ScummVM / MS-DOS - Mash them all into one platform or not?

[JamesBond@ge]

I'm soon to import about 130 general MS-DOS games. A best of compilation, all sorted and ready to go, thanks to D-Fend Reloaded! I also have 400-ish ScummVM games ready to go too.

I just need a second opinion. Would you import them all into MS-DOS or have ScummVM as a totally separate platform? I'm leaning towards ScummVM as separate platform because there is some Amiga and NES in there....but I don't know. I need a second opinion :-)

Edited December 27, 2017 by JamesBond@ge

[Zombeaver]

I separate them. The way DOSBox and ScummVM are handled in Launchbox makes them sortof mutually-exclusive - in the case of DOSBox you're indicating that it's a DOS game/that you want to use DOSBox, create a .conf if you wish, pointing to .exes etc. For ScummVM you're pointing it to a folder (not an .exe), and then choosing the relevant game from a drop-down list in the ScummVM tab for the game entry in your library. Some games may be in ScummVM's own format (which generally is just a folder with a bunch of gibberish-looking filetype-less files) and these can't be used by DOSBox in that format. Some games can be used in ScummVM in their standard/native DOS format.

I normally import games for both, where able. What I do is import them as DOS (unless they're in ScummVM's exclusive format) and then open ScummVM and see if they can be imported there in that same format, if so, I import them for ScummVM in LB as well.

You certainly can put them together, and then individually choose whether you want to set them up with ScummVM or DOSBox, but I feel like that's a little bit more difficult to maintain. I know that everything in my "MS-DOS" platform is using DOSBox and everything in my "ScummVM" platform is using ScummVM, I just think it makes more sense that way. If it were as simple as other platforms where you can just do a launch-with and just choose a different emulator it wouldn't be as big a deal, but it's not that simple with DOSBox/ScummVM.

[JamesBond@ge]

Yeah, that makes sense to me. Thanks Zombiebeaver.

There was a comment you made elsewhere in the forums and it was about your Xbox 360 Controller not playing nicely with DOSbox so to set something in a config......to a controller which is totally different. I don't know if I'm making sense here. Something to do with controller polling. I made a mental note of this post because I knew I would be limbering up to MS-DOS soon....but I forgot it. I tried a search to no avail.

Edit: Found it 

Cheers Zomb. King Of 'tricky bastard computers to emulate' lol ;-)

Edited December 28, 2017 by JamesBond@ge

[Zombeaver]

Haha no problem! 

[Klopjero]

scummvm plays alot more then dosgames... so I wouldnt do that

[Zombeaver]

A "lot" is kindof an overstatement, but technically that's true, yes. Most of the games that people would typically associate with ScummVM - point and click adventure games by Lucasarts, Sierra, etc. - are DOS games though. It's true that it does cover some Windows games as well (Myst, Riven, etc.) though.

Again though, the way DOS and Windows games are setup in Launchbox is pretty different from the way you setup ScummVM games in Launchbox, so you'd likely want them separated anyway.

[Klopjero]

Everything runs through rocketlauncher.. 

[damageinc86]

Playing dos games with a controller is relatively easy in rocketlauncher. Point rocketlauncher to the joy2key exe, and in he ms-dos platform set up per-game profiles in the keymapper tab. That way it loads the keymapper profile you made for each game anytime it's launched. It's been great for me so far .

[Zombeaver]

16 hours ago, Klopjero said:

Everything runs through rocketlauncher.. 

Unless of course you're not using Rocketlauncher, which describes... most of the people here.

13 hours ago, damageinc86 said:

Playing dos games with a controller is relatively easy in rocketlauncher. Point rocketlauncher to the joy2key exe, and in he ms-dos platform set up per-game profiles in the keymapper tab. That way it loads the keymapper profile you made for each game anytime it's launched. It's been great for me so far .

You can already do that without Rocketlauncher or joy2key for that matter. That's what DOSBox's built-in mapper is for.

[damageinc86]

Yeah I used to use the built in mapper, but it started acting wonky and not recognizing my xbox360 controller very well. I had to keep re-setting the mapping overt so often.  It sort of became a hassle. Once I went to RL with joy2key i never had any mishaps.  But this is just a secondary point to the main post.  

I have never used scummv.  I have a bitter past with those style adventure games anyways, so I probably would just use dosbox for the occasional game from that genre.  Couldn't you put them all in the msdos platform and just run them with different emulators depending on the game?

[Zombeaver]

18 hours ago, damageinc86 said:

I have never used scummv.  I have a bitter past with those style adventure games anyways, so I probably would just use dosbox for the occasional game from that genre.  Couldn't you put them all in the msdos platform and just run them with different emulators depending on the game?

Technically yes, but as I said that's more complicated for DOSBox and ScummVM than it is for say Retroarch and other emulators. Neither of them are treated like a standard emulator in Launchbox. Each has its own separate tab in the game details for a game (neither of them use the "Emulation" tab), and they're mutually exclusive - it's not as simple as it is with other emulators where you just pick one or the other in the emulator drop-down list (or use the "Launch with" function).

ScummVM:

DOSBox:

Also, as I mentioned, ScummVM has its own format for games that isn't usable by DOSBox. Some games will work in ScummVM in their native DOS format, but no games that are in ScummVM format will work in DOSBox.

ScummVM:

DOSBox:
Technically you could still mix them together under one platform, but because they're setup differently in Launchbox and sometimes use different formats for the games themselves, I just think it makes more sense to keep them separate.

[damageinc86]

Oh wow, interesting.  I use Dfend reloaded through RL, so I've never had to try to do it through launchbox.