eXoDOS v4

[tycho]

On 10/23/2019 at 11:41 AM, eXo said:

To merge your eXoDOS launchbox files into an existing launchbox installation, do the following:

First: 
Run setup.bat

Second: 
copy .\data\platforms\MS-DOS.xml from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Manuals\MS-DOS\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\images\MS-DOS\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\eXoDOS\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder

First of all, speaking as someone who hunted down 220 DOS games, then installed, set up, and tweaked them all manually, I have much respect for this project. I wish I had found it before I did my own hunting.

So, because I have those 220 DOS games already in my Launchbox folder and database, I would like to integrate the games that I extracted from your build into my own. Is this possible? Like yourself, I spent the time to use specific builds of DOSBOX for specific games, I have .conf files for each game, joystick bindings, MT-32 and GUS support, as well as all requisite metadata. I don't want to overwrite what I already have, so I'm wondering if integration is even possible. Any tips?

[eXo]

merge your xml with my xml?

[tycho]

7 hours ago, eXo said:

merge your xml with my xml?

I figured that, but I didn't want the content of 6,500 games I'm not planning on installing. It was only 30 or so games that I added, so I just did 'em all individually, manually. Your file and folder structure made that really easy to do; again, you and your team have my undending appreciation and respect, as I can now share these games — and how I played them as a young kid — with my own children.

[kjettern]

Hello and thank you for exodos! I have all my roms on my nas and I use smb to load them on my computer. What's the easiest way to install exodos to my existing Launchbox installation? My launchbox is local, but my exodus folder is on my nas smb folder. 

[jonboyuk]

Exo you are amazing. Thanks for compiling all of these games - it's astonishing.

Quick question if that's okay?

Is it possible to cherry pick games from the collection and set them up for use with DosBOX/LaunchBox using your configs? I can see a download to individual game zip files, but I wasn't sure what to do from that point given the structure of the unzipped games. Thanks ?

[eXo]

The next release will have a build with a download on demand feature for those who don't want to grab the entire thing. Essentially, the front end will show every game, but doesn't actually download a game until you try to run it for the first time.

 

For the current project, to do this is more difficult. You need all of the files in the project except for the ones in the games folder. Then, at that point, you just place the games you want in that folder. After you run setup, the front end will show every game, but only launch the ones you actually have.

Currently there is no way to make launchbox detect the games that are downloaded and only display those.

[tycho]

5 hours ago, jonboyuk said:

Exo you are amazing. Thanks for compiling all of these games - it's astonishing.

Quick question if that's okay?

Is it possible to cherry pick games from the collection and set them up for use with DosBOX/LaunchBox using your configs? I can see a download to individual game zip files, but I wasn't sure what to do from that point given the structure of the unzipped games. Thanks ?

I did this a couple of months ago. I downloaded the entire eXo pack, but I only wanted to add around 35 games to my existing 220-game DOS library. After a lot of trial and error, I ended up on a process that worked pretty well, but it's involved:

1. Before beginning, make sure you have DOSBox and DOSBox ECE installed, as you'll need both versions.
2. Find the game you want in the torrent, and only download those that you want; or just download the entire pack.
3. If you're doing a partial download, make sure you absolutely download !DOSmetadata.zip and XODOSMetadata.zip.
4. Extract the files from the game archives that you downloaded/want to install. Each archive is fully named, like "Space Quest 3", but the folders in the archive are more DOS-friendly, like "sq3".
5. Move the extracted folders to your DOS games folder.
6. Extract !DOSmetadata.zip and XODOSMetadata.zip. These are very large files, so be patient. These files contain the DosBox configuration files for each individual game. You'll need to find the one for the games you downloaded.
7. My memory is failing me right now, so I can't remember the exact procedure here, but I believe what I did was I opened the .conf for a game, copied the text and created a new .conf for that game in my LB folder. (Personally, I keep all my DOSBox .conf files in the DOSBox folders, not the individual game folders.)
8. Through extensive testing, I edited each .conf with the appropriate settings and commands to copy the details from eXo's .conf files. Sometimes simply copying and pasting would work, sometimes it would require a combination of .conf editing and LB tweaking to get the games to run properly.
9. You can grab all metadata (boxes, screenshots, logos, manuals, etc) from eXo's metadata archive.

Again, this is just what I ended up doing, and is by no means the definitive way to selectively add games to your LaunchBox build. It took a lot of trial and error, but it worked, and I'm happy. Good luck!

[eXo]

That process will break games that have sound options, like mt32 and sound canvas, or all my special launch options like pixel perfect.

 

And my next release has ipx networking for multiplayer and curved crt shaders, which would also be broken doing this.

[tycho]

15 minutes ago, eXo said:

That process will break games that have sound options, like mt32 and sound canvas, or all my special launch options like pixel perfect.

 

And my next release has ipx networking for multiplayer and curved crt shaders, which would also be broken doing this.

Again, my memory is fuzzy, because I did this a while ago, mostly after one in the morning. So I may have run the included setup batch script (with only one game downloaded) before doing anything I mentioned above. I also have MUNT and GUS drivers installed on my system, previous to adding the eXo games, because I had already set up a ton of games on my own, with MT-32 and GUS support. But I can say that I've tested every game I added from the eXo pack, and they all work properly, with MT-32 and GUS audio.

But yeah, I probably ran the setup script, first things first. Like I said, it worked for me, but that's no guarantee it'll work for everyone.

[jonboyuk]

4 hours ago, eXo said:

The next release will have a build with a download on demand feature for those who don't want to grab the entire thing. Essentially, the front end will show every game, but doesn't actually download a game until you try to run it for the first time.

 

For the current project, to do this is more difficult. You need all of the files in the project except for the ones in the games folder. Then, at that point, you just place the games you want in that folder. After you run setup, the front end will show every game, but only launch the ones you actually have.

Currently there is no way to make launchbox detect the games that are downloaded and only display those.

That's great. I only really want say 5% of those available for nostalgic reasons. I've only just acquired a full MAME romset and that's overwhelmed me!! If only there was a way just to show the ones that are installed, rather than all and then download as required. Thanks though, really helpful

[jonboyuk]

3 hours ago, tycho1974 said:

I did this a couple of months ago. I downloaded the entire eXo pack, but I only wanted to add around 35 games to my existing 220-game DOS library. After a lot of trial and error, I ended up on a process that worked pretty well, but it's involved:

1. Before beginning, make sure you have DOSBox and DOSBox ECE installed, as you'll need both versions.
2. Find the game you want in the torrent, and only download those that you want; or just download the entire pack.
3. If you're doing a partial download, make sure you absolutely download !DOSmetadata.zip and XODOSMetadata.zip.
4. Extract the files from the game archives that you downloaded/want to install. Each archive is fully named, like "Space Quest 3", but the folders in the archive are more DOS-friendly, like "sq3".
5. Move the extracted folders to your DOS games folder.
6. Extract !DOSmetadata.zip and XODOSMetadata.zip. These are very large files, so be patient. These files contain the DosBox configuration files for each individual game. You'll need to find the one for the games you downloaded.
7. My memory is failing me right now, so I can't remember the exact procedure here, but I believe what I did was I opened the .conf for a game, copied the text and created a new .conf for that game in my LB folder. (Personally, I keep all my DOSBox .conf files in the DOSBox folders, not the individual game folders.)
8. Through extensive testing, I edited each .conf with the appropriate settings and commands to copy the details from eXo's .conf files. Sometimes simply copying and pasting would work, sometimes it would require a combination of .conf editing and LB tweaking to get the games to run properly.
9. You can grab all metadata (boxes, screenshots, logos, manuals, etc) from eXo's metadata archive.

Again, this is just what I ended up doing, and is by no means the definitive way to selectively add games to your LaunchBox build. It took a lot of trial and error, but it worked, and I'm happy. Good luck!

Thank you for explaining that in such detail. I will give it a shot before Exo's new release. There's only c.100 games that I want playable via Launchbox, and while I'm amazed by the sheer scale of this project, I don't need such a vast array of games. The reason I like this is because Exo's spent ages configuring them all, so that (and the games themselves) are something I want to borrow a little of from the whole collection. 

[HeyImHere]

Hi,
I have come across eXoDOS and wish to install the package.

It is extensive, so I'm aiming for a minimum download. Looking through the BAT file I note I need:

\eXoDOS\util\all files

LaunchBox.zip

Setup.dat

2 x *metadata.zip files

Also in the eXoDOS folder is a sub-folder called games containing many zip files of, I assume, games contained in eXoDOS. Do I also need to download this folder or is the same information contained in the two *metadata.zip files? My feeling, from reading the posts here, is yes, but the setup.bat file doesn't mention these files.

Thanks.

[neil9000]

13 minutes ago, HeyImHere said:

Hi,
I have come across eXoDOS and wish to install the package.

It is extensive, so I'm aiming for a minimum download. Looking through the BAT file I note I need:

\eXoDOS\util\all files

LaunchBox.zip

Setup.dat

2 x *metadata.zip files

Also in the eXoDOS folder is a sub-folder called games containing many zip files of, I assume, games contained in eXoDOS. Do I also need to download this folder or is the same information contained in the two *metadata.zip files? My feeling, from reading the posts here, is yes, but the setup.bat file doesn't mention these files.

Thanks.

You need everything.

[HeyImHere]

Another Neil, hi there. Thanks for that, looks like a lot of downloading ahead.

 

[arthur071169]

On 3/23/2020 at 4:18 PM, eXo said:

I will be releasing an updated Win3x collection in the next year or two that is compatible with launchbox.

Getting the games imported in isn't too hard, but having all of the manuals, covers, images, metadata, etc all in launchbox took me a while to do for the existing games. And now I'm working on adding new games.

Having read about your intention to release a Win3x collection - I cannot wait.

Before that happens, I want to say a huge thanks for the incredible Dos collection I now have because of you and any/all collaborators.  I have a bare metal Dos and windows 98se Setup (with CRT, Roland SoundCanvas etc), but this is a great way of wading through the huge amount of titles so I can cherry pick and copy to the PII.  It also doesn't hurt to have the laptop connected to the 55" telly while I am doing that.  

This is a gift that will keep on giving for years to come.

[eXo]

?

[arthur071169]

is there a way to amend or add a command line switch per game for an msx title  to tell it to use msx2 emulation instead,  but still appear as an msx title?  For comparison between old and new colour palettes in games like nemesis. 

[eXo]

I don't believe any of the games in eXoDOS have MSX compatible files in the folders. If a game looks like an MSX title, it is an IBM PC port of an MSX title. Not an actual MSX title. Which means it wouldn't run in an MSX emulator.

[arthur071169]

I posted in the wrong launchbox thread.  My bad.  It should have gone to the Colpipes one instead.  My bad.  Sorry for confusion. 

[Drybonz]

I downloaded this behemoth over the last couple days and, let me say first, this is a glorious feat of collecting and organization.

My problem is that I didn't realize I wasn't going to be able to select a games directory location.  My Launchbox files are on a smaller, faster drive and there's no way to fit this there.  Any way to salvage this situation, or am I better off just picking out some of the good games, setting them up manually and deleting the bulk of it?

Thanks for the help... and much respect for compiling this digital museum.