Playing dos games on Retroarch

[starfiretbt]

I'm trying to play dos games on retroarch as I found out I can use save states through it. Some games like "Star Wars: Dark Forces" don't have the option to save the game unless you beat the level which can take a LONG time, not really good for casual gaming to me. Others like "Earthsiege" I can lose the level after already spending a LONG time on that level.

How to I set up the game so I can play it on Dosbox Pure through Retroarch? From what I read online it looks like the game needs to be in a zip file and loaded like a rom. Unfortunately some of my Dos games are already unzipped, do I need to redownload the game and start the game all over to get Launchbox to play them? I've already played three missions on "Dark Forces." Also what if Retroarch is having trouble running the game? I would really like the choice to play the game both through retroarch and directly through Launchbox if that doesn't work.

[Sbaby]

Instead I tried to play Abuse zipped with retroarch and dosbox pure core as well but it works very badly compared to the normal dosbox, all jerky. Maybe I'm wrong or omitting something?

[starfiretbt]

I'm still having trouble. I tried compressing the game folder into a zip file and adding that as a ROM using Retroarch as the emulator, I followed the instructions in this video,

The video differed from me in that at 2:55 I could choose the emulator Retroarch but I couldn't choose the core, I do have the Dosbox Pure core downloaded and updated. When I try opening the game it does say "roland dosbox pure" temporarily but it also says "No executable file found" and gives me the option to "go to command line" or "exit."

How do I find the executable file?

[Your Friendly A.I Overlord]

22 minutes ago, starfiretbt said:

How do I find the executable file?

https://github.com/schellingb/dosbox-pure#force-opening-the-start-menu

Also make sure that in LaunchBox > Tools > Manage > Emulators > RetroArch > Associated Platforms tab, you have selected the Dosbox Pure core for the MS-DOS platform and that "Extract ROMs" is unticked.

Edited May 14, 2022 by Your Friendly A.I Overlord

[starfiretbt]

That worked, thank you. The game is up and running. There now shows up a long list of files. I was  under the impression that the file I choose to run would be remembered automatically like when I don't use retroarch but I can write somewhere in the game notes which file I need to select.

[Your Friendly A.I Overlord]

1 hour ago, starfiretbt said:

I was  under the impression that the file I choose to run would be remembered automatically

It should. Move up / down until you are at the correct executable. Then left / right to set Auto Start. Then press Enter.

Sometimes you need to start a setup.exe to set up sound / midi etc. So you can always switch between executables without changing the Auto Start executable.

Edited May 14, 2022 by Your Friendly A.I Overlord

[starfiretbt]

That worked perfectly as well, thank you.

Not important but if anybody else has the same initial question I had I've also noticed (I don't know when LaunchBox decided to do this) that now Launchbox gives me the choice between playing dos games with the standard dosbox or the retroarch version. The games don't even have to be zipped meaning I can play them with both versions. Closer inspection I see that I can check boxes under DOSbox for dosbox or check boxes under emulation for retroarch. My traditionally saved games (non save state) are still available and I haven't lost anything.

1. One problem, some dos games aren't working with retroarch. For example "Star Wars: Dark Forces" when started gives be a black screen that says [CD-ROM ACCESS ERROR]. For regular dosbox the solution was to add the cd to {Mounts} under Launching/DOSBox/Mounts.

How do I do that in retroarch and is there a way to keep the CD in mounts? Everytime I uncheck dosbox and check emulator the Launching/DOSBox/Mounts screen "forgets" the cd.

2. Also at first dos games played in normal dosbox and only in retroarch if I right-click "Launch With..." and then "Retroarch" and that was great, I had two choices. Now I have to check one box or the other to specify which but not both. Somewhere I lost the option to use both and now I have to choose one or the other in "Edit Metadata." It's not a real serious problem, but it is an annoying hassle to keep switching if I need to, especially if the Metadata forgets important things like disc mounting every time I switch to emulator.

[starfiretbt]

Someone was able to help me in the retroarch discord. They made a .bat file with the command

"mount d E:\ -t cdrom
dark.exe"

in it and I had Launch box run that instead of the Dark.exe file and the game works perfectly now. I don't have any more problems in this topic right now.

EDIT: Just in case I need to reread this solution for future games "E:\" was whatever drive my ISO was mounted on in windows

Edited May 19, 2022 by starfiretbt

[Your Friendly A.I Overlord]

Glad you got it working. But as a general advice I would recommend getting a eXoDOS romset. eXoDOS roms already have a cd image inside the zip file. When the DosBox Pure core detects a cd image it will automatically be mounted to D:\. (In DoxBox itself, so there is no need to mount iso's in Windows yourself or create bat files to be used with DosBox.) But then again, you specifically wanted to play old save games and I'm not sure your old save games will be compatible with different roms. But anyway, happy gaming!

Edited May 20, 2022 by Your Friendly A.I Overlord