HOW TO: Dosbox Auto Game launcher

[Jest3r]

Launch old dos games from a shortcut.
First How To + Post :)

End Result.
Have a shortcut on your desktop that is able to launch dos games.. then clean up after you exit the game.

Assumptions
You use wine.

Install dosbox

sudo apt-get install dosbox

Download/install your old dos game.
I will use Rescue Rover.

Download and unzip


mkdir ~/.wine/drive_c/rrover
cd ~/.wine/drive_c/rrover
wget http://www.doomwadstation.com/wolf/rescuerover.zip
unzip rescuerover.zip
ls -l


Create shortcut code.


vi rrover-link


Paste in this line.


#!/bin/bash
#Start Rescue Rover
dosbox -c "mount c: /home/$LOGNAME/.wine/drive_c" -c "c:" -c "cd RROVER" -c "start" -c "exit"
exit 0

Create link on desktop


chmod 750 rrover-link
cd ~/Desktop
ln -s ~/.wine/drive_c/rrover/rrover-link "Rescue Rover"
chmod 750 "Rescue Rover"


Done.

[Dark Aspect]

Thanks a lot I have always had problems with get Dos applications to load I will try this.

[Jest3r]

Let me know if it works -

[dfreer]

Just wondering... why do you need wine, and why do you put the game in the wine directory?

[Dokatz]

That sounds all great and stuff man, But I totally just use the terminal Dosbox command...Works really great if you just make an icon.

Heres what it says under command on launcher for Jazz Jackrabbit


dosbox /home/peter/games/jazz/JAZZ/JAZZ.EXE -fullscreen

Anything wrong with this method? Cause it works pretty great.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f56/Dokatz/launcher.png

[Shizuka]

hmmm. question: rescue rover is the game I'd like to get to play, but instead of wanting a shortcut I only just want to get the game into the dosbox from the downloaded file I have. i guess that's not a question, here goes: how does one move the downloaded file into the dosbox to get it to play. in mac os x (which i am running) 'open with' doesn't allow dosbox as an option.

[grossaffe]

I just wrote batch files and ran them in dosbox

[Perfect Storm]

I recommend using Dosbox Game Launcher instead, it also makes it easy to fine tune dosbox for each game via frontend.

[grossaffe]

I recommend using Dosbox Game Launcher instead, it also makes it easy to fine tune dosbox for each game via frontend.

yeah, about that. has anyone else had a problem where the dosbox commands to change mouse sensitivity, or anything else of that nature, don't work? Otherwise I would just have the batch files have commands that customize dosbox for each game, but the commands don't do a thing.

[Shizuka]

thanx DBGL worked like a charm!

[DoktorSeven]

I use Zenity as a launcher:



#!/bin/bash

cd /media/sdb6/dosgames
ZGAME=`zenity --list --text="Choose a game" --column="Game" "Ultima III" "Ultima IV" "Ultima V" "Ultima VI" "Eye of the Beholder"`

case $ZGAME in
"Ultima III")
cd Ultima/ULTIMA3
dosbox ULTIMA.COM
;;
"Ultima IV")
cd Ultima/ULTIMA4
dosbox ULTIMA.COM
;;
"Ultima V")
cd Ultima/ULTIMA5
dosbox ULTIMA.EXE
;;
"Ultima VI")
cd Ultima/ULTIMA6
dosbox ULTIMA6.EXE
;;
"Eye of the Beholder")
cd forgottenrealms/eye
dosbox start1.exe
;;
esac

[ekravche]

Thanx, this helped a lot


Launch old dos games from a shortcut.
First How To + Post :)

End Result.
Have a shortcut on your desktop that is able to launch dos games.. then clean up after you exit the game.

Assumptions
You use wine.

Install dosbox

sudo apt-get install dosbox

Download/install your old dos game.
I will use Rescue Rover.

Download and unzip


mkdir ~/.wine/drive_c/rrover
cd ~/.wine/drive_c/rrover
wget http://www.doomwadstation.com/wolf/rescuerover.zip
unzip rescuerover.zip
ls -l


Create shortcut code.


vi rrover-link


Paste in this line.


Create link on desktop


chmod 750 rrover-link
cd ~/Desktop
ln -s ~/.wine/drive_c/rrover/rrover-link "Rescue Rover"
chmod 750 "Rescue Rover"


Done.

[astarr]

I used the following code for Ubuntu 9.04 as a shortcut to open games in Dosbox:

dosbox -c "mount c ~" -c C: -c "cd \games\dos\orion2" -c "ORION2.EXE"

~ is my home folder
\games\dos\orion2 is where my game is located, Master of Orion 2
ORION2.EXE is the executable

Dosbox should open up and begin executing all fo the commands after the dosbox command.

[rCXer]

Wow really cool suggestions so far. Thanks Jest3r!
I just associate all *.com files with dosbox. Wouldn't suggest this with *.exe files because the might be windows programs...

Basically all you have to do is...

Right click on any *.com file and select "Properties".
On the "Open With" tab click "Add" and then "Use Custom Command".
Type the command "dosbox -noautoexec -exit", and then click "Add".
Then select it in the "Open With" tab before clicking "Close".

The changes should take effect after restarting Ubuntu.