ES Forum Archive - DaGrooved1's Guide to CVS DosBox and Daggerfall

ES Forum Archive > Past Games > DaGrooved1's Guide to CVS DosBox and Daggerfall

December 31 2005, 14:45

THIS GUIDE DOES NOT USE CURRENT VERSIONS OF CVS DOSBOX, TO OBTAIN THE LATEST VERSION FOLLOW THE LINKS CONTAINED IN THIS POST FROM THE OFFICIAL DOSBOX WEBSITE HERE

Note: These settings are only compatible with the version of DosBox linked in this guide, if you do download a newer version of the CVS builds I cannot guarentee compatability, and you may need to adjust somethings. This guide is only compatible with CVS builds, if you would prefer to use the normal DosBox builds then I suggest you follow Mechaexailious' Guide here.

I figured I would make my guide in a seperate topic because it deals with a much different version of DosBox and can generate many different problems in comparison to other versions of DosBox used in other guides.

THIS GUIDE ASSUMES YOU HAVE DAGGERFALL INSTALLED!
FURTHER DOWN THE PAGE I HAVE ADDED A SMALLER GUIDE FOR ARENA

If you need help installing Daggerfall under WindowsXP please use the Daggerfall Windows XP installer found
here (41mb)

http://files.filefront.com/dagnt5x/;900719;;/fileinfo.html

WARNING: I only use Dosbox for Daggerfall and these settings make it so it will only run Daggerfall. So if you plan on playing Arena, I wouldn't copy my entire dosbox.config file, rather, pick out the parts you need.

Dosbox requires massive CPU use for proper emulation, I cannot recommend any of the below settings if you run anything less than about a 2.0ghz processor. This also eliminates the invisible quest and climbing bugs normally experienced while running Daggerfall in Windows XP.

FIRST!

If you want to copy my DosBox.conf file directly your gonna need to "crack" Daggerfall so it no longer requires the CD, I do this, and suggest you do this as a Daggerfall CD is not something you come across often. You can skip steps 1, and 3-5 if you use the previously mentioned DaggerfallXP installer.

1. Install daggerfall with the largest install size (about 450Mb).
2. Copy all the files from the arena2 directory on the cd into arena2 on your hard disk. There should only be a few that aren't already on there, mainly the sky##.dat files and the movies. The latter are optional.
3. Install the CompUSA patch.
4. Install patch 213.
5. Install the latest version of Fixsave (v1.75).
6. Change the setting in z.cfg that shows where the cd path is to the arena2 directory on hard disk, e.g. pathcd=c:daggerarena2
7. Make a batch file that reads as follows:-

@echo off
set dos4gvm=@dagger.vmc
fall.exe z.cfg

Name this something other than dagger.bat if you are running DF from DOS. If you just key in dagger, it will run dagger.exe instead.

NOTE: If you use this "No Cd" .bat file, make sure you change the last line of your DosBox.conf file to the name of your .bat file and not fall.exe z.cfg.

Example: If it's currently
mount c c:
C:
chdir Dagger
fall.exe z.cfg

You'll want to change the last line too

Yourbatfilename

You usually don't need to add the ".bat" at the end.

Z.cfg file

Some optional things to add at the end of z.cfg are:

CODE

CHEATMODE 1

To allow cheating, all cheats can be found here: http://www.cheatscodesguides.com/pc-cheats/daggerfall/

QUOTE(Taemos)

I'd like to add that the cheatmode seems like a leftover debug option, to me. Half of the "cheats" don't seem to work sometimes, and they made my game very unstable when I used them (years ago). Then again, Daggerfall is so buggy it's hard to tell what will hurt or help the game.

and

CODE

MAGICREPAIR 1

This will allow you to repair your magic items.

Save the changes, now onto DosBox!

CVS DosBox

I said I was going to give people an idea of how to make Daggerfall look better or run faster on their PC, well, here is the easiest way I've found.This is a link to a precompiled version of DosBox with Directx, Opengl,PixelShader and TimeSynched Cycle support, also known as the CVS version.

http://www.si-gamer.net/gulikoza/dosbox/dosboxcvs-051009.zip

If this link gives you a corrupt download, you can try my own version off megaupload from here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I7E6YSM0

This is my DosBox folder zipped, just extract it to C:ProgramfilesDosBox, or anywhere else and it should work, note that this contains my dosbox.conf file complete with my current settings, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! (hehe I have to say that so I don't get sued)

Once it's installed go it's directory and open up DosBox.conf with notepad, you can change it yourself or paste my version on top of it. Before you do so, however, I suggest you skip over the code and finish reading the bottom to get a better understanding of DosBox.

Here is my Dosbox.conf file(You may wish to back up your old DosBox.conf file just incase):

CODE

The key things to note are:

CPU:

I have cycles set to 50000 but with Timesynched set to true, this is a great feature as you do not have to worry about adjusting the number of cycles yourself, as DosBox automatically determines the amount of cycles required at any specific time and sets them accordingly.

TROUBLE SHOOTING

If you only get a black screen, or some other weird graphical error, try adjusting the following:

Set fullresolution to 0x0, this will force DosBox to use your Desktop's resolution, as your monitor may not be compatible with 320x200 (Daggerfall's native resolution).

If this still doesn't fix your problem, try changing the fullfixed setting to true or false to see if that makes any difference.

If all else fails attempt to run it in a window, if it runs in the window there is a 90% chance it's something to do with the resolution, this leaves you with three choices:

1.Search for an updated or different version of DosBox.

2. Run it in a window and adjust the hwscale value to increaes the size of the window (if you increase it enough it will look practically the same as fullscreen however the graphics may be slightly blurry).

3. Continue to mess around with the above settings, I don't know DosBox in and out. The best thing to do in these situations is to first ensure you can run daggerfall before you overwrite your default settings with mine, if you can, then start adjusting the default settings to fit mine one by one, testing it every so often, if you suddenly can't run it, it's probably being caused by the setting you changed last. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, but a bit time consuming. Of course you can also post in this forum and we will do our best to help you out.

Speed Problems

It has come to my attention that you may experience troubles such as "key sticking", movement, or other related problems, due to some of the settings in DosBox. If you are experiencing such problems, try lowering your cycles to 30000 and lowering the priority levels to high or normal.

Here are the things you should fool with based on your own PC's performance:

Output:

I have chosen Direct3d, as this gives me the best performance, and also let's me use hardware pixelshaders if I choose too. Surface and Overlay are the two most popular used settings in basic dosbox. All opengl*** increase graphics quality, but may also slow down your performance and all opengl***'s cause a loss in image sharpness.

Pixelshader:

In the example code I have it set to none, I suggest you try Daggerfall first to ensure it runs at a reasonable rate before adding extra features like pixelshading, pixelshading is designed to allow your graphics card
assist in the increasment of image quality. If you have Directx chosen as your output you will get hardware pixelshaders, otherwise you may or may not get software pixelshaders. They are placed in order of quality.

Memsize:

I have mine set at 63 which is the highest possible setting, I'm not sure if that really makes a difference in Daggerfall.

Frameskip:

Never underestimate the power of frameskip, many dosgames run great at up to 10 or more frames skipped, I have mine set a 2, I get an average of 25-30 FPS, and it has allowed me to have a nicer looking game with no "lag".

Aspect:

This seems to be more of a players preference. If you run the game at weird resolutions, on widescreens, or the like, you may notice the game screen is kinda squished. Aspect Correction with resize the game to it's default size, although some people may not like the amount of unused screen.

Scaler:

The most important part of DosBox quality controls. I have mine set at hq2x, which comes with this version of DosBox, and is the highest quality filter available. Your best choice of actions when finding the best scalar
for you is to mix and match the scalars and frameskips. I'd suggest adding pixelshaders after you've chosen a scalar, as you'll get a far greater increase in image quality with a scalar then you will with pixelshaders.

Advmame3x is the highest for basic DosBox, while Hq2x is the highest quality for this version.

None
Nothing, worse quality, best performance.

Normal2x
nearest neighbor upscaling, factor 2
uses minimum resources

Advmame2x
advanced upscaling, factor 2
uses enormous resources but seems to result in better image quality

Advmame3x
advanced upscaling, factor 3
uses enormous resources but seems to result in best image quality (does not consider hq2x), image is enhanced

in 3 ways(Only difference I seen between this and hq2x was an increase in the actual size of the image).

interp2x
advanced upscaling, factor 2
uses many resources but results in very good image quality
preferred choice of many.

Tv2x
advanced upscaling, factor 2
uses many resources, results in strong sharpened image with an interlaced-look (missing scanlines) but overall

good quality

Hq2x
advanced upscaling, factor 2
uses many many system resources, results in best image quality. Does not require opengl output.

Conclusion:

Fool around, here are some screenshots of my game:

Note the smoothness of the words:

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/9009/screen16kt.gif

Note my superiorly powerful character:

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/8123/screen21en.gif

Note the low amount of pixelation:

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/3483/screen30nh.gif

*none of these screenshots were enhanced in anyway, they are taken directly by DosBox.

My current system is:

AMD 64 3700
ATI x800XT PE
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS

I run Daggerfall using the previously mentioned dosbox configurations and have also since turned on 2xsai_srgb.fx pixel shading. I have also increased my sound quality from 11025 to 22050 under all soundcards.

As Mechaexailious stated, you can now create a shortcut to DosBox, replace it's icon with the Daggerfall icon, and place it on your desktop! You now have a Daggerfall emulator!

Good Luck!

Mushroomhead88

December 31 2005, 15:39

If those are real screenshots, then ill need to try this!

However it's new years eve, so i have other things to be doing

DaGrooved1

December 31 2005, 15:51

QUOTE

If those are real screenshots, then ill need to try this!

However it's new years eve, so i have other things to be doing

Yeah, they are real screenshots, and yes, it is New Years Eve, but I live such a depressing life I actually did this guide for fun.

Drakin030

January 02 2006, 21:33

Is there a way that you can play the game with the screen for the game not so itty bitty? Its just to squinched for me.

.XI.

January 02 2006, 22:08

Wow, after struggling with regular DosBox this one rocks. I have mine set to 30,000 and 2 frame skip with Direct3D and pixel shaders and it runs a LOT smoother. In fact it feels normal now. Much like the screenshots the graphics look a lot better too! Everything is smoothed over very nice!

Thanks for this info! It's running better then I have ever seen it run and look before seriously!

DaGrooved1

January 03 2006, 01:28

QUOTE

Is there a way that you can play the game with the screen for the game not so itty bitty? Its just to squinched for me.

If the game is too small, try fooling around with the first 4 options, or just increase the amount of hardware scaling my increasing the number under hwscale

Drakin030

January 03 2006, 07:22

QUOTE(DaGrooved1 @ Jan 3 2006, 06:28 AM)

If the game is too small, try fooling around with the first 4 options, or just increase the amount of hardware scaling my increasing the number under hwscale

I have tried playing with the first 4 settings. Such as Higher resolutions fixed full screen and even the HWscale. It never made a difference for me. However when I was playing with it last night I noticed the thing that made the difference from itty bitty screen to normal screen was the [Render] section. When I played with that it would make it bigger but it would take away the good look to the game, kind of defeating the pourpose.

Did anyone else have an issue with the small screen?

Ill play with it more and see what else I can come up with.

Drakin030

January 03 2006, 07:42

GOT IT :-D

It was just a matter of playing around alittle bit more but I have it to where its looking great now.

DaGrooved1

January 03 2006, 09:55

Glad to hear you got it working

QuinnDexter

January 03 2006, 15:15

It's good to see that someone figured out how to make Daggerfall 2 run well under dos box. Thanks for helping people out : )

Quinn Dexter

Powerc80

January 04 2006, 19:08

Maybe this post should be sticked?

Perceval

January 05 2006, 08:04

Anyone tried this CVS build with Battlespire? Does it run smoothly?

Cluey

January 05 2006, 14:17

I am using this method to run Arena, but with no luck, the mouse works fine now at least but in game it is VERY laggy mouse and movement. I am using your settings (minus the Daggerfall shortcuts). I've tried fooling around wth the settings but it is rather hard pin-pointing what needs to be done.

DaGrooved1

January 05 2006, 14:37

I haven't tried my method with Arena, I'll tell you what though, I'll dl it tomorrow (tis rather late right now) and see if I can update my guide with some instructions for Arena.

edit: Gah, I said tomorrow but I'm already downloading it

, guess I'll give you an update in an hour or so.

edit: I'm pretty sure I've figured it out, but my DirectX/Drivers messed up and now I gotta fix that.

Cluey

January 06 2006, 08:17

Thanks, I'll look forward to that. It's a shame I cant find Daggerfall anywhere, that game looks awesome!

DaGrooved1

January 06 2006, 14:49

Guide for Arena!

INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS:

1.DOWNLOAD ARENA FROM BETHESDA'S WEBSITE

2.RUN THE .EXE AND CHOOSE DRIVE C:\ TO EXTRACT ARENA TO C:\ARENA

3.GO TO C:\ARENA AND RUN INSTALL.EXE, MAKE SURE IT SAYS SOUNDBLASTER OR SB16...etc..AT THE TOP OF THE SCREEN (If not go to configure game, and choose soundblaster for both sound and music)

Now that it's installed download this version of DosBox
(note: this may also be an out of date version, read the top of my Daggerfall guide for more info.)

http://my.netian.com/~ykhwong/20060130.zip

It's gotta few more advanced settings then the DosBox in my first post, but I also noticed that it loses a small amount of quality and pixels are a bit more visible, I believe this is due to an excellent scaler optomizer that was put into this build, but it still looks and runs great for me. Here are my current settings for it, go to the folder where you installed DosBox, and open DosBox.conf with notepad, if you want you may paste these settings over the current ones:

CODE

[sdl]
# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullfixed -- Don't resize the screen when in fullscreen.
# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen, use together with fullfixed.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,openglhq,ddraw,direct3d.
# hwscale -- Extra scaling of window if the output device supports hardware scaling.
# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lower,normal,higher,highest.
#             Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.
# pixelshader -- Pixelshader program to use for resizing: none,point.fx,bilinear.fx,scale2x.fx,2xsai.fx.
# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.

fullscreen=true
fulldouble=true
fullfixed=true
fullresolution=0x0
output=direct3d
hwscale=1.00
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=highest,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
pixelshader=2xSaI_sRGB.fx
usescancodes=false

[dosbox]
# language -- Select another language file.
# memsize -- Amount of memory dosbox has in megabytes.
# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=63

[log]
# Message not Found!

logfile=
vga=true
vgagfx=true
vgamisc=true
int10=true
sblaster=true
dma=true
fpu=true
cpu=true
paging=true
fcb=true
files=true
ioctl=true
exec=true
dosmisc=true
pit=true
keyboard=true
pic=true
mouse=true
bios=true
gui=true
misc=true
io=true

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
# smartupdate -- Update dosbox screen only if its contents were changed.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
#           Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,normal4x,advmame2x,advmame3x,advinterp2x,interp2x,hq2x,
#           tv, tv2x, tvadvmame2x, tvhq2x.
# tvmode -- Show TV scanlines whenever is possible.
# overscan -- Width of blended overscan border.
# overscanstrength -- Strength of blended overscan border (ratio of overscan color vs pixel color).

frameskip=2
smartupdate=false
aspect=true
scaler=hq2x
tvmode=false
overscan=0
overscanstrength=0

[vsync]
# vsyncmode -- Synchronize vsync timing to the host display. Requires calibration within dosbox.
#              Supported are off,on,force.
# vsyncrate -- Vsync rate used if vsync is enabled.

vsyncmode=off
vsyncrate=75.023426

[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: simple,normal,full,dynamic.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.
#           Setting this higher than your machine can handle is bad! (unless timesynched is set)
# cycleup   -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown    Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.
# timesynched -- Do not emulate more cycles than possible.
# showcycles -- Display the number of emulated cycles in the titlebar (uses some CPU).

core=dynamic
cycles=50000
cycleup=500
cycledown=20
timesynched=true
showcycles=true

[vga]
# svgachipset -- Select one of the following supported SVGA chipsets:
#                s3 (default), et4000, et4000new, et3000, pvga1a, or none.
#                Full chipset name (like 'Tseng ET4000') will also work
#                as long as it contains one of the strings above.
# videoram -- Amount of video memory on emulated SVGA. Not all emulated
#             chipsets support this setting.

svgachipset=et4000new
videoram=2048

[mixer]
# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will
#         probably lower their sound quality.
# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering
#              but sound will also be more lagged.
# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
# mpu401      -- Enable MPU-401 Emulation.
# intelligent -- Operate in Intelligent mode.
# device      -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
#                This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,mt32,none.
# mt32rate    -- Sample rate of MT32 emulation
# config      -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put
#                the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.

mpu401=true
intelligent=true
device=default
mt32rate=22050
config=

[debug]
# Debugger related options.

[sblaster]
# sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.
# base,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.
# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the dosbox mixer.
# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.
#            On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.
# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.
# sbrem -- Supress set statements of sblaster.

sbtype=sb16
base=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050
sbrem=true

[gus]
# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
# base,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the
#            Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)
# rate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory.  In this directory
#             there should be a MIDI directory that contains
#             the patch files for GUS playback.  Patch sets used
#             with Timidity should work fine.
# gusrem -- Supress set statements of GUS.

gus=false
rate=22050
base=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND
gusrem=true

[speaker]
# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).
#          For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[printer]
# printer -- Enable printer emulation.
# dpi -- Resolution of printer (default 360).
# width -- Width of paper in 1/10 inch (default 85 = 8.5'').
# height -- Height of paper in 1/10 inch (default 110 = 11.0'').
# printoutput -- Output method for finished pages:
#           png     : Creates PNG images in the DOSBOX directory
#           ps      : Creates Postscript documents in the DOSBOX directory (default)
#           bmp     : Creates BMP images (very huge files, not recommend)
#           printer : Send to an actual printer (Print dialog will appear)
# multipage -- Adds all pages to one Postscript file or printer job until ALT-F8 is pressed.

printer=true
dpi=360
width=85
height=110
printoutput=ps
multipage=false

[bios]
# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: none, 2axis, 4axis,
#                 fcs (Thrustmaster) ,ch (CH Flightstick).
#                 none disables joystick emulation.
#                 2axis is the default and supports two joysticks.

joysticktype=2axis

[serial]
# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.
#              Can be disabled, dummy, modem, directserial.
#              Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
#              parameter:value. Parameters for all types are irq, startbps, bytesize,
#              stopbits, parity (all optional).
#              for directserial: realport (required).
#              for modem: listenport (optional).

serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[glide]
# glide - Enable glide emulation: true,false.
# port - I/O port to use with host communication.

glide=false
port=300

[dos]
# xms -- Enable XMS support.
# ems -- Enable EMS support.
# umb -- Enable UMB support (false,true,max).

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true

[ipx]
# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.

ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

mount c c:\
C:
chdir Arena
Arena

If you really need a performance boost when running Daggerfall , you might want to give this version a try aswell, just replace the last part of

CODE

chdir Arena
Arena

CODE

chdir Dagger
fall.exe z.cfg

Adjusting the settings is as easy as adjusting them in the first guide above, there is practically no difference, except the following:

Any scaler with TV in it (ie: TVHq2x) are the exact same as their regular counterparts, only with TV scanlines put overthem.

If you do plan on playing Daggerfall with this exact config, I suggest you set
CODE
core=dynamic
to
CODE
core=normal
under the CPU settings, or else Daggerfall with get awfully glitchy for you.

As you can tell there are a lot of new settings in this version, but it's somewhat useless for me to explain them all here, as the only ones that really affect performance are the ones I already listed in the previous guide.

Good luck!

Cluey

January 07 2006, 04:45

Wow, thanks so much for that. The game is so much more fun to play with a decent mouse and framerate.

This should be stickied.

DaGrooved1

January 07 2006, 07:25

Glad it worked! It's hard to find solutions to other peoples problems with DosBox, with the new CVS builds your hardware's capabilities play a huge role.

Now if I could only get Arena in the title.

Misterhamper

January 07 2006, 23:54

I did exactly everything you said. I used 40MB XP-installer to install it, and used your text to that special DOSBox-version you mentioned. Everything i did like it said i should, but i have no sounds nor music, then i play

What should i do?

And what about the patch? Should i install that too? And how do i install the patch?

DaGrooved1

January 08 2006, 07:54

Ok, well see, the big bold text:

THIS GUIDE ASSUMES YOU HAVE DAGGERFALL INSTALLED!

That means this guide only works if you already have configured your Digital and MIDI settings in the setup, I never added a guide for installing Daggerfall. If you can't get sound or music go to your Daggerfall folder, and run SETUP.exe, then select SoundBlaster Pro for your Digital Sound and MPU-401 for your MIDI.

As for the patch I believe you can just run the patch, in my case it's Dag213.exe, and it should patch the game without being run in DosBox.

Misterhamper

January 08 2006, 07:57

Oh, thanks. I got it working now

Jormungandr

January 08 2006, 08:49

The WinXP installer automatically patches Daggerfall up to date witht he 213 patch

So there's no need to patch again.

DaGrooved1

January 08 2006, 09:03

Ahh, well thats good, I never actually used it, I have Dagerfall on my HDD that I took out of my old win95 machine

Divinius

January 08 2006, 16:08

Ok, I got it all running, but I kinda would rather play it in a window than full-screen (I know, I'm proabably the only one).

I changed the "fullscreen" tag to "false" in the DOSbox config, and it does indeed keep it in a window, but the now mouse doesn't work (it worked when I ran it fullscreen). I can still move the windows mouse pointer around, but I can not get it to lock into the window and use the game's mouse cursor. It works fine in Arena with it windowed, but not with Daggerfall. I tried playing with some other settings, like the "autolock" thing, but nothing seems to help.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

DaGrooved1

January 08 2006, 16:37

I believe you can press CTRL + F10 to lock the mouse aswell.

Divinius

January 08 2006, 16:50

QUOTE(DaGrooved1 @ Jan 8 2006, 09:37 PM)

I believe you can press CTRL + F10 to lock the mouse aswell.

That worked. You rock. I'm not sure how I missed that. I swear I read all the instructions for DOSbox...

Jormungandr

January 08 2006, 16:51

This is an excellent guide, DaGrooved, Daggerfall has never looked so good or ran so well!

However, dosbox's screenshot function (CTRL+F5, assuming you created a "capture" folder in your dosbox directory) does not produce the quality picture I see in the game or like the screens in your sig. It seems dosbox takes the screenshot before applying the scaler or pixelshaders

Am I correct in assuming you used printscreen to get your shots?

[edit] Ahh, yes, printscreen does make better screens. Not quite the same size as yours, however. Pity, I enjoyed Dosboxes screen function for its convenience. Now if I want quality screens, I'll have to take them one at a time.

DaGrooved1

January 09 2006, 01:27

I believe I used fraps to capture the screenshots in my sig.

Cow Guru

January 09 2006, 08:24

After finishing the Chargen, the screen goes black and nothing happens...... help.

DaGrooved1

January 09 2006, 09:09

After finishing the Chargen? That's interesting, I've never heard of that problem before, I've had it go black after finishing the intro movie, but never after character creation, have you tried running it in both window and fullscreen? I know that was my problem before, the intro could play fine, but the game couldn't figure out how to fit the menu on the screen while in fullscreen, that's pretty much all I can tell you, try changing your aspect and resolution settings, or try setting resolution to 0x0 to use your default desktop resolution.

Also, it's best if you post your problems here instead of PM'ing me, that way other members can help you!

Jormungandr

January 09 2006, 10:25

QUOTE(Cow Guru @ Jan 9 2006, 12:24 PM)

After finishing the Chargen, the screen goes black and nothing happens...... help.

After what screen, exactly, did it do this?
Did it play any of the videos? (the book one or the Emperor/Ocato one)

Cow Guru

January 11 2006, 08:36

It didn't play any of the videos, no. It doesn't matter - it's working now. I didn't change anything bar restart the computer, but for some reason that seemed to work. Hmm.

EDIT: Perhaps I was too hopeful. It works fine for a bit, then my right speaker helpfully says "BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP", and when I use movement keys my character kind of.... keeps... moving. Even when I let go of the key, he keeps moving. As you can imagine, running unwillingly headon into a pixellated wall for all eternity is quite upsetting, and not the Daggerfall experience I expected.
Then my speaker says "BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP" again.

DaGrooved1

January 11 2006, 09:13

Ok, I have no idea how to help you because I've never heard of DosBox doing that.

Jormungandr

January 11 2006, 11:21

QUOTE(DaGrooved1)

If you need help installing Daggerfall under WindowsXP please use the Daggerfall Windows XP installer found
here (41mb)

http://files.filefront.com/dagnt5x/;900719;;/fileinfo.html

<snip>

FIRST!

If you want to copy my DosBox.conf file directly your gonna need to "crack" Daggerfall so it no longer requires

the CD, I do this, and suggest you do this as a Daggerfall CD is not something you come across often. First up,

1. Install daggerfall with the largest install size (about 450Mb).
2. Copy all the files from the arena2 directory on the cd into arena2 on your hard disk. There should only be a few that aren't already on there, mainly the sky##.dat files and the movies. The latter are optional.
3. Install the CompUSA patch.
4. Install patch 213.
5. Install the latest version of Fixsave (v1.75).
6. Change the setting in z.cfg that shows where the cd path is to the arena2 directory on hard disk, e.g. pathcd=c:\dagger\arena2

You might want to clarify that:
1. Pretty much everyone will have trouble installing Daggerfall from the CD, so they should go ahead and use the WinXP installer.
2. The WinXP installer automatically installs and patches the game with the .213 patch. There's no need to do it again. Of course, it doesn't give the CompUSA patch (which only gives more quests, not stability) and the fixsave it comes with is only v1.71, so those are fine.

DaGrooved1

January 11 2006, 11:24

I believe I was doing that while you were typing this post

, but thank you, would you mind reading it again? Your input is most welcome

zweetvoetje

January 11 2006, 11:53

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but the priority settings were too high for me. I've changed it to normal,lower. Ohterwise the keyboard-inputs get delayed too much...

Jormungandr

January 11 2006, 13:30

QUOTE(DaGrooved1 @ Jan 11 2006, 03:24 PM)

I believe I was doing that while you were typing this post

, but thank you, would you mind reading it again? Your input is most welcome

Looks great

And Cow Guru: that's just nuts. I've never heard of that happening before

What it sounds like is the beeping you get when you hold down a key too long; it's beeping to tell you to stop pressing the key. Naturally, this sort of thing shouldn't happen in Daggerfall. The only thought I have about it is that perhaps you have your settings a bit high and your computer is working too hard to be able to keep up with the keystroke input that's being sent to it. That would cause it to be delayed and overdo things like you describe, and also possible to beep at you to lay off and give it a break.

But thats' just a guess.

.XI.

January 11 2006, 22:32

QUOTE

[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: simple,normal,full,dynamic.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.
# Setting this higher than your machine can handle is bad! (unless timesynched is set)
# cycleup -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.
# timesynched -- Do not emulate more cycles than possible.
# showcycles -- Display the number of emulated cycles in the titlebar (uses some CPU).

core=dynamic
cycles=50000
cycleup=500
cycledown=20
timesynched=true
showcycles=true

wanted to reply to this portion of the config file. If I set core=dynamic on my computer, I get all sorts of graphical anomalies. Totally unplayable If I put it there. I have had the msot success with core=normal or core=full. In fact I can't tell much of a difference between them.

Also, 'timesynched=true" this is the most significant difference between normal dosbox and dosboxCVS. This is what allows Daggerfall to utilize "what it needs" instead of being forced to the arbitrary number chosen. This is the biggest performance change.

Anyway, just wanted to post some analysis of the second settings.

Also, on the top of the file fullresolution=0x0 should be set to 1024x768. This does not effect the actual game but rather Dosbox and it's running resolution from my experience. Setting it to something odd can result in your monitor not displaying anything when you goto fullscreen.

Cheers!

DaGrooved1

January 12 2006, 11:18

You are following the Arena Guide, in the first Daggerfall guide the CPU is set to normal, if you read the bottem part of the arena guide you will see I have said:

QUOTE

If you do plan on playing Daggerfall with this exact config, I suggest you set
CODE
core=dynamic
to
CODE
core=normal
under the CPU settings, or else Daggerfall with get awfully glitchy for you.

As for fullresolution=0x0 that tells DosBox to start in the same resolution as your desktop, so if your desktop is 1024x768, dosbox will use that resolution.

Cow Guru

January 14 2006, 07:05

QUOTE(Jormungandr @ Jan 11 2006, 11:30 PM)

Looks great

And Cow Guru: that's just nuts. I've never heard of that happening before

It turned out I had my CPU cycles a bit high. Mine is an AMD 64 3400+, so I assumed I'd be alright with settings close to the OP's.

Damn, this game is tough. My Battlemage keeps getting killed by a giant bat. >:(

DaGrooved1

January 14 2006, 08:17

Did you have time synched set to true?

Cow Guru

January 14 2006, 08:22

Yes. That is odd.

VillageIdiot

January 18 2006, 05:47

QUOTE(DaGrooved1 @ Jan 8 2006, 01:54 PM)

Ok, well see, the big bold text:

THIS GUIDE ASSUMES YOU HAVE DAGGERFALL INSTALLED!

Ah, that's where I flunk again. I can't use Dosbox to install Daggerfall, because daggerfall must be installed first. Idiots like me need a walkthrough on how to install Daggerfall in Windows XP. Then we can play with Dosbox.

Divinius

January 18 2006, 08:15

QUOTE(VillageIdiot @ Jan 18 2006, 10:47 AM)

Not sure how anyone else did it, but all I had to do was run that WinXP Daggerfall installer program that DaGrooved1 linked to in the first post, and then, in DOSbox, just ran the setup program to configure the sound. That seemed to work for me.

EDIT: Oh, And you can run DOSbox just fine without installing Daggerfall first, just leave off the last line of the config file that actually runs the game.

P.S. This thread deserves stickyness, IMO.

Brigadeer

January 18 2006, 08:49

Wow, you've put a lot of time into this. Would this same set-up
allow me to 'port' ARENA or DAGGERFALL to a Linux box, (assuming that I copy over game assets from a windows box and use the Linux version of DOSBOX)? Have you heard of anyone porting Bethesda Softworks games for Linux?

Thanks.

DaGrooved1

January 18 2006, 09:42

Don't quote me on this, but I'm assuming a Dos game can be run in any Dos emulator no matter what OS that emulator is running on, I could be way off on that though.

.XI.

January 22 2006, 00:21

QUOTE(VillageIdiot @ Jan 18 2006, 09:47 AM)

You can use DosBox to install Daggerfall actually. You simply have to assign DosBox a certain chunk of your Hard Drive before you run the installer.

Heres the way to do it:

mount c c:\ -freesize 1000 (-freesize sets the drive in Megabytes)

Now you can install the game via DosBox.(You'll still have to copy the arena2 Directory from the CD over the top of the one on the HDD. This adds the videos and some missing art that isn't normally installed.)

Cheers!

steevz

January 30 2006, 15:41

Awesome, I justed used all your configs and it works like a dream on my computer. Thanks alot dude. Oh the nostalgia!

Jormungandr

January 30 2006, 17:34

Well, my only problem is that I get very choppy in buildings. Dungeons are just fine, they run like a dream; it's just buildings that are in towns. Taverns and the Mages Guild, for instance, are just annoyingly choppy.

Has anyone else run into this problem or have any advice on how to remedy it? So far, my efforts have come to naught

DaGrooved1

January 30 2006, 18:03

That's very odd, when you first mentioned this it absolutely baffled me. It makes no sense! There are far more things going on in dungeons and outside then in a store. I fear it will be quite hard for me to replicate your problem but I'll look into it.

edit:

QUOTE

Awesome, I justed used all your configs and it works like a dream on my computer. Thanks alot dude. Oh the nostalgia!

No problem, just glad to see people getting back into the classics of TES.

steevz

January 30 2006, 19:13

QUOTE(Jormungandr @ Jan 30 2006, 08:34 PM)

Hmm... I just realized I am having the same issue. I realized it when I walked into a Palace. Other than that it works perfectly.

QUOTE

That's very odd, when you first mentioned this it absolutely baffled me. It makes no sense! There are far more things going on in dungeons and outside then in a store.

I agree, there is alot more going on and it runs more smoothly. It's strange but it's not that big of an problem, for me atleast.

Static_Nation

January 30 2006, 20:11

http://ykhwong.x-y.net/

latest version at
http://my.netian.com/~ykhwong/20060130.zip

jan 30 2006 build

Jormungandr

January 30 2006, 20:53

QUOTE(Static_Nation @ Jan 31 2006, 12:11 AM)

http://ykhwong.x-y.net/

latest version at
http://my.netian.com/~ykhwong/20060130.zip

jan 30 2006 build

Ah, very nice

Sheesh, it looks as if they release a new version every other week

Well, performance has noticibly improved. Even my indoor problem has lessened slightly.

.XI.

January 30 2006, 21:07

Something else to try.

In daggerfall, if you lower the ingame performance setting it can improve performance. This setting adjusts the view distance, so if you set it to half, it still looks decent and seems to make the game run better.

Arena runs a LOT better if you do this.

Give it a shot.

DaGrooved1

January 31 2006, 06:57

Thanks Static_Nation, I'll check it out, if nothing has changed I'll replace the link in the guide.

edit: Ahh yes, this is a newer version of the one I used in my Arena guide, it uses that smart scaler performance enhancing patch.

Capucine

February 01 2006, 07:57

Thanks for the guide, I didn't realise DosBox was now able to improve the graphics so much. It's encouraged me to give Daggerfall and Arena another try.
I must say though that I experienced quite an odd problem using these setings; upon starting DosBox I would get a white screen slowly fading to black with an odd blue-tinged, corrupted ghost image of something I can't make out. It worked OK when not in fullscreen mode though, so I managed to fix it though by setting fullfixed to true, and by changing fullresolution from 320x200 to a more readable 1024x768. Does anyone know what the problem could have been there?
Now I just have to figue out how to get the sound working

DaGrooved1

February 01 2006, 09:12

Have you set your soundcard to SoundBlaster and MPU-401 in Daggerfall setup?

Capucine

February 01 2006, 10:08

QUOTE(DaGrooved1 @ Feb 1 2006, 08:12 PM)

Have you set your soundcard to SoundBlaster and MPU-401 in Daggerfall setup?

Aha, you beauty

Working like a charm now.

DaGrooved1

February 01 2006, 12:51

QUOTE

Aha, you beauty

Seboss

February 01 2006, 13:18

Eww I have a weird problem with Static_Nation's build.
As soon as I press any key on the keyboard, it seems like the key is repeated hundreds of time or not at all. I can't even type char name

DaGrooved1

February 01 2006, 13:26

Ewwwww! Curse you Static_Nation! Look what you've done, ewwww...

Seboss

February 01 2006, 13:36

It seems I have the problem with all builds of Dosbox after all, it's not Static_Nation related. My hardware changed quite a lot since the last time I played DF on Dosbox.

Anyway, that keyboard buffer problem or whatever make DF unplayable.
Oh bummer! With the hardware requirements for Oblivion online, I guess the game is just around the corner. Time for next gen soon!

Capucine

February 02 2006, 06:27

QUOTE(DaGrooved1 @ Feb 1 2006, 11:51 PM)

Sorry

British phrase meaning you're a thoroughly excellent chap.
Although...

Ahem. Does anyone have any tips for using the cheats in Daggerfall? (I know, shame on me...) I notice one or two also appear to be DosBox shortcuts.

Jormungandr

February 02 2006, 07:14

QUOTE(Capucine @ Feb 2 2006, 10:27 AM)

Sorry

British phrase meaning you're a thoroughly excellent chap.
Although...

Ahem. Does anyone have any tips for using the cheats in Daggerfall? (I know, shame on me...) I notice one or two also appear to be DosBox shortcuts.

If you have "cheatmode=1" in your z.cfg file, then they are as follows:

pressing "1" sets the game speed much faster, so you can dash through towns and the wilderness with great haste. Do note that this affects everything else, too. So that mob of city guards chasing you is also greatly accelerated

"-" and "+" One of these raises your skills, the other your reputations.

"[" and "]" take you through all the possibly quest item locations in your current dungeon.

And, I believe it's "CTRL+F1" and "CTRL+F4" One of them reveals ALL world map locations, and the other toggles god-mode.

DaGrooved1

February 02 2006, 09:07

Perhaps I'll add this link to the guide following my little note on enabling cheats in the z.cfg.

http://www.cheatscodesguides.com/pc-cheats/daggerfall/

edit: Guide Updated.

Perhaps I may also try my hand at writting a tweak guide for Oblivion, as it seems many people will be in need of one

.

2nd Edit: I SPELLED OBLIVION WRONG!

Capucine

February 02 2006, 12:25

QUOTE(Jormungandr @ Feb 2 2006, 06:14 PM)

And, I believe it's "CTRL+F1" and "CTRL+F4" One of them reveals ALL world map locations, and the other toggles god-mode.

These are the ones I'm having trouble with. CTRL+F1 gives me a keyboard layout screen in DosBox, and CTRL+F4 seems to do nothing at all

CTRL+F9 also is supposed to give you 5000 gold, but this just exits DosBox...

King of Worms

February 02 2006, 12:30

QUOTE(Capucine @ Feb 2 2006, 05:25 PM)

These are the ones I'm having trouble with. CTRL+F1 gives me a keyboard layout screen in DosBox, and CTRL+F4 seems to do nothing at all

CTRL+F9 also is supposed to give you 5000 gold, but this just exits DosBox...

That's just the nature of DOSBOX.
It reads the keyboard input and then passes them onto the game.
Unfortunately, DOSBOX recognizes those key combinations as instructions, and so exectues them instead of passing them on to the game. I don't know anyway around it, but I don't use dosbox, try reading through the readme file.

lostlogic

February 02 2006, 15:39

QUOTE(Capucine @ Feb 2 2006, 06:25 PM)

These are the ones I'm having trouble with. CTRL+F1 gives me a keyboard layout screen in DosBox, and CTRL+F4 seems to do nothing at all

CTRL+F9 also is supposed to give you 5000 gold, but this just exits DosBox...

You need to edit or create a mapper.txt file in the dosbox directory.

Here's the one I use, be sure to copy and paste everything, any key not mapped in the mapper.txt file will not be useable in dosbox.

QUOTE

hand_shutdown "key 290 mod1 mod2"
hand_capmouse "key 291 mod1"
hand_fullscr "key 13 mod2"
hand_pause "key 19"
hand_mapper ""
hand_scrshot "key 286 mod1"
hand_decfskip "key 288 mod1"
hand_incfskip "key 289 mod1"
hand_cycledown "key 292 mod1"
hand_cycleup "key 293 mod1"
hand_recwave "key 287 mod1"
hand_caprawmidi "key 289 mod1 mod2"
hand_caprawopl "key 288 mod1 mod2"
hand_swapimg ""
key_esc "key 27"
key_f1 "key 282"
key_f2 "key 283"
key_f3 "key 284"
key_f4 "key 285"
key_f5 "key 286"
key_f6 "key 287"
key_f7 "key 288"
key_f8 "key 289"
key_f9 "key 290"
key_f10 "key 291"
key_f11 "key 292"
key_f12 "key 293"
key_grave "key 96"
key_1 "key 49" "key 257"
key_2 "key 50" "key 258"
key_3 "key 51" "key 259"
key_4 "key 52" "key 260"
key_5 "key 53" "key 261"
key_6 "key 54" "key 262"
key_7 "key 55" "key 263" "key 263"
key_8 "key 56" "key 264"
key_9 "key 57" "key 265"
key_0 "key 48" "key 256" "key 256"
key_minus "key 45"
key_equals "key 61"
key_bspace "key 8"
key_tab "key 9"
key_q "key 113"
key_w "key 119"
key_e "key 101"
key_r "key 114"
key_t "key 116"
key_y "key 121"
key_u "key 117"
key_i "key 105"
key_o "key 111"
key_p "key 112"
key_lbracket "key 91"
key_rbracket "key 93"
key_enter "key 13"
key_capslock "key 301"
key_a "key 97"
key_s "key 115"
key_d "key 100"
key_f "key 102"
key_g "key 103"
key_h "key 104"
key_j "key 106"
key_k "key 107"
key_l "key 108"
key_semicolon "key 59"
key_quote "key 39"
key_backslash "key 92"
key_lshift "key 304"
key_z "key 122"
key_x "key 120"
key_c "key 99"
key_v "key 118"
key_b "key 98"
key_n "key 110"
key_m "key 109"
key_comma "key 44"
key_period "key 46"
key_slash "key 47"
key_rshift "key 303"
key_lctrl "key 306"
key_lalt "key 308"
key_space "key 32"
key_ralt "key 307"
key_rctrl "key 305"
key_printscreen "key 316"
key_scrolllock "key 302"
key_pause "key 19"
key_insert "key 277"
key_home "key 278"
key_pageup "key 280"
key_delete "key 127"
key_end "key 279"
key_pagedown "key 281"
key_up "key 273"
key_left "key 276"
key_down "key 274"
key_right "key 275"
key_numlock "key 300"
key_kp_divide
key_kp_multiply
key_kp_minus
key_kp_7
key_kp_8
key_kp_9
key_kp_plus
key_kp_4
key_kp_5
key_kp_6
key_kp_1
key_kp_2
key_kp_3
key_kp_enter
key_kp_0
key_kp_period
mod_1 "key 306" "key 305"
mod_2 "key 308" "key 307"
mod_3

Mushroomhead88

February 02 2006, 15:59

QUOTE(Capucine @ Feb 2 2006, 05:25 PM)

These are the ones I'm having trouble with. CTRL+F1 gives me a keyboard layout screen in DosBox, and CTRL+F4 seems to do nothing at all

CTRL+F9 also is supposed to give you 5000 gold, but this just exits DosBox...

I somehow found a way around this... i believe that hitting the Fkeys before ctrl will make it work, and isnt a dosbox command.

Habile

February 02 2006, 16:38

Hmm, I keep getting some error...

EXIT to error: CPU:GRP5:Illegal call 7

Anyone have any suggestions? I had to turn off dynamic core due to a different error.

Lightning_FP

February 06 2006, 15:10

im a dumby could someone tell me how to create abatch file
i tride to make one in notepad but it still only comes up as a text file even after i save as all other files
thnx

Lightning_FP

February 06 2006, 15:53

nevermind got it thanx

zingar baltus

February 28 2006, 08:45

bump

Mark5

February 28 2006, 09:44

Thx DaGrooved. Follow the instructions and DF runs great. A little choppy perhaps but it's playable

jfunk

February 28 2006, 14:14

Thanks for this. I had no idea these graphics enhancement stuff existed in DOSBox. Daggerfall looks much sweeter now.

Just a note that I too am having the strange performance issue inside some buildings, most notably palaces and mages guild. Not sure where the issue is. Dosbox doesn't seem to be struggling, as the CPU cycles stay lower in these places than in many others. Manually setting the cycles up higher doesn't seem to make much difference either.

Specs are as follows:

3700+ San Diego
EVGA NF4 SLI Mobo
GF 7800GT 256
2GB PC3200 Dual Channel
SATA2 HD
WinXP Pro 32

Maybe if some others having that issue post their specs we can see if there are any consistencies.

jfunk

February 28 2006, 14:16

QUOTE(Lightning_FP @ Feb 6 2006, 08:10 PM)

im a dumby could someone tell me how to create abatch file
i tride to make one in notepad but it still only comes up as a text file even after i save as all other files
thnx

Notepad is probably sticking .TXT at the end of the fiule name even though you called it .BAT. Make sure it is named XXX.BAT and not XXX.BAT.TXT

j

DaGrooved1

February 28 2006, 15:29

QUOTE

No problem, it seems my topic has been mysteriously bumped? Hmmm? Baltus? Anywho, many other people, including myself, are also highly confused about this "inside building" lag, as it defies almost all Elder Scroll hardware logic, inside a house in Balmora I got 60fps! Outside I got 10! Yet in Daggerfall some get 60fps outside and 10 inside? I'm also having trouble solving this problem as I myself do not seem to have it! I also fear all the orginal Daggerfall programers are too long gone to lend us any assitance...

Mark5

March 01 2006, 08:48

So far I seem to get best performance with settings below. Get about 15-20fps on average in a crowded city like Daggerfall. About the same in dungeons. Hope Oblivion runs better

jan 30 2006 build

fullscreen=false
fulldouble=false
fullfixed=false
fullresolution=0x0
output=direct3d
pixelshader=none
memsize=63

frameskip=0
scaler=tv2x

core=normal
timesynched=true

Win XP SP2
A64 3000+
1 gig ram
6600gt
Audigy2

I get horrible performance inside taverns, like 3-4fps. Shops and temples runs a little better.

DaGrooved1

March 01 2006, 09:21

Well, I'm not sure why you don't play Fullscreen, that improves performance, make sure your cylces under CPU are set to something like 50000, I personally don't like any tv scalars, but I guess that's personal preference, you should be getting a lot better. Have you tried downloading the version in my guide (install it to a "test" folder so you don't overwrite your current DosBox) and pasting my settings in it? I know a lot of the newer builds feature a lot of things like scalar performance patches and the like. I decided to stay with the version in my guide because all versions after that contain the scalar patch and I (could only be me) noticed a slight loss in image quality. However it seems it might be in my best interest to update the guide and just link to the newer versions as many people seem to be having performance troubles. I would do an overhaul if I could find the time! Right now I have to go for a haircut, then tomorrow I have a dentist appointment!

Taemos

March 01 2006, 09:28

DaGrooved1

March 01 2006, 09:37

Congratz Taemos, your quote has been added to the guide under the cheat link! Now I'm gone to get my mop chopped.

Mark5

March 01 2006, 09:52

I use windowed mode to see fps, but fullscreen doesnt seem to give much increase in performance anyway. CPucycles is set to 50000.

I followed your instructions by the letter, tried the build linked in your 1st post and tried your settings. It worked without problems except for poor framerate.

Then tried the later build but it didnt do much for performance I think. I've experienced with ots of different settings. Different outputs, scalars, frameskips etc. Doesnt seem to be much difference in fps between any of the scalar-modes. But lowering frameskip improves frame-rate.

DaGrooved1

March 01 2006, 11:00

Ok, you should notice a huge difference in framerate between normal and something like advmame3x.

Frameskip is designed to lower your FPS. You see scalers in DosBox arn't like AA or AF in a normal DirectX game, what DosBox actually does it take each frame and apply the effect to it, just like if you opened up mspaint and drew a line and saved it. Frameskip lowers the amount of frames that DosBox draws, so a frame skip of 1 removes every 2nd frame, meaning DosBox only has to do half the work. That's great if your getting 70 fps normally, and want to use a higher scaler, as setting frameskip to one will give you better image quality at a still excellent 35 fps.

Set Output to Surface

Set Frameskip to 0

Try it with scaler set to "none"

Then try it with scaler set to "advmame3x"

If you don't notice an FPS difference, it's probably not DosBox causing your problem.

Mark5

March 02 2006, 10:50

Strange, none and advmame3x (fullscreen) give roughly the same performance. I have nothing cpu-hungry in the bg.

Duouk2000

March 03 2006, 04:29

Cheers for the guide DaGrooved1, that came in really handy

jfunk

March 13 2006, 08:31

Can we get this thread stickied please?

There are "why is this so slow" posts constantly and it's really annoying.

Not that this will prevent these people from posting anyway, being that they clearly haven't read ANY of the instructions even for using Dosbox at all, but at least it will be up there in their face so even when the search function is out there is no excuse.

DaGrooved1

March 13 2006, 09:05

I highly doubt it will ever get stickied, but I would like a mod to add "and Arena" to the title, as it contains guides for both, I'm to scared to PM them though

, damn scary mods, my parents used to tell me that Freddo would get me at night if I didn't eat my vegetables.

edit: I spelled vegetables wrong, still don't regret me grade 3 heducashun.

Misterhamper

March 16 2006, 22:59

I want my DAGGER-folder to be in Program Files, as in C:\Program Files\Dagger
What do i have to change in the last line in order for that to work?
Thanks alot

DaGrooved1

March 17 2006, 06:06

Ok, to get Daggerfall working from C:\Program Files I had to do the following:

For Daggerfall I changed the Z.cfg file under path and cdpath too:

CODE

path c:\PROGRA~1\dagger\arena2\
pathcd c:\PROGRA~1\dagger\arena2\

If you arn't using the no cd then don't bother to change the pathcd.

Then I went into DosBox.conf and changed the last autoexec lines too:

CODE

mount c c:\
C:
chdir PROGRA~1
chdir Dagger
fall.exe z.cfg

King of Worms

March 17 2006, 10:54

QUOTE(DaGrooved1 @ Mar 17 2006, 11:06 AM)

mount c c:\
C:
chdir PROGRA~1
chdir Dagger
fall.exe z.cfg

You can use CD instead of Chdir and you can use backslashes instead of having two lines.

In other words:
You can change

CODE

chdir progra~1
chdir dagger

CODE

cd progra~1\dagger

zingar baltus

March 24 2006, 04:37

*bump*

Someone needs this thread again.

Can we get this thread sticky or do we need to bribe someone?

ladykibble

March 25 2006, 07:25

This thread has officially made my life better. Daggerfall is one of my favorite games, and I had given up on trying to run it on XP. No matter how much I messed with it (VDMSound, whoo!), I still had my invisible monster/quest item problem, and when I ran it in DosBox it was horribly laggy and still didn't fix anything.

But now it's fixed!! I've owned this game for 10 years and never beaten it, but now I can!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Andrei Bolkonsky

March 25 2006, 14:24

Yes thank you. Arena is running much better too. I have a concern though:

I copied/pasted those notepad instructions into the file you instructed (this is for Arena) but it wouldn't let me save it. Am I supposed to save it? I got your version of Dosbox, but I don't think the modification I made for the instructions worked. When I open the file with notepad, it's still the same as before I copy/pasted yours. Do you know what I have to do?

dorovar

March 26 2006, 12:48

DaGrooved1, thank you so much! This is great!

Just 2-3 things though...

1) The videos don't play. They all freeze at the first frame, and yes, I did copy all of from from the cd to the c:\dagger\arena2\ folder. Any idea how to fix that?

2) The midi runs fine, but the music is different from when I used to play it. Different songs, and I'm not sure why.

3) No sound effects/voices. When I set them up in SETUP and tested the settings, it worked fine, but when I actually loaded the game, no sound effects at all. I used SoundBlaster Pro.

Other than that, it runs much better than the last time I tried toying around with DOSBox.

DaGrooved1, thank you so much! This is great!

Just 2-3 things though...

1) The videos don't play. They all freeze at the first frame, and yes, I did copy all of from from the cd to the c:\dagger\arena2\ folder. Any idea how to fix that?

2) The midi runs fine, but the music is different from when I used to play it. Different songs, and I'm not sure why.

3) No sound effects/voices. When I set them up in SETUP and tested the settings, it worked fine, but when I actually loaded the game, no sound effects at all. I used SoundBlaster Pro.

Other than that, it runs much better than the last time I tried toying around with DOSBox.

ladykibble

March 26 2006, 13:37

Dorovar:

You might want to try installing VDMSound - that solved my sound/video issues. Also, it seems to work better if you select regular 'ol SoundBlaster instead of Pro.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/vdmsound/

I also have different music play then the songs I remember. 10 years ago, I only had one song play for all the shops and taverns. Now I have a random-esque selection of 4 or 5.
O_o
I can only guess that it was always supposed to be that way and my computer's sound card 10 years ago sucked.

DaGrooved1

March 26 2006, 15:39

QUOTE

Just 2-3 things though...

1) The videos don't play. They all freeze at the first frame, and yes, I did copy all of from from the cd to the c:\dagger\arena2\ folder. Any idea how to fix that?

2) The midi runs fine, but the music is different from when I used to play it. Different songs, and I'm not sure why.

3) No sound effects/voices. When I set them up in SETUP and tested the settings, it worked fine, but when I actually loaded the game, no sound effects at all. I used SoundBlaster Pro.

Other than that, it runs much better than the last time I tried toying around with DOSBox.

Sorry, just got Oblivion, might take me a while to respond tehehe.

1.Let's see, videos stopping at first frame...have you running it from the cd? Or perhaps you might want to download DagVid, and see if it works in that, to ensure that it isn't a corrupt file.

2.Different songs? Uhh...I have no clue.

3. In my SETUP for daggerfall I have soundblaster pro for digital and MPU-401 for MIDI, are you sure you don't have them turned down in the game or something? Again I would recommend running the game from the CD first, to make sure it's not corrupt files, or perhaps a file you missed. Or you could trying VDM sound like ladykibble suggested, but I have no experience with it whatsoever.

dorovar

March 27 2006, 09:48

QUOTE(DaGrooved1 @ Mar 26 2006, 08:39 PM)

I tried running it from the cd and the videos work fine.
The music is still different, and a bit choppy, but the game runs at least!
I think in the end, I'm just gonna hook up my old computer JUST FOR daggerfall!

This is still great though, good work!

ItsPureLuck

April 03 2006, 20:42

Hey DaGroovd great guide you put up here, really appreciate it this is one of my all time favorite games. However, my problem occurs right in the start screen. When it gives me the option of creating a new game or loading one, the mouse movement is VERY choppy and unstable with very slow reactions. I tried to fix the cycles in DosBox, but that did not do anything and I don't think thats the problem since I have around the same computer specs as you so your config should work with mine. Any idea what the problem could possibly be? Thanks in advance.

Taemos

April 04 2006, 15:55

There's a newer version of DosBox out, which drastically improved my speed in Arena (and I've heard does the same for Daggerfall). I don't feel like messing around with CPU cycles, though, so I'll probably hold out for a CVS build that incorporates timesync.

Andrei Bolkonsky

April 05 2006, 13:11

I'm really having difficulty with this one. It runs on Windows (with all the weird glitches) but not on DOS Box. When I run it in DOS Box, the screen goes black. I've fiddled with the CPU's. I even went up to 1,000,000 and used up, according to the bar ontop, 999,999 of it.

My processor should be more than able to run it, it's 2.1Ghz. I've tried reseting the resolution to 0x0, cause like Dagrooved1 said about if it works with windows and not DOS, it's probably a resolution issue.

Very nice guide though, aymore suggestions?

DaGrooved1

April 05 2006, 14:30

If you downloaded the same version as in my guide, I'm pretty sure you can only set the cycles to a maximum of 100,000 or so, because I know that when I first made the guide, I had accidently put in 500,000 cylces with timesynched on, but 500,000 was too high so DosBox would go back to it's default setting of 18,000. Also , what output are you using?

Andrei Bolkonsky

April 05 2006, 19:46

QUOTE(DaGrooved1 @ Apr 5 2006, 04:30 PM)

Yeah. You know what I did was I changed the value when I found it was eating up 50,000. It was doing this of course when it stalled up as it always does. The screen just sits there black. I don't believe it's really using that much it's just stuttering or something.

By output, you mean 'direct3d'?--cause I basically just copy/pasted what you had. I know, I don't know much about DOS.

Hopefully that's it. I don't have a graphics card aside from the one my pc came with. Do I have to download something to make it compatable or do I need some hardware?

Thanks Dagrooved1, or, I think I'll call you the Daggerfall King!

Edit: good news and bad. Good news is interestingly enough I got it to run with your Arena DOS box (without any configuring though). Bad is, it's not even playable. But at least it's another step. At this point I'd love any suggestions anyone has to offer.

Octopuss

April 07 2006, 23:42

I can't get this to work at all. Using DOSBox 0.65. I want to play without the CD. If I add "set dos4gvm=@dagger.vmc" in the bat file and then run DOSBox with Dagger, it instantly crashes (whole DB I mean). If I leave it as it is, I get black screen. Wtf

edit:
I got whole Dagger in d:\hry\dagger
it's not possible to set cdpath the same?

DaGrooved1

April 08 2006, 06:50

First up, this is a guide for the CVS Builds of DosBox, DosBox .65 will not work with this guide, at all, ever. CVS DosBox has a lot of features that I use in this guide that normal DosBox does not support. There is a guide for running it under normal DosBox here:

http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=95645

Octopuss

April 08 2006, 20:12

damn. ok then

I might as well try your version of DB as well... nicer graphics won't hurt..

Octopuss

April 08 2006, 20:25

This is weird. Just tried your version of dosbox and.... and it looks same as original. I only am in Privateer's Hold, but I thought the graphical differences should be noticeable? Pixelation is same... The only real difference is that this one lags like hell

Aldea Donder

April 08 2006, 21:40

You, sir, are a god. A god, I say! That slowdown inside taverns and guilds is annoying as sin, though.

DaGrooved1

April 09 2006, 06:52

QUOTE

Pixelation is same... The only real difference is that this one lags like hell

1st, Does your game look like the one in my screenshots?

2nd, this guide was made strictly for HIGH END machines. I run it at a constant 35fps, which would be 70fps if I didn't have frameskip on.

QUOTE

That slowdown inside taverns and guilds is annoying as sin, though.

Yes, apparently a lot of people have been having that problem, and I am absolutely stumped, it defies all computer game logic, and I myself don't have it! If anyone out there has fixed this problem please tell me!

edit:

Also, note that the CVS DosBox linked in my first (Daggerfall) guide, is an older build, while the 2nd one (arena) is a newer build, the reason I keep the older one in the Daggerfall guide, is because a lot of CVS builds after it contain a "scaler" optomizer, which does improve performance, but does slightly decrease image quality (atleast on my 19 inch monitor) and since I made this guide for best quality for HIGH END machines, I decided not to change it. If you don't have a high end machine, try sticking with normal DosBox or a newer build of CVS and set Scaler to none, or read the bottom part of my daggerfall guide and find a good one that suits you.

Octopuss

April 09 2006, 09:05

I meant, pixelation is same as in normal version.
And hm, I don't have uber machine, but still I find it decent enough. XP 2600+ with 200MHz FSB, that should be pretty good...

DaGrooved1

April 09 2006, 10:48

QUOTE

I meant, pixelation is same as in normal version.
And hm, I don't have uber machine, but still I find it decent enough. XP 2600+ with 200MHz FSB, that should be pretty good...

If Pixelation is the same as in the normal version, and the game apparently runs better in the normal version, then why not use the normal version? I was just telling you that my guide is incompatible with the normal version.

Sigilstun

April 09 2006, 11:52

Is there another place that I can get that version of cvs dosbox? I keep getting an error every time I try to unzip the one I get from the link in the original post.

vorakesh

April 09 2006, 12:52

QUOTE(Sigilstun @ Apr 9 2006, 03:52 PM)

Is there another place that I can get that version of cvs dosbox? I keep getting an error every time I try to unzip the one I get from the link in the original post.

Same here. It keeps saying unexpected ending or something like that and never unzips.

DaGrooved1

April 09 2006, 14:49

The link works fine for me, I am not sure of anyother places to get it because it's an older build.

Sigilstun

April 09 2006, 15:07

QUOTE(DaGrooved1 @ Apr 9 2006, 07:49 PM)

The link works fine for me, I am not sure of anyother places to get it because it's an older build.

Did you try to unzip the archive after you tested the download? The download link works fine for me as well, but I get the error when I try to unzip the archive.

DaGrooved1

April 09 2006, 15:21

QUOTE

Did you try to unzip the archive after you tested the download? The download link works fine for me as well, but I get the error when I try to unzip the archive.

Yep. unzips and runs fine for me aswell. Not sure what's causing your problem, I'll keep an eye out for another link.

vorakesh

April 09 2006, 16:02

QUOTE(DaGrooved1 @ Apr 9 2006, 07:21 PM)

Yep. unzips and runs fine for me aswell. Not sure what's causing your problem, I'll keep an eye out for another link.

I downloaded the Dosbox suggested for Arena, which unzipped fine and I made changes according to what was said. The game performance is way improved but everything looks kind of squished. Not sure what to do about that though.

Edit add: Correction, videos don't run either(like the intro), but everything else is great.

Aldea Donder

April 09 2006, 19:48

QUOTE

Funny, I can't get it to play well at all. If it's not too much trouble, could you copy and paste the contents of the Arena DOSBox config file you're using so I can try them myself? Perhaps I'm doing something wrong.

QUOTE

How many partitions do you have on your hard drive? Daggerfall likes to allocate its memory in strange places, perhaps it has something to do with that.

vorakesh

April 09 2006, 23:16

QUOTE(Aldea Donder @ Apr 9 2006, 11:48 PM)

Sure, I just got to Daggerfall though, and in addition to not being able to run videos, I am experiencing random crashes. Not really sure what that is about. It really annoys me that modern day PCs are not backwards compatible. Heck, I even have some of those old TSR DnD games which I can't play anymore*sigh*.

[sdl]
# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullfixed -- Don't resize the screen when in fullscreen.
# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen, use together with fullfixed.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,openglhq,ddraw,direct3d.
# hwscale -- Extra scaling of window if the output device supports hardware scaling.
# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lower,normal,higher,highest.
# Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.
# pixelshader -- Pixelshader program to use for resizing: none,point.fx,bilinear.fx,scale2x.fx,2xsai.fx.
# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.

fullscreen=true
fulldouble=true
fullfixed=true
fullresolution=0x0
output=direct3d
hwscale=1.00
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=highest,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
pixelshader=2xSaI_sRGB.fx
usescancodes=false

[dosbox]
# language -- Select another language file.
# memsize -- Amount of memory dosbox has in megabytes.
# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=63

[log]
# Message not Found!

logfile=
vga=true
vgagfx=true
vgamisc=true
int10=true
sblaster=true
dma=true
fpu=true
cpu=true
paging=true
fcb=true
files=true
ioctl=true
exec=true
dosmisc=true
pit=true
keyboard=true
pic=true
mouse=true
bios=true
gui=true
misc=true
io=true

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
# smartupdate -- Update dosbox screen only if its contents were changed.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
# Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,normal4x,advmame2x,advmame3x,advinterp2x,interp2x,hq2x,
# tv, tv2x, tvadvmame2x, tvhq2x.
# tvmode -- Show TV scanlines whenever is possible.
# overscan -- Width of blended overscan border.
# overscanstrength -- Strength of blended overscan border (ratio of overscan color vs pixel color).

frameskip=2
smartupdate=false
aspect=true
scaler=hq2x
tvmode=false
overscan=0
overscanstrength=0

[vsync]
# vsyncmode -- Synchronize vsync timing to the host display. Requires calibration within dosbox.
# Supported are off,on,force.
# vsyncrate -- Vsync rate used if vsync is enabled.

vsyncmode=off
vsyncrate=75.023426

[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: simple,normal,full,dynamic.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.
# Setting this higher than your machine can handle is bad! (unless timesynched is set)
# cycleup -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.
# timesynched -- Do not emulate more cycles than possible.
# showcycles -- Display the number of emulated cycles in the titlebar (uses some CPU).

core=normal
cycles=50000
cycleup=500
cycledown=20
timesynched=true
showcycles=true

[vga]
# svgachipset -- Select one of the following supported SVGA chipsets:
# s3 (default), et4000, et4000new, et3000, pvga1a, or none.
# Full chipset name (like 'Tseng ET4000') will also work
# as long as it contains one of the strings above.
# videoram -- Amount of video memory on emulated SVGA. Not all emulated
# chipsets support this setting.

svgachipset=et4000new
videoram=2048

[mixer]
# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will
# probably lower their sound quality.
# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering
# but sound will also be more lagged.
# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
# mpu401 -- Enable MPU-401 Emulation.
# intelligent -- Operate in Intelligent mode.
# device -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
# This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,mt32,none.
# mt32rate -- Sample rate of MT32 emulation
# config -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put
# the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.

mpu401=true
intelligent=true
device=default
mt32rate=22050
config=

[debug]
# Debugger related options.

[sblaster]
# sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.
# base,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.
# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the dosbox mixer.
# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.
# On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.
# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.
# sbrem -- Supress set statements of sblaster.

sbtype=sb16
base=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050
sbrem=true

[gus]
# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
# base,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the
# Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)
# rate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory. In this directory
# there should be a MIDI directory that contains
# the patch files for GUS playback. Patch sets used
# with Timidity should work fine.
# gusrem -- Supress set statements of GUS.

gus=false
rate=22050
base=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND
gusrem=true

[speaker]
# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).
# For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[printer]
# printer -- Enable printer emulation.
# dpi -- Resolution of printer (default 360).
# width -- Width of paper in 1/10 inch (default 85 = 8.5'').
# height -- Height of paper in 1/10 inch (default 110 = 11.0'').
# printoutput -- Output method for finished pages:
# png : Creates PNG images in the DOSBOX directory
# ps : Creates Postscript documents in the DOSBOX directory (default)
# bmp : Creates BMP images (very huge files, not recommend)
# printer : Send to an actual printer (Print dialog will appear)
# multipage -- Adds all pages to one Postscript file or printer job until ALT-F8 is pressed.

printer=true
dpi=360
width=85
height=110
printoutput=ps
multipage=false

[bios]
# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: none, 2axis, 4axis,
# fcs (Thrustmaster) ,ch (CH Flightstick).
# none disables joystick emulation.
# 2axis is the default and supports two joysticks.

joysticktype=2axis

[serial]
# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.
# Can be disabled, dummy, modem, directserial.
# Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
# parameter:value. Parameters for all types are irq, startbps, bytesize,
# stopbits, parity (all optional).
# for directserial: realport (required).
# for modem: listenport (optional).

serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[glide]
# glide - Enable glide emulation: true,false.
# port - I/O port to use with host communication.

glide=false
port=300

[dos]
# xms -- Enable XMS support.
# ems -- Enable EMS support.
# umb -- Enable UMB support (false,true,max).

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true

[ipx]
# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.

ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

mount c c:\
C:
chdir Dagger
fall.exe z.cfg

vorakesh

April 10 2006, 08:30

Anyone know what error 2 means? I keep getting that when I crash.

Aldea Donder

April 10 2006, 12:14

Thank you so much for posting that! Words cannot express how much better Daggerfall runs in the Arena version of CVS DOSBox. Whereas it wasn't possible for me to play with the hq2x scaler before, with this version I'm able to do so -- and with 0 frameskip to boot. Frame rate has been improved, loading times have been improved, and everything's a lot smoother in general. The indoor lag's still there, but oh well.

Unfortunately, I can't help you with either of your problems. The game runs awfully stable for me with this build and all of the ingame movies are still playable for me. I wish I could help you out, but I don't know what could be causing your issues.

Aldea Donder

April 10 2006, 12:37

The only information I could dig up on errror 2 comes from the UESP. Take a look at this page:

http://www.uesp.net/dagger/dagfaq12.shtml

Seems to be a random game bug, nothing to do with DOSBox.

DaGrooved1

April 10 2006, 13:24

Yes, even I get random Daggerfall generated errors, it doesn't have anything to do with DosBox, as the same errors would occur if you were running it directly from DOS.

G-Dizzle for rizzle

April 10 2006, 23:27

Do you have another link to download dosbox cvs? The link on the OP will let me download it, but when it attempts to unzip it says "The Compressed (zipped) Folder is invalid or corrupted."

Bubbling Zombie

April 11 2006, 01:26

Hello. Thank you for the great guide, but I have some problems. Everything works: sound, video, chargen, ...

Only, at times, it seems like the buttons I use to move keep being pushed in. This isn't a constant effect, and I haven't yet determined why it happens. It's like when I push in the button to slide Right, my character keeps on going right. I have no idea what may be causing this. I use the standard cfg, provided in the initial post with the resolution on 0x0 (autoresolution).

Any suggestions?

Parry2010

April 11 2006, 06:16

C:\>DAGGERFALL.PIF
Illegal command: DAGGERFALL.PIF

Please help, it'll probably something really simple that i've mucked up on.

mrfun13

April 17 2006, 16:03

Bump for great justice

DaGrooved1

April 17 2006, 16:10

I'm in a bit of a pickle, there has been a lot of talk about the new DosBox .65, and as my guide is based on the CVS builds, I've been experimenting with the latest CVS builds based on DosBox .65, however my dilema is that i can't seem to get it to run aswell as I can with my original dosbox used in the guide! I'm obviously doing something wrong, and once I figure it out I'll be updating my guide with the latest DosBox CVS build.

Taemos

April 18 2006, 04:51

QUOTE(Bubbling Zombie @ Apr 11 2006, 06:26 AM)

I had the same issue. Your CPU cycles are probably set too high. I left mine at 20,000 (running a 2.4ghz Pentium 4) and that fixed it. Just experiment with your CPU cycle settings.

QUOTE(DaGrooved1 @ Apr 17 2006, 09:10 PM)

After getting bored and experimenting with Daggerfall a little yesterday, I managed to get it working in DosBox .65. The emulator is running far beyond my expectations - the game is almost as fast as though I were running on older hardware (a bit of an oxymoron, but I think you get what I mean

). I'm just waiting for a CVS build with timesync so I don't have to constantly adjust CPU cycles.

lillend

April 18 2006, 05:31

I am having a problem with DosBox and Daggerfall,
everytime I set my Cycles above 10000 the game runs smoother but sound and videos run very very choppy, I tried with and without timesynch and nothing changes.

Is there any way to make the videos/sound run as smooth as the game?

Thanks,

Lillend

DaGrooved1

April 18 2006, 06:03

QUOTE

The build I'm using is based on .65 and also has timesynched, although it it is the latest experimental build and not the latest "stable" build, so that could explain my problems.

edit: Yep, something is definetly wrong, I took used the exact same dosbox settings in both versions and i have a considerable performance loss in the new .65 build, I guess I'll have to keep my eye out for a stable release.

DaGrooved1

April 20 2006, 05:51

Ok, I need some help here, for some reason I can't seem to get anywhere near the same performance as my original .63 builds out of any of the .65 builds! Including the basic original DosBox .65! It's driving me mad! Can anyone assist me in perhaps posting your settings in dosbox.conf that give you better performance? I have also noticed that all my .63 files seem to have an earlier modification date then all my .65 files, which is kind of odd. Although I'm starting to think it's because over the past months my DosBox has become a bit of a custom version filled with mixed and matched parts from other DosBox versions, all I know is that it looks better and plays faster then what I get from .65!

It's very annoying hearing people talk about how great .65 is and how it's fixed some people's problems, and I wish my guide could take advantage of these fixes and performance improvements!!!

torrance

April 20 2006, 19:22

I have problems with Daggerfall using DOSBox right after I create my character and enter the tutorial.It crashes and I dont know what to do. Any help? Im using the same configuration settings that were given. It says Code: 58008 not found in, then skip line Exiting.....

DaGrooved1

April 21 2006, 07:43

Sounds like a problem being cause within Daggerfall, did you use the No-CD method?

torrance

April 21 2006, 14:02

Yes, everything runs well until after I choose not to take the tutorial or I take the tutorial.

CABRON

April 21 2006, 20:13

I was so happy to post here my finding of the program DFend that mount on top of dosbox to allow separate customization for each game...well you guy could still give it a look, it pretty easy to use.

DaGrooved1

April 22 2006, 12:00

Dfend is a frontend for DosBox, it's basically a way to make adjusting your DosBox.conf file easier, it also allows you to create game profiles, which I do simply be copying and renaming multiple .conf files, but by all means if you find it easier to use here is a link:

http://members.home.nl/mabus/dfend.htm

Frosty_theOzzie

April 29 2006, 02:58

I get awful, awful, awful performance using your guide.

Is there a way to get Daggerfall working on a Windows XP computer with actual playable speeds? It takes it two minutes just to start a new game (ie. to bring up the race map).

DaGrooved1

April 30 2006, 12:06

QUOTE

Well, I guess there is a first time for everything, I get 70fps with no scaler, and 35 fps with max scaler, and to me, that's pretty ok considering many DOS games are playable at 10 fps, what are your system specs? Remember this guide is aimed towards HIGH END machines.

EntilZha

May 01 2006, 01:13

Is there a way to run dosbox and daggerfall in window mode buth with a greater resolution? I have a TFT and in lower resolutions that are not native resolutions of the monitor I have quite low refresh rates.... causing a bad headache after time

DaGrooved1

May 01 2006, 01:43

Adjust the value of :

hwscale=1.00

in your DosBox.conf file, try 1.50 or something until you find a size that's right for you.

Takeda Kenshi

May 01 2006, 19:46

Excellent post, helped me a ton. Thank you much.

Mythrantar

May 01 2006, 22:38

First of all, thanks for this great guide! Last night I was able to get DosBox 0.65 to run Daggerfall wihtout sllowdowns. I used dosbox 0.65 and then installed the latest CVS build (4.27.06) from http://ykhwong.x-y.net on top of DosBox 0.65.

Afterwards, I tinkered around with the config file and these settings worked great:

CODE

[sdl]
# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).
# windowresolution -- Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,openglhq,ddraw,direct3d.
# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lowest,lower,normal,higher,highest.
#             Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.
# pixelshader -- Pixelshader program to use for resizing: none,point.fx,bilinear.fx,scale2x.fx,2xsai.fx.
#                (or any other .fx file that is available in the Shaders subdirectory).
# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.
# overscan -- Width of overscan border.

fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=1280x960
windowresolution=original
output=direct3d
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
pixelshader=none
usescancodes=true
overscan=0

[dosbox]
# language -- Select another language file.
# memsize -- Amount of memory dosbox has in megabytes.
# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.
# codepage -- Specify a code page number.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

language=
machine=vga
codepage=437
captures=capture
memsize=63

[log]
# Message not Found!

logfile=
vga=true
vgagfx=true
vgamisc=true
int10=true
sblaster=true
dma=true
fpu=true
cpu=true
paging=true
fcb=true
files=true
ioctl=true
exec=true
dosmisc=true
pit=true
keyboard=true
pic=true
mouse=true
bios=true
gui=true
misc=true
io=true

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
#           Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,advinterp2x,advinterp3x,tv2x,tv3x,rgb
2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.

frameskip=0
aspect=true
scaler=advinterp3x

[vsync]
# vsyncmode -- Synchronize vsync timing to the host display. Requires calibration within dosbox.
#              Supported are off,on,force.
# vsyncrate -- Vsync rate used if vsync is enabled.

vsyncmode=off
vsyncrate=75.023426

[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: simple,normal,full,dynamic.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.
#           Setting this higher than your machine can handle is bad!
#           You can also let DOSBox guess the correct value by setting it to auto.
#           Please note that this guessing feature is still experimental.
# cycleup   -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown    Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

core=normal
cycles=9000
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

[vga]
# svgachipset -- Select one of the following supported SVGA chipsets:
#                s3 (default), et4000, et4000new, et3000, pvga1a, or none.
#                Full chipset name (like 'Tseng ET4000') will also work
#                as long as it contains one of the strings above.
# videoram -- Amount of video memory on emulated SVGA. Not all emulated
#             chipsets support this setting.

svgachipset=s3
videoram=2048

[mixer]
# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will
#         probably lower their sound quality.
# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering
#              but sound will also be more lagged.
# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[printer]
# printer -- Enable printer emulation.
# dpi -- Resolution of printer (default 360).
# width -- Width of paper in 1/10 inch (default 85 = 8.5'').
# height -- Height of paper in 1/10 inch (default 110 = 11.0'').
# printoutput -- Output method for finished pages:
#           png     : Creates PNG images in the DOSBOX directory
#           ps      : Creates Postscript documents in the DOSBOX directory (default)
#           bmp     : Creates BMP images (very huge files, not recommend)
#           printer : Send to an actual printer (Print dialog will appear)
# multipage -- Adds all pages to one Postscript file or printer job until CTRL-F2 is pressed.

printer=true
dpi=360
width=85
height=110
printoutput=ps
multipage=false

[midi]
# mpu401      -- Type of MPU-401 to emulate: none, uart or intelligent.
# device      -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
#                This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,mt32,none.
# mt32rate    -- Sample rate of MT32 emulation
# config      -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put
#                the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.

mpu401=intelligent
device=default
mt32rate=22050
config=

[debug]
# Debugger related options.

[sblaster]
# sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.
# sbbase,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.
# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the dosbox mixer.
# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.
#            On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.
#            All OPL modes are 'Adlib', except for CMS.
# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.

sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=11025

[gus]
# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
# gusbase,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the
#            Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)
# gusrate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory.  In this directory
#             there should be a MIDI directory that contains
#             the patch files for GUS playback.  Patch sets used
#             with Timidity should work fine.

gus=false
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).
#          For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[bios]
# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: none, 2axis, 4axis,
#                 fcs (Thrustmaster) ,ch (CH Flightstick).
#                 none disables joystick emulation.
#                 2axis is the default and supports two joysticks.

joysticktype=2axis

[serial]
# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.
#              Can be disabled, dummy, modem, directserial.
#              Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
#              parameter:value. Parameters for all types are irq, startbps, bytesize,
#              stopbits, parity (all optional).
#              for directserial: realport (required).
#              for modem: listenport (optional).
#              Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000
# phone1-10    the IP address to be connected to. Dial 1 to connect to the entry
#              in phone1, 2 for phone2, ...

serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled
phone1=empty
phone2=empty
phone3=empty
phone4=empty
phone5=empty
phone6=empty
phone7=empty
phone8=empty
phone9=empty
phone10=empty

[glide]
# glide - Enable glide emulation: true,false.
# port - I/O port to use with host communication.

glide=false
port=300

[dos]
# xms -- Enable XMS support.
# ems -- Enable EMS support.
# umb -- Enable UMB support (false,true,max).

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true

[ipx]
# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.

ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount e e:
e:
chdir Dagger
dfall.bat

My system is:
P4@3.2GHz
2GB RAM
GeForce 6800 w/ 128MB RAM
SB Audigy 2ZS

Don't forget to adjust the screen resolution to one that is suitable to you.

I hope this helps!

z-vap

May 02 2006, 03:35

QUOTE(lostlogic @ Feb 2 2006, 08:39 PM)

Is there any information out there that more explains what the mapper.txt file and the pertinent key codes mean? Or is it more self explaining, once hitting CTRL+F1?

My goal is to remap the keys for when I play Arena. I am so used to using WSAD, that the ARROW keys aren't hacking it.

btw, I'm using the second setup that DaGrooved1 provided and the setup ROCKS!!!

Z E R O

May 02 2006, 09:05

The game works pretty well, I have almost no lag at 16000 cycles, but I have a small problem: when I'm playing in fullscreen mode, about a quarter of the image dispears to the right side of the screen and it's annoying. Is there any way I can center the image properly?

DaGrooved1

May 02 2006, 09:14

QUOTE

First up, if your using the version linked in my guide for Daggerfall, you should be able to set cycles to 30000 and set timesynched to true so DosBox will automatically adjust the cycles to the perfect amount on-the-fly. Secondly, for your image problem, I'm assuming you've already tried adjusting your monitor itself through it's on screen menus, I know many graphic card menus have screen adjusting settings that you might try, other then that I'd try playing with fullfixed, aspect, and resolution options. I've never had or seen this problem, or atleast when it couldn't be fixed by adjusting the monitors settings, but I'll scan around and see if I can find any other solutions.

edit: and thanks Mythrantar, I'll take a look at those settings. I'd really like to update the guide with the latest DosBox, but meanwhile I've added a nice bold warning.

Z E R O

May 02 2006, 11:53

QUOTE(DaGrooved1 @ May 2 2006, 09:14 PM)

First up, if your using the version linked in my guide for Daggerfall, you should be able to set cycles to 30000 and set timesynched to true so DosBox will automatically adjust the cycles to the perfect amount on-the-fly. Secondly, for your image problem, I'm assuming you've already tried adjusting your monitor itself through it's on screen menus, I know many graphic card menus have screen adjusting settings that you might try, other then that I'd try playing with fullfixed, aspect, and resolution options. I've never had or seen this problem, or atleast when it couldn't be fixed by adjusting the monitors settings, but I'll scan around and see if I can find any other solutions.
edit: and thanks Mythrantar, I'll take a look at those settings. I'd really like to update the guide with the latest DosBox, but meanwhile I've added a nice bold warning.

Yes, I have to adjust the monitor settings each time I'm playing the game. And I also tried fiddling with the cfg file but without any succes. It's only a minor inconvenience, though.
Thanks for the response.

Takeda Kenshi

May 02 2006, 18:22

One thing I can say after having not played DF in 10 years, is that the sound is SO much better now. I remember using a Diamond soundcard back then, and now using a Creative X-fi Fatality, it sounds almost unrecognizable. Totally blew me away when I first stepped in an Inn.

Dubert

May 10 2006, 15:01

Ok... im giving up... (for tonight)

I tried several builds now, tried those suggested configs.
(btw, that link to the build in the original post gave me a broken zip file, like someone else mentioned)

Best result i got so far, is a black screen after dosbox has started...

i did that cd-hack thing, i patched, i installed, everything.. got dosbox 0.65, and extracted the cvs over the existing dosbox.. I tried changing some settings suggested in the opening post, but no luck...

anyone have any ideas? hints? links to builds i can try? Anyone struggling like i am, and found a fix?

btw, great guide! now if i could only make this work...

btw2, if THIS doesnt get stickied.. then what does get stickied? If anything EVER was to be stickied, this is THE thing to sticky!! well thats my opinion, now if only that was the mods opinions too.. (mods or whoever is capable of stickying..)

DaGrooved1

May 11 2006, 09:11

Sorry to hear your having so much trouble, right now I've got a machine to rebuild so I can't help you right away, but if you provide maybe some information and on exactly what your doing and maybe your z.cfg and dosbox.conf (just paste it in your post) I will try to get back to you. One thing to note is that the settings in the first guide are for that build only, the download works fine for me, but if it's causing that much trouble I'll put my copy on putfile or something, anywho I'll get back to on your problems when I have a bit more spare time.

On the topic of making this a sticky, I don't really know, the fact that so many people have had problems shows that it's not fool proof, and when posts reach the post limit of 200 they are locked, aslong as we manage to keep this from being deleted that should be good enough.

Anywho, gotta rebuild my gaming rig, I'll be back later.

Dubert

May 12 2006, 02:33

Ok, so i gave up cvs..
I tried different versions of dosbox, 0.61 and 0.63, but both give a black screen and freeze...

So now im at this point:
I got a fresh install of v0.65, no changes to the config other than the bottom autoexec, which leads to dag.bat

Dag.bat looks like this, and is located within my daggerfall folder

CODE

@echo off
set dos4gvm=@dagger.vmc
fall.exe z.cfg

When i fire up the dosbox, it quickly closes again with this error:

CODE

Exit to error: CPU:GRP5:Illegal call 7

my specs:
-amd 64 bit 2gHz
-1024mbit ram
-radeon x800 256mb
-uumm.. need more..?

Is it possible that a 64bits processor could make dosbox not work?
do i need a cvs build before it will work? and in any case, which should i get?
Anyone know why i cant get my game to work...?

anything would be greatly appreciated! and, daGrooved1, i would love to be able to test out the build you suggested! (when you get around to maybe uploading it on putfile or whatever)

DaGrooved1

May 12 2006, 15:11

Did you edit your CFG correctly? I am archiving and uploading my DosBox now.

edit: It's on MegaUpload, not the greatest site, you might have to wait a minute but it should work fine:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I7E6YSM0

That's my exact folder, complete with DosBox.conf settings, my Z.cfg looks like this:

CODE

type dfall_huge
path c:\dagger\arena2\
pathcd c:\dagger\arena2\
fadecolor 0
mapfile d
rendergame 1
user 1
startMap 179
region 17
helmet 0
maxSpeed 200
controls betaplyr.dat
maps mapsave.sav
CHEATMODE 1
MAGICREPAIR 1

So make sure your Daggerfall is installed to C:\Dagger

On another note, I hooked up my old machine to my TV so I can now play Daggerfall from the comfort of my own bed, and because it's on TV I don't need to use any scalers or anything thanks to TV's natural blurring effect.

sweetdaggerfall

May 19 2006, 10:36

can we bump this?

Jormungandr

May 19 2006, 10:58

I'd rather see it pinned than bumped

Or perhaps added to the sticky?

DaGrooved1

May 19 2006, 11:13

Pinned? Stickied? Pfffft! I should be made an honorary Bethesda Employee!

sweetdaggerfall

June 07 2006, 10:24

oh.....wrong thread

Hellhound

June 07 2006, 16:23

QUOTE(DaGrooved1 @ May 19 2006, 09:13 PM)

Pinned? Stickied? Pfffft! I should be made an honorary Bethesda Employee!

Indeed you should! Your guide is great!

Hellhound

Tentacles

June 09 2006, 16:17

Thanks for the great guide! I've got Daggerfall working better than it ever has before.

Except!

When I exited Privateer's Hold, the whole of the sky was completely black. I hadn't noticed any graphical glitches before this point.. Can anyone help?

By the way, I'm using your folder you offered for download for all the settings, haven't changed a thing.

Cheers!

DaGrooved1

June 09 2006, 16:47

QUOTE

When I exited Privateer's Hold, the whole of the sky was completely black. I hadn't noticed any graphical glitches before this point.. Can anyone help?

That's probably caused by a corrupt sky file, are you using the no-cd method? If so you might want to go onto your cd and copy all the sky##.dat files to your daggerfall/arena2 directory on your hdd, see if you get a corrupt file or other error.

Tentacles

June 10 2006, 06:26

QUOTE

If so you might want to go onto your cd and copy all the sky##.dat files to your daggerfall/arena2 directory on your hdd, see if you get a corrupt file or other error.

Thanks, that worked.

I never did do the main quest... I better get started!

WildZeppelin

June 10 2006, 14:42

I still can't get any video to work, but the game works fine... I also can't get any sound... any help?

DaGrooved1

June 10 2006, 14:44

QUOTE

I still can't get any video to work, but the game works fine... I also can't get any sound... any help?

I don't know what's causing the video troubles, but for sound just run setup and choose Soundblaster for your digital sound and either soundblaster or MPU-401 for your MIDI card.

TheGatekeeper

June 14 2006, 14:58

(Some of this post is in caps lock for a REASON! Do not post "Turn off your [CENSORED] caps lock")

MAN, THIS IS THE BEST THING SINCE... WELL, EVER!!!! ARENA RUNS THE BEST! I HAVEN'T SEEN THE FULL POWER OF DAGGERFALL YET BUT WHEN I DO, I WILL POST TO SAY HOW JAW-DROPPINGLY GOOD IT IS!!!! (OK, caps lock is gone!)

I would really like to see a battlespire version of this guide! I am having a bit of trouble running it and help would be great!

P.S: I do not see why you would want too much better and go in to get different builds of DOSBox. It runs fine with DaGrooved1's CVS builds and all the other stuff! I use modded versions of v-0.63 ( the ones that "DaGodly1" linked on the pages) and they run all fine!

These are my specs if they help others:

-Abit IS10 motherboard
-Powercolour Radeon 9800pro 128mb
-1GB ram
-Intel pentium 4 socket 478 3.0 GB with HT technology
-Onboard Realtek AC'97

TheGatekeeper

June 14 2006, 15:23

Hmm, it seems that the pixelisation (sorry for spelling, if it is wrong) is still there in daggerfall! It is the same pixels as if I am running it on DOS. But the Game has improved hugely on DOSBox! For one, the monsters don't make horrible screeching noises and jump around as if they are inclosed in a tiny little box made of invisible walls! I have done a copy and paste for the configuration and followed everything! I do not know what it could be! Is there any way to turn on pixelshading by entering X words into the line? I don't know the words and I am not a major DOS User.

And I am saying this in Privaters Hold, if the design would look all dark and all that in those places (well, dungeons are dark in general, but I mean all the design in-between the walls, in the cracks, it still looks a bit pixelised)

DaGrooved1

June 14 2006, 15:40

Why don't you post your current DosBox.conf and I'll see if we can help you out.

edit: Post 164!!! Only 36 more posts and this will be locked

TheGatekeeper

June 14 2006, 23:40

QUOTE

I just put exactly what you said! Just put in a different start-up command to match the batch file I made to crack it! I named it the exact same as the original but I also deleted that one from the folder so they do not get mixed up!

Only 35 more posts after this!

(You could make a troubleshoot of another topic and compile answers to problems that you or others have solved! just ask EXTREMELY nicely to a mod to not lock it when it reaches 200 but to let the last post be a link to the troubleshoot page! Not too sure if they will let you but there is no harm in asking, right? )

DaGrooved1

June 15 2006, 03:51

Have you tried downloading my exact version here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I7E6YSM0

This is MY dosbox folder, so it already has all my changes done, just change the last lines so it runs dagger.bat.

If you don't want to lose your current version of DosBox just extract mine to your desktop.

TheGatekeeper

June 15 2006, 09:11

I think that is the one I used but I'll try it

Nicoz

June 15 2006, 09:16

Now i can watch the movies of daggerfall with out the low quality sounds and it being like "Restest welwel fooor tomorrowrow youou willwill sailail foror daggererfallfall" -.- Great job!

DaGrooved1

June 15 2006, 09:35

QUOTE

Now i can watch the movies of daggerfall with out the low quality sounds and it being like "Restest welwel fooor tomorrowrow youou willwill sailail foror daggererfallfall" -.- Great job!

I actually had that problem myself, I think it's possible to replicate in DosBox aswell, I actually found it quite hillarious, an emperor with a most severe speech impedement.

paladin181

June 15 2006, 10:21

I would also like to note that some video cards may not support hq2x... My old one didn't, and it will result in pixelated graphics. The game however will play normally, DOSBox will simply tell you in the staus window what features you selected can not be used. If you experience ANY trouble, check your DOSBox status window beofre you close DOSBox.

TheGatekeeper

June 15 2006, 11:50

Well, it is either one of these two options:

1. The pixelisation is as described, but it didn't live up to my hipe, or...

2. There really is a problem, and it is not working properly.

It was the same on your DOSBox config. so it could either be my system, or my eyes!

DaGrooved1

June 15 2006, 11:55

Does your game look like the pics in my sig?

TheGatekeeper

June 15 2006, 13:58

Hmm, hard to compare but... The words at the title screen are definitely the same... I am not that far in at all, just at Privaters Hold so I cannot compare the armour... And the walls are about the same pixelisation so... I think it is just me! Yeah, it is probably just me! Sorry for wasting a few of your precious posts. only about 28 left! :'(

TheGatekeeper

June 17 2006, 12:45

Oh, and how do you turn on Pixelshading in the DOSbox config? Mine runs well and I want to see what it would be like! and for DirectX, how do you type it (no smart answers), do you use capitals, lower case, what is the proper wording for it? Is it like "DirectX" or "directx" or "DIRECTX" or what?

Jormungandr

June 17 2006, 12:54

The last entry under the first section (the [sdl] section) of your dosbox.conf file will let you pick a pixelshader. Choices are: none, point.fx, bilinear.fx, scale2x.fx and 2xsai.fx (those are listed in order of quality). Just pick one and see how you like it; if it doesn't work out, pick a different one

Personally, I don't use a pixelshader. I don't notice much difference when I do, because the hq2x scaler does a very good job by itself.

And as far as I can tell, everything in that file is in lower case.

Azileron

June 17 2006, 19:17

I had a problem with running Arena in full-screen, but DaGrooved1's guide has fixed it. Thanks very much!

Seanobi

June 20 2006, 20:09

Cool, this got Arena working great except I had to tone down the speed (cuz the sound was choppy) about 3-4 times... but the screens in a small window, and all around that game window, its all back around it (ITS not fullscreen, i want it full screen to fit my monitor, and my resolution is 800 x 600) so please help me with this...

Interloper

June 20 2006, 23:00

Timesync might now be obsolete because of DOSbox .65's autocycle function. I'm just playing with it now.

TheGatekeeper

June 21 2006, 04:34

QUOTE(Seanobi @ Jun 21 2006, 05:09 AM)

Are you using the CVS build DaGrooved1 said about, because when I played, I was using the wrong build. And both the DOSbox builds are different, so you have to download both!

And try to edit the settings for DOSbox in the Config file, in the DOSbox folder!

DaGrooved1

June 21 2006, 07:53

QUOTE

Timesync might now be obsolete because of DOSbox .65's autocycle function. I'm just playing with it now.

Yes, that's been around for around a month or two, I have tried it, but I still prefer Timesynched so far, I find auto gives me some minor stuttering, but that could only be for me.

Jormungandr

June 21 2006, 08:23

That, and while Dosbox v0.65 does have the autocycles... it doesn't have the nice scalers or pixelshading.

Seanobi

June 21 2006, 15:01

Hey, I got it working right! The music is slow at times like when a menu is up or either when your walking the music slows a little... But anyway, heres how I did it... for those that can't get it to work, maybe MY way will work for you...

Download the DOSBox (NOT CVS version!) and then when you do, extract it anywhere you want. Then after that, forget the settings in the DOSBox CONF File (.cfg file) thats already written there, backspace all of the words in it and Copy and Paste the settings for ARENA inside of it. (if you cant get the CFG file to open, then right-click it, and choose Open With, and select Notepad.) Okay, then save it after you pasted the settings... (But make a back-up file of the previous settings so you wont be screwed in case if my way dont work for you) After that, just click on DOSBox.exe and that should open up ARENA... Okay now heres where you have to tamper with it, just make a serious character (if u want to, just saying because you might not want to go thruy all this again of tampering inside of the game, but its easy...) and then after all that stuff and you get into the game, hit ESC and on the DETAIL Bar, just slide all the way to the left, now this will make the game really fast! But slide it up about 2 - 4 notches and see if that works for you. I have mine on the 3rd notch, so the music isnt always slow, or the game isnt always slow... Thats how I did it...

SOUND: This depends on your settings, but if you want sounds, and no sounds are there, then exit ARENA, (it should go to DOSBox), then type in INSTALL... dont re-install the game, just go to configure game, then select the sound and music settings... Try each one, see if they work with your computer.After that, then go to EXIT, because it automatically saves, when you Exit. Then type in ARENA and see if that worked. With my computer incase if you want to know, its the very top sound setting for both Sound AND Music. Well thats about all I can say about how I got ARENA to work... Well, if this don't work, try something else, thats all I did... Take Care and thanks guys for trying to help...

DaGrooved1

June 21 2006, 15:51

Erm, not to offend, but the title of this thread is. erm

DaGrooved1's Guide to CVS DosBox and Daggerfall. Also, your way sounds an awful lot like the way your suppose to install Arena according to Bethesda's instructions. The reason I chose CVS is because it has a lot more features, and is capable of better visuals and performances if you have the latest version and know how to work them.

Seanobi

June 21 2006, 21:54

Sorry, I didnt see the CVS word on the title... or I wouldnt have bothered trying to help others...But I just posted that, just b/c if someone saw this post, and they had a lot of trouble with the CVS build, just like I did, and they see my guide, it gave them another opportunity to fix their game... I was just trying to help, sry

DaGrooved1

June 22 2006, 01:55

QUOTE

Damn straight your sorry. I will not tolerate competition within my own guide's thread!

No I'm just kidding, the reason I mentioned it was because

A) There is already a guide that comes with arena for basic DosBox.

B ) There is already a sticky at the top of the Past Games page that contains a guide for basic DosBox.

C) I linked to a guide that shows people how to use Basic DosBox.

I'm sorry if I jumped on you, thanks for helping, although I don't quite understand this part here:

QUOTE

hit ESC and on the DETAIL Bar

Normally you would prefer to adjust a setting in DosBox before having to resort to lowering detail levels in the game itself. Such as highering or lowering cycles, or some such.

orcbait

June 27 2006, 23:07

Hi
Yet another very grateful owner of Daggerfall, thanks for taking the time to create this post (and on new years eve), Game runs and looks great now. If the Mods don’t sticky this (I can feel a poll coming on, maybe during my lunch break), then it needs bumping on a regular basis

sweetdaggerfall

July 02 2006, 09:58

QUOTE(orcbait @ Jun 28 2006, 08:07 AM)

The only problem with bumping is that after post 200 it gets locked and lost!!!!

DaGrooved1

July 02 2006, 10:36

QUOTE

The only problem with bumping is that after post 200 it gets locked and lost!!!!

Oh the irony! Now you too have contributed to it's demise!

edit: OH FATE AND MISFORTUNE NOW I TOO HAVE CAST MY CURSE UPON IT!

Aurora_Magdalena

October 26 2006, 19:30

It looks amazing. I can actually play daggerfall without a headache from the pixelation now. It's so much better.

I think I'll have to play around with the cpu cycle settings since it gets a little slow with the settings from the original post. I only have an athlon xp 3200.

Zanderat

November 01 2006, 17:48

Thanks! I nearly gave up trying to get it to run on a modern machine. Works like a charm!

Taemos

November 01 2006, 17:53

We are so close to 200 posts. Doom is imminent.

Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time a thread in the Past Games section made it to 200 posts. You should be proud, DG.

Jormungandr

November 01 2006, 18:03

Right now he's in second. If he can get it to over 208 before it closes, he'll beat the current record

gwar

November 06 2006, 12:21

how do you copy the arena2 files from the disk to the hard disk

Mushroomhead88

November 06 2006, 12:39

QUOTE(gwar @ Nov 6 2006, 06:21 PM)

how do you copy the arena2 files from the disk to the hard disk

Just open the CD (with your computer, not a hammer mind you) and there should be an arena2 folder on there, just copy it over to where the arena2 folder is on your computer and it will fill in what's missing.

gwar

November 07 2006, 10:11

i downloaded the installer and then copied the neccessary files from the disk to c:\dagger ,but i dont think my comp reckognizes that the game is installed

Jormungandr

November 07 2006, 11:18

QUOTE(gwar @ Nov 7 2006, 02:11 PM)

i downloaded the installer and then copied the neccessary files from the disk to c:\dagger ,but i dont think my comp reckognizes that the game is installed

Did you change the z.cfg file? Set it so both the path and pathcd entries point to the same place: the arena2 folder on your hard drive.

gwar

November 07 2006, 11:35

QUOTE(Jormungandr @ Nov 7 2006, 04:18 PM)

Did you change the z.cfg file? Set it so both the path and pathcd entries point to the same place: the arena2 folder on your hard drive.

i didn't have to
i went to change it and it was already done

gwar

November 07 2006, 12:43

i open dosbox 6.5 and type in e:(e: is my disk drive)\install and dosbox comes back with illeagal ....

Blackhandjr

November 07 2006, 16:05

you have to mount the drive first, try:

mount e e:\

I do find that the \ is needed. Once the drive is mounted it should be able to play.

DaGrooved1

November 07 2006, 16:20

Alright, tis nearing post 200, do I have Freddo's permission to open a 2nd, or does it die here?

Jormungandr

November 07 2006, 18:18

If/When you make a 2nd thread, will it remain about DOSbox CVS v.63 or will you update it for a .65 CVS build?

CCNA

November 09 2006, 04:45

I think this is the time and place to consider a new thread, as this one is over 200 posts now.

Good thread though, make another one.