DOSBox/Using DOSBox

DOSBox can also be used without a frontend. Some general experience with MS-DOS will help, as many of the commands and concepts are the same.

Starting DOSBox
Go to Start>All Programs>DOSBox and click on DOSBox. You will be met with a simple black-and-white display containing a blinking text cursor. This is known as the command prompt.

Mounting a game
First, you have to make your Games folder the virtual C:\ drive of DOSBox. To do this, type: MOUNT C C:\Games The first part of this command tells DOSBox to "mount" that directory as a virtual hard drive. The letter "C" is the drive letter to be assigned to this virtual hard drive (C is the standard letter; while many games will be run from other letters, some games insist upon the C:\ drive). The third part is the full path of where your DOS games folder is located.

Alter the line accordingly for what you called your directory. If there are spaces in the folder name you chose you must wrap it in quotation marks, e.g.: MOUNT C "C:\Old Games" When the line is correct, hit Enter. All going well, you will be told "Drive C is mounted as local directory C:\Games\".

DOSBox will now act as if C:\Games (or C:\Old Games, or whatever) is in fact C:\. You can now run games by going into their individual directories.

Navigating directories
One easy way to look at the games you have in there is with the DIR command. Simply type  in the prompt and hit Enter. You will now see a list of all the game folders you have in that folder. To run a game simply type  followed by a space and its folder name, like this: CD mechwar Then hit Enter. You will now be in that folder. Typing  again will show you this game's files

Running games
Once looking at the folder contents, simply type the name of the game's EXE or BAT launcher and hit Enter.

All going well, DOSBox should now load your game. While MechWarrior runs perfectly in DOSBox many other games won't; look up your games in the compatibility database if you have any problems. Games with bars reaching completely or nearly to the right-hand "supported" side will play with few or no problems, games veering towards "playable" will have some issues, and those near "runable" may be barely playable at all. The description pages often explain what the problem was; sometimes the solution is as simple as modifying dosbox.cfg, but in many cases it is because some aspect used by the game is not fully emulated yet.