DOSBox Portable 0.71 Pre-Release 1 (Testers Needed)

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August 1, 2007 - 2:28pm

John T. Haller

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DOSBox Portable 0.71 Pre-Release 1 (Testers Needed)

Final version released, topic closed
https://portableapps.com/news/2007-08-23_-_dosbox_portable_0.72

By request, here's a portable package of DOSBox... an x86 DOS emulator that's great for being able to play old DOS games that don't work on newer versions of Windows. In this package, DOSBox has been compressed to less than half its usual size (under 1.5MB) and configured to keep its settings in the Data directory (for handy backups with PortableApps.com Backup) and packaged in a PortableApps.com Installer for easy use with the Suite.

DOSBox Portable 0.71 Pre-Release 1

Please post any feedback and suggestions.

Thanks,
John

HELPFUL TIP: You can have DOSBox automatically mount a path on your portable device by editing your dosbox.conf file in the DOSBoxPortable\Data\settings directory and adding the following line (replacing PathOnMyDevice with the path you'd like to mount as your C drive: mount C: \PathOnMyDevice

August 1, 2007 - 2:29pm

Patrick Patience

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Haha.

Okay, that was like WAY TOO QUICK.

Wow, you're good.

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August 1, 2007 - 3:36pm

The MAZZTer

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Crashes

Crashes immediately when run after the console window pops up.

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August 1, 2007 - 3:46pm

(Reply to #3) #4

John T. Haller

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As always with a bug report... what operating system, any settings changes, etc etc etc

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August 1, 2007 - 6:03pm

(Reply to #4) #5

The MAZZTer

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Right

It's important to note that normal DOSBox 0.71 runs fine on my system. It's just when it's run portably it crashes, which likely means the Portable launcher is at fault. I made no changes to DOSBox Portable before running it.

Here I'll just copy and paste from my mIRC script here:

OS: Windows Vista Business
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2200+ (Thoroughbred) , 1.80 GHz, 256KB
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS/XT (1280x1024x32bpp 60Hz)
Sound: NVIDIA nForce Audio
Memory: 1535MB
Connection: NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller @ 100.0 Mbps

The Status Window reads this when crashed:

CONFIG:Loading primary settings from config file F:\Downloads\USB Thumb Drive\DO
SBoxPortable\Data\settings\DOSBox.conf
MIDI:Opened device:win32
Using joystick Microsoft PC-joystick driver with 4 axes, 12 buttons and 1 hat(s)

The main window is opened when DOSBox crashes but it is blank (no command prompt or help text).

I cannot give information about the error that occurred, because some idiot at MS decided no one would need that information anymore in newer Windows.

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August 1, 2007 - 6:04pm

(Reply to #5) #6

John T. Haller

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Try a couple things

First, try and copy your local .conf file to your DOSBoxPortable\Data\settings directory after you've run it once.

If that works, it's an issue with the default configuration (which is the one that ships with DOSBox 0.71).

If that fails...

Second, try copying your local installation of DOSBoxPortable's binary files into the DOSBoxPortable\App\DOSBox directory.

If that works, then the UPX compression is creating an issue on your system... maybe conflicting with another app or driver. If that's the case, I'll try an alternate compression algorithm.

If that fails, then I'm at a loss as it would, at that point, be working EXACTLY like the local version. The launcher itself doesn't do much besides ensure the default settings are there and then launch it with a commandline option to point it to the right settings file.

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August 1, 2007 - 6:06pm

(Reply to #6) #7

The MAZZTer

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Heh

We posted at the same time. I'll try and figure out what's in the .conf that's causing my problem.

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August 1, 2007 - 6:14pm

(Reply to #7) #8

The MAZZTer

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dosbox.conf

It is something with the default .conf file. DOSBox does not crash when I replaced your .conf with my working one from my other install.

[Edit: It's something in the joystick settings.]

[Edit: It crashes whenever the joystick is not set to none. Running regular DOSBox without the portable launcher works, but with the portable launcher it crashes.

Did you test DOSBox Portable with a joystick plugged in? If not, I recommend you try it.]

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August 1, 2007 - 6:15pm

(Reply to #8) #9

John T. Haller

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Default

Hmm, that is the default. Did you try it with the uncompressed binaries from your local install?

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August 1, 2007 - 9:13pm

(Reply to #9) #10

The MAZZTer

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Got it!

DOSBox crashes on the follow conditions:

1) A joystick is plugged in (and usable by the system, IE shown in Game Controllers Control Panel).
2) Joystick is enabled in dosbox.conf.
3) DOSBox cannot find mapper.txt (you left it out, oops!).

Plopping mapper.txt from my local install into data\settings fixed it nicely. Or it could go in App\DOSBox. It's not something you would normally edit.

Since it's a DOSBox bug I'll file it with the appropriate people (it should at least spit out a bug and quit).

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August 1, 2007 - 9:17pm

(Reply to #10) #11

John T. Haller

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mapper?

mapper.txt is not in a default install of 0.71. I just reinstalled and checked. And I can't recreate a crash by following 1, 2, 3. At least it doesn't crash with the default dosbox.conf that's included (joystick type set to auto, which is the default). Could be related to this issue. Mapper is for remapping keys. That could be why it works when you add mapper.txt in. Your joystick may just have issues with this version of SDL.

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August 1, 2007 - 9:50pm

(Reply to #11) #12

The MAZZTer

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Huh

Well either mapper.txt was included in some previous version or DOSBox generated one for me at some point... I don't let random files sneak around my hard drive.

I suppose it could be an SDL issue, especially if SDL is what uses mapper.txt. That link doesn't really shed any light on it...

I tried the latest stable SDL (built 7/20/07) and it didn't fix it (note that the post is from two months ago, before this latest stable SDL was released, so the build offered there is older).

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August 1, 2007 - 10:57pm

(Reply to #12) #13

John T. Haller

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Try a couple things

1. Try the patched SDL.dll
2. Try reinstalling a fresh local copy and see if it works (backup first since it may not)
3. Try copying your regular binaries (non UPXed) into DOSBox Portable and see if you can reproduce

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August 2, 2007 - 12:13am

(Reply to #13) #14

The MAZZTer

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I did

1. The Wiki (wrongly) says it's patched, but the actual thread says it's an SVN build from 5/16. The version I'm using is a stable, NEWER build from 7/20. I doubt my issue is related.
2. I did this as part of my diagnostics. It still crashes without mapper.txt.
3. I did this too. Compression did not factor into whether it crashed or not.

At any rate, I think this issue is closed, unless someone else with a joystick would check to see if their DOSBox crashes when it's enabled with no mapper.txt. If not, then I would be happy to assume it's a specific program to specific driver problem, since I've had no other problems with this driver/joystick ever.... and besides I have a workaround. Not that I use the joystick much anyways.

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August 1, 2007 - 4:55pm

#15

bsiart

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cool

this looks interesting & seems to run fine on my XP machine.
BUT! I don't have any old DOS programs or games to mess around with and stuff...
Anywhere (sites) I can find something?
I know I could probably just google this and find stuff - but I figured folks here might have some good suggestions.

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August 1, 2007 - 6:15pm

(Reply to #15) #16

pkeffect

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Google for abandonware dos games maybe...

Btw, this release runs fine on my machine. Even got down on some Wolfenstein!

Thanks John.

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August 1, 2007 - 6:27pm

(Reply to #16) #17

The MAZZTer

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Some of my favorites

http://www.3drealms.com/games.html

Check under "Older Games". Many have downloadable demos. Below those are freeware ones.

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August 1, 2007 - 6:10pm

#18

millarrp

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seems to work good

I've just tried it and it works good.

Keep up the excellent work

August 1, 2007 - 6:37pm

(Reply to #18) #19

pkeffect

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A GUI Frontend

Don't know how many people would be interested in this but here is a link to the best GUI frontend for DOSBox.

D.O.G.

I do not believe it is opensource "it is freeware" and I am not sure of the settings it may or may not write. It is pretty much looking and operating like the MAME32 release.

I'll do some more testing with it to see about its configurations. (Does say its FLASHDRIVE capable).

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August 2, 2007 - 12:45am

#20

The MAZZTer

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Another Slight Problem

The launcher does not pass on parameters to dosbox.exe. This means I can't use it to launch programs. (IE I pass "\Path\to\Program.exe" -exit -noconsole and the console still pops up.)

Also it doesn't seem to correctly set the current directory when I launch it from PStart (DOSBox can't find mapper.txt and I get the whole crashing thing).

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August 2, 2007 - 12:54am

(Reply to #20) #21

Patrick Patience

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But that's PStart.

Have you tried it from the PortableApps Menu? Or did I miss this somewhere in this thread, just curious.

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August 2, 2007 - 1:19am

(Reply to #21) #22

pkeffect

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PStart

I only use PStart and it runs fine for me. Then again I don't have a joystick of any sort....

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August 4, 2007 - 9:32am

(Reply to #22) #23

bsiart

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I don't have a joystick of any sort....

Ouch!

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August 2, 2007 - 11:05pm

#24

TaffinFoxcroft

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ARRRRGGGG John you beat me

ARRRRGGGG John you beat me to it!

But there’s no sense crying over every mistake,
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.

August 18, 2007 - 8:15pm

#25

Ph4n70m

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How I do to DOSBox mount

How I do to DOSBox mount automatically C: %mypen%\DOS???

I tried to put this on the end of config file:

set drvl=%~d0
mount C: %drvl%

but it doesnt works hehehe...

I have no ideia :S
I'll be happy if anyone can help me with this

[Obs.: %~d0 gets the current drive letter...]

August 18, 2007 - 9:02pm

(Reply to #25) #26

millarrp

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I was looking at their

I was looking at their website, and it should be added to the autoexec section of the config file. here's the website with an example mount code:

http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php?page=dosbox.conf%2Fautoexec

that is assuming that the autoexec section isn't at the end of the config file.

also, make sure you're putting the entire path into the mount request(i.e. mount c: d:\abc123)

August 18, 2007 - 9:26pm

(Reply to #26) #27

Ph4n70m

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Yeah... but if I want to

Yeah...
but if I want to mount a variable drive?

August 18, 2007 - 10:53pm

(Reply to #27) #28

John T. Haller

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No Drive Letter Path

Just use a path with no drive letter:

mount C: \dos

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

August 19, 2007 - 12:16pm

(Reply to #28) #29

Ph4n70m

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Oh, very thanks =) I'll try

Oh, very thanks
I'll try this.

August 28, 2007 - 12:17am

#30

Patrick Patience

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Updated.

I dunno if this app is gonna make an offical release, but I just wanted to let you know 0.72 was released. (just saw the newsfeed on SF)

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August 28, 2007 - 7:08am

(Reply to #30) #31

BuddhaChu

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The changelog for .72 shows

The changelog for .72 shows a joystck issue for Vista is fixed. Dunno if that fixes the issues in the posts above.

http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=729398

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August 28, 2007 - 8:54am

(Reply to #31) #32

John T. Haller

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I think it does

I'll update it today so folks can try it out.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

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