DOSBox/Getting Started

This section will introduce you to the basics of what DOSBox is, and where to get it.

Before using DOSBox
Just a few things to note:
 * If you are using Windows, always try running the game straight from Windows before resorting to DOSBox. Even XP and Vista are quite capable of running many MS-DOS programs perfectly, and some will run significantly smoother directly under Windows than they will within DOSBox.
 * Also give VDMSound a try. It provides a partial wrapper for MS-DOS functionality (mostly targeted at sound) and will make some games run better than under straight Windows. Since it still relies on Windows' emulation of most MS-DOS features it is significantly faster than DOSBox.
 * DOSBox is an emulator. Games running through it may not perform quite the way a genuine MS-DOS system would, and will also require a lot of processing power than they would if running directly. Running more advanced games at full speed will require a very powerful computer, and applying graphics and sound processing will add further load to emulation. Unlike Windows games, DOSBox mostly uses the CPU rather than sharing the load with the graphics card.

Getting DOSBox
The latest stable build of DOSBox is available from the official site. Note that this is a command line-only program; while you can use DOSBox on its own it's a lot easier to start with a frontend, which provides a visual interface and lots of assistance. This guide will cover D-Fend Reloaded (hereafter referred to as D-Fend). There are other frontends available, but D-Fend has the advantage of a familiar MESS- and MAME32-style interface and a simple wizard for adding games. You can get the latest version from the official site. D-Fend includes DOSBox so no separate download is necessary.

Once you have downloaded DOSBox you will have a file called  or similar (or, in the case of D-Fend,   or similar). Run this and follow the installation steps. You can choose whatever installation directory you like, but the default will be  or similar.

Organising your games
Next, you will need some games to run. Let's say you want to play MechWarrior. This particular game will work in Windows, but it runs at such a high speed that it is simply unplayable. To make things easier, place the game folder in a special directory for all your DOS games, and then place your games within this (e.g. C:\Games\mechwar). This folder can be called whatever you want&mdash;once within DOSBox this more complicated file structure will be treated as the root directory, so it doesn't matter too much. Having a single folder containing all the games also makes it a lot easier to use them under DOSBox.

Once you have everything ready, go into your DOSBox folder and run D-Fend.