DOSBox Staging — a modern continuation of DOSBox

[thesheeep]

Now if only they threw us some coins... hmmm...

Sorry, man, but Bethesda, id Software and Nightdive are all small indie companies.
Expecting them to contribute is asking a bit much, don't you think?

 

[Rincewind]

Now if only they threw us some coins... hmmm...

Sorry, man, but Bethesda, id Software and Nightdive are all small indie companies.
Expecting them to contribute is asking a bit much, don't you think?

You're right, I take it back. I would hate to deprive their employees of their beanbags or something. Can't have anyone from their teams have one less relaxing backrub per month, hey!

 

[Vic]

That DOOM + DOOM II thing looks good, grabbing it from GOG.

https://af.gog.com/en/game/doom_doom_ii?as=1649904300

 

[Rincewind]

DOSBox Staging v0.82.0-RC (Release Candidate) has been released.

Highlights:

• Tons of game compatibility fixes & enhancements
• Pentium MMX emulation
• Multithreaded audio mixer for a more hardware-like experience (almost complete eradication of occassional audio glitches and stutters)
• ESS Extended FM Audio (ESFM) emulation
• Some Voodoo emulation fixes

See the detailed release notes for more info:
https://www.dosbox-staging.org/releases/release-notes/0.82.0-rc/

 

[Avonaeon]

You guys are doing great work!

 

[Rincewind]

DOSBox Staging v0.82.0 has been released

Main highlights:

- Pentium MMX emulation
- ESS Enhanced FM Audio
- Numerous audio-related enhancements
- A large number of game compatibility fixes
- Improved Windows 3.1x compatibility
- Supercharged 3dfx Voodoo emulation performance
- Experimental Windows ARM64 support

Read the full release notes for details:
https://www.dosbox-staging.org/releases/release-notes/0.82.0/

Also make sure to check out the updated Getting Started guide (it's not just for beginners!)
https://www.dosbox-staging.org/getting-started/

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Thanks Rincewind.
I would ask if there is an easy way to change the EGA palette through the configuration (without using shaders or external programs). It came to my mind that some people are colorblind and could use some simple color change/personalization in the palette to enjoy some older games.

 

[Rincewind]

Thanks Rincewind.
I would ask if there is an easy way to change the EGA palette through the configuration (without using shaders or external programs). It came to my mind that some people are colorblind and could use some simple color change/personalization in the palette to enjoy some older games.

Yes, I did add support for this a while ago. Check out my release notes for the cga_colors setting:

https://www.dosbox-staging.org/releases/release-notes/0.79.0/#cga-palette-override

You can always display the help by running config -h cga_colors in the DOS shell.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Thanks Rincewind.
I would ask if there is an easy way to change the EGA palette through the configuration (without using shaders or external programs). It came to my mind that some people are colorblind and could use some simple color change/personalization in the palette to enjoy some older games.

Yes, I did add support for this a while ago. Check out my release notes for the cga_colors setting:

https://www.dosbox-staging.org/releases/release-notes/0.79.0/#cga-palette-override

You can always display the help by running config -h cga_colors in the DOS shell.

Thanks! I have seen the cga palette override option, but I though it was only for CGA games, not EGA (maybe they are the same thing, I am not expert). I will try.

 

[Rincewind]

Thanks Rincewind.
I would ask if there is an easy way to change the EGA palette through the configuration (without using shaders or external programs). It came to my mind that some people are colorblind and could use some simple color change/personalization in the palette to enjoy some older games.

Yes, I did add support for this a while ago. Check out my release notes for the cga_colors setting:

https://www.dosbox-staging.org/releases/release-notes/0.79.0/#cga-palette-override

You can always display the help by running config -h cga_colors in the DOS shell.

Thanks! I have seen the cga palette override option, but I though it was only for CGA games, not EGA (maybe they are the same thing, I am not expert). I will try.

Read the linked release notes, man. I'm talking about "CGA/EGA" in the notes, it should be pretty clear.

CGA palette = the 16-colour palette people sometimes mistakenly call the "EGA palette". Just on CGA you could only use a couple of fixed 4-colour set of those 16 CGA colours. But you could use all 16 in text modes, for instance. Remember ANSI art?

Then in the low-res 320x200 EGA mode, you can use all the 16 CGA colours. Probably that is why people refer to it as the "16-colour EGA palette", but that's a bit wrong.

The EGA palette is actually a 64-colour palette (!), but it's only available in the 640x350 hi-res EGA mode. Earlier Legend Entertainment adventure games made excellent use of the 640x350 / 64-colour EGA mode (e.g., Spellcasting 101, Gateway, etc.)

TL;DR:

• CGA palette = 16 colours
• EGA palette = 64 colours
• But in the 320x200 EGA mode you can only use the 16-colour CGA palette (this was due to the bi-directional backwards compatibilty between CGA and EGA video cards and digital monitors).
• In 320x200 CGA mode, you can only use fixed 4-colour subsets of the 16-colour CGA palette (and they look like dogshit).