Manage (and play!) your DOS games with DOSBox and DBGL

So you finally learnt about this website and DOSBox, and in a frenzy to recover your lost days of youth you downloaded the emulator and a ton of DOS games, only to find out they won't run in your brand new computer. At all. It's a bit too late to spare you the humiliation, but if you have some spare time we can teach you how to manage (and play!) the games in your DOS collection.



The first step is to download DBGL by Ronald Blankendaal. DBGL is a JAVA frontend for DOSBox that makes easier to use individual settings for each game and also helps you organise your collection. DBGL is not the only DOSBox frontend, but over the years I've found it to be the more useful. It's available in Windows, Linux and Macintosh versions. In this guide we will use the Windows version, which also requires Oracle Java SE Development Kit 17 or newer. If you don't want to install it, check out the DBGL website for some alternatives.

The second step is to decide wether we want to use DOSBox unofficial builds or not. DBGL already includes the latest official DOSBox build, v0.74-3, but it was released in 2019 and some users find it outdated. These unofficial builds can be used as an alternative or just for the games that use extra characteristics, such as Glide graphics or Roland MT-32 sound:

DOSBox Staging attempts to modernise the DOSBox project with newer code, while it adds some extra features such as Roland MT-32 emulation.

DOSBox ECE also employs newer code from the DOSBox SVN builds, but its main attrative are the patches submitted by community members, such as Glide and MT-32 emulation.

Finally, DOSBox-X adds a graphic interface, Glide and MT-32 emulation and officially supports Windows 3.X and Windows 9X gaming.


Games that require extra files.

NOTE: You can skip this section if you don't plan to use unofficial builds of DOSBox that enable Glide graphics or Roland MT-32 sound.

After installing DBGL, you may want to copy some extra files to the DOSROOT folder. If you want to use Glide graphics or Roland MT-32 sound you will need the MT-32 BIOS (files MT32_CONTROL.ROM and MT32_PCM.ROM) in the DOSROOT folder. And if a game supports Glide graphics, you will need to copy GLIDE2X.OVL to its game folder. The MT-32 BIOS is available over the internet, but since it is copyrighted I won't tell you were to get it. Use your imagination.

The file GLIDE2X.OVL should be available with your Glide Wrapper (if you have one installed), or shipped with many games with Glide support. I got mine from the VOGONS phorum.


Setting up other DOSBox builds in DBGL.

As I said before, DBGL already includes the latest official DOSBox version, and that will run most of your games, but if you want to add other builds you need to set them up through the DOSBox versions option.



The only difficulty here is pointing to their respective DOSBox.conf files, which will be around the Users\<Your name>\AppData folder. I find it easier to create a DOSBox.conf inside their own folder, which is done by running them once and entering the command config -wcp.

The games and where to put them.

Most DOS games you will find in this website are already installed, and come inside a ZIP or RAR file. You can uncompress them anywhere in your harddrive, but I strongly suggest you to put them inside DOSROOT, in separate folders with 8 characters or less. You can use long filenames now, but DBGL can get confused if said folder names include regional characters, so be careful.

Putting you games inside DOSROOT gives you a few advantages. The DBGL installation will now be portable, and you will be able to import / export game packages.

Adding a new game to DBGL.

Time to add a new game to the database. Start by clicking on the Add profile button, up and to the left of the screen. In this guide we will be adding Ultimate Doom from Id Software.



Bsically you enter the name of the game in Title and press the blue M button. This will import the game info (and the coverart and screenshots, if you checked the right DBGL options) from the MobyGames website.

If you’re not downloading screenshots from MobyGames, you can create your own pressing CTRL+F5 during emulation.

If we have the game manual or a game guide we can also use the different Link boxes to access them.

Oh, and there's the Status field. It's completely optional, but I like to write OK there if the game works fine, or note such as Supports MT-32 sound or Supports Glide graphics.

Now move to the Audio section. Here you can see the emulated sound devices and their settings. You don't need to touch anything here, but notice that by default DOSBox emulates a Sound Blaster 16 with address 220, DMA 1 and IRQ 5. This data will become handy later.



We go now to the Mounting section, which is arguably the more important in every profile. Here we enter the path to the main game executable and, if there's one, to the sound setup program. These are usually named INSTALL, SETUP or SETSOUND.



We are also mounting tjhe game folder as C:\ This is something that will work with 99% of games. However, some of them will only run from an specific folder. In that case, we will have to replicate the original folder structure. For instance, Pinball Mania will only run from C:\21STCENT\PINBALL, so we copy the game to <Our game folder>\21STCENT\PINBALL and mount <Our game folder> as C:\

When we are done we press the OK button and our new game profile is ready.



But first we need to configure the sound, so we click on the profile, right mouse click and we choose the Setup option. This will run the sound setup program.



Basically, we choose the Sound Blaster option in both music and FX, then save. If we're asked for address, DMA or IRQ values, remember we saw them before at the Audio section.

From now on we can run Utlimate Doom just by doulbe clicking on the game profile:



Troubleshooting.

1) The game doesn't run.

There a number of possible issues here. The most usual one is that you picked the wrong executable, so review your profile (select it, right click, then Edit) and choose another one. If the problem persists, go to General and uncheck the Exit afterwards option. This will allow you to read any error messages the game produces. After discarding obvious mistakes such as entering the wrong sound settings you can consult the DOSBox compatibility list.

2) The game runs too fast or too slowly.

DOSBox will try to guess the correct speed for every game, but this doesn't always work. Edit the game profile and first go to General.



DBGL includes some settings for the most common PCs of the DOS era. Choose one depending on the year the game was published, then click on the Load settings button.

You can also enter custom cycles values in the Machine section. Cycles are the units DOSBox uses to calculate CPU speed.



These are the most common values:

PC with a 8088 / 8086 CPU --> 120 cycles

PC with a 386/33 CPU --> 3.350 cycles

PC with a 486/66 CPU --> 9.600 cycles

PC with a Pentium/75 CPU --> 40.000 cycles

PC with a Pentium/166 CPU --> 83.500 cycles.

3) The game installs from CD-ROM or floppies.

We start by adding the new game as usual. But when we reach the Mounting we need to mount two different units, a folder that will work as our harddrive (letter C) and then our CD-ROM or floppy unit.

Mounting a CD-ROM unit is as simple as adding the CD-ROM path to the Mounting section of the profile. DOSBox can mount physical units, folders and ISO and CUE/BIN CD-ROM images.



As the main executable, we choose the install program, which usually is D:\INSTALL.EXE.

When we are done, the Mounting section will look like this:



Now, running the profile will install the game from CD-ROM. Follow the onscreen instructions.



When you're done, edit the profile and change the main executable for the one you'll find in the folder you mounted as C.



And you're done!

Installing from floppy images is pretty much the same, but with a few caveats. Floppy disk images need to be in either IMG or IMA format, and if there's more than one you'll need to use a DOSBox SVN or an unofficial build of DOSBox. Disk images can't use long filenames either, for some reason.

The process is pretty much the same, but when we reach the Mounting section of the profile we mount the disk images as floppy and unit A.



And we point the main executable to the first floppy image.



Again, we run the installation program and follow its instructions. If the game asks for a new disk, we press CTRL+F4 and continue.

When we're done, we change the main executable with the new one that's been created on the folder we mounted as C. We can also remove the floppy images we mounted, we won't need them anymore.



4) The game doesn't show the proper 4:3 aspect ratio in fullscreen.

By default DOSBox outputs video to the surface option, which is the most compatible. If you want proper aspect ratio or other advanced options, edit the game profile, go to Display and choose either ddraw or opengl output. Also make sure the Aspect correction box is checked.



Important: You can edit game profiles in bulk, there's no need to edit every game profile separately.

5) Can I remap the controls?

Yes. Press CTRL+F1 during emulation to access the built-in mapper.


Personally, I don't own a joystick and I like to map keys to joystick 1.

Don't forget to save after you make changes.

6) How do I use a Gravis UltraSound soundcard?

DOSBox has built-in Gravis UltraSound emulation, but you'll need to take a few extra steps to make it work.

- First, edit the game profile, go to Audio, check the Gravis UltraSound option and set the Sound Blaster type to none. This will prevent future hardware conflicts.



- You will also need the UltraSound Drivers, which consist of an ULTRASND folder. You can get a copy from VOGONS. Then copy said ULTRASND folder to your game folder.

- And finally, set up the game to use the Gravis instead of a Sound Blaster.



7) How do I enable Roland MT-32 emulation?

DBGL has menus for the most usual features from the unofficial DOSBox builds. If you want to use them with a game (or several, remember you can edit game profiles in bulk), do the following:

Go to DBGL's Settings, then Dynamic options and make sure the options are listed there. In this case we want to enable Roland MT-32 emulation, so we add mt32 to the list of MIDI devices:



In most cases, this won't be necessary.

- Edit the game profiles and tell them which build of DOSBox you will use to run them:



Ater choosing the correct DOSBox build, don't forget to click on Set (to keep existing settings) or Switch (to load the default settings from this DOSBox build).

I this particular case(s), as we are enabling Roland MT-32 emulation, we now go to the Audio settings and select mt32 as our MIDI device.



Finally, we run the game's configuration utility to choose the proper sound device:



8) What's a PC Booter and how do I run it?

PC Booters were early PC games that boot from a floppy disk, and they usually consist of one or two disk images.

DBGL allows you to set them up from the Mounting section of the game profile:



A few warnings when dealing with PC Booter games:

- They're really old games, so if they run too fast or show garbled graphics set Machine to cga and cycles to 220.

- Disk images need to use short filenames, not longer than 8 characters.

- Inside emulation, you switch between disk images with CTRL+F4.

9) I want to try the CGA Composite, Tandy and IBM PC jr. screenmodes.

For CGA Composite, edit the profile and set Machine to cga.

For IBM PC jr., edit the profile and set up Machine to pcjr.

For Tandy, edit the profile and set up Machine to tandy.

Or use the built-in machine profiles from DBGL:



It's also advisable to use a SVN version of DOSBox or an unofficial build, because the emulation of these graphic modes has improved a lot since v0.74-3.


DOSBox running The Black Cauldron in CGA Composite mode.

10) MIDI music sounds awful.

DOSBox doesn't exactly emulate a MIDI device. Instead, it passes the MIDI instructions to your system's default MIDI device. This usually means the Windows' MIDI mapper, which is not very good.

An alternative is to install MUNT (or to use DOSBox build with MUNT built in) and set up as many games as you can to run with Roland MT-32 emulation. This however won't work with all games.

Another alternative is to install another virtual MIDI device such as VirtualMIDISynth that allows you to experiment with different soundfonts.



11) Image quality looks awful.

Take in mind that DOS games were designed to run on smaller, CRT monitors, not in your swank 28' LCD. My personal advice is that you experiment with different video resolutions, outputs and filters / shaders until you find a balance between image quality and faithfulness.