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1814 yogev_ezra 1
DOSBox v0.74 Manual (always use the latest version from www.dosbox.com)
2
 
3
 
4
 
5
=====
6
NOTE:
7
=====
8
 
9
While we are hoping that one day DOSBox will run all programs ever made for
10
the PC, we are not there yet.
11
At present, DOSBox running on a high-end machine will roughly be the equivalent
12
of a Pentium I PC. DOSBox can be configured to run a wide range of DOS games,
13
from CGA/Tandy/PCjr classics up to games from the Quake era.
14
 
15
 
16
 
17
======
18
INDEX:
19
======
20
 
21
1. Quickstart
22
2. Start (FAQ)
23
3. Command Line Parameters
24
4. Internal Programs
25
5. Special Keys
26
6. Joystick/Gamepad
27
7. KeyMapper
28
8. Keyboard Layout
29
9. Serial Multiplayer feature
30
10. How to speed up/slow down DOSBox
31
11. Troubleshooting
32
12. DOSBox Status Window
33
13. The configuration (options) file
34
14. The language file
35
15. Building your own version of DOSBox
36
16. Special thanks
37
17. Contact
38
 
39
 
40
 
41
==============
42
1. Quickstart:
43
==============
44
 
45
Type INTRO in DOSBox for a quick tour.
46
It is essential that you get familiar with the idea of mounting, DOSBox does not
47
automatically make any drive (or a part of it) accessible to the emulation. See
48
the FAQ entry "How to start?" as well as the description of the MOUNT command
49
(section 4: "Internal Programs"). If you have your game on a cdrom you may try
50
this guide: http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=8933
51
 
52
 
53
 
54
===============
55
2. Start (FAQ):
56
===============
57
 
58
START:      How to start?
59
AUTOMATION: Do I always have to type these "mount" commands?
60
FULLSCREEN: How do I change to fullscreen?
61
CD-ROM:     My CD-ROM doesn't work.
62
CD-ROM:     The game/application can't find its CD-ROM.
63
MOUSE:      The mouse doesn't work.
64
SOUND:      There is no sound.
65
SOUND:      What sound hardware does DOSBox presently emulate?
66
SOUND:      The sound stutters or sounds stretched/weird.
67
KEYBOARD:   I can't type \ or : in DOSBox.
68
KEYBOARD:   Right Shift and "\" doesn't work in DOSBox. (Windows only)
69
KEYBOARD:   The keyboard lags.
70
CONTROL:    The character/cursor/mouse pointer always moves into one direction!
71
SPEED:      The game/application runs much too slow/too fast!
72
CRASH:      The game/application does not run at all/crashes!
73
CRASH:      DOSBox crashes on startup!
74
GAME:       My Build game(Duke3D/Blood/Shadow Warrior) has problems.
75
SAFETY:     Can DOSBox harm my computer?
76
OPTIONS:    I would like to change DOSBox's options.
77
HELP:       Great Manual, but I still don't get it.
78
 
79
 
80
 
81
START: How to start?
82
    At the beginning you've got a Z:\> instead of a C:\> at the prompt.
83
    You have to make your directories available as drives in DOSBox by using
84
    the "mount" command. For example, in Windows "mount C D:\GAMES" will give
85
    you a C drive in DOSBox which points to your Windows D:\GAMES directory
86
    (that was created before). In Linux, "mount c /home/username" will give you
87
    a C drive in DOSBox which points to /home/username in Linux.
88
    To change to the drive mounted like above, type "C:". If everything went
89
    fine, DOSBox will display the prompt "C:\>".
90
 
91
 
92
AUTOMATION: Do I always have to type these commands?
93
    In the DOSBox configuration file is an [autoexec] section. The commands
94
    present there are run when DOSBox starts, so you can use this section
95
    for the mounting. Look at Section 13: The configuration (options) file
96
 
97
 
98
FULLSCREEN: How do I change to fullscreen?
99
    Press alt-enter. Alternatively: Edit the configuration file of DOSBox and
100
    change the option fullscreen=false to fullscreen=true. If fullscreen looks
101
    wrong in your opinion: Play with the options: fullresolution, output and
102
    aspect in the configuration file of DOSBox. To get back from fullscreen
103
    mode: Press alt-enter again.
104
 
105
 
106
CD-ROM: My CD-ROM doesn't work.
107
    To mount your CD-ROM in DOSBox you have to specify some additional options
108
    when mounting the CD-ROM.
109
    To enable CD-ROM support (includes MSCDEX) in Windows:
110
      - mount d f:\ -t cdrom
111
    in Linux:
112
      - mount d /media/cdrom -t cdrom
113
 
114
    In some cases you might want to use a different CD-ROM interface,
115
    for example if CD audio does not work:
116
      To enable SDL-support (does not include low-level CD access!):
117
        - mount d f:\ -t cdrom -usecd 0 -noioctl
118
      To enable ioctl access using digital audio extraction for CD audio
119
      (windows-only, useful for Vista):
120
        - mount d f:\ -t cdrom -ioctl_dx
121
      To enable ioctl access using MCI for CD audio (windows-only):
122
        - mount d f:\ -t cdrom -ioctl_mci
123
      To force ioctl-only access (windows-only):
124
        - mount d f:\ -t cdrom -ioctl_dio
125
      To enable low-level aspi-support (win98 with aspi-layer installed):
126
        - mount d f:\ -t cdrom -aspi
127
 
128
    explanation: - d   driveletter you will get in DOSBox (d is the best,
129
                          don't change it!)
130
                 - f:\ location of CD-ROM on your PC. In most cases it will
131
                          be d:\ or e:\
132
                 - 0   The number of the CD-ROM drive, reported by "mount -cd"
133
                          (note that this value is only needed when using SDL
134
                          for CD audio, otherwise it is ignored)
135
    See also the next question: The game/application can't find its CD-ROM.
136
 
137
 
138
CD-ROM: The game/application can't find its CD-ROM.
139
    Be sure to mount the CD-ROM with -t cdrom switch, this will enable the
140
    MSCDEX interface required by DOS games to interface with CD-ROMs.
141
    Also try adding the correct label (-label LABEL) to the mount command,
142
    where LABEL is the CD-label (volume ID) of the CD-ROM.
143
    Under Windows you can specify -ioctl, -aspi or -noioctl. Look at the
144
    description of the mount command in Section 4: "Internal programs"
145
    for their meaning and the
146
    additional audio-CD related options -ioctl_dx, ioctl_mci, ioctl_dio.
147
 
148
    Try creating a CD-ROM image (preferably CUE/BIN pair) and use the
149
    DOSBox's internal IMGMOUNT tool to mount the image (the CUE sheet).
150
    This enables very good low-level CD-ROM support on any operating system.
151
 
152
 
153
MOUSE: The mouse doesn't work.
154
    Usually, DOSBox detects when a game uses mouse control. When you click on
155
    the screen it should get locked (confined to the DOSBox window) and work.
156
    With certain games, the DOSBox mouse detection doesn't work. In that case
157
    you will have to lock the mouse manually by pressing CTRL-F10.
158
 
159
 
160
SOUND: There is no sound.
161
    Be sure that the sound is correctly configured in the game. This might be
162
    done during the installation or with a setup/setsound utility that
163
    accompanies the game. First see if an autodetection option is provided. If
164
    there is none try selecting Soundblaster or Soundblaster 16 with the default
165
    settings being "address=220 irq=7 dma=1" (sometimes highdma=5). You might
166
    also want to select Sound Canvas/SCC/MPU-401/General MIDI/Wave Blaster
167
    at "address=330 IRQ=2" as music device.
168
    The parameters of the emulated sound cards can be changed in the DOSBox
169
    configuration file.
170
    If you still don't get any sound set the core to normal in DOSBox
171
    configuration and use some lower fixed cycles value (like cycles=2000). Also
172
    assure that your host operating sound does provide sound.
173
    In certain cases it might be useful to use a different emulated sound device
174
    like a soundblaster pro (sbtype=sbpro1 in the DOSBox configuration file) or
175
    the gravis ultrasound (gus=true).
176
 
177
 
178
SOUND: What sound hardware does DOSBox presently emulate?
179
    DOSBox emulates several legacy sound devices:
180
    - Internal PC speaker/Buzzer
181
      This emulation includes both the tone generator and several forms of
182
      digital sound output through the internal speaker.
183
    - Creative CMS/Gameblaster
184
      The is the first card released by Creative Labs(R).  The default
185
      configuration places it on address 220. It is disabled as default.
186
    - Tandy 3 voice
187
      The emulation of this sound hardware is complete with the exception of
188
      the noise channel. The noise channel is not very well documented and as
189
      such is only a best guess as to the sound's accuracy. It is disabled as
190
      default.
191
    - Tandy DAC
192
      Some games may require turning off sound blaster emulation (sbtype=none)
193
      for better tandy DAC sound support. Don't forget to set the sbtype back to
194
      sb16 if you don't use tandy sound.
195
    - Adlib
196
      This emulation is almost perfect and includes the Adlib's ability to
197
      almost play digitized sound. Placed at address 220 (also on 388).
198
    - SoundBlaster 16 / SoundBlaster Pro I & II / SoundBlaster I & II
199
      By default DOSBox provides Soundblaster 16 level 16-bit stereo sound.
200
      You can select a different SoundBlaster version in the configuration of
201
      DOSBox. AWE32 music is not emulated as you can use MPU-401 instead
202
      (see below).
203
    - Disney Sound Source and Covox Speech Thing
204
      Using the printer port, this sound device outputs digital sound only.
205
      Placed at LPT1
206
    - Gravis Ultrasound
207
      The emulation of this hardware is nearly complete, though the MIDI
208
      capabilities have been left out, since an MPU-401 has been emulated
209
      in other code. For Gravis music you also have to install Gravis drivers
210
      inside DOSBox. It is disabled as default.
211
    - MPU-401
212
      A MIDI passthrough interface is also emulated. This method of sound
213
      output will only work when used with external device/emulator.
214
      Every Windows XP/Vista/7 and MAC OS has got a default emulator compatible
215
      with: Sound Canvas/SCC/General Standard/General MIDI/Wave Blaster.
216
      A different device/emulator is needed for Roland LAPC/CM-32L/MT-32
217
      compatibility.
218
 
219
 
220
SOUND: The sound stutters or sounds stretched/weird.
221
    You may be using too much CPU power to keep DOSBox running at the current
222
    speed. You can lower the cycles, skip frames, reduce the sampling rate of
223
    the respective sound device, increase the prebuffer. See section 13: "The
224
    configuration (options) file"
225
    If you are using cycles=max or =auto, then make sure that there is no
226
    background processes interfering! (especially if they access the harddisk)
227
    Also look at Section 10. "How to speed up/slow down DOSBox"
228
 
229
 
230
KEYBOARD: I can't type \ or : in DOSBox.
231
    This can happen in various cases, like your host keyboard layout does not
232
    have a matching DOS layout representation (or it was not correctly
233
    detected), or the key mapping is wrong.
234
    Some possible fixes:
235
      1. Use / instead, or ALT-58 for : and ALT-92 for \.
236
      2. Change the DOS keyboard layout (see Section 8: Keyboard Layout).
237
      3. Add the commands you want to execute to the [autoexec] section
238
         of the DOSBox configuration file.
239
      4. Open the DOSBox configuration file and change the usescancodes entry.
240
      5. Switch the keyboard layout of your operating system.
241
 
242
    Note that if the host layout can not be identified, or keyboardlayout is
243
    set to none in the DOSBox configuration file, the standard US layout is
244
    used. In this configuration try the keys around "enter" for the key \
245
    (backslash), and for the key : (colon) use shift and the keys between
246
    "enter" and "L".
247
 
248
 
249
KEYBOARD: Right Shift and "\" doesn't work in DOSBox. (Windows only)
250
    This may happen if Windows thinks that you have more than one keyboard
251
    connected to your PC when you use some remote control devices.
252
    To verity this problem run cmd.exe, navigate to DOSBox program folder
253
    and type:
254
    set sdl_videodriver=windib
255
    dosbox.exe
256
    check whether keyboard started to work properly. As windib is slower it is
257
    best to use one of the two solutions provided here:
258
    http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=24072
259
 
260
 
261
KEYBOARD: The keyboard lags.
262
    Lower the priority setting in the DOSBox configuration file, for example
263
    set "priority=normal,normal". You might also want to try lowering the
264
    cycles (use a fixed cycle amount to start with, like cycles=10000).
265
 
266
 
267
CONTROL: The character/cursor/mouse pointer always moves into one direction!
268
    See if it still happens if you disable the joystick emulation,
269
    set joysticktype=none in the [joystick] section of your DOSBox
270
    configuration file. Maybe also try unplugging any joystick/gamepad.
271
    If you want to use the joystick in the game, try setting timed=false
272
    and be sure to calibrate the joystick (both in your OS as well as
273
    in the game or the game's setup program).
274
 
275
 
276
SPEED: The game/application runs much too slow/too fast!
277
    Look at the section 10: "How to speed up/slow down DOSBox" for more
278
    information.
279
 
280
 
281
CRASH: The game/application does not run at all/crashes!
282
    Look at Section 11: Troubleshooting
283
 
284
 
285
CRASH: DOSBox crashes on startup!.
286
    Look at Section 11: Troubleshooting
287
 
288
 
289
GAME: My Build game(Duke3D/Blood/Shadow Warrior) has problems.
290
    First of all, try to find a port of the game. Those will offer a better
291
    experience. To fix the graphics problem that occurs in DOSBox on higher
292
    resolutions: Open the configuration file of DOSBox and search for
293
    machine=svga_s3. Change svga_s3 to vesa_nolfb
294
    Change memsize=16 to memsize=63
295
 
296
 
297
SAFETY: Can DOSBox harm my computer?
298
    DOSBox can not harm your computer more than any other resource demanding
299
    program. Increasing the cycles does not overclock your real CPU.
300
    Setting the cycles too high has a negative performance effect on the
301
    software running inside DOSBox.
302
 
303
 
304
OPTIONS: I would like to change DOSBox's options.
305
    Look at Section 13. "The configuration (options) file"
306
 
307
 
308
HELP: Great Manual, but I still don't get it.
309
    For more questions read the rest of this Manual. You may also look at:
310
    guides located at http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewforum.php?f=39
311
    the wiki of DOSBox http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/
312
    the site/forum: http://www.dosbox.com
313
 
314
 
315
 
316
===========================
317
3. Command Line Parameters:
318
===========================
319
 
320
An overview of the command line options you can give to DOSBox. Although
321
in most cases it is easier to use DOSBox's configuration file instead.
322
See: Section 13. "The configuration (options) file"
323
 
324
To be able to use Command Line Parameters:
325
(Windows)  open cmd.exe or command.com or edit the shortcut to dosbox.exe
326
(Linux)    use console
327
(MAC OS X) start terminal.app and navigate to:
328
           /applications/dosbox.app/contents/macos/dosbox
329
 
330
The options are valid for all operating systems unless noted in the option
331
description:
332
 
333
dosbox [name] [-exit] [-c command] [-fullscreen] [-userconf]
334
       [-conf congfigfilelocation] [-lang languagefilelocation]
335
       [-machine machine type] [-noconsole] [-startmapper] [-noautoexec]
336
       [-securemode] [-scaler scaler | -forcescaler scaler] [-version]
337
       [-socket socket]
338
 
339
dosbox -version
340
dosbox -editconf program
341
dosbox -opencaptures program
342
dosbox -printconf
343
dosbox -eraseconf
344
dosbox -erasemapper
345
 
346
  name
347
        If "name" is a directory it will mount that as the C: drive.
348
        If "name" is an executable it will mount the directory of "name"
349
        as the C: drive and execute "name".
350
 
351
  -exit
352
        DOSBox will close itself when the DOS application "name" ends.
353
 
354
  -c command
355
        Runs the specified command before running "name". Multiple commands
356
        can be specified. Each command should start with "-c" though.
357
        A command can be: an Internal Program, a DOS command or an executable
358
        on a mounted drive.
359
 
360
  -fullscreen
361
        Starts DOSBox in fullscreen mode.
362
 
363
  -userconf
364
        Start DOSBox with the users specific configuration file. Can be used
365
        together with multiple -conf parameters, but -userconf will always be
366
        loaded before them.
367
 
368
  -conf configfilelocation
369
        Start DOSBox with the options specified in "configfilelocation".
370
        Multiple -conf options may be present.
371
        See Section 13 for more details.
372
 
373
  -lang languagefilelocation
374
        Start DOSBox using the language specified in "languagefilelocation".
375
        See Section 14 for more details.
376
 
377
  -machine machinetype
378
        Setup DOSBox to emulate a specific type of machine. Valid choices are:
379
        hercules, cga, ega, pcjr, tandy, svga_s3 (default) as well as
380
        the additional svga chipsets listed in the DOSBox configuration file.
381
        svga_s3 enables vesa emulation as well.
382
        For some special vga effects the machinetype vgaonly can be used,
383
        note that this disables svga capabilities and might be slower due to the
384
        higher emulation precision.
385
        The machinetype affects the video card and the available sound cards.
386
 
387
  -noconsole (Windows Only)
388
        Start DOSBox without showing DOSBox Status Window (console).
389
        Output will be redirected to stdout.txt and stderr.txt
390
 
391
  -startmapper
392
        Enter the keymapper directly on startup. Useful for people with
393
        keyboard problems.
394
 
395
  -noautoexec
396
        Skips the [autoexec] section of the loaded configuration file.
397
 
398
  -securemode
399
        Same as -noautoexec, but adds config.com -securemode at the
400
        bottom of AUTOEXEC.BAT (which in turn disables any changes to how
401
        the drives are mounted inside DOSBox).
402
 
403
  -scaler scaler
404
        Uses the scaler specified by "scaler". See the DOSBox configuration file
405
        for the available scalers.
406
 
407
  -forcescaler scaler
408
        Similar to the -scaler parameter, but tries to force usage of
409
        the specified scaler even if it might not fit.
410
 
411
  -version
412
        output version information and exit. Useful for frontends.
413
 
414
  -editconf program
415
        calls program with as first parameter the configuration file.
416
        You can specify this command more than once. In this case it will
417
        move to second program if the first one fails to start.
418
 
419
  -opencaptures program
420
        calls program with as first parameter the location of the captures
421
        folder.
422
 
423
  -printconf
424
        prints the location of the default configuration file.
425
 
426
  -resetconf
427
        removes the default configuration file.
428
 
429
  -resetmapper
430
        removes the mapperfile used by the default clean configuration file.
431
 
432
  -socket
433
        passes the socket number to the nullmodem emulation. See Section 9:
434
        "Serial Multiplayer feature."
435
 
436
Note: If a name/command/configfilelocation/languagefilelocation contains
437
     a space, put the whole name/command/configfilelocation/languagefilelocation
438
     between quotes ("command or file name"). If you need to use quotes within
439
     quotes (most likely with -c and mount):
440
     Windows and OS/2 users can use single quotes inside the double quotes.
441
     Other people should be able to use escaped double quotes inside the
442
     double quotes.
443
     Windows: -c "mount c 'c:\My folder with DOS games\'"
444
     Linux: -c "mount c \"/tmp/name with space\""
445
 
446
A rather unusual example, just to demonstrate what you can do (Windows):
447
dosbox D:\folder\file.exe -c "MOUNT Y H:\MyFolder"
448
  This mounts D:\folder as C:\ and runs file.exe.
449
  Before it does that, it will first mount H:\MyFolder as the Y drive.
450
 
451
In Windows, you can also drag directories/files onto the DOSBox executable.
452
 
453
 
454
 
455
=====================
456
4. Internal Programs:
457
=====================
458
 
459
DOSBox supports most of the DOS commands found in command.com.
460
To get a list of the internal commands type "HELP" at the prompt.
461
 
462
In addition, the following commands are available:
463
 
464
MOUNT "Emulated Drive letter" "Real Drive or Directory"
465
      [-t type] [-aspi] [-ioctl] [-noioctl] [-usecd number] [-size drivesize]
466
      [-label drivelabel] [-freesize size_in_mb]
467
      [-freesize size_in_kb (floppies)]
468
MOUNT -cd
469
MOUNT -u "Emulated Drive letter"
470
 
471
  Program to mount local directories as drives inside DOSBox.
472
 
473
  "Emulated Drive letter"
474
        The driveletter inside DOSBox (for example C).
475
 
476
  "Real Drive letter (usually for CD-ROMs in Windows) or Directory"
477
        The local directory you want accessible inside DOSBox.
478
 
479
  -t type
480
        Type of the mounted directory.
481
        Supported are: dir (default), floppy, cdrom.
482
 
483
  -size drivesize
484
	(experts only)
485
        Sets the size of the drive, where drivesize is of the form
486
        "bps,spc,tcl,fcl":
487
           bps: bytes per sector, by default 512 for regular drives and
488
                2048 for CD-ROM drives
489
           spc: sectors per cluster, usually between 1 and 127
490
           tcl: total clusters, between 1 and 65534
491
           fcl: total free clusters, between 1 and tcl
492
 
493
  -freesize size_in_mb | size_in_kb
494
        Sets the amount of free space available on a drive
495
        in megabytes (regular drives) or kilobytes (floppy drives).
496
        This is a simpler version of -size.
497
 
498
  -label drivelabel
499
        Sets the name of the drive to "drivelabel". Needed on some systems
500
        if the CD-ROM label isn't read correctly (useful when a program
501
        can't find its CD-ROM). If you don't specify a label
502
        and no lowlevel support is selected (that is omitting the -usecd #
503
        and/or -aspi parameters, or specifying -noioctl):
504
          For Windows: label is extracted from "Real Drive".
505
          For Linux: label is set to NO_LABEL.
506
 
507
        If you do specify a label, this label will be kept as long as the drive
508
        is mounted. It will not be updated !!
509
 
510
  -aspi
511
        Forces use of the aspi layer. Only valid if mounting a CD-ROM under
512
        Windows systems with an ASPI-Layer.
513
 
514
  -ioctl (automatic selection of the CD audio interface)
515
  -ioctl_dx (digital audio extraction used for CD audio)
516
  -ioctl_dio (ioctl calls used for CD audio)
517
  -ioctl_mci (MCI used for CD audio)
518
        Forces use of ioctl commands. Only valid if mounting a CD-ROM under
519
        a Windows OS which support them (Win2000/XP/NT).
520
        The various choices only differ in the way CD audio is handled,
521
        preferably -ioctl_dio is used (lowest workload), but this might not
522
        work on all systems, so -ioctl_dx (or -ioctl_mci) can be used.
523
 
524
  -noioctl
525
        Forces use of the SDL CD-ROM layer. Valid on all systems.
526
 
527
  -usecd number
528
        Valid on all systems, under windows the -noioctl switch has to be
529
        present to make use of the -usecd switch.
530
        Enables to select the drive that should be used by SDL. Use this if
531
        the wrong or no CD-ROM drive is mounted while using the SDL CD-ROM
532
        interface. "number" can be found by "MOUNT -cd".
533
 
534
  -cd
535
        Displays all CD-ROM drives detected by SDL, and their numbers.
536
        See the information at the -usecd entry above.
537
 
538
  -u
539
        Removes the mount. Doesn't work for Z:\.
540
 
541
  Note: It's possible to mount a local directory as CD-ROM drive,
542
        but hardware support is then missing.
543
 
544
  Basically MOUNT allows you to connect real hardware to DOSBox's emulated PC.
545
  So MOUNT C C:\GAMES tells DOSBox to use your C:\GAMES directory as drive C:
546
  in DOSBox. MOUNT C E:\SomeFolder tells DOSBox to use your E:\SomeFolder
547
  directory as drive C: in DOSBox.
548
 
549
  Mounting your entire C drive with MOUNT C C:\ is NOT recommended! The same
550
  is true for mounting the root of any other drive, except for CD-ROMs (due to
551
  their read-only nature).
552
  Otherwise if you or DOSBox make a mistake you may lose all your files.
553
  Also never mount a "Windows" or "Program Files" folders or their subfolders
554
  in Windows Vista/7 as DOSBox may not work correctly, or will stop working
555
  correctly later. It is recommended to keep all your dos applications/games
556
  in a simple folder (for example c:\dosgames) and mount that.
557
 
558
  You should always install your game inside DOSBox.
559
  So if you have the game on CD you always (even after installation!)
560
  have to mount both: folder as a harddisk drive and a CD-ROM.
561
  HardDisk should always be mounted as c
562
    CD-ROM should always be mounted as d
563
    Floppy should always be mounted as a (or b)
564
 
565
  Basic MOUNT Examples for normal usage (Windows):
566
 
567
   1. To mount a folder as a harddisk drive:
568
          mount c d:\dosgames
569
 
570
   3. To mount your CD-ROM drive E as CD-ROM drive D in DOSBox:
571
          mount d e:\ -t cdrom
572
 
573
   2. To mount your drive a: as a floppy:
574
          mount a a:\ -t floppy
575
 
576
  Advanced MOUNT examples (Windows):
577
 
578
   4. To mount a hard disk drive with ~870 mb free diskspace (simple version):
579
          mount c d:\dosgames -freesize 870
580
 
581
   5. To mount a drive with ~870 mb free diskspace (experts only, full control):
582
          mount c d:\dosgames -size 512,127,16513,13500
583
 
584
   1. To mount c:\dosgames\floppy as a floppy:
585
          mount a c:\dosgames\floppy -t floppy
586
 
587
 
588
  Other MOUNT examples:
589
 
590
   3. To mount system CD-ROM drive at mountpoint /media/cdrom as CD-ROM drive D
591
      in DOSBox:
592
          mount d /media/cdrom -t cdrom -usecd 0
593
 
594
   6. To mount /home/user/dosgames as drive C in DOSBox:
595
          mount c /home/user/dosgames
596
 
597
   7. To mount the directory where DOSBox was started as C in DOSBox:
598
          mount c .
599
          (note the . which represents the directory where DOSBox was started,
600
          on Windows Vista/7 don't use this if you installed DOSBox
601
          to your "Program Files" folder)
602
 
603
  If you want to mount a CD image or floppy image, check IMGMOUNT.
604
  MOUNT also works with images but only if you use external program,
605
  for example (both are free):
606
  - Daemon Tools Lite (for CD images),
607
  - Virtual Floppy Drive (for floppy images).
608
  Although IMGMOUNT can give better compatibility.
609
 
610
 
611
MEM
612
  Program to display the amount and type of free memory.
613
 
614
 
615
VER
616
VER set major_version [minor_version]
617
  Display the current DOSBox version and reported DOS version
618
  (parameterless usage).
619
  Change the reported DOS version with the "set" parameter,
620
  for example: "VER set 6 22" to have DOSBox report DOS 6.22 as version number.
621
 
622
 
623
CONFIG -writeconf filelocation
624
CONFIG -writelang filelocation
625
CONFIG -securemode
626
CONFIG -set "section property=value"
627
CONFIG -get "section property"
628
 
629
  CONFIG can be used to change or query various settings of DOSBox
630
  during runtime. It can save the current settings and language strings to
631
  disk. Information about all possible sections and properties can
632
  be found in Section 13: "The configuration (options) file".
633
 
634
  -writeconf filelocation
635
     Write the current configuration settings to a file in a specified location.
636
    "filelocation" is located on the local drive, not a mounted drive in DOSBox.
637
     The configuration file controls various settings of DOSBox:
638
     the amount of emulated memory, the emulated sound cards and many more
639
     things. It allows access to AUTOEXEC.BAT as well.
640
     See Section 13: "The configuration (options) file" for more information.
641
 
642
  -writelang filelocation
643
     Write the current language settings to a file in a specified location.
644
     "filelocation" is located on the local drive, not a mounted drive
645
     in DOSBox. The language file controls all visible output of the internal
646
     commands and the internal DOS.
647
     See Section 14: "The Language File" for more information.
648
 
649
  -securemode
650
     Switches DOSBox to a more secure mode. In this mode the internal
651
     commands MOUNT, IMGMOUNT and BOOT won't work. It's not possible either
652
     to create a new configfile or languagefile in this mode.
653
     (Warning: you can only undo this mode by restarting DOSBox.)
654
 
655
  -set "section property=value"
656
     CONFIG will attempt to set the property to new value.
657
     Currently CONFIG can not report whether the command succeeded or not.
658
 
659
  -get "section property"
660
     The current value of the property is reported and stored in the
661
     environment variable %CONFIG%. This can be used to store the value
662
     when using batch files.
663
 
664
  Both "-set" and "-get" work from batch files and can be used to set up your
665
  own preferences for each game. Although it may be easier to use separate
666
  DOSBox's configuration files for each game instead.
667
 
668
  Examples:
669
    1. To create a configuration file in your c:\dosgames directory:
670
        config -writeconf c:\dosgames\dosbox.conf
671
    2. To set the cpu cycles to 10000:
672
        config -set "cpu cycles=10000"
673
    3. To turn ems memory emulation off:
674
        config -set "dos ems=off"
675
    4. To check which cpu core is being used.
676
        config -get "cpu core"
677
 
678
 
679
LOADFIX [-size] [program] [program-parameters]
680
LOADFIX -f
681
  Program to reduce the amount of available conventional memory.
682
  Useful for old programs which don't expect much memory to be free.
683
 
684
  -size
685
        number of kilobytes to "eat up", default = 64kb
686
 
687
  -f
688
        frees all previously allocated memory
689
 
690
  Examples:
691
    1. To start mm2.exe and allocate 64kb memory
692
       (mm2 will have 64 kb less available):
693
       loadfix mm2
694
    2. To start mm2.exe and allocate 32kb memory:
695
       loadfix -32 mm2
696
    3. To free previous allocated memory:
697
       loadfix -f
698
 
699
 
700
RESCAN
701
  Make DOSBox reread the directory structure. Useful if you changed something
702
  on a mounted drive outside of DOSBox. (CTRL - F4 does this as well!)
703
 
704
 
705
MIXER
706
  Makes DOSBox display its current volume settings.
707
  Here's how you can change them:
708
 
709
  mixer channel left:right [/NOSHOW] [/LISTMIDI]
710
 
711
  channel
712
     Can be one of the following: MASTER, DISNEY, SPKR, GUS, SB, FM [, CDAUDIO].
713
     CDAUDIO is only available if a CD-ROM interface with volume control is
714
     enabled (CD image, ioctl_dx).
715
 
716
  left:right
717
     The volume levels in percentages. If you put a D in front it will be
718
     in decibel (Example: mixer gus d-10).
719
 
720
  /NOSHOW
721
     Prevents DOSBox from showing the result if you set one
722
     of the volume levels.
723
 
724
  /LISTMIDI
725
     In Windows lists the available midi devices on your PC. To select a device
726
     other than the Windows default midi-mapper, change the line 'midiconfig='
727
     in the [midi] section of the configuration file to 'midiconfig=id', where
728
     'id' is the number for the device as listed by LISTMIDI. eg. midiconfig=2
729
 
730
     In Linux this option doesn't work, but you get similar results by using
731
     'pmidi -l' in console. Then change the line 'midiconfig=' to
732
     'midiconfig=port', where 'port' is the port for the device as listed by
733
     'pmidi -l'. eg. midiconfig=128:0
734
 
735
 
736
IMGMOUNT
737
  A utility to mount disk images and CD-ROM images in DOSBox.
738
 
739
  IMGMOUNT DRIVE [imagefile] -t [image_type] -fs [image_format]
740
            -size [sectorsbytesize, sectorsperhead, heads, cylinders]
741
  IMGMOUNT DRIVE [imagefile1 imagefile2 .. imagefileN] -t cdrom -fs iso
742
 
743
  imagefile
744
      Location of the image file to mount in DOSBox. The location can be
745
      on a mounted drive inside DOSBox, or on your real disk. It is possible
746
      to mount CD-ROM images (ISOs or CUE/BIN or CUE/IMG) too.
747
      If you need CD swapping capabilities, specify all images in succession
748
      (see the next entry).
749
      CUE/BIN pairs and cue/img are the preferred CD-ROM image types as they can
750
      store audio tracks compared to ISOs (which are data-only). For
751
      the CUE/BIN mounting always specify the CUE sheet.
752
 
753
  imagefile1 imagefile2 .. imagefileN
754
      Location of the image files to mount in DOSBox. Specifying a number
755
      of image files is only allowed for CD-ROM images.
756
      The CD's can be swapped with CTRL-F4 at any time.
757
      This is required for games which use multiple CD-ROMs and require the CD
758
      to be switched during the gameplay at some point.
759
 
760
  -t
761
      The following are valid image types:
762
        floppy: Specifies a floppy image. DOSBox will automatically identify
763
                the disk geometry (360K, 1.2MB, 720K, 1.44MB, etc).
764
        cdrom:  Specifies a CD-ROM image. The geometry is automatic and
765
                set for this size. This can be an iso or a cue/bin pair or
766
                a cue/img pair.
767
        hdd:    Specifies a harddrive image. The proper CHS geometry must be set
768
                for this to work.
769
 
770
  -fs
771
      The following are valid file system formats:
772
        iso:  Specifies the ISO 9660 CD-ROM format.
773
        fat:  Specifies that the image uses the FAT file system. DOSBox will
774
              attempt to mount this image as a drive in DOSBox and make
775
              the files available from inside DOSBox.
776
        none: DOSBox will make no attempt to read the file system on the disk.
777
              This is useful if you need to format it or if you want to boot
778
              the disk using the BOOT command. When using the "none"
779
              filesystem, you must specify the drive number (2 or 3,
780
              where 2 = master, 3 = slave) rather than a drive letter.
781
              For example, to mount a 70MB image as the slave drive device,
782
              you would type (without the quotes):
783
                "imgmount 3 d:\test.img -size 512,63,16,142 -fs none"
784
                Compare this with a mount to be able to access the drive
785
                within DOSBox, which would read as:
786
                "imgmount e: d:\test.img -size 512,63,16,142"
787
 
788
  -size
789
     The Cylinders, Heads and Sectors of the drive.
790
     Required to mount hard drive images.
791
 
792
  An example how to mount CD-ROM images (in Linux):
793
    1. imgmount d /tmp/cdimage1.cue /tmp/cdimage2.cue -t cdrom
794
  or (which also works):
795
    2a. mount c /tmp
796
    2b. imgmount d c:\cdimage1.cue c:\cdimage2.cue -t cdrom
797
  (in Windows):
798
    imgmount d f:\img\CD1.cue f:\img\CD2.cue f:\img\CD3.cue -t cdrom
799
    imgmount d "g:\img\7th Guest CD1.cue" "g:\img\7th Guest CD2.cue" -t cdrom
800
  Don't forget that you can also use MOUNT with images, but only if you use
801
  external program, for example (both are free):
802
  - Daemon Tools Lite (for CD images),
803
  - Virtual Floppy Drive (for floppy images).
804
  Although IMGMOUNT can give better compatibility.
805
 
806
 
807
BOOT
808
  Boot will start floppy images or hard disk images independent of
809
  the operating system emulation offered by DOSBox. This will allow you to
810
  play booter floppies or boot other operating systems inside DOSBox.
811
  If the target emulated system is PCjr (machine=pcjr) the boot command
812
  can be used to load PCjr cartridges (.jrc).
813
 
814
  BOOT [diskimg1.img diskimg2.img .. diskimgN.img] [-l driveletter]
815
  BOOT [cart.jrc]  (PCjr only)
816
 
817
  diskimg1.img diskimg2.img .. diskimgN.img
818
     This can be any number of floppy disk images one wants mounted after
819
     DOSBox boots the specified drive letter.
820
     To swap between images, hit CTRL-F4 to change from the current disk
821
     to the next disk in the list. The list will loop back from the last
822
     disk image to the beginning.
823
 
824
  [-l driveletter]
825
     This parameter allows you to specify the drive to boot from.
826
     The default is the A drive, the floppy drive. You can also boot
827
     a hard drive image mounted as master by specifying "-l C"
828
     without the quotes, or the drive as slave by specifying "-l D"
829
 
830
   cart.jrc (PCjr only)
831
     When emulation of a PCjr is enabled, cartridges can be loaded with
832
     the BOOT command. Support is still limited.
833
 
834
 
835
IPX
836
 
837
  You need to enable IPX networking in the configuration file of DOSBox.
838
 
839
  All of the IPX networking is managed through the internal DOSBox program
840
  IPXNET. For help on the IPX networking from inside DOSBox, type
841
  "IPXNET HELP" (without quotes) and the program will list the commands
842
  and relevant documentation.
843
 
844
  With regard to actually setting up a network, one system needs to be
845
  the server. To set this up, type "IPXNET STARTSERVER" (without the quotes)
846
  in a DOSBox session. The server DOSBox session will automatically add
847
  itself to the virtual IPX network. For every additional computer that
848
  should be part of the virtual IPX network, you'll need to type
849
  "IPXNET CONNECT ".
850
  For example, if your server is at bob.dosbox.com, you would type
851
  "IPXNET CONNECT bob.dosbox.com" on every non-server system.
852
 
853
  To play games that need Netbios a file named NETBIOS.EXE from Novell is
854
  needed. Establish the IPX connection as explained above, then run
855
  "netbios.exe".
856
 
857
  The following is an IPXNET command reference:
858
 
859
  IPXNET CONNECT
860
 
861
     IPXNET CONNECT opens a connection to an IPX tunneling server
862
     running on another DOSBox session. The "address" parameter specifies
863
     the IP address or host name of the server computer. You can also
864
     specify the UDP port to use. By default IPXNET uses port 213 - the
865
     assigned IANA port for IPX tunneling - for its connection.
866
 
867
     The syntax for IPXNET CONNECT is:
868
     IPXNET CONNECT address 
869
 
870
  IPXNET DISCONNECT
871
 
872
     IPXNET DISCONNECT closes the connection to the IPX tunneling server.
873
 
874
     The syntax for IPXNET DISCONNECT is:
875
     IPXNET DISCONNECT
876
 
877
  IPXNET STARTSERVER
878
 
879
     IPXNET STARTSERVER starts an IPX tunneling server on this DOSBox
880
     session. By default, the server will accept connections on UDP port
881
     213, though this can be changed. Once the server is started, DOSBox
882
     will automatically start a client connection to the IPX tunneling server.
883
 
884
     The syntax for IPXNET STARTSERVER is:
885
     IPXNET STARTSERVER 
886
 
887
     If the server is behind a router, UDP port  needs to be forwarded
888
     to that computer.
889
 
890
     On Linux/Unix-based systems port numbers smaller than 1023 can only be
891
     used with root privileges. Use ports greater than 1023 on those systems.
892
 
893
  IPXNET STOPSERVER
894
 
895
     IPXNET STOPSERVER stops the IPX tunneling server running on this DOSBox
896
     session. Care should be taken to ensure that all other connections have
897
     terminated as well, since stopping the server may cause lockups on other
898
     machines that are still using the IPX tunneling server.
899
 
900
     The syntax for IPXNET STOPSERVER is:
901
     IPXNET STOPSERVER
902
 
903
  IPXNET PING
904
 
905
     IPXNET PING broadcasts a ping request through the IPX tunneled network.
906
     In response, all other connected computers will respond to the ping
907
     and report the time it took to receive and send the ping message.
908
 
909
     The syntax for IPXNET PING is:
910
     IPXNET PING
911
 
912
  IPXNET STATUS
913
 
914
     IPXNET STATUS reports the current state of this DOSBox session's
915
     IPX tunneling network. For a list of all computers connected to the
916
     network use the IPXNET PING command.
917
 
918
     The syntax for IPXNET STATUS is:
919
     IPXNET STATUS
920
 
921
 
922
KEYB [keyboardlayoutcode [codepage [codepagefile]]]
923
 
924
  Change the keyboard layout. For detailed information about keyboard layouts
925
  please see Section 8: "Keyboard Layout"
926
 
927
  [keyboardlayoutcode] is a string consisting of five or less characters,
928
     examples are PL214 (Polish typists) or PL457 (Polish programmers).
929
     It specifies the keyboard layout to be used.
930
     The list of all layouts built into DOSBox is here:
931
     http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=21824
932
 
933
  [codepage] is the number of the codepage to be used. The keyboard layout
934
     has to provide support for the specified codepage, otherwise the layout
935
     loading will fail.
936
     If no codepage is specified, an appropriate codepage for the requested
937
     layout is chosen automatically.
938
 
939
  [codepagefile] can be used to load codepages that are yet not compiled
940
     into DOSBox. This is only needed when DOSBox does not find the codepage.
941
     If no codepagefile is specified, but you place all ten ega.cpx files
942
     (from FreeDOS) in the DOSBox program folder, an appropriate codepagefile
943
     for the requested layout/codepage is chosen automatically.
944
 
945
  Examples:
946
    1. To load the polish typist keys layout (automatically uses codepage 852):
947
         keyb pl214
948
    2. To load one of russian keyboard layouts with codepage 866:
949
         keyb ru441 866
950
       In order to type russian characters press ALT+RIGHT-SHIFT.
951
    3. To load one of french keyboard layouts with codepage 850 (where the
952
       codepage is defined in EGACPI.DAT):
953
         keyb fr189 850 EGACPI.DAT
954
    4. To load codepage 858 (without a keyboard layout):
955
         keyb none 858
956
       This can be used to change the codepage for the FreeDOS keyb2 utility.
957
    5. To display the current codepage and, if loaded, the keyboard layout:
958
         keyb
959
 
960
 
961
 
962
For more information use the /? command line switch with the programs.
963
 
964
 
965
 
966
================
967
5. Special Keys:
968
================
969
 
970
ALT-ENTER     Switch to full screen and back.
971
ALT-PAUSE     Pause emulation (hit ALT-PAUSE again to continue).
972
CTRL-F1       Start the keymapper.
973
CTRL-F4       Change between mounted floppy/CD images. Update directory cache
974
              for all drives.
975
CTRL-ALT-F5   Start/Stop creating a movie of the screen. (avi video capturing)
976
CTRL-F5       Save a screenshot. (PNG format)
977
CTRL-F6       Start/Stop recording sound output to a wave file.
978
CTRL-ALT-F7   Start/Stop recording of OPL commands. (DRO format)
979
CTRL-ALT-F8   Start/Stop the recording of raw MIDI commands.
980
CTRL-F7       Decrease frameskip.
981
CTRL-F8       Increase frameskip.
982
CTRL-F9       Kill DOSBox.
983
CTRL-F10      Capture/Release the mouse.
984
CTRL-F11      Slow down emulation (Decrease DOSBox Cycles).
985
CTRL-F12      Speed up emulation (Increase DOSBox Cycles)*.
986
ALT-F12       Unlock speed (turbo button/fast forward)**.
987
F11, ALT-F11  (machine=cga) change tint in NTSC output modes***
988
F11           (machine=hercules) cycle through amber, green, white colouring***
989
 
990
*NOTE: Once you increase your DOSBox cycles beyond your computer CPU resources,
991
       it will produce the same effect as slowing down the emulation.
992
       This maximum will vary from computer to computer.
993
 
994
**NOTE: You need free CPU resources for this (the more you have, the faster
995
        it goes), so it won't work at all with cycles=max or a too high amount
996
        of fixed cycles. You have to keep the keys pressed for it to work!
997
 
998
***NOTE: These keys won't work if you saved a mapper file earlier with
999
         a different machine type. So either reassign them or reset the mapper.
1000
 
1001
These are the default keybindings. They can be changed in the keymapper
1002
(see Section 7: KeyMapper).
1003
 
1004
In MAC OS you can try using cmd(applekey) together with Ctrl if the key doesn't
1005
work eg. cmd-ctrl-F1, but some keys may still need remapping (in Linux too).
1006
 
1007
Saved/recorded files can be found in:
1008
   (Windows)    "Start/WinLogo Menu"->"All Programs"->DOSBox-0.74->Extras
1009
   (Linux)      ~/.dosbox/capture
1010
   (MAC OS X)   "~/Library/Preferences/capture"
1011
This can be changed in the DOSBox configuration file.
1012
 
1013
 
1014
 
1015
====================
1016
6. Joystick/Gamepad:
1017
====================
1018
 
1019
The standard joystick port in DOS supports a maximum of 4 axes and 4 buttons.
1020
For more, different modifications of that configuration were used.
1021
 
1022
To force DOSBox to use a different type of emulated joystick/gamepad, the entry
1023
"joysticktype" in the [joystick] section of the DOSBox configuration file can
1024
be used.
1025
 
1026
none  - disables controller support.
1027
auto  - (default) autodetects whether you have one or two controllers connected:
1028
          if you have one - '4axis' setting is used,
1029
          if you have two - '2axis' setting is used.
1030
2axis - If you have two controllers connected, each will emulate a joystick
1031
        with 2 axes and 2 buttons. If you have only one controller connected,
1032
        it will emulate a joystick with only 2 axis and 2 buttons.
1033
4axis - supports only first controller, emulates a joystick
1034
        with 4 axis and 4 buttons or a gamepad with 2axis and 6 buttons.
1035
4axis_2 - supports only second controller.
1036
fcs   - supports only first controller, emulates ThrustMaster
1037
        Flight Control System, with 3-axes, 4 buttons and 1 hat.
1038
ch    - supports only first controller, emulates CH Flightstick,
1039
        with 4-axes, 6 buttons and 1 hat, but you cannot press more
1040
        than one button at the same time.
1041
 
1042
You also have to configure controller properly inside the game.
1043
 
1044
It is important to remember that if you saved the mapperfile without joystick
1045
 
1046
connected, or with a different joystick setting, your new setting will
1047
not work
1048
properly,
1049
or not work at all, until you reset DOSBox's mapperfile.
1050
 
1051
 
1052
If controller is working properly outside DOSBox, but doesn't calibrate properly
1053
inside DOSBox, try different 'timed' setting in DOSBox's configuration file.
1054
 
1055
 
1056
 
1057
=============
1058
7. KeyMapper:
1059
=============
1060
 
1061
You start the DOSBox mapper either with CTRL-F1 (see section 5. Special Keys)
1062
or -startmapper (see Section 3. Command Line Parameters).
1063
You are presented with a virtual keyboard and a virtual joystick.
1064
 
1065
These virtual devices correspond to the keys and events DOSBox will
1066
report to the DOS applications. If you click on a button with your mouse,
1067
you can see in the lower left corner with which event it is associated
1068
(EVENT) and to what events it is currently bound.
1069
 
1070
Event: EVENT
1071
BIND: BIND (the real key/button/axis you push with your finger/hand)
1072
 
1073
                                    Add   Del
1074
mod1  hold                                Next
1075
mod2
1076
mod3
1077
 
1078
 
1079
EVENT
1080
    The key or joystick axis/button/hat DOSBox will report to DOS applications.
1081
    (the event that will happen during the game, (eg. shooting/jumping/walking)
1082
BIND
1083
    The key on your real keyboard or the axis/button/hat on your real
1084
    joystick(s) (as reported by SDL), which is connected to the EVENT.
1085
mod1,2,3
1086
    Modifiers. These are keys you need to have to be pressed while pressing
1087
    BIND. mod1 = CTRL and mod2 = ALT. These are generally only used when you
1088
    want to change the special keys of DOSBox.
1089
Add
1090
    Add a new BIND to this EVENT. Basically add a key from your keyboard or an
1091
    event from the joystick (button press, axis/hat movement) which will
1092
    produce the EVENT in DOSBox.
1093
Del
1094
    Delete the BIND to this EVENT. If an EVENT has no BINDS, then it is not
1095
    possible to trigger this event in DOSBox (that is there's no way to type
1096
    the key or use the respective action of the joystick).
1097
Next
1098
    Go through the list of bindings which map to this EVENT.
1099
 
1100
 
1101
Example:
1102
Q1. You want to have the X on your keyboard to type a Z in DOSBox.
1103
    A. Click on the Z on the keyboard mapper. Click "Add".
1104
       Now press the X key on your keyboard.
1105
 
1106
Q2. If you click "Next" a couple of times, you will notice that the Z on your
1107
    keyboard also produces an Z in DOSBox.
1108
    A. Therefore select the Z again, and click "Next" until you have the Z on
1109
       your keyboard. Now click "Del".
1110
 
1111
Q3. If you try it out in DOSBox, you will notice that pressing X makes ZX
1112
    appear.
1113
     A. The X on your keyboard is still mapped to the X as well! Click on
1114
        the X in the keyboard mapper and search with "Next" until you find the
1115
        mapped key X. Click "Del".
1116
 
1117
 
1118
Examples about remapping the joystick:
1119
  You have a joystick attached, it is working fine under DOSBox and you
1120
  want to play some keyboard-only game with the joystick (it is assumed
1121
  that the game is controlled by the arrows on the keyboard):
1122
    1. Start the mapper, then click on one of the left keyboard arrow.
1123
       EVENT should be key_left. Now click on Add and move your joystick
1124
       in the respective direction, this should add an event to the BIND.
1125
    2. Repeat the above for the missing three directions, additionally
1126
       the buttons of the joystick can be remapped as well (fire/jump).
1127
    3. Click on Save, then on Exit and test it with some game.
1128
 
1129
  You want to swap the y-axis of the joystick because some flightsim uses
1130
  the up/down joystick movement in a way you don't like, and it is not
1131
  configurable in the game itself:
1132
    1. Start the mapper and click on Y- in the first joystick field.
1133
       EVENT should be jaxis_0_1-.
1134
    2. Click on Del to remove the current binding, then click Add and move
1135
       your joystick downwards. A new bind should be created.
1136
    3. Repeat this for Y+, save the layout and finally test it with some game.
1137
 
1138
  If you want to remap anything to your d-pad/hat you will have to change
1139
  'joysticktype=auto' to 'joysticktype=fcs' in configuration file. Maybe this
1140
  will be improved in the next dosbox version.
1141
 
1142
 
1143
If you change the default mapping, you can save your changes by clicking on
1144
"Save". DOSBox will save the mapping to a location specified in
1145
the configuration file (the mapperfile= entry). At startup, DOSBox will load
1146
your mapperfile, if it is present in the DOSBox configuration file.
1147
 
1148
 
1149
 
1150
===================
1151
8. Keyboard Layout:
1152
===================
1153
 
1154
To switch to a different keyboard layout, either the entry "keyboardlayout"
1155
in the [dos] section of the DOSBox configuration file can be used, or the
1156
internal DOSBox program keyb.com (Section 4: Internal Programs)
1157
Both accept DOS conforming language codes (see below),
1158
but only by using keyb.com a custom codepage can be specified.
1159
 
1160
The default keyboardlayout=auto currently works under windows only. The language
1161
is chosen according to the OS language, but the keyboard layout is not detected.
1162
 
1163
Layout switching
1164
  DOSBox supports a number of keyboard layouts and codepages by default,
1165
  in this case just the layout identifier needs to be specified (like
1166
  keyboardlayout=PL214 in the DOSBox configuration file, or using "keyb PL214"
1167
  at the DOSBox command prompt). The list of all layouts built into DOSBox is
1168
  here: http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=21824
1169
 
1170
  Some keyboard layouts (for example layout GK319 codepage 869 and layout RU441
1171
  codepage 808) have support for dual layouts that can be accessed by pressing
1172
  LeftALT+RrightSHIFT for one layout and LeftALT+LeftSHIFT for the other.
1173
  Some keyboard layouts (for example layout LT456 codepage 771) have support
1174
  for three layouts, third can be accessed by pressing LeftALT+LeftCTRL
1175
 
1176
Supported external files
1177
  The FreeDOS .kl files are supported (FreeDOS keyb2 keyboard layoutfiles) as
1178
  well as the FreeDOS keyboard.sys/keybrd2.sys/keybrd3.sys libraries which
1179
  consist of all available .kl files.
1180
  See http://www.freedos.org/ for precompiled keyboard layouts if
1181
  the DOSBox-integrated layouts don't work for some reason, or if updated or
1182
  new layouts become available.
1183
 
1184
  Both .CPI (MS-DOS and compatible codepage files) and .CPX (FreeDOS
1185
  UPX-compressed codepage files) can be used. Some codepages are compiled
1186
  into DOSBox, so it is mostly not needed to care about external codepage
1187
  files. If you need a different (or custom) codepage file, copy it into
1188
  the directory of the DOSBox so it is accessible for DOSBox.
1189
  If you place all ten ega.cpx files (from FreeDOS) in DOSBox folder,
1190
  an appropriate codepagefile for the requested layout/codepage is
1191
  chosen automatically.
1192
 
1193
  Additional layouts can be added by copying the corresponding .kl file into
1194
  the directory of the DOSBox configuration file and using the first part of
1195
  the filename as language code.
1196
  Example: For the file UZ.KL (keyboard layout for Uzbekistan) specify
1197
           "keyboardlayout=uz" in the DOSBox configuration file.
1198
  The integration of keyboard layout packages (like keybrd2.sys) works similar.
1199
 
1200
Note that the keyboard layout allows foreign characters to be entered, but
1201
there is NO support for them in filenames. Try to avoid them both inside
1202
DOSBox as well as in files on your host operating system that are accessible
1203
by DOSBox.
1204
 
1205
 
1206
 
1207
==============================
1208
9. Serial Multiplayer feature:
1209
==============================
1210
 
1211
DOSBox can emulate a serial nullmodem cable over network and internet.
1212
It can be configured through the [serialports] section in the DOSBox
1213
configuration file.
1214
 
1215
To create a nullmodem connection, one side needs to act as the server and
1216
one as the client.
1217
 
1218
The server needs to be set up in the DOSBox configuration file like this:
1219
   serial1=nullmodem
1220
 
1221
The client:
1222
   serial1=nullmodem server:
1223
 
1224
Now start your game and choose nullmodem / serial cable / already connected
1225
as multiplayer method on COM1. Set the same baudrate on both computers.
1226
 
1227
Furthermore, additional parameters can be specified to control the behavior
1228
of the nullmodem connection. These are all parameters:
1229
 
1230
 * port:         - TCP port number. Default: 23
1231
 * rxdelay:      - how long (milliseconds) to delay received data if the
1232
                   interface is not ready. Increase this value if you encounter
1233
                   overrun errors in the DOSBox Status Window. Default: 100
1234
 * txdelay:      - how long to gather data before sending a packet. Default: 12
1235
                   (reduces Network overhead)
1236
 * server:       - This nullmodem will be a client connecting to the specified
1237
                   server. (No server argument: be a server.)
1238
 * transparent:1 - Only send the serial data, no RTS/DTR handshake. Use this
1239
                   when connecting to anything other than a nullmodem.
1240
 * telnet:1      - Interpret Telnet data from the remote site. Automatically
1241
                   sets transparent.
1242
 * usedtr:1      - The connection will not be established until DTR is switched
1243
                   on by the DOS program. Useful for modem terminals.
1244
                   Automatically sets transparent.
1245
 * inhsocket:1   - Use a socket passed to DOSBox by command line. Automatically
1246
                   sets transparent. (Socket Inheritance: It is used for
1247
                   playing old DOS door games on new BBS software.)
1248
 
1249
Example: Be a server listening on TCP port 5000.
1250
   serial1=nullmodem server: port:5000 rxdelay:1000
1251
 
1252
 
1253
 
1254
=====================================
1255
10. How to speed up/slow down DOSBox:
1256
=====================================
1257
 
1258
DOSBox emulates the CPU, the sound and graphic cards, and other peripherals
1259
of a PC, all at the same time. The speed of an emulated DOS application
1260
depends on how many instructions can be emulated, which is adjustable
1261
(number of cycles).
1262
 
1263
CPU Cycles (speed up/slow down)
1264
  By default (cycles=auto) DOSBox tries to detect whether a game needs to
1265
  be run with as many instructions emulated per time interval as possible
1266
  (cycles=max, sometimes this results in game working too fast or unstable),
1267
  or whether to use fixed amount of cycles (cycles=3000, sometimes this results
1268
  in game working too slow or too fast). But you can always manually force
1269
  a different setting in the DOSBox's configuration file.
1270
 
1271
  You can force the slow or fast behavior by setting a fixed amount of cycles
1272
  in the DOSBox's configuration file. If you for example set cycles=10000, then
1273
  DOSBox window will display a line "Cpu Speed: fixed 10000 cycles" at the top.
1274
  In this mode you can reduce the amount of cycles even more by hitting CTRL-F11
1275
  (you can go as low as you want) or raise it by hitting CTRL-F12 as much as you
1276
  want, but you will be limited by the power of one core of your computer's CPU.
1277
  You can see how much free time your real CPU's cores have by looking at
1278
  the Task Manager in Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 and the System Monitor
1279
  in Windows 95/98/ME. Once 100% of the power of your computer's real CPU's one
1280
  core is used, there is no further way to speed up DOSBox (it will actually
1281
  start to slow down), unless you reduce the load generated by the non-CPU parts
1282
  of DOSBox. DOSBox can use only one core of your CPU, so If you have
1283
  for example a CPU with 4 cores, DOSBox will not be able to use the power
1284
  of three other cores.
1285
 
1286
  You can also force the fast behavior by setting cycles=max in the DOSBox
1287
  configuration file. The DOSBox window will display a line
1288
  "Cpu Speed: max 100% cycles" at the top then. This time you won't have to care
1289
  how much free time your real CPU's cores have, because DOSBox will always use
1290
  100% of your real CPU's one core. In this mode you can reduce the amount
1291
  of your real CPU's core usage by CTRL-F11 or raise it with CTRL-F12.
1292
 
1293
CPU Core (speed up)
1294
  On x86 architectures you can try to force the usage of a dynamically
1295
  recompiling core (set core=dynamic in the DOSBox configuration file).
1296
  This usually gives better results if the auto detection (core=auto) fails.
1297
  It is best accompanied by cycles=max. But you may also try using it with
1298
  high amounts of cycles (for example 20000 or more). Note that there might be
1299
  games that work worse/crash with the dynamic core (so save your game often),
1300
  or do not work at all!
1301
 
1302
Graphics emulation (speed up)
1303
  VGA emulation is a demanding part of DOSBox in terms of actual CPU usage.
1304
  Increase the number of frames skipped (in increments of one) by pressing
1305
  CTRL-F8. Your CPU usage should decrease when using a fixed cycle setting,
1306
  and you will be able to increase cycles with CTRL-F12.
1307
  You can repeat this until the game runs fast enough for you.
1308
  Please note that this is a trade-off: you lose in fluidity of video what
1309
  you gain in speed.
1310
 
1311
Sound emulation (speed up)
1312
  You can also try to disable the sound through the setup utility of the game
1313
  to reduce load on your CPU further. Setting nosound=true in DOSBox's
1314
  configuration does NOT disable the emulation of sound devices, just
1315
  the output of sound will be disabled.
1316
 
1317
Also try to close every program but DOSBox to reserve as much resources
1318
as possible for DOSBox.
1319
 
1320
 
1321
Advanced cycles configuration:
1322
The cycles=auto and cycles=max settings can be parameterized to have
1323
different startup defaults. The syntax is
1324
  cycles=auto ["realmode default"] ["protected mode default"%]
1325
              [limit "cycle limit"]
1326
  cycles=max ["protected mode default"%] [limit "cycle limit"]
1327
Example:
1328
  cycles=auto 5000 80% limit 20000
1329
  will use cycles=5000 for real mode games, 80% CPU throttling for
1330
  protected mode games along with a hard cycle limit of 20000
1331
 
1332
 
1333
 
1334
====================
1335
11. Troubleshooting:
1336
====================
1337
 
1338
General tip:
1339
  Check messages in DOSBox Status Window. See section 12. "DOSBox Status Window"
1340
 
1341
DOSBox crashes right after starting it:
1342
  - use different values for the output= entry in your DOSBox
1343
    configuration file
1344
  - try to update your graphics card driver and DirectX
1345
  - (Linux) set the environment variable SDL_AUDIODRIVER to alsa or oss.
1346
 
1347
Running a certain game closes DOSBox, crashes with some message or hangs:
1348
  - see if it works with a default DOSBox installation
1349
    (unmodified configuration file)
1350
  - try it with sound disabled (use the sound configuration
1351
    program that comes with the game, additionally you can
1352
    set sbtype=none and gus=false in the DOSBox configuration file)
1353
  - change some entries of the DOSBox configuration file, especially try:
1354
      core=normal
1355
      fixed cycles (for example cycles=10000)
1356
      ems=false
1357
      xms=false
1358
    or combinations of the above settings,
1359
    similar the machine settings that control the emulated chipset and
1360
    functionality:
1361
      machine=vesa_nolfb
1362
    or
1363
      machine=vgaonly
1364
  - use loadfix before starting the game
1365
 
1366
The game exits to the DOSBox prompt with some error message:
1367
  - read the error message closely and try to locate the error
1368
  - try the hints at the above sections
1369
  - mount differently as some games are picky about the locations,
1370
    for example if you used "mount d d:\oldgames\game" try
1371
    "mount c d:\oldgames\game" and "mount c d:\oldgames"
1372
  - if the game requires a CD-ROM be sure you used "-t cdrom" when
1373
    mounting and try different additional parameters (the ioctl,
1374
    usecd and label switches, see the appropriate section)
1375
  - check the file permissions of the game files (remove read-only
1376
    attributes, add write permissions etc.)
1377
  - try reinstalling the game within DOSBox
1378
 
1379
 
1380
 
1381
=========================
1382
12. DOSBox Status Window:
1383
=========================
1384
 
1385
DOSBox's Staus window contains many useful information about your currant
1386
configuration, your actions in DOSBox, errors that happened and more.
1387
Whenever you have any problem with DOSBox check these messages.
1388
 
1389
To start DOSBox Status Window:
1390
  (Windows)  Status Window is being started together with main DOSBox window.
1391
  (Linux)    You may have to start DOSBox from a console to see Status Window.
1392
  (MAC OS X) Right click on DOSBox.app, choose "Show Package Contents"->
1393
             ->enter "Contents"->enter "MacOS"->run "DOSBox"
1394
 
1395
 
1396
 
1397
=====================================
1398
13. The configuration (options) file:
1399
=====================================
1400
 
1401
The configuration file is automatically created the first time you run DOSBox.
1402
The file can be found in:
1403
   (Windows)  "Start/WinLogo Menu"->"All Programs"->DOSBox-0.74->Options
1404
   (Linux)    ~/.dosbox/dosbox-0.74.conf
1405
   (MAC OS X) "~/Library/Preferences/DOSBox 0.74 Preferences"
1406
The file is divided into several sections. Each section starts with a
1407
[section name] line. The settings are the property=value lines where value can
1408
be altered to customize DOSBox.
1409
# and % indicate comment-lines.
1410
 
1411
 
1412
An extra configuration file can be generated by CONFIG.COM, which can be found
1413
on the internal DOSBox Z: drive when you start up DOSBox. Look in the Section 4:
1414
"Internal programs" for usage of CONFIG.COM. You can start DOSBox with
1415
the -conf switch to load the generated file and use its settings.
1416
 
1417
DOSBox will load configuration files that are specified with -conf. If none were
1418
specified, it will try to load "dosbox.conf" from the local directory.
1419
If there is none, DOSBox will load the user configuration file.
1420
This file will be created if it doesn't exist.
1421
 
1422
Important!: In Windows Vista/7 the configuration file won't work correctly
1423
if it is located in "Windows" or "Program Files" folder or their subfolders,
1424
or directly on c:\, so the best place for storing extra configuration files is
1425
for example: C:\oldgames
1426
 
1427
 
1428
 
1429
======================
1430
14. The Language File:
1431
======================
1432
 
1433
A language file can be generated by CONFIG.COM, which can be found on the
1434
internal DOSBox Z: drive when you start up DOSBox. Look in the Section 4:
1435
"Internal programs" for usage of CONFIG.COM.
1436
Read the language file, and you will hopefully understand how to change it.
1437
Start DOSBox with the -lang switch to use your new language file.
1438
Alternatively, you can setup the filename in the configuration file
1439
in the [dosbox] section. There's a language= entry that can be changed with
1440
the filelocation.
1441
 
1442
 
1443
 
1444
========================================
1445
15. Building your own version of DOSBox:
1446
========================================
1447
 
1448
Download the source.
1449
Check the INSTALL in the source distribution.
1450
 
1451
 
1452
 
1453
===================
1454
16. Special thanks:
1455
===================
1456
 
1457
See the THANKS file.
1458
 
1459
 
1460
 
1461
============
1462
17. Contact:
1463
============
1464
 
1465
See the site:
1466
http://www.dosbox.com
1467
for an email address (The Crew-page).
1468