one that raised the limit. Never had any app issues and it was great as at the time I heavily used Borland's SideKick & SuperKey TSRs. Hmm. Anyone know of a good key macro app?

Also replaced the 8088 with a NEC V20; the first of my non-Intel CPUs. :)

I still miss that PC some times. It would go from power off to A:> prompt in 4 seconds, including loading DOS off the floppy. It also had RAM diagnostics - Ctrl-Alt-Ins would drop into a debug mode where you could do about anything the DOS debug utility could. Then you could exit & return to whatever you were doing. Made it handy to cheat at Wizardry & Ultima. Just search RAM for a character name & note the RAM contents, do something to earn XPs, go back in & look for what changed. Then up the amount in the XP RAM space.
 
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Gilbo

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Hmmm. Maybe I could play Master of Magic again. I remember I used to love using ridiculously enchanted/buffed Elite Spearmen on the battlefield (there was one race that had a hit-point bonus, but still had 8-man spearmen units, with buffs & Elite experience they were unbeatable --the most hit points you could fit on a square); it was oddly satisfying watching them beat great heroes or the super-high-end racial special units... Doom Drakes were awesome too; those were the days...

(This guy was a big fan: "More so than Master of Orion, I consider Master of Magic SimTex and MicroProse's crowning achievement."). I'm not sure I agree (I loved Master of Orion & Civ _alot_), but I really like MoM.

I loved Master of Magic.
 
Mercutio

Mercutio

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White Magic, Warlord Retort and Halfling Slingers. Cast Heroism on them, and the little eight-figure units have enough punch to one-shot Sky Drakes or Great Wyrms.

I still play pretty regularly. :)
 
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Gilbo

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I remember losing awesome units to computer-controlled, enchanted Halfling Slingers occasionally. I used to dread encountering them because of that occasional one-shot.

In terms of variety of tactics on the little battlefields and variety of strategy on how approach the overall game, I'm not sure I every played a better Strategy game. Master of Orion & the Civ games always ended up falling into a best-practices pattern. Master of Magic had such infinite variety...

Units that were weak normally, like Halfling Slingers or Spearmen, could become shockingly effective with the right bonuses. Paladins could be out of control -that just felt cheap.

Enchanted weapons for heroes... Global effect spells... Combat magic, and permanent unit enchantments... The replayability was pretty much endless. I absolutely loved it. How you approached expanding into the opposite world also added a great spin to everything. I only stopped playing when Windows wouldn't run it properly anymore...
 
LiamC

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High elven longbowman, eldritch weapon, flame blade, maybe prayer and adamantium weapon. Attack me and die!
 
Mercutio

Mercutio

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LiamC said:
High elven longbowman, eldritch weapon, flame blade, maybe prayer and adamantium weapon. Attack me and die!
Click to expand...

Buffed Slingers would eat them alive. It's all about the number of figures in a stand and the fairly high base damage and numer of shields. Slingers also have the Luck attribute. They do tons of damage and they're hard to kill.
 
LiamC

LiamC

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Mercutio said:
Buffed Slingers would eat them alive. It's all about the number of figures in a stand and the fairly high base damage and numer of shields. Slingers also have the Luck attribute. They do tons of damage and they're hard to kill.
Click to expand...

Flamestrike :) :)
 
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