Hello.

I am trying to create a dos setup to configure games inside Dosbox Pure.

These are the steps I currently have inside Windows.

- Extracting multiple dos games into the 'dos' batocera directory.

- Using Bulk rename utility to add '.pc' to every directory.

- Copying dosbox.conf to every single game directory with a freeware program I found from Vovsoft.

This means to manually remove every subdirectory from the vovsoft list to only copy dosbox.conf to the game root directory.

Currently have not found a better program to do this. Looked into creating a bat file to only copy files to a root directories but looks to difficult for me.

What I like to create for DOSBox Pure is an install bat file when starting a game with the following steps.

- No more multi copy of dosbox.conf or dosbox.bat to every directory.

This means to work only from inside the DOSBox prompt. I tried to mount a separate directory to the Y drive and then copy the two files to the root directory of the game but this is not possible without manually setting up the Y drive. I have looked if it is possible to add files to the Dosbox Z drive. A google search revealed this is possible with Dosbox Staging by adding files to the 'drivez' directory inside the DOSBox Staging program directory.

- Setting up a bat file to create a dosbox.bat file.

When first starting  a game I like to setup a custom dosbox.bat file for every game inside DOSBox. I have tried this with the Y drive method. Made a Setup.bat file inside the Y drive to start with the default dosbox.conf.

The root directory and the cd for a game are automounted with Dosbox pure under C and D. So that is not a problem.

This will output the following parameters inside the dosbox.bat file:

- If a game needs an install from disk or cdrom drive asking which drive the setup is on.

This means if a game is for example a cd install. Needs to be extracted first or is already playable as is.

- If a game installs to a different directory.

This means if a setup installs to an other directory like C:\HELI if it is needed to include a Change Directory in Dosbox.bat.

Some games for example with an install.com install to a default directory which cannot be changed. After this there is a comment in which directory to start the game.

- Which file is needed  to setup a game like installing, audio, video etc. if this is not included in the installing.

This means if a setup is needed after installing or a configuration is needed with a game through setup.exe or install.com.

- Maybe creating a menu in dosbox.bat or using a separate bat file with a selection menu but this adds an extra step.

This means after setup adding a menu with the setup filename and game executable and adding a timeout.

Tried to find a dos menu program to do this automatic. A program that scans the root directory for .exe, .com or .bat files but could not find it.

- Setting up the cycles.

This means setting the needed cycles for a game if it runs to fast. This is possible with the SET cycles command already in Dosbox. Creating a menu with the default cycles I found in dosbox-staging.conf.

#       8088 (4.77 MHz)     300

#       286-8               700

#       286-12             1500

#       386SX-20           3000

#       386DX-33           6000

#       386DX-40           8000

#       486DX-33          12000

#       486DX/2-66        25000

#       Pentium 90        50000

#       Pentium MMX-166  100000

#       Pentium II 300   200000

And when all the parameters are all set saving them to Dosbox.bat so they start next run.

- Menu example:

*** border ***

=== Game executable ===

=== Setup executable ===

=== Set Cycles ===

*** Timeout counter or press  a key. ***

*** border ***

Tommorow I am starting to create multiple batch files to use. If I could use the Z drive I can add the dosbox.conf and Start.bat to this drive and make it easier because the Path=Z:\ is default within Dosbox. If not I have to manually mount a separate Y drive before starting with every game.

Maybe a new version can be compiled that mount the Y drive to a default location so that files can be manually added and a path Y:\ is set. Or that files can be automatically start from a custom directory set in the root directory of Dosbox.

If anyone have any suggestions or ideas they are welcome.

Thanks.

Olaf.

Custom Paths in Config File

Added advanced options that can only be set via DOSBoxPure.cfg file:

• default_content: Specify the default content file to be loaded when starting without passing a path
• path_saves: Specify a custom path to be used for the saves directory
• path_system: Specify a custom path to be used for the system directory

I see this is already possible with the 1.0 preview 6 version to start default content on boot. Batocera does not yet have a DOSBoxPure.cfg in its Dosbox directory so it is not possible until Batocera is updated with a later version.

I am currently trying to find  a simple dos program that can select a single filename and outputs it to a text file for the setup and game executables.

A program that lists a current directory with a selection menu and outputs the filename to the command prompt. Maybe in a dir /w style format.

For example: select.com > runme.bat

Still searching the internet.

Found this on an old website with dos programs. Only all links are dead. Can not find the program itself.

Run.zip v7.0a

Author: Bremer Corporation (1995)

Run is a simple program execution aid. RUN pops up a list of EXE, COM, and BAT files contained in the current directory (or any directory if you supply a path on the command line). Scroll or jump through the list using the cursor, Home, End and Page keys. Simply highlight and launch a selected program or press its short-cut letter. You can filter the list by passing RUN an executable wildcard (e.g., RUN *.bat displays only batch files.). There are no hidden "costs" to using RUN (no memory overhead, doesn't load a new command processor); it passes commands to DOS and then kills itself. Documentation is sparse.

Checked the version of the Dosbox pure libretto core in Retroarch. It is using version 0.9.9 from december 2023. Have to wait for a stable 1.0 release and then probably a libretto core will be compiled until then it will not be possible to create an internal drive letter without the use of Dosboxpurex.conf.

Have enabled Online Updater and updating experimental cores in Retroarch. Updated 96 cores to the latest version but alas DosBox Pure is still version 0.9.9. No experimental DosBox libretto preview cores. :-(

Hi.

I have a small issue. Trying to copy files over within dosbox but want to exclude files. Tried freedos xcopy but it does not contain the /EXCLUDE parameter. Also the newer Windows xcopy does have this parameter but that version does not work in DOS mode.

Everywhere I search on google I get tips for xcopy that will not work in Dosbox or Robocopy but that is also for x32.

I also can not copy dosbox.conf out first because it will be renamed to DOSBOX~1.CON and after this Dosbox can not use it anymore. Why doesn't Dosbox use a 8.3 dos compatible filename then it will work.

Does anyone know of a older copy executable that supports this? It must be a executable with switches for autoexec.bat not a commander program.

Thanks.

Found the following dos copy programs until now that supports excluding files.

- icopy121

Shareware version. Have to check what kind of limitations it has.

- pcopy93d

Shareware version. This version has a 30 day trial period and a nag screen for registering.

- qkopy341 (quikcopy)

Evaluation copy. This version has a 14 day trial period.

 I do not know if the authors are still selling the software and if possible a registered version is available somewhere. Do not want to use some illegal copy without the authors permission.

i could also use the date parameter if a copy program has it. I checked xcopy but it only has an after date function so not before. If a program has a younger date function I can copy all files except dosbox.conf because it has a creation date of 2026.

Update.

Tested icopy121 and it worked perfect. It is an donation version so has no limitations. Copied all files with the parameter /EXCLUDE:DOSBOX~1.CON so it keeps it original dosbox.conf name.

Finally found multiple versions of XXCOPY16 that has 160 parameters and also a move function. Perfect.

Now going to build a menu. Only thing I am not sure of is how to display .bat, .exe, .com files in an selection menu and output it to a batch file.

Bug: If a cd is auto mounted to drive d then DOSBox Pure no longer reads dosbox.conf or dosbox.bat and only goes to the file select menu.

Batocera uses Dosbox Pure 0.9.9 so i do not know if it is already fixed with the preview builds.

I have another hurdle. The dosbox drive c has a capacity of 256mb so if I change files around I get disk full errors. My idea is to copy a install structure to drive "E" mounted with the -freesize 1024 option and use drive E as an install directory to drive "C".

But I can not find a solution":

- Can not just mount an "E" anywhere and  i can not access the "/userdata/roms/dos/"game name" which is mounted internal with Dosbox Pure libretto.

- Can not just mount -u the "C" drive and remount it  with the freesize 1024 option because I can not set the "game name" in a bat file.

I think Dosbox Pure should have the option to change the freesize value before starting or set the default to 1024. That is usually enough for a cd files of 650mb to 700mb plus some install files.

Tried xxcopy16 and says disk full. Also icopy says insufficient disk space after 256mb copying.

Copied the largest 300mb file with dos command copy to the c drive and it worked.

Also tested xcopy but is the same.

Tested Dircomp with x: c:\hdd /s /create /clone. Final rapport says that all files copied with no errors. Only the 300mb file was skipped.

Found a temporary solution by storing the game files with pkzip. Luckely pkzip has also an move function and a exclude function. After this extracting the game files back with pkunzip to the c drive in a different directory. Pkzip did not look at the 256mb size limit of the c drive.

Currently have a good working batch file menu. Only thing I am still missing is if a game has to be installed to a different directory than my default one. It automatically should change to the directory where the game is installed.