DOSBox with Save States

[Gregz]

This is an unofficial build, and it's a bit buggy so use with caution:

http://www.emucr.com/2012/02/ykhwongs-dosbox-074-svn-build-20022012.html

Alt-F5 to save a state, Alt-F9 to load. 10 save slots, Alt-F6 to decrement slot, Alt-F7 to increment. Just like a console emulator.

 

[Jaesun]

Or you could just play the game as intended.

Save states are for faggots.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I thought save points were for faggots and the ability to save whenever you want was one of the things that made PC gaming so awesome.

Anyway, I still have the beta 7 version here. I also saved this post with details and instructions. I'll leave it here for posterity.

Save States - Proof of concept :: 2010-7-04 @ 02:50 pm
ZenJu
Newbie

Joined: 2010-07-04
Posts: 25
Hi,

general support for save states would be an awesome feature. Currently there doesn't seem to be a timeline when this feature will be in the official release. As I can't wait that long (there are a couple of die-hard dosgames without ingame save support I need to finish since the 90s) I gave it a shot at my own solution: Yesterday evening I downloaded the sources and made it compile. I'll spare you the details of my little "compiling adventure", but just present you a first "working" version in the attachment.

It's based on the latest official Dosbox sources 0.74.

Default Keyboard bindings: (I suggest using the keyboard mapper CTRL+F1 to reassign them to something more convenient)


Left ALT + F5 -> Save state
Left ALT + F9 -> Load state

I've tested with a couple of games and my success rate surprisingly already was about 70%! (Doom, Keen, Bio Menace were working fine.)

Note however that I have no detailed knowledge about Dosbox in general. Actually I know the sourcecode for one day by now. Therefore it is possible that I have missed something. This first version should be seen as a proof of concept for now. I mean: don't blame me if it's not working for every game I'm going to further revise it.

PS: If someone is interested I'll release the sourcecode at some time. My implementation strategy can be easily expanded. In the hands of a *real* dosbox developer, this save state feature may turn out to be easier than expected.

Best regards, ZenJu

 

[Gregz]

Anyway, I still have the beta 7 version here. I also saved this post with details and instructions. I'll leave it here for posterity.

Yep, that's the thread that Google led me to, and the last page of that thread is to the latest version I believe. I was surprised to see it because I know how adamant the DOSBox team has been about blocking a save state feature.

Or you could just play the game as intended.

Save states are for faggots.

Oh I know this is...very controversial...especially around here.

But there are times when it's useful, like getting past the annoying Gold Box copy protection code wheel.

 

[Sceptic]

Did Ykhwong just release a new version? Oh goody.

I use his builds not because of the save states but because of all the other stuff he's thrown in there (including Glide support). It's the best version of DOSBox to use as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Turisas]

Fuck anyone who's trying to tell others how to play (especially in singleplayer games, roflol).

 

[Stinger]

Anything that makes saving and reloading faster and more convenient is always a plus in my book. Thanks for the link.

 

[octavius]

I usually use D-Fend Reloaded.
The save states version ate up my save games in Might&Magic 1 near the end, but it saved my sanity while playing Knights of Legend.

 

[Oriebam]

is there a fast forward option

 

[A user named cat]

For anyone who cares, there's finally a new version of this build that doesn't suck/won't load certain games:

http://www.emucr.com/2013/07/ykhwongs-dosbox-svn-daum-build-20130725.html

It's based off the latest DOSBox SVN and screen captures actually work too. Forget save states though, the best thing about this is built in mt-32 support (just stick the Roland roms in Dosbox folder) and vsync. I ran through and tested about 30 or so games from my D-Fend setup with it and it works perfectly. No more need to have Munt installed or anything.

 

[Sceptic]

Welcome to like 3 years ago...

But yeah ykhwong's SVN is by far the best.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Or you could just play the game as intended.

Save states are for faggots.

So you use save states?

 

[Turjan]

Or you could just play the game as intended.

Save states are for faggots.

So you use save states?

Always this favoritism.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

"This game uses save points..."

"lol console trash"

"...but on the emulator you can use save states to save anywhere you want."

"Seriously? Play the game like a man, you sissy."

 

[taxalot]

What I want is a DosBox with good CRT emulation .

 

[Stabwound]

Savestates aren't necessarily a bad thing, especially for older games. Same with fast-forwarding and other options you get with emulation. I wouldn't have been able to stand Wizardry 6 without being able to fast forward the trash combat. Using save states to cheat is pretty lame, though.

 

[mondblut]

Forget save states though, the best thing about this is built in mt-32 support (just stick the Roland roms in Dosbox folder)

Can you clarify?

 

[A user named cat]

Can you clarify?

Grab this zip file. Rename said .rom files to:
MT32_CONTROL.ROM and MT32_PCM.ROM

Put them in the main DOSBox folder (you also do the same in ScummVM if you want mt-32 music, makes Day of the Tentacle and Monkey Island sound fantastic.)

Run the setup installer for a game like Realms of Arkania I and set the music to Roland mt-32. As for enabling it in DOSBox, I don't know what the command line you need is but I'm sure someone else here knows all that. I do it the lazy frontend way.

In D-Fend Reloaded:
File->Program options...->DOSBox->DOSBox CVS features then under "Sound setup features" enable "Add "mt32" MIDI device".
Then in the game's profile, go down to MIDI settings and set it to mt32. Should be all set then. I'd advise against setting it for a few games like Master of Magic for example, makes it load slow as shit and not worth it.

 

[mondblut]

Thank you. Too bad I have just finished playing Realms of Arkania a couple of months ago How come this stuff isn't plugged into dosbox by default? It's like limiting the video output to 16 color EGA.

Don't have much music-heavy games aboard to test it properly, but Lords of Midnight 3 clearly gives a new and much better music than ever before. Now where was that Ravenloft cd...

 

[A user named cat]

I don't think the official builds support it because of copyright issues with Roland. Pretty lame considering those rom dumps are from the fucking late 1980's (I believe) and the only way you'd find a mt-32 synth legit is getting lucky through eBay.

I have a list of compatible DOS games if you want to check some more audio differences out. I don't think Ravenloft supports it but I'm not positive. Seriously in some games, the difference between Soundblaster/Adlib and mt-32 is night and day. Dark Sun: Shattered Lands is a good example and an awesome game too.

Spoiler

4D Sports Boxing
4D Sports Driving (aka Stunts)
4D Sports Tennis
A.T.A.C.
A-10 Tank Killer
A-Train
Aces of the Pacific
Aces over Europe
Alien Breed
Amazon: Guardians of Eden
American Gladiators
Armour-Geddon
The Adventures of Willy Beamish (floppy version only)
B-17 Flying Fortress
Bad Blood (Adlib OPL2)
BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge
Betrayal at Krondor (General MIDI)
Beneath a Steel Sky
Bill Elliot's Nascar Challenge
Birds of Prey
BloodNet (General MIDI)
Bloodwych
Blue Force (General MIDI)
Budokan: The Martial Spirit
Bumpy's Arcade Fantasy
Cadaver (later revision)
Castle of Dr. Brain
Castles
Castles II: Siege and Conquest
Centurion: Defender of Rome
Circuit's Edge
Cisco Heat
Civilization
Codename: Iceman
Colonization
Comanche: Maximum Overkill
Command H.Q.
Companions of Xanth
Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Holy Grail
Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
Cool Croc Twins
Cover Girl Strip Poker
Covert Action
Cruise for a Corpse
Curse of Enchantia
Cyber Empires (aka Steel Empire)
D-Day
The Dagger of Amon Ra
The Dark Half
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands
Darklands
David Wolf: Secret Agent
Day of the Tentacle
Deathbringer
Death Gate (General MIDI)
Deathtrack
Detroit (mt-32 supported, but setup may not save this correctly and hex editor is needed)
Dogfight
Dominium
Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone
Dragonsphere
Dune (AdLib Gold OPL3)
Dune 2
EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus
EcoQuest 2: Lost Secret of the Rainforest (General MIDI)
Elf
Elite Plus
Elvira: Mistress of Dark
Elvira II: Jaws of Cerberus
Epic
Eric the Unready
Exterminator
F-15 Strike Eagle II (version 451.03)
F-15 Strike Eagle III
F-29 Retaliator
Face Off!
Falcon 3.0
Fire and Ice
Fleet Defender
Formula One Grand Prix (aka World Circuit)
Frederick Pohl's Gateway
Future Wars
Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist (General MIDI)
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (General MIDI)
The Games: Winter Challenge
Gateway II: Homeworld
The Geekwad: Games of the Galaxy
Ghostbusters 2
Gods
Gold of the Aztecs
Grand Prix Unlimited
Great Naval Battles: North Atlantic 1939-1943
Gunboat
Gunship 2000
Hardball III
Harrier Jump Jet
Heart of China
Heimdall
Hero Quest
Hired Guns
Home Alone
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Hook
Hoyle's Official Book of Games: Volume 1
Hoyle's Official Book of Games: Volume 2
Hoyle's Official Book of Games: Volume 3
Hoyle's Official Book of Games: Volume 4 (General MIDI)
Hyperspeed (Adlib OPL2)
Indianapolis 500: The Simulation
Inferno
Innocent Until Caught
Italy 90
The Humans
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
The Immortal
The Island of Dr. Brain (General MIDI)
It Came from the Desert
Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games
Jones in the Fast Lane
Jurassic Park
King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown (1990 remake)
King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella
King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!
King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow (General MIDI)
King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride (General MIDI)
Knights of the Sky
Lakers vs. Celtics
Laser Squad
Legend (aka The Four Crystals of Trazere)
The Legend of Kyrandia: Fables and Fiends
The Legend of Kyrandia Book II: The Hand of Fate (General MIDI)
Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards (1991 remake)
Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places)
Leisure Suit Larry 3: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals!
Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work!
Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out! (General MIDI)
Lemmings 2: The Tribes (Amiga)
Lethal Weapon
Lightspeed (Adlib OPL2)
Future Wars: Time Travellers (aka Les Voyageurs du Temps)
LineWars II
Loom (EGA version only)
The Lost Vikings (Super NES)
Lotus III: The Ultimate Challenge (Amiga)
Lure of the Temptress
M-1 Tank Platoon (later revision)
Magic Carpet
Magic Pockets
Mario Andretti's Racing Challenge
Mario Teaches Typing
Martian Memorandum
Master of Magic
Master of Orion
Mechwarrior
Microprose Formula One Grand Prix (aka World Circuit)
Michael Jordan in Flight
Midwinter
Midwinter 2
Mike Ditka's Ultimate Football
Mixed-Up Fairy Tales
Mixed-up Mother Goose (1990-1992 versions)
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
Mortal Kombat (Midway Y Unit)
Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra
Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen
Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen
NHL Hockey
Night Hawk: F-117A Stealth Fighter 2.0
Nigel Mansell's World Championship
Nightbreed Arcade
Nightbreed Interactive Movie
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
Noctropolis
Nova 9
Obitus
Oil's Well (1990 remake)
One Step Beyond
Operation Neptune
Operation Stealth (aka James Bond: The Stealth Affair)
Overkill
Pacific Strike (General MIDI)
The Pandora Directive
Pepper's Adventures in Time (General MIDI)
PGA Tour Golf
Pinball Dreams (early version) (Amiga)
Pitfighter
Planet's Edge
Police Quest I: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (1992 remake)
Police Quest II: The Vengeance
Police Quest III: The Kindred
Police Quest: Open Season (General MIDI)
Populous
Predator 2
Prehistorik
Prince of Persia (version 1.3) (Adlib OPL2, Apple II)
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame
Princess Maker 2
Prophecy 1: The Viking Child
Prophecy Of The Shadow
Pushover
Pyrotechnica (General MIDI) (Additional MIDI support is only found in the CD release.)
Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (both original and VGA remake versions)
Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire
Quest for Glory III: Wages of War (General MIDI)
Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness (General MIDI)
Race Drivin'
Rampart
Railroad Tycoon
Railroad Tycoon Deluxe
Realms
Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny (English version) (Amiga)
Realms of Arkania: Star Trail (General MIDI/CD-Audio)
Red Baron
Return of the Phantom
Return to Zork
Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
Rise of the Dragon
Risky Woods
RoboCop 3
Sabre Team
Sam & Max Hit the Road (General MIDI)
Sango Fighter
The Secret of Monkey Island (EGA releases requires optional Roland upgrade for MT-32 support. enhanced CD version has no MIDI support)
The Settlers (Amiga)
Shadowlands
Spacewrecked 14 Billion Light Years From Earth
Siege
Silpheed (NEC PC-88 OPN)
Simon the Sorcerer (1)
Simon the Sorcerer II: The Lion, the Wizard and the Wardrobe (General MIDI)
Ski or Die
Sorcerian (NEC PC-88 OPN)
Space Quest I: The Sarien Encounter (1991 remake)
Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon
Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
Space Quest V: The Next Mutation (General MIDI)
Space Quest 6: The Spinal Frontier (General MIDI)
Space Shuttle
Special Forces
Speedball 2
Speed Racer in The Challenge of Racer X
Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All the Girls
Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance
Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
Star Control 1
Star Wars: Dark Forces (General MIDI)
Star Wars: TIE Fighter (General MIDI)
Star Wars: X-Wing (floppy version only)
Stellar 7
Strike Commander
Striker
Stunt Island
Summer Challenge
Summoning
Supaplex
Supremacy
Superhero League of Hoboken
Sword of the Samurai
Team Suzuki
Terminator 2 (Ocean)
T2: The Arcade Game
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Manhattan Missions
Tempest 2000 (Atari Jaguar / ProTracker modules)
Test Drive 3: The Passion
TFX (Tactical Fighter Experiment)
Thexder 2: Firehawk (NEC PC-88 OPNA)
The 7th Guest (General MIDI)
The Chaos Engine
The Colonel's Bequest
The Rocketeers
The Viking Child
Timequest
Tongue of the Fatman
Toyota Celica GT Rally
Transport Tycoon
Transport Tycoon Deluxe
TV Sports Boxing
UFO: Enemy Unknown (aka X-Com: UFO Defense)
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss
Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds
Ultima VI: The False Prophet (Adlib OPL2)
Ultima VII: The Black Gate
Ultima VII Part 2: Serpent Isle
Ultima VIII: Pagan (General MIDI)
Under a Killing Moon
Utopia
Viz
Wacky Funsters
Warlords II Deluxe
Waxworks
Wing Commander
Wing Commander Academy
Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi
Winter Challenge
Wrath of the Demon
Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire
Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams
X-Com: Terror from the Deep
Z
Zeliard (NEC PC-88 OPN)
Zool

 

[mondblut]

I have a list of compatible DOS games if you want to check some more audio differences out. I don't think Ravenloft supports it but I'm not positive. Seriously in some games, the difference between Soundblaster/Adlib and mt-32 is night and day. Dark Sun: Shattered Lands is a good example and an awesome game too.

Well, it has Roland in setup, and it does sound much nicer with it. Then again, for the past 10 years or so I've been using a little software wavetable emulator called WinGroove as my primary windows midi driver, and it sounds sweeter than any oldschool hardware (heck, I've been recording metal through it). The only problem was lag. Still, it's nice to hear those games sounding the way they were supposed to properly sound on top hardware back in the day.

 

[Nutmeg]

Giving in to the temptation of save states can ruin many games. I would welcome quit on save, delete on load, save states with open arms, preferably as an option, preferably default.

 

[A user named cat]

A lot of games have Roland in their setups but they're just general midi and sometimes use shit like drum kicks in places of attack sounds, which is awful. Then there's a game like M&M: World of Xeen that uses some kind of Roland sound canvas that I can't for the life of me figure out how to set up in DOSBox. I wonder how that'd sound with your WinGroove midi.

I truly hate how Windows 7 removed the option to simply choose midi output in control panel, makes everything even more tedious dicking around with registry.

 

[Nutmeg]

Then again, for the past 10 years or so I've been using a little software wavetable emulator called WinGroove as my primary windows midi driver, and it sounds sweeter than any oldschool hardware (heck, I've been recording metal through it). The only problem was lag. Still, it's nice to hear those games sounding the way they were supposed to properly sound on top hardware back in the day.

There's a short era of games which provide no general midi driver, but do have an mt32 driver. I may very well be incorrect, but the impression I have is that Dosbox only pipes games uing general midi to Windows' midi driver, and uses its own emulation of Soundblaster. So in the case, the best option is to emulate mt32.

 

[A user named cat]

Wow, okay I've been reading up on midi options you can use in DOSBox that I had no idea about: http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/MIDI_software_devices

So apparently a good one to use is BASSMIDI along with some decent soundfonts. This seems like the best option to use for games that are general midi and not mt-32 specific. Going to try some shit out and see what works.