Dosbox on pi 4, game window is fullscreen but not centered on screen

Simrose

@quicksilver
Thanks so much, I love DOS games and to be able to play them on my pi is wonderful.
I will keep an eye on your posts in forum for any change.

I thought you might like my dos games list i have working on pi
Arkanoid
Atomix
Berusky
Brix
Bumpy
Challenge of the ancient empires
chip and dale rescue rangers nimnul's
christmas jetpack
crystal caves
dragonsphere
ducktales quest for gold
dyna blaster
jazz jackrabbit
klass of 99
klax
prince of persia
star wars xwing
stunts
the incredible machine
transport tycoon deluxe
wacky wheels
wasteland

Thanks Sim

Edit
Most games are playable but I do notice some like atomix not all the game is fitting. But maybe i can adjust those games.

Simrose

@quicksilver

Did those same video settings work for all your dos games?
I am finding some of them not correct fitting.
Thanks
Sim

quicksilver

@Simrose The game is appearing too small or they are being cut off?

Simrose

@quicksilver
I can actually play the games what dont fit they just being cut off missing just a small part of top etc ( Full Screen)

quicksilver

@Simrose hmm, im not sure, I havent seen this with any of my games.

RussellB

Hi,

I've been working with Hurrican, the Linux port and switched over to the DOS version and came up with the DOSBOX issue on the RPI4. I setup my dosbox.conf per this thread as well as runcommand-onstart and runcommand-onend so it flips to 640x480. The image comes up centered but as you can see it leaves a lot of black border around the image. I assume it's keeping the aspect ratio. Is this expected?

Russ

quicksilver

@RussellB said in Dosbox on pi 4, game window is fullscreen but not centered on screen:

I assume it's keeping the aspect ratio. Is this expected?

If you have aspect=true then yes it will preserve the original aspect ratio.

RussellB

Ok this is weird... using the same setup on another RPi4 a friend has the overscanning issue, and I don't. Using the same executable and the same dosbox-SVN.conf.

Ok... my bad... the TV did not support 640x480 properly. Switched to zoom mode and viola. Time for a new tv!

ecto

I made some quick tests yesterday and wanted to share my findings:

Since SDL1 is patched, dispmanx can be used again with the right aspect ratio (as in not streched across the whole screen) in dosbox.

This is true, and it's nice to see this improvement. Games just ran along nicely. I tested Blood with a resolution up to 640x480.

What didn't work was Ultima 7.2 (Serpent Isle), because there where severe slowdowns whenever the screen faded. I also tried System Shock with the same outcome: screenfading is very slow.

I did not change output=surfacein the dosbox.conf, so that might be another go at it. But so far I would suggest to stick to the workaround quicksilver suggested.

BuZz

@ecto there are some performance issues with dosbox and the sdl1 dispmanx driver, but it's better than the previous overlay config for most things.

I've just committed a change to default to dispmanx on the rpi4 and I removed some previous default configs. It's worth removing the dosbox-SVN.conf from /opt/retropie/configs/pc and reinstalling after updating retropie setup as the old entries could make trouble. But it sounds like your config is probably correct, but just in case.

BuZz

I can confirm the fading issue with system shock. It's likely due to the way the dispmanx driver double buffers and enforces vsync. I will see if there's a workaround in the driver code (but it's an old issue, and I don't think there's a quick fix. Probably better to focus on the libretro cores etc).

It's been a while since I looked at the dosbox modules also, so I will see. Maybe there are alternatives/improvements for the sdl2 core also.

BuZz

I will also look at adding dosbox-staging or replacing current dosbox-sdl2 with it if it works better.

nemo93

@BuZz happy to assist with dosbox-staging if you need. As stated in my other post, it works better (perf wise, no tearing, interesting new features) yet some stuff are still missing like proper fluidsynth (almost done though) or mt32 support. Devs are also looking closely at improving perf on pi platforms too.

BuZz

@nemo93 dosbox staging seems to require fluidsynth 2 which is too new for Debian Buster. But it worked as well as our existing sdl2 dosbox from limited testing.

quicksilver

@ecto I have another solution now for dosbox-svn. It requires running dosbox in an x session but does not require dispmanx for scaling. Performance is better and you don't need to force 640x480 via scripts (like in my previous solution). I'll try to update the thread with details for those who are interested in trying it out.

nemo93

@BuZz said in Dosbox on pi 4, game window is fullscreen but not centered on screen:

@nemo93 dosbox staging seems to require fluidsynth 2 which is too new for Debian Buster. But it worked as well as our existing sdl2 dosbox from limited testing.

That is correct. A discussion is ongoing to backport fluidsynth 1.x. Also there's no mt32 support as we speak. Yet I'm confident both will be added and properly added in the coming weeks/months. Devs are extremly supportive, active and simply kind. If you don't mind I'll keep reviewing the various DOSbox ports/forks and report back in my other thread. I'll give you a nudge should new features or additions are interesting enough to be merged within Retropie.

shavecat

@quicksilver
Works amazing your scripts.
But when i go back to emulationstain its a bit more drak (the screen)
but still amazing thanks ! :)
will love if u have any news of that

realgreg

@quicksilver Can you please post this solution ?

quicksilver

@realgreg sorry for the delay, has been a busy past few weeks. I will try to take a moment to do it this week.

lazd

@quicksilver did you end up posting your solution anywhere? Thanks!