DOSBOXing- On PCs and DOSBOX For Beginners

Before Duke Nukem, there was... Duke Nukum!

All through my life, I've been oriented towards playing video games on my consoles. While I’ve been quite content and I learned what I know from those, I’ve never found myself able to play them on a computer. My family did have one that could play SOME games, but couldn’t play anything as graphically demanding as a Telltale game. 

However, if you consider that video game consoles are merely computers with limited capabilities, then the PC is one of the oldest and versatile consoles that games are still being made for today. Buying a computer based on specifications, along with the possibility to upgrade in the future, gave them that adaptable advantage over c    onsoles. 

However, this advantage comes with a high maintenance factor. Upgrading or repairing parts- like graphics cards or cooling fans- can come with high price tags. Even buying a high performance gaming computer can be twice, maybe THRICE as much as a new Xbox Series or PlayStation 5 console. And while PCs can play games as far back as the late 80s, being able to play those games- especially those around the late 90s- is a technological equivalent of going to war. Running compatibility modes, installing fan made patches or source ports, locking frame rates, Google searches- even after all that, your game might still not perform the way it should have. On the other extreme, if the computer has underpowered specs, it’d have to set the graphics at its lowest possible to run the game on a decent performance. AT BEST.

Eventually I did pony up for a gaming laptop, getting curious about the games that never came out on consoles or not without sacrifices. For some of the older PC games on my list, there were community made source ports or patches that made them playable on modern computers. But then there are games like Cannon Fodder or Star Wars: Dark Forces (I and II), that were only optimized for computers of their time and rarely have that kind of support. Trying to start up any of them would lead to a wide assortment of technical difficulties. Terrible framerates, graphical glitches, or hard crashes that would boot me back to the desktop, unable to display the game AT ALL. 

This would lead to me going back and forth between looking up potential fixes online and then following them in the hopes that the game will run properly. This process would drive me nuts and usually end with me giving up after a while. Even if some of those games DID have fixes, it can still be a pain to get working. 

For instance, I installed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone on my laptop. I had recently finished reading the book and remembered playing the PC game as a kid. Despite finding a community patch, it still ran awfully and sometimes wouldn't boot up. Then another game like Max Payne would play smoothly without a hitch… but then the sound stops working during cutscenes. I found a patch to fix it, though getting it installed properly was a royal Payne in the butt. Payne to the Max!

It’s because of crap like this- the high prices, the constant maintenance, and the poor optimization of older games and having to fight to get them working- I've been against using PCs for gaming for so long. Granted with my consoles, their abilities are limited to the tech inside the box, at least there’d be no problems running the damn thing (unless the game launched buggy as hell, then that’s poor optimization/sloppy development)! Though any support for backwards compatibility with older titles, if offered at all, is extremely limited. Say there’s a game you’ve wanted to play from an older console generation, but can’t play it on that newer console. Either have that older console plugged in already or it’s time to go into the closet or garage or storage locker to find it, and THAT can be just as much of a headache! 

Now where did I put that PlayStation 2?

I know for a good portion of this post I've been bagging on PC gaming and how frustrating it has been at times. But in the mix between consoles and computers, both have their advantages and their limits. Consoles can play games just fine by the tech of their time, but not always play from the past. PCs can play a wide catalog of games new and old but can be a pain to keep up with and to play older games on. In the end, I don’t hate PC gaming. When the games work well, I can have a grand time, and there’ll be games on there I would love to sink my teeth into once I have it.

...and maybe a better place to play them too. 

Special Editor: Dan Cordell

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There is somewhat of a happy ending here. After a couple of Google searches, I did find a way to run DOSBOX games with little to no trouble. So to end this post, I’ll share how to do this for anyone wanting to play their own DOS games and not want to rip their hair out. 

For this demonstration, we’re going to use the original Duke Nukum game (No, I did not spell that wrong). Go into the computer’s file manager, and track down the game’s folder. Open it.

 

                                     

Inside, scroll down until you find a configuration file (CONF), probably under the game’s name in undercase. Open it with a word processor, in my case I would recommend Notepad, and this window should appear.

   

Here, we can see the settings the game will launch in when it boots up originally. Scrolling down shows more extensive options (renderers, midi, joystick controls, etc), all of which can be reoptimized as to how you want the game to start up. Some, like this one, will even offer notes as a small guide to assist in making these customized options. 

For now though, the only two changes we’ll be making will be under “fullresolution” and “output”. Opening the file, these will be set as:

fullresolution=original

output=surface

These settings as they were will not launch the game properly on my machine. For “fullresolution”, go into the computer’s settings and look under your display options.

 

Knowing your computer’s resolution (my example, 1900x1080), head back into the CONF file and replace “original” with your computer’s resolution.

 

Doing everything correctly, the game will display in… a veeeerrrrry small window.

Big platformer... itty bitty window

Which brings us to output. There are five different options; surface, overlay, opengl, openglnb, and ddraw. Most of the DOS games I have will originally have it under surface. Since I have no idea what the other three are, I used opengl to replace “surface” for output (because I remembered that being thrown around in an old Angry Birds commercial for Google Chrome).

After adjusting these options, save the newly altered file and start the game up. It should launch smooth as silk and in proper fullscreen... or at least, as full as it can be without stretching the game out.

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Admittedly, I’m not the best when it comes to computers, so do consider this a beginner’s guide to get a good portion of your DOSBOX games to run. Not all games will have files like this. Games like Dark Forces might only have four command lines in its .CONF file. Other games might run without making these changes and others might not STILL after making them. For any advanced configurations, despite the headaches this causes, please consult your local Google searches to find any forums or articles that can help enhance your DOSBOX experience.

State of the Delay 2022: A Refresher Course

Hi.

For those who have just discovered me, or for the two who've come back to it after my last post- My name is Nick, and this is my blog.

Once upon a time... I made this blog up for a high school senior project where I would review movies, games, whatever, in the hopes of having a career in critiquing things that made me want to scream my head off, good or bad. I named the blog Always Delayed because of my bad habit of holding things off. I would write essays at the last minute or get bored playing a game or be too tired to watch a movie. For a while, I periodically posted with reviews and stories of downloads that wasted my time and shared my excitement for a game that came out arguably unfinished.

Then as years pass, things change. Those interests became disinteresting or felt harder to express. Moods become more and more frequent. You go out to start a new life only to be put right back where you started, mental scars that never fully heal. All of it making you someone different than what you were a long time ago. Somebody you never expected to become. 

Broken promises. Broken hearts. Broken feeling.

Forgive me, there's a whole other post going into more of this back in June of last year. But for the TL;DR group- I lost my motivation, life sucks, and I'm a mess of depression/anxiety which is all sad to think about (The crying type too).

But getting that out of the way, I figured after posting my thoughts on Mario Kart 8's Track Booster, I'd write an update on things about life along with the fate of Always Delayed. 

For starters, I've gone turncoat. Me and my brother had been PlayStation kids since the PS2 and we've been with it all the way to the PS4. But with the pandemic limiting stock on next gen platforms to only online purchases, trying to lock in a PS5 was like trying to win the lottery while keeping tabs on five different sheets of Bingo. Then Xbox All Access had some Xbox Series Xs available, and I managed to get one from that. Since then, I've managed to get a decent library going all the way back to original Xbox games (Cause at least I can play some of those older games SONY!). Even got myself a gaming PC to for games consoles don't have (eg, Blood, Half-Life, Telltale's Wallace and Gromit series)... though the results have varied. 

Then coming up in March, me and my girlfriend will be celebrating our one year anniversary together. She's been a positive and supportive influence in my life (and vice versa) and we love each other very much. She has her gaming interests, mainly Asphalt 9 and more casual genres, though she has been wanting to learn to play more complex games I play like Doom or GTA. We also watch plenty of movies together that neither of us would not have picked up or seen for ourselves. For instance, she has never seen ANY of the Harry Potter movies, and I picked up on the Scream franchise from her (btw, the new movie is fantastic!). 

Now for the blog. One small change you'll notice, instead of the red and black theme that I've used since its creation, I decided to switch it for gray and blue. It's a much calmer color, mentally speaking.

And as for posting? Will I be doing more this year? 

Every time I promised to come back with more stuff on here, it's all been false starts. I've had the blog on my mind for years, always thinking of ways to start it back up, but never the motivation or inspiration to do it. I'm not sure how long this burst will be this time. This might be my last post before I depart again for who knows how long. 

But I will return.

Mario Kart 8's Booster Course Pack- An Opinion

During Nintendo's latest Direct presentation on February 16th, one of the announcements was that Mario Kart 8 would be getting a lot of new DLC coming out for the eight year old game (Originally released on the WiiU in 2014 with Deluxe coming out on the Switch three years later). 48 tracks from the series' history would be remastered/remixed over the course of six waves over 2022 and 2023. And all for $24.99.

Now that sounds like a pretty sweet deal right there, and it still arguably is. But even with my initial impressions, something was bugging me about the whole package.

In the roadmap shown in Nintendo's trailer for the booster pass, those 48 courses will be separated into two cups each wave, totaling up to twelve new cups. That's more than what MK8 came out with in its original release and just as much as Deluxe has now.

So if they're putting all that effort in making/remaking all these tracks in this super sized booster... why didn't they just put all that into a Mario Kart 9?

The best reason I can think of for this is simply Mario Kart 8 is still selling pretty well. For anyone who has or is about to get a Nintendo Switch, chances are one of the first titles they would get is MK8 Deluxe. The game is infamous for constantly being in Black Friday Switch bundles every year. And as a result, the game has sold over 40 million copies as of December 2021 according to Nintendo. With these reasons, putting out the booster could be a way to boost interest in the game as well as rake in more sales. 

Even with that, I could also see with an established consumer base as big as the Switch's or MK8, that a fantastic Mario Kart 9 could succeed just as well or even better than MK8 Deluxe in the long run. Especially now when games like MK8 or Grand Theft Auto V have been re-released and updated for so long, gamers have become weary of them and are looking to the future with new games. I've seen enough social media posts from people each time a wild Direct approaches wanting to see Mario Kart 9 get announced. And with series like Mario and GTA making bigger and bigger bank each game, imagine how much they would earn releasing those most desired sequels?

(Sidenote: Bringing up the GTA comparison, if Nintendo wanted to soften fans' disappointment/demands after revealing the booster DLC, they could've done what Rockstar did recently and announce that a new mainline Mario Kart title was early in development.) 

Even after discussing numbers, we still have what is essentially an entire Mario Kart's amount of content being released over the span of two years. With the series relying on half the tracks being remade courses from the past going all the back to Mario Kart DS in 2005, one idea they could've done was put half of what they were working on for the booster along with brand new tracks for Mario Kart 9. Then, use the other half of that booster to release as DLC cups later as an expansion pass or individually like they did for MK8 originally on the WiiU (Both DLCs individually came out in December 2014 and April 2015). They could even sell the expansion pass under the same price as the booster if they wanted to, with half the courses!

But here we are now. Mario Kart 8's Booster Course Pass with no sign of Mario Kart 9 coming anytime soon. Over the eight years since MK8's release we've had two Mario Kart titles- Mario Kart Tour and Mario Kart Live -come out, but not a new numbered or mainline title in the series. Chances are Nintendo is saving the sequel for their next console, which means that the Switch would be one of the only Nintendo platforms (if we include the disasterous Virtual Boy) that won't have a mainline MK sequel throughout its lifespan.

Until then, we'll still have what I'm going to be calling Mario Kart Ultimate for the time being.

Mario Kart 8 Sales- Nintendo IR Information: Sales Data- https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/finance/software/index.html

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe- Booster Course Pass DLC trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uZDbDoDAq4&t=48s