DOSbox libretro launching

laxdragon

With standard dosbox you can create a dosbox.bat to contain the instructions on what .exe to run, but I don't see a way to do that with libreto-dosbox. I thought maybe it would load a dosbox.conf file from the game dir (in my case keen4.pc/dosbox.conf).

I'm asking this mainly because the libretro version can load the bezel while the other dosbox does not.

laxdragon

Loading a dosbox.conf would be a nice addition for doing things like setting up a custom keymap file as well.

Something like if "roms/dos/<game>.pc/dosbox.conf" exists, then add the command line option to load the specific game config after the master dosbox config is loaded. This would allow game specific overrides like the mapper.

Also, I noticed that when you create the .bat file, it fails if you omit a line break after the game .exe.

Dragu

laxdragon
If you define a specific dosbox.conf per game, as it is absolutely necessary for most, you must give it the name dosbox.cfg 🙂 Now inside best also to give it an specific keymapper name as "game".map and in the [autoexec] section eventually imgmount for virtual cd-rom, if necessary. And as I found out, in X64 case is sensitive.

Ruodokas

Below is old way, and yes while it still works like that dumping the exe commands in there, you CAN use it to fill any other dosbox related command as well, like mounting virtual cd images etc. With that said, I wouldn't be surprised if you could even define ANY other dosbox variable in there as well, ie. keymappings etc overriding the .conf file defaults.

How to run DOS games in Batocera or Recalbox 4.1
You can run fullscreen DOS games in Batocera or Recalbox (4.1 or newer).
You need copy them like this:
Select /recalbox/share/roms/dos/
Create a folder with the name of the game adding ".pc" (like galaxia.pc)
Copy all the files of the game to this folder.
Create a dosbox.bat file, these file must content the fullname of the executable file (like GALAXIA.EXE).
Update games in recalbox/batocera menu.

laxdragon

Looked at the source code to:
batocera.linux/package/batocera/core/batocera-configgen/configgen/configgen/generators/dosbox/dosboxGenerator.py

Looks like you can create a dosbox.cfg in the game dir and it will use that instead of the system default dosbox.conf. Note, it looks like this only works for regular dosbox, and not the libretro dosbox. Perhaps the _info.txt file should be updated mentioning that this file is supported.

I'd love it if libretro dosbox did the same thing, but it appears not to currently. I cannot even figure out how to get libretro dosbox to auto launch into a game since it does not even call the dosbox.bat file.

Also, thx Dragu, I noticed your reply after I figured this out on my own.

laxdragon

According to the libretro dosbox docs, it should be possible for it to run a game from a .conf file.
https://docs.libretro.com/library/dosbox/

Batocera does not do this. It just drops you to a command prompt. I know the regular dosbox works fine.

I think the way to fix this would be to change the libretro command line for dosbox to always be <game dir path>/dosbox.conf. I looked around the source and maybe this could be set in the es_systems.yml somehow, but didn't see how.

The other option would be to patch https://github.com/libretro/dosbox-libretro/blob/master/libretro/libretro.cpp around line 720 and make it so the engine auto checks for a local dosbox.conf file and uses it instead of expecting it to be on the command line.

Dragu

laxdragon
I dont know for what reason you want to use libretro-dosbox ?
The integrated dosbox works fine, as it was working fine in Recalbox also. So ?

Dragu

laxdragon
libretro Citra seems to be also some eastern egg. 😉

laxdragon

Dragu Because regular dosbox does not exit back to the menu from a controller (you have to use CTRL+F9), and it does not support the bezels/overlays. For this reason libreto-dosbox is more couch friendly.

Dragu

laxdragon
Ok, Bezels I dont use with my 3:4 screen, it is an argument. On the other side, I never need to leave games by emergency CTRL+F9 🙂 In general they leave alone without me. And sometimes I use multi-menu selection as :

@echo off
:menu
cls
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo HOCUS POCUS
echo.
echo 1 = Play Game
echo 2 = Setup
echo.
echo 3 = Quit
echo.
choice /n /c:123 Make a selection:
if errorlevel ==3 goto leave
if errorlevel ==2 goto setup
if errorlevel ==1 goto play
goto end

:play
HOCUS.EXE
goto menu

:setup
SETUP.EXE
goto menu

:leave
exit
:end

And always have the return to ES.

laxdragon

I know it is silly to want libretro-dosbox working correctly. Why even include it then? It is broken in the current state it is in.

Very few DOS games work well as couch only games anyway, most need a keyboard in some fashion even if they have good joystick support.