Differences between dosbox, lr-dosbox and dosbox-sdl2?

[BobHarris]

@niculinux Yes you need a mouse for mapping the buttons.

[mediamogul]

@niculinux said in Differences between dosbox and lr-dosbox?:

But i was lookin for a global and out of the box configuration

You can achieve a global joystick configuration in DOSBox by using the built-in mapping utility. Naturally, this only extends to those games that can use a gamepad. Using a gamepad for games that only support a mouse and keyboard require an external mapping solution. Something to keep in mind is that RetroPie is developed first and foremost to be a highly configurable hobbyist platform. Although it continues to become easier to setup and use all the time, out of the box configurations have never really been a primary goal. This is in contrast to other projects like Recalbox that focus on turnkey configurations, but are much more limited as to what can be achieved.

[niculinux]

@mediamogul ok so i see, it's a matter of personal prefernce then 🙂

[mediamogul]

@niculinux

It is indeed, yes. Much the same as Android vs Apple, as far as the project philosophies are concerned.

[niculinux]

@mediamogul ok got it. 🙂

Hey sorry, i modified the title in the first post because - always in reteopie 4.4 - dosbox got a second experimental reteopie package, dosbox-sdl2 . So what's goes on with it?

[mediamogul]

@niculinux said in Differences between dosbox, lr-dosbox and dosbox-sdl2?:

Hey sorry, i modified the title in the first post because - always in reteopie 4.4 - dosbox got a second experimental reteopie package, dosbox-sdl2 . So what's goes on with it?

No problem. Someone else may be able to answer this question more thoroughly, but the two options are most likely for compatibility reasons. To my understanding, SDL updates have always been somewhat problematic and making multiple packages to accommodate is sometimes necessary. Anecdotally, I currently use the non-experimental version with dozens of games and haven't noticed any issues.

Edit: Conversely, it could also be that there were issues in the past that have since been resolved and the more current SDL2 is being tested as a result.

[BuZz]

@mediamogul some info here about sdl2 version

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/commit/4751c259ec0088e4bac93ef9c166d427bbd35a42

[mediamogul]

Very nice to see screen tearing reduced. I might test it later this evening with 'Mortal Kombat Trilogy', as all of the advantages and potential disadvantages would be immediately apparent there.

[BuZz]

@mediamogul there should be no screen tearing on dosbox with the dispmanx sdl1 backend enabled also.

[mediamogul]

@buzz said in Differences between dosbox, lr-dosbox and dosbox-sdl2?:

there should be no screen tearing on dosbox with the dispmanx sdl1 backend enabled also.

I've never found that to be the case myself, even under default settings. In the link you posted, @psyke83 claims that "Graphical tearing no longer appears to be present (or is greatly reduced)". Having just tested it myself, that does indeed appear to be the case. Previously, I haven't been able to have much fun with 'Mortal Kombat Trilogy' because the tearing was so distracting, but it looks fantastic with SDL2.

[BuZz]

@mediamogul and you enabled the dispmanx backend? It's not enabled by default for dosbox afair. It didn't have tearing when I was testing the sdl1 dispmanx code.

[mediamogul]

@buzz said in Differences between dosbox, lr-dosbox and dosbox-sdl2?:

and you enabled the dispmanx backend?

I did, yes. It could just be a discrepancy with my particular setup.

[edmaul69]

@bobharris @mediamogul what i did was in the mapper, map joystick 1 button 1 to “Y”, joystick 1 button 2 to “X”, joystick 2 button 1 to “B”, joystick 2 button 2 to “A” and mapped the players directions to the left and right analog sticks. Then in the dosbox conf file i set my joystick as a 4 button 4 axis joystick . That way both players controls get set as a 1 player joystick with 4 buttons and two analog sticks. No need for me to change any configs that way.

[mediamogul]

@edmaul69

Nice. It's been a while since I set up my main config, but I seem to remember doing the same thing to get four buttons. If memory serves, I believe that ability was first put in place specifically for the Gravis gamepad, which was the only PC controller to have four buttons for many years. Looking at all the options available now, we've really come a long way.

[mediamogul]

@BuZz

I uninstalled and reinstalled DOSBox with the dispmanx SDL1 backend and it corrected my issue with screen tearing.