Dosbox pure problem with original floppy image

General Games
#42

Regarding disk space issues, I managed to test the latest patch from GitHub and now the games install correctly (I’m referring to MK3, Pinball Fantasies, and Simon the Sorcerer). The disk space issue is strange, but the most important thing is that it’s fine now. I also tested Syndicat, and it installs without any problems.

I managed to learn from the Vogon forum that protected floppy disks would need an extension to emulate floppy drives. An extension similar to capsimg.dll, which is used by Winuae standalone, or the PUAE core in Retroarch. Although one user mentioned that DOSBox will never use such extensions. Although this is a rather old post, I don’t think anything has changed regarding emulating protected floppy disks. Sometimes a CP game will install but won’t launch, other times the copied files will be 0 kb, and still other times, installer.exe won’t respond at all.

Instructions aren’t a problem, although many games use this protection. The problem is when the instructions can’t be found anywhere online :slight_smile:

#43

Do you have the names?
I want to make a list of which ones work and which ones don’t.

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#44

That’s a very good idea, although it will probably require a lot of time and patience :slight_smile: To start, you can add the Sierra games to the list, which have already been mentioned many times in this thread:

King’s Quest 1-3

Leisure Suit Larry (1987)

Space Quest (1986)

Space Quest II

Black Cauldron, The (1987) (v2.00, Int. 2.439) (360K) <- first version, later ones don’t have CP.

Other:

Terminator Rampage installer doesn’t respond (I checked in DOSBox Pure)

Prehistoric 1

Prehistoric 2 - must have some kind of protection. The game installs, but won’t launch.

That’s a quick rundown from what I remember :slight_smile:

#45

Trying to install them can be fairly quick, but some games require additional files (such as a driver) or special configuration in DOSBox.

What I have in mind is to create a package with the necessary batch files and patches for each game to facilitate installation and ensure compatibility with any DOS system, emulated or not. Something similar to eXoDOS but completely free. This may take a little longer. (lol)

As soon as I can, I will review those games and notify you.

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#46

Regarding the “special configuration,” I’m wondering if there’s one that would automatically launch Duke Nukem 3D with Gravis Ultrasound drivers.

Because the sound works fine, but only if we run the ultrasound/ultramind file before launching the game, or launch the game through the setup.exe. Otherwise, DOS will crash.

But maybe that’s how it was supposed to be, after all, DOS is ancient history :slight_smile:

#47

Sorry for the delay. I’ve been able to try a few.
( How can I explain this without going on too long? )

You’re more focused on the CP than on making the games work. The CP of the FD is very primitive, The errors are usually due to these reasons:

  • Poorly programmed games. They are usually fixed with patches or more recent versions, although sometimes there is no solution.

  • Damaged discs, It is necessary to verify the images. Discs modified with patches or speed hacks; in this case, It all depends on the emulation capabilities of DOSBox.

  • An emulation error. The game is not supported or some hardware is failing. In the case of CPs, DOSBox’s floppy emulation is very simple and may not understand what it is doing.

  • Poor user configuration. You need a special configuration in the emulator and in the game settings. This is the most common.

I tried some of the Digitoxin FD games you mentioned.
Those marked [cp] have copy protection. You need the manual or code wheel to enter the key or the mounted FD. IMG is a RAW format, an exact clone of the FD. If it fails, it is because DB does not emulate the floppy disk properly.
And those who say [cp cr] are cracked. These don’t need mounted FD or a manual.

PC Booter: In most cases, the Boot from Disk Image menu works fine, but in others, you need to set the core to CGA, PCjr, or Tandy.

The first games saved the games on an empty FD, some prepare the disk. This can cause an error when loading the game from a zip file. In these cases, it is necessary to open the game from a folder, generate the disk, and then compress it again.

Sierra: The first installer is manual. You need to go to Command Lineand write A: [enter] y INSTALLH C: [enter]

The first installers, such as King’s Quest (1986) (v1.0U, Int. 2.272). It does not install from A:, you must install from C: as follows. A:\INSTALLH C:

image

The second installer can be run from the Pure interface without any problems, You must select C: when prompted for the disk.

Black Cauldron and Space Quest, same as above.

Ultima 1 and 2 do not have an installer; they can be copied and run in C:. But why? In emulation, the FD does not interfere.

Prehistoric 2 is famous for being a programming disaster on DOS. The first version on two floppy disks does not work in emulation. There is a more recent official version on a single FD (on The God Old Days and TOSEC), which works perfectly. You can recognize it because it has a SAPRISTI folder inside.

Terminator Rampage natively restarts the PC to install, which causes an error in DB. You need to configure 386 (prefetch) in System » CPU Type. And also Performance » Emulated Performance to MAX, to get the best speed.

What’s your problem with Duke Nukem 3D? It’s configured normally, very similar to DOOM.

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#48

Thanks a lot for testing these games and providing useful information. Especially for Terminator Rampage, as I had a lot of problems with that game.

I also managed to spot a few installation errors in some games, which were reported and fixed on GitHub. Dynamix games now install without any problems.

Unfortunately, copy-protected games are a real pain. I found a GitHub report in dosbox staging about adding emulation for more advanced copy-protected games. But it seems no one is interested in this yet. In another thread, someone wrote that dosbox would have to use an additional extension, such as Winuae (capsimg.dll), and that will never happen. For now, there are only cracks of such games, or versions from GOG (if available).

Ultima is a series I tried to install recently, and I even had trouble with the collection on the disc. After pressing install, nothing happens. The game seems to be installing something, but the folder is empty, lol. I still need to check this.

Regarding Duke Nukem 3D. I tested two versions:

Duke Nukem 3D

Duke Nukem 3D - Atomic Edition

Both have the same problem with GUS drivers:

  • I install the game
  • I put the GUS drivers in the game’s zip folder in RA/Save
  • I enable the GUS driver in RA DOSBOX Pure Settings I launch the game through config and set the GUS driver for music and sounds. And everything works this way through the game’s config. However, if you try to launch the game a second time using the game’s executable file (not the config file), DOS will crash. The GUS drivers must be conflicting with each other.
#49

What was Dynamix’s problem? I guess now that you can read the label properly, many of them will work.

Ultima, I tried the FD, not the CD. It might be an installer issue. I’ll check it out later. Often, those early games had a patch to fix the installation. Like KQ1, which has an official patch and also removes the CP.

I hadn’t noticed that error in Duke Nukem 3D. It’s not a conflict error, It’s because it can’t find the directory; it’s a program error.
Then I’ll look for a more stable solution. In the meantime, I’ll give you a difficult solution and an easy one.

Difficult: creating a batch file with these lines and placing it in C, next to the directories.
\ULTRASND\ULTRAMID.EXE
CD DUKE3D
DUKE3D
If you are going to use the ULTRA161 driver, you have to change the directory in the first line.

Easy: Install the game in C: without a folder. When prompted for the ‘default directory,’ just type \
This way it works normally, you don’t need to create a batch file.

Copy protection is a long-standing issue on the internet. This information must be handled with caution because it causes more confusion than it helps.

I don’t think it’s wise to compare an emulator with RetroArch; they handle drives differently. The problem with emulators is that they don’t have full support and can’t recognize the tricks that Floopys do.
I got copies of KQ1 with CP. DB-Pure cannot run the programs, but PCjs Machines (an online emulator made in Java) can run those discs. It even provides precise information on how it did so.

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I imagine, I’m almost certain that Qemu can emulate these FD and CDs without any problems, but I haven’t had time to test that. It would be a matter of waiting to see if, at some point, they can implement this. More and more people are trying to use the original discs.

I think there are many people (and increasingly so) interested in using their original discs with CP, but I suppose it’s not an easy thing to do.

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#50

Regarding the Dynamix installer, it seems to be a labeling issue as well. Something similar to the Syndicat issue.

I found this report:

And @Schelling very quickly implemented a similar fix for Dosbox Pure.

Duke Nukem 3D now works great with batch files. No more fiddling around with the config file (which was quite tedious). Thanks a lot for this solution.

I’ve also noticed that more and more people are interested in preserving DOS games. Maybe things will change over time and emulators will better support copy-protected games.