A couple of questions regarding DOS/Vista
 

I realize my questions are probably someplace on this forum, but thought I would ask anyway. I recently discovered all the DOS games again online. I am running Vista. My computers skills aren't the best either. My questions:

1. I assume I need to download an emulator like dosbox to play games on Vista. I have seen a lot of sites offering downloads. Can someone provide a link to one they prefer that works?

2. What kind of configuration do I have to do to my computer and/or the dosbox download once it is loaded onto my computer?

3. I was looking for the game Tank Wars, I think by Kenneth Morse written around 1990. I'm sure it is on several sites for downloads as well, but if anyone has a link they prefer I would be interested in it.

Thanks in advance for any help!!

1 dosbox.sourceforge.net (www.dosbox.com)
the only one and the official

by the way, sourceforge is a website dedicated to free and open source software, made usually very well and it beats commercial competitors of same branch. the only exception i can think of is photoshop, which is better than free gimp. it also provides a lot of mirrors in case some server were down. you can not go wrong with sourceforge

2 after installing dosbox, run it and type "intro", it will give you brief instructinos. also this is a good place to start too. and some of common vista issues

3. http://tinyurl.com/22c6t

1. Correct.

There aren't much options to choose from, really. There's DOSBox, there's VDMSound and a few full-blown virtual machines.
* DOSBox hogs CPU time and isn't the easiest one of them, but all things considered it's still quite fast and works with most games.
* VDMSound is faster and easier to use, but doesn't always work and sometimes just plain crashes.
* Virtual machines require setting up an operating system just like a real PC would, weren't meant for gaming in terms of compatibility... unless you have a Windows 95/98 game that doesn't work in XP/Vista, just avoid them.

DOSBox can be downloaded here.

2. Almost none to your computer, some to DOSBox. Here's a guide I wrote, it should help you get started.
Some of the DOS games will require sound configuration. This has to be done (or at least checked to make sure it's correct) per each game separately - no way around that, fortunately it's not particularly complicated.

3. I know it has been requested and approved. Used to be downloadable from Home of the Undergogs, but none of their downloads work anymore after their file server died.

You are asking for ways to run games, so you are posting in the right forum. The next time you need help finding a particular game you should however try the Favorite Newbies and Oldies or Request forums: they are more suited for that kind of request.

Have fun. :)

Here's the version I use - http://ykhwong.x-y.net/cvs/frame.html

Thanks for all the quick repsonses. I will try it out when I get home from work tonight. Hey R.U.S.S. the answer to #3 was pretty funny, I liked that one.

I was trying to save the changes in the dosbox.conf on the notepad. When I go to file then save I get:

cannot create the C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.72\dosboxconf file
Make sure that path and file name are correct.


Any suggestions? I was able to save it under documents but when I pulled up the dosboxconf file from start then programs none of the changes were saved.

Once all the configuring is done how do you start a game? I could see it on the c:dir on dosbox but what do you type to start the game. In this case Tank Wars?

Thanks for any help!!!!

One of the wondrous things with Windows Vista.
Uninstall DOSBox and install it in your "My Documents" directory or somewhere where your profile has full read/write permissions.

Because the link still pointed to the config file in the DOSBox directory, and so did the parameter in the DOSBox shortcut. You were opening the original file, not the modified copy you saved elsewhere.

Look for EXE, COM and BAT files in the game directory. Try running them.

It might be more convenient if you set up an extra GUI inside DOSBox - Norton Commander being my personal recommendation (my guide has instructions on how to set it up - NC makes things much easier).

Easiest way to work with dosbox on Vista:
Install dosbox in c:\users\your name\
Create a virtual C as: c:\users\your name\oldgames\
Add those lines under [autoexec]
mount c "c:\users\your name\oldgames\"
c:

Working that way will avoid you all troubles related to Vista's protections.
Simple as that.