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DOS Zone

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Re: DOS Zone

#81

Post by Sarkie »

po1nt wrote: post #40
ecliptik wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Semi-related, since SDL added support for DOS a few weeks ago I've worked with Claude to port Cave Story to DOS [1]. On a Pentium 75 it can get 30fps and with decoupling the frame timer it plays at the same speed as the original. The port offloads the Organya synth soundtrack to MIDI to improve performance, and also sounds amazing. Still working on a few bug fixes, performance tweaks, and Waveblaster support, but it'…

I admire your work, but at the same time I have to ask: Why?

You may be in the wrong place

Re: DOS Zone

#83

Post by Loach505 »

masfuerte wrote: post #12
CodeWriter23 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun fact, Win 95, 98 and ME booted DOS and autoexec'd win for you.

Yes, but like Windows for Workgroups before them, they didn't need to rely on DOS services once they had started. They were 32-bit multitasking OSes that could host multiple DOS VMs and (in the case of WfW) a 16-bit cooperatively multitasked GUI. DOS basically acted as a bootloader. But all of those OSes had the very weird feature that they could switch back into a virtualised copy of their bootloader. I do feel that…

It was technically possible to have Windows 95 only boot into DOS. Helped when you only wanted to run DOS applications, especially certain games.

Re: DOS Zone

#84

Post by M95D »

ecliptik wrote: post #35
modeless wrote: post #32

I wish there was an instant play button for some of the multiplayer games, the server browser interface is kind of obtuse. I did the Quake 3 port that they used as the base for their Q3A, and I have my own site that lets you instantly drop into a demo match vs. bots: https://thelongestyard.link/q3a-demo/ . It's not just the original running in an emulator either, I made it a real web port with features you'd expect i…

Semi-related, since SDL added support for DOS a few weeks ago I've worked with Claude to port Cave Story to DOS [1]. On a Pentium 75 it can get 30fps and with decoupling the frame timer it plays at the same speed as the original. The port offloads the Organya synth soundtrack to MIDI to improve performance, and also sounds amazing. Still working on a few bug fixes, performance tweaks, and Waveblaster support, but it'…

Why is Soundblaster 16 a minimum requirement? I'm asking because there are lots of cards, including the very popular OPL3SA2, that only emulate SB Pro.

Re: DOS Zone

#85

Post by phatskat »

modeless wrote: post #32

I wish there was an instant play button for some of the multiplayer games, the server browser interface is kind of obtuse. I did the Quake 3 port that they used as the base for their Q3A, and I have my own site that lets you instantly drop into a demo match vs. bots: https://thelongestyard.link/q3a-demo/ . It's not just the original running in an emulator either, I made it a real web port with features you'd expect i…

Cave Story is in my Mount Rushmore of games, bookmarking this for later! Very curious to see how the controls map out and work. Good job, and keep it up :D

Re: DOS Zone

#86

Post by modeless »

phatskat wrote: post #85
modeless wrote: post #32

I wish there was an instant play button for some of the multiplayer games, the server browser interface is kind of obtuse. I did the Quake 3 port that they used as the base for their Q3A, and I have my own site that lets you instantly drop into a demo match vs. bots: https://thelongestyard.link/q3a-demo/ . It's not just the original running in an emulator either, I made it a real web port with features you'd expect i…

Cave Story is in my Mount Rushmore of games, bookmarking this for later! Very curious to see how the controls map out and work. Good job, and keep it up :D

I don't have an explanation of the touch controls on the site, I guess I probably should as they aren't entirely standard although I hope they're intuitive. It's a two thumb control scheme for Cave Story:

Left thumb drag (anywhere on left half of screen): D-pad

Right thumb tap/hold: shoot

Right thumb drag (any direction): jump

Tap weapon/health bar: open inventory/map menu

Swipe weapon/health bar left/right: switch weapon

For Quake, the left half of the screen works like a gamepad left stick for movement, and the right half works like a trackpad for aiming. Your weapon will start shooting automatically when an enemy is near the crosshair, even if they are not directly under it, so you need to track enemies accurately over time to score hits without wasting ammo. Tapping the top right quadrant of the screen will shoot manually, which is mostly useful for the rocket launcher. I didn't figure out a scheme to enable jumping or zoom/scope.

Re: DOS Zone

#87

Post by hulitu »

masfuerte wrote: post #12
CodeWriter23 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun fact, Win 95, 98 and ME booted DOS and autoexec'd win for you.

Yes, but like Windows for Workgroups before them, they didn't need to rely on DOS services once they had started. They were 32-bit multitasking OSes that could host multiple DOS VMs and (in the case of WfW) a 16-bit cooperatively multitasked GUI. DOS basically acted as a bootloader. But all of those OSes had the very weird feature that they could switch back into a virtualised copy of their bootloader. I do feel that…

> They were 32-bit multitasking OSes that could host multiple DOS VMs

In theory, yes. Yet some games could not run in those "DOS VMs" because not enough real memory was available, which means that they weren't real VMs. The real "DOS VMs" appeared in Windows 2000.

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