It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
General discussionopening GOG dos games in a separate dosbox(11 posts)solved(11 posts)solved
(11 posts)solved
Pages:
1
This is my favourite topic
Posted July 08, 2019
I am a small time dos gamer, and am used to playing most of my games without needing to shut off my dosbox. Is there any way to open GOG games in a standard dos emulator, or am I out of luck ?
This question / problem has been solved by AB2012image
Posted July 08, 2019
avatar
Blood_the_dog: I am a small time dos gamer, and am used to playing most of my games without needing to shut off my dosbox. Is there any way to open GOG games in a standard dos emulator, or am I out of luck ?
You should just be able to run them as they all use the DOSBox installed located in their directory. So running multiple DOS games should not be a problem, as you can have multiple DOSBox instances running.
Posted July 08, 2019
avatar
Blood_the_dog: I am a small time dos gamer, and am used to playing most of my games without needing to shut off my dosbox. Is there any way to open GOG games in a standard dos emulator, or am I out of luck ?
avatar
RoboPond: You should just be able to run them as they all use the DOSBox installed located in their directory. So running multiple DOS games should not be a problem, as you can have multiple DOSBox instances running.
I understand, what i am wandering is, if there's any way to open the game inside a dosbox
Post edited July 08, 2019 by Blood_the_dog
Posted July 08, 2019
avatar
Blood_the_dog: I understand, what i am wandering is, if there's any way to run the game using a non-GOG dosbox
You mean have one DOSBox installed under say C:\Program Files (x86) then use it to navigate folders, start games, etc, as you would using real MS-DOS? Yes. What I've done is create a folder called C:\Games\DOS and put all DOS games folders in there. Assuming you know how DOSBox works, you basically "mount" the virtual C drive to that folder with:-

mount c c:\Games\DOS

(you can add that line to the autoexec section in the DOSBox config file to automate it), move around folders using "cd" command and start games by entering their .exe name as you would in real DOS. If you want only one DOSBox install but also want to create direct Start menu shortcuts to the game, the shortcut format is like this:-

"C:\Program Files (x86)\DOSBox\DOSBox.exe" -conf C:\Games\DOS\Dune\Dune.conf -noconsole -exit

The above is one example that starts the game Dune (obviously replace it for other games) directly using the "conf" file (that you'll typically find pre-configured for GOG's DOS games). If there isn't one, then alternatively you can start them via the .exe directly.
Post edited July 08, 2019 by AB2012
Posted July 08, 2019
avatar
Blood_the_dog: I understand, what i am wandering is, if there's any way to run the game using a non-GOG dosbox
avatar
AB2012: You mean have one DOSBox installed under say C:\Program Files (x86) then use it to navigate folders, start games, etc, as you would using real MS-DOS? Yes. What I've done is create a folder called C:\Games\DOS and put all DOS games folders in there. Assuming you know how DOSBox works, you basically "mount" the virtual C drive to that folder with:-

mount c c:\Games\DOS

(you can add that line to the autoexec section in the DOSBox config file to automate it), move around folders using "cd" command and start games by entering their .exe name as you would in real DOS. If you want only one DOSBox install but also want to create direct Start menu shortcuts to the game, the shortcut format is like this:-

"C:\Program Files (x86)\DOSBox\DOSBox.exe" -conf C:\Games\DOS\Dune\Dune.conf -noconsole -exit

The above is one example that starts the game Dune (obviously replace it for other games) directly using the "conf" file (that you'll typically find pre-configured for GOG's DOS games). If there isn't one, then alternatively you can start them via the .exe directly.
your answer seems to be correct, but the game i am trying to boot (Terra Nova:Strike Force Centauri) gives me an error: cannot find movies
*fixed spelling
Post edited July 08, 2019 by Blood_the_dog
Posted July 08, 2019
avatar
Blood_the_dog: your answer seems to be correct, but the game i am trying to boot (Terra Nova:Strike Force Centauri) gives me an error: cannot find movies
*fixed spelling
Unfortunately I don't own that game, however some games need DOSBox to "mount" a file as a virtual CD (that might contain the 'missing' movies if you try and run the game without the command). You can check for this by looking in that folder for a file ending in .conf, open it in a text editor and read what it says under the autoexec section (at the bottom of the file). That's the custom stuff GOG have added to get the game to run. For games like that (that don't start directly via the .exe without error) it's often far simpler to just start the game from Windows using the earlier mentioned direct shortcut that points at that game's .conf file rather than the .exe, as that's the file that contains all of GOG's own tweaks.
Post edited July 08, 2019 by AB2012
Posted July 08, 2019
avatar
Blood_the_dog: your answer seems to be correct, but the game i am trying to boot (Terra Nova:Strike Force Centauri) gives me an error: cannot find movies
*fixed spelling
avatar
AB2012: Unfortunately I don't own that game, however some games need DOSBox to "mount" a file as a virtual CD (that might contain the 'missing' movies if you try and run the game without the command). You can check for this by looking in that folder for a file ending in .conf, open it in a text editor and read what it says under the autoexec section (at the bottom of the file). That's the custom stuff GOG have added to get the game to run. For games like that (that don't start directly via the .exe without error) it's often far simpler to just start the game from Windows using the earlier mentioned direct shortcut that points at that game's .conf file rather than the .exe, as that's the file that contains all of GOG's own tweaks.
I see, thanks for your help
Posted July 08, 2019
Terra Nova doesn't have any CDA-tracks, so it should be possible to run the game without mounting the disc-image each time by copying the needed files and folders and then editing the game's own config files to point to the new location. At least I got GOG's Strike Commader work that way with my old 486.

As for being able to start not disc-image reliant games from the command line manually under DOSBox, just like with actual DOS, some games require EMS while others refuse to run when EMS is detected etc, so at minimum a launcher like DBGL is needed so that new launch profiles can be created whenever a newly added game can't be run by any of the previous profiles.
Posted April 02, 2023
I know, this Thread is 4 years old, but... the same theme, so...

I buyed some years ago Descent1 and Descent2 here on GoG.

now, two years ago I found DOS BOX-X. a tweaked version of Dos BOX and it have some really nice enhancements.

Many old DOS Games(Magic Carpet I+II, OMF2097...ect) runs like a charm and looks greate(it use some shaders to improove the visibility of the low res from those days)

But, Descent II wont run. It says at start that the original D2 CD is missing and I have to put them into the CD Drive.

I looked at the internet allready for a solution but cant find.

in the cfg file it says it mount the file "DESCENT_II.inst" as CD, but if I want to do this manually dos box say "failed to mount"...

please help.
Posted April 02, 2023
avatar
IchmagDUG: I know, this Thread is 4 years old, but... the same theme, so...

I buyed some years ago Descent1 and Descent2 here on GoG.

now, two years ago I found DOS BOX-X. a tweaked version of Dos BOX and it have some really nice enhancements.

Many old DOS Games(Magic Carpet I+II, OMF2097...ect) runs like a charm and looks greate(it use some shaders to improove the visibility of the low res from those days)

But, Descent II wont run. It says at start that the original D2 CD is missing and I have to put them into the CD Drive.

I looked at the internet allready for a solution but cant find.

in the cfg file it says it mount the file "DESCENT_II.inst" as CD, but if I want to do this manually dos box say "failed to mount"...

please help.
https://www.dxx-rebirth.com/
Posted April 02, 2023
avatar
IchmagDUG: in the cfg file it says it mount the file "DESCENT_II.inst" as CD, but if I want to do this manually dos box say "failed to mount"... please help.
If you still want to use the DOS version but run it in a separate DOSBox, then you need to make sure you are using a "conf" file with the same commands as the GOG one. Assuming you are familiar with them, in the AUTOEXEC section add the commands to mount the DOS folder then if the game uses a "CD-ROM" you may need a 2nd command to mount that as a fake CD-drive too. Example:-

MOUNT C "C:\GOG Games\Descent II"
IMGMOUNT D "C:\GOG Games\Descent II\DESCENT_II.inst" -t iso

^ The first line "mounts" the game folder into the C drive. The second creates a fake CD-ROM visible as D drive containing the contents of the DESCENT_II.inst file (a renamed ISO). The exact commands will change per game but can usually be found in a .conf file with the word "single" in it in GOG's install folder. Copy the commands at the bottom (underneath AUTOEXEC) into the AUTOEXEC section of whatever custom conf file you are using.
Pages:
1
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionopening GOG dos games in a separate dosbox(11 posts)solved(11 posts)solved
(11 posts)solved