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DOSBox Guide

Alberto

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Nov 22, 2004, 11:46 AM
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DOSBox Guide

I was surfing on the net yesterday and I found this DOS emulator called DOSBox, and I didn't think anybody here knew about it, but seems many of you did already.

But for people who have problems running it or runs choppy or whatever.. I guess I found more or less the solution. At least I got to run it perfect and it doesn't affect much my CPU temperature.

My computer is an AMD Athlon XP 2200+ and I got to run the game completely fine, but I had to tweak most options so I'll try to explain here a bit on how it goes.

What do you need:

1. Jazz Jackrabbit
2. DOSBox
3. Everest Home Edition (Not a need, but when tweaking DOSBox options this program will help you on watching CPU temperature, since when I tried it myself the CPu temperature started to go high so I adjusted fan speed)

Well, this guide is most for 2000/XP users who can't play the game because of the stupid MS-DOS emulator thing that comes with these OS
Windows 98 users with fast computers can run it fine with TPPatch and this is not needed, I've tried it myself and sound doesn't become affected.

First of all you have to install Jazz, just run install.exe and install it like it should be. (This can be done with the Windows XP DOS emu)
Then you have to run setup to configure your soundcard, most users probably have an integrated audio chip like C-Media, Realtek... I have a SoundBlaster Live! which means I have a PCI sound card, and yes, I got it working without any DOS drivers, it works really great
Sound configuration is usually like this:
Model: SoundBlaster Pro or SoundBlaster 16 should work
Port: 0x220h
IRQ: 5 or 7 usually
DMA: 1

After you installed Jazz in a folder like "D:\Jazz" for example and you already ran setup.exe to configure it next step is installing DOSBox.
Install DOSBox, configuration is a bit hard, but it can run almost perfect.

Also optionally you should install Everest and watch Computer/Sensor section to check CPU temperature.

After you installed DosBox you can try to run it and do this for a start:

Example: You installed Jazz in this folder: "D:\Jazz" ok, you need to run DOSBox and type:
mount d d:\jazz

Then type: d: and it will switch to d: drive letter which is "D:\Jazz"

Type "Jazz" to begin

Game will probably run, also with sound probably but it will run slow for sure.
So you'll need to tweak DosBox.conf file. Close DosBox

I'll paste mine here and I'll mention what I changed to make it run fine:

[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,ddraw.
# 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.

fullscreen=false
fulldouble=false
fullfixed=true (I changed this one to true, so it won't resize screen when setting to full and it'll work in full screen mode)
fullresolution=1024x768
output=overlay (By default it comes in surface, you can try other modes, but the best results I got were with this one because it's almost the look and feel of the old game)
hwscale=1.00
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt

[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,vga.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

language= (I tried Spanish but it didn't work )
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=128 (I put 128 but I think max is 64, anyways, if you put an higher value it automatically goes down to 64)

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
# Supported are none,normal2x,advmame2x,advmame3x,advinterp2x,inte rp2x,tv2x.

frameskip=0 (I think by default is at 0, I preffer it to be that way)
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x (This makes the screen to look in a different way when there are low resolutions)

[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!
# cycleup -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

core=normal
cycles=10000 (Default is 3000, you have to take care of this, setting too high makes your CPU temperature go higher as it obvious, so you should take care and install Everest)
cycleup=1000 (Default is 500, 1000 works very good for me, and 1500 goes perfect, I say the same I said above, setting too high will make your CPU temperature go higher)
cycledown=20 (This is fine like it is)

[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 (Of course I want it false, Jazz Jackrabbit is not fun without music and sound)
rate=44100 (Default is 22050, I set it to 44100 because I want max sound quality)
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,none.
# config -- Special configuration options for the device.

mpu401=true
intelligent=true
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
# type -- 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.

type=sb16
base=220
irq=5 (Default is 7, but I set mine to 5 because it's 5 :P)
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=44100 (Default is 22050, I set it to 44100 because I want max sound quality on SB emulation)

[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.

gus=true
rate=22050
base=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.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# Tandysound emulation is present if machine is set to tandy.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[bios]
# Nothing to setup yet!


[dos]
# xms -- Enable XMS support.
# ems -- Enable EMS support.

xms=true
ems=true

[modem]
# modem -- Enable virtual modem emulation.
# comport -- COM Port modem is connected to.
# listenport -- TCP Port the modem listens on for incoming connections.

modem=false
comport=2
listenport=23

[directserial]
# directserial -- Enable serial passthrough support.
# comport -- COM Port inside DOSBox.
# realport -- COM Port on the Host.
# defaultbps -- Default BPS.
# parity -- Parity of the packets. This can be N, E or O.
# bytesize -- Size of each packet. This can be 5 or 8.
# stopbit -- The number of stopbits. This can be 1 or 2.

directserial=false
comport=1
realport=COM1
defaultbps=1200
parity=N
bytesize=8
stopbit=1

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

ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount d d:\jazz (I put these 2 lines because by this way I'll only need to type Jazz to play the game)
d:




Ok, that's all I think, I think I didn't forget anything, this way it worked perfectly for me.

Good luck!
Tubz Tubz's Avatar

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Nov 22, 2004, 11:54 AM
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Hmm, this should be useful. The only thing is, everyone in the community knows about DosBox. Nevertheless, a more precise way of using DosBox than Sparky's guide.
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Nov 22, 2004, 01:02 PM
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I don't understand DosBox at all and I only recently got it. Now I can at last enjoy the game that started it all...!

Thanks Alberto.
Alberto

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Nov 22, 2004, 01:44 PM
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You're all welcome, I think this is the best solution to play Jazz in a Windows 2000/XP computer.

Anyways, I am in the second Orbitus level and I can't pass thru a zone, but I remember it was easier in the 6 episodes version, I dunno, it's weird but I think the level is modified or something, or I lost skills .
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Nov 22, 2004, 02:08 PM
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That part in Orbitus 2 is pure evil. Use the airboard cheat to get through it if you want to preserve your sanity.
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Nov 23, 2004, 12:43 AM
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I posted this in that "JJ1 and HH on XP" thread. I've been using it for ages :P
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Nov 23, 2004, 01:39 AM
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This generally helps with making screenshots, as normally they are often corrupt and the file format is not supported by MSPaint.
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Tubz Tubz's Avatar

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Nov 23, 2004, 12:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alberto
You're all welcome, I think this is the best solution to play Jazz in a Windows 2000/XP computer.

Anyways, I am in the second Orbitus level and I can't pass thru a zone, but I remember it was easier in the 6 episodes version, I dunno, it's weird but I think the level is modified or something, or I lost skills .
You and just about everyone else, brother.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Enigma
That part in Orbitus 2 is pure evil. Use the airboard cheat to get through it if you want to preserve your sanity.
I'm not sure, but I might have beaten it without a cheat. But I would rather take the Nigmas advice.
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Nov 24, 2004, 02:06 AM
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I did beat it without cheating, too, but I guess I'd never manage to do it with time limit.
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|| Ballistic Bunny (EP)
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Beyond (maxi-single)
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|| Inner Monsters OST (mini-album)
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Nov 24, 2004, 12:56 PM
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http://members.home.nl/mabus/dfend.htm

I've found this utility, D-Fend, to be quite useful in conjunction with Dosbox. D-Fend is a frontend (GUI) for Dosbox, so it makes Dosbox a lot easier to configure/run.
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