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Win 3x0


Coleman

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I am looking to install the win 3x0 set in Launchbox.  The Readme file states that there is a .bat setup that will install all of the games to run in a FE called MEAGER.  

Is there a different setup for Launchbox?

Do I load one game at a time?

It also mentions that any games requirin special configuration's of DosBox have already been correctly setup.  Is there any special consideration for this in Launchbox?

Any tutorials that I'm missing?

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Right now, eXoDOS and exo's 3.1 package are being reworked for LaunchBox. MEAGRE hasn't been updated in a while and has an export feature for LB, but it's well out of date and doesn't work anymore. You can import all the DOS games with the DOS Importer. It should pick up on the custom conf files that are needed (when available) for games, and will try and pick up the proper exe. The only editing will need to be that sometimes you'll want to change the exe, bat or com LB automatically selected and you might need to run the setups or configs to make sure everything is initialized properly. Otherwise, my entire DOS collection is eXoDOS. For Windows 3.1, it's a bit more complicated apparently. It's not like DOS, but it's not like proper Windows, it's an awkward inbetween.

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Thanks Patham!

Is there any info on expected timing... should I wait or is it going to be a long time?

Also, I just got a game working through dos box, bUT I want to use controllers instead of keyboard commands.  Is there a preferred way to impliment this?

 

TIA

 

-Coleman

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That eXoDOS thread is really long. Basically, you use the DOS importer, point it towards your DOS folder, and it will search for everything. They should not be zipped up, and LaunchBox should find the conf file on it's own during the import. Basically, what I said in my first post on this thread.

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7 hours ago, SentaiBrad said:

Ah, Patham only got 3xO working outside of LB. Then, I will try and take a crack at it at some point soon, but yea. @eXo creating the new importer / solution is obviously the best thing we can count on.

I hate to be the one to say this, but this is not on me. I was told several months ago that Jason would be getting with me soon to get an importer built into LB. I've simply been waiting. I can't write an importer, because the problem isn't as simple as shuffling files around. The problem is LB wants to try to use it's own conf files and its own dosbox versions, and ignores the stuff provided with my collection. I can't change that on my end. And many games, especially in win3x, will not run with a basic version of dosbox. So until LB supports my conf files and my customized dosbox versions, there isn't much that can be done.

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Thanks for the response.

Initially when I attempted to run the dos importer I had the files still zipped.

When that did not work I started unzipping them manually 1 by 1 and using the dos install option in LB.

So far I have been about 50% successful getting the games to launch from Launch box this way.

After reading your response I decided to go back and try a few of the games I could not get to launch (Advanced Civilization, Sword of Aragon, Heroes of Might and Magic etc.) The Dos import did not work for any of the games that I was also not able to install manually...

I think my next try is to ma's import several games I have not tried yet and then remove any that did not properly setup.

-Coleman

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Lets hope @Jason Carr see the above post from @eXo, as there is obviously quite a few people waiting on a proper solution for this :)

I had a bit of a play around with importing a game from Win3xO last night but every method i tried was unsuccessful :(

Its a shame because eX0 has already included all the media available for every DOS and Win 3.1 game in the collections, it just need launchbox's presentation and it will look amazing!!! Meagre does the job and does it well but it does look a bit outdated by todays standards :)

 

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On 3/18/2017 at 11:23 PM, Coleman said:

Thanks for the response.

Initially when I attempted to run the dos importer I had the files still zipped.

When that did not work I started unzipping them manually 1 by 1 and using the dos install option in LB.

So far I have been about 50% successful getting the games to launch from Launch box this way.

After reading your response I decided to go back and try a few of the games I could not get to launch (Advanced Civilization, Sword of Aragon, Heroes of Might and Magic etc.) The Dos import did not work for any of the games that I was also not able to install manually...

I think my next try is to ma's import several games I have not tried yet and then remove any that did not properly setup.

-Coleman

If a game isn't working, then you might need to change the exe, bat or com file LB chose, and / or run the initialization process. These can be setups or config exe's so that things are properly set for DOSBox. I swear I've had LB picking up conf files that exo has put in to these folders too, I did not edit as many of my games that have conf files, so it can grab them automatically. Check to see if the games edit page has the conf put in, or if it even has one. If it didn't, then add it, and that will certainly help. I've never had every DOS game work right out of the box, some take a little bit of love.

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9 hours ago, SentaiBrad said:

I've never had every DOS game work right out of the box, some take a little bit of love.

Well, that is sort of the point of eXoDOS, right? To make them work right out of the box. You honestly shouldn't have to fuss with conf files or anything if using my stuff directly. The goal is obviously to get that ease of use meshed with Launchbox's presentation.

 

 

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3 hours ago, eXo said:

Well, that is sort of the point of eXoDOS, right? To make them work right out of the box. You honestly shouldn't have to fuss with conf files or anything if using my stuff directly. The goal is obviously to get that ease of use meshed with Launchbox's presentation.

 

 

Oh, 100%, but right now currently that isn't possible so I am left with the slightly imperfect solution. I do want to say LaunchBox is picking up the conf files though. Reason I say that is because I didn't edit most of my DOS games, but quite a few have conf files placed in their conf field. So if I didn't put them there, and my PC isn't haunted, then I think LB is picking up on them.

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I wouldn't know how it picked them up. Maybe from MEAGRE's export function?

A secondary issue would be LB actually calling the launch batch files for each game. It's this file that calls the proper conf file and proper version of dosbox. And in the case of scummvm enabled games, gives the user the option to launch the game either through dosbox or scummvm.

 

Either way, I'm sure we will get it all working eventually.

Edited by eXo
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Is it of use to document my reults here or is this a waste of effort? I would assume most of the issues will fall into a few categories of how to adjust to make it work.  It might also be helpful for Jason to identify opportunities for improving?

If it's not of value though I don't want to waste everyone's  time?

-Coleman

Edited by Coleman
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