Dosbox/Master of Orion II

[WesleyBidsnipes]

I installed dosbox from the retropie_setup.sh menu. It shows as installed (from binary). The folder to put Dos games into is straightforward, and I do have the Dos version of Master of Orion 2 (as opposed to the Gog version or any of the other commercially available ones floating around).

When I go into the menu, it shows 3 executables available (one I don't recognize, but the other is the sound setup... remember when you had to screw with Soundblaster settings for each new game?).

If I run the executable, I see the splash screen for Microprose, and then the screen goes blank/black. It hangs, and there's no way to restart short of ssh-ing in and rebooting that I've been able to figure out (no keyboard, just a ps3 controller).

As I remember playing these games 25 years ago, this happened alot back then too (yay, perfect emulation!) but I can't for the life of me remember the sorts of things I'd have done back then to debug. I assumed dosbox took care of at least some of that stuff.

The log and info files show the executable string that's running, but no error messages.

Can anyone point me in the right direction about how to get this running?

[nemo93]

Hello @WesleyBidsnipes! This game is running well on my setup. I'm using also a CD version not GoG. How did you proceed to install the game exactly? I'm not sure to follow when you said "When I go into the menu, it shows 3 executables available". Can you please elaborate as well?

The good way to proceed is for instance:

0. get a keyboard :-D
1. create a "orion2" directory under Retropie "pc" roms folder.
2. copy your iso or bin/cue into "orion2"
3. run DOSbox command line and mount your iso this way (so that DOSbox will "emulate" a CD drive accessible via D:):

C:\>imgmount d /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/orion2/orion2.iso -t iso

4. Then go to the D: drive and execute the installer exactly like you did back in the days (remember you can use the TAB key of the keyboard to autocomplete):

C:\>D:
D:\>INSTALL.EXE (or perhas SETUP.EXE I don't recall exactly)

5. Go through the install and setup process. Once done all files should have been copied to your "orion2" directory. You could launch the game via the following set of commands. Just ensure to keep the D drive representing your CD-ROM drive mounted all the time:

D:\>C:
C:\>CD ORION2
C:\>ORION2.EXE

Notes: if you want to go further - Master of Orion 2 does support the DOS/32A extender for greater stability and performance. Also let me share my orion2.conf file for that game (I'm on Pi3B+) in case it helps - I've removed all comments for readibility. Beware as I'm using Gravis Ultrasound as soundcard instead of the default Sound Blaster 16!! Check the doc for installing GUS.

[sdl]
fullscreen       = true
fulldouble       = false
fullresolution   = original
windowresolution = original
output           = surface
autolock         = true
sensitivity      = 100
waitonerror      = true
priority         = higher,normal
mapperfile       = mapper-SVN.map
usescancodes = false

[dosbox]
language = 
machine  = svga_s3
captures = capture
memsize  = 16

[render]
frameskip = 0
aspect    = true
scaler = none

[cpu]
core = dynamic
cputype   = auto
cycles = max 95% limit 34000
cycleup   = 10
cycledown = 20

[mixer]
nosound   = false
rate      = 44100
blocksize = 1024
prebuffer = 25

[midi]
mpu401     = intelligent
mididevice = alsa
midiconfig = 128:0

[sblaster]
sbtype  = none
sbbase  = 220
irq     = 7
dma     = 1
hdma    = 5
sbmixer = true
oplmode = auto
oplemu  = default
oplrate = 44100

[gus]
gus      = true
gusrate  = 44100
gusbase  = 240
gusirq   = 5
gusdma   = 3
ultradir = U:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
pcspeaker = false
pcrate    = 44100
tandy     = off
tandyrate = 44100
disney    = false

[joystick]
joysticktype  = none
timed         = false
autofire      = false
swap34        = false
buttonwrap    = false
circularinput = false
deadzone      = 10

[serial]
serial1 = disabled
serial2 = disabled
serial3 = disabled
serial4 = disabled

[dos]
xms            = true
ems            = false
umb            = true
keyboardlayout = auto

[ipx]
ipx = false

[autoexec]
mount u /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/utils
imgmount d /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/games/orion2/orion2.iso -t iso
mount c /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/games
C:
CD ORION2
ORION2.EXE
EXIT

I've created a DOSbox thread on this forum where I'd like to keep track of everything related to DOSbox so that it's easier for people to find information and share experience. Check that thread!

[Niejeden]

@nemo93
Wow! Great guide! I'll definitely try it too as MOO2 was one of my favorite games and I still should have original CD somewhere. Thank you!

[WesleyBidsnipes]

@nemo93 I take it that there's no way to do this remotely through ssh? I did manage to find the dosbox executable, but of course it's doing framebuffer stuff and so won't display in the shell.

Also, about the confusion, I had this installed on another dosbox on my computer, and I thought I could cheat and just clone over the already-installed directory. Ended up having to dig out my cd from the closet (I thought I had the dos version... but apparently it's dos+win95, was it always like that, or did I just buy it a year after it came out after they'd started doing that? I honestly thought there was a dos-only release).

Waiting on a bluetooth keyboard from Amazon before I can proceed further. Had figured I could get it working with just the controller (and use default text for the few places it asks you to type).

The CD looks like it's still good, I need to keep a copy of the iso safe somewhere. Will check back in once I get this working. I've also got MoO1 around here somewhere, but nothing left that can read the floppies.

[TedMaul]

@nemo93 99% sure this is a daft question - however! Would DOS/32A help at all in running a stable Windows 95 / 98 in DOSbox? Still a bit green as to what is reasonably possible at the moment!

[nemo93]

hello @WesleyBidsnipes! I'm afraid there's no way to achieve the procedure above over ssh. However as you mentioned it should be fine to install the game on another box/computer and "clone" or copy the directory over to your Pi once the installation+setup is complete. I haven't checked if the game does require CD to be mounted all the time so perhaps you could give a try and report any findings? There are no redbook audio (cd-da) tracks as far as I can tell hence it's worth trying. Anyhow the keyboard is a must for DOSbox (and mouse too) :-)

hello @TedMaul! There's no "daft" question. Always best to ask so that knowledge could be shared. The answer to your question is no it won't help running a stable Windows. You could see DOS extender as a client/server software or even a mini operating system of its own. The extender will act as a server and the game (or DOS application) as the client. Extender will well... extend the DOS (limited) capabilities. Keep in mind DOS was only able to address only the first 640 kilobytes of memory (base memory). Windows comes with its own capabilities and memory management. You should be able to run DOS extender-applications within Windows as long as the extender relies on DPMI if I recall properly.
=> for the time being Windows95/98/Me on Pi via DOSbox is more a proof of concept than other thing. DOSbox does not support Windows9x officially and no efforts are being put to achieve that.

[TedMaul]

@nemo93 thanks for the reply! I tried it a while ago by following the guides about a year ago but it kept crashing so figured it might not be possible. Never mind, there's always 3.1! :-)