HOWTO: Stunts on WinXP, Win2000, Linux

[Chulk]

DOSBox works perfectly for me. I use it in every stunts sesion. Cycles up to 10000, it's like pure DOS (I even find it better to drive in window mode instead of full screen mode)

[Krys TOFF]

Tested and confirmed : under Vista it's the same as Win XP with one more addition : if you want to capture video (as proof of noRH race for SDR noRH competition), you need to run Vista as administrator to get rid of the "read only" default option for your directory where Stunts is installed (stupid Vista feature IMO).

[CTG]

I have a problem: since I changed the setup.exe of Stunts in DOSBox, it runs only in 640*480 size in the middle of black screen both under pure XP and under DOSBox too (and many other applications, like Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed). I couldn't change it back... I think XP's own emulation files were overwritten somehow. Any ideas how to change it back to full screen?

Maybe it has no connection with DOSBox but things happened just after that.

[Krys TOFF]

Check your dosboc.conf file and look at line "scaler=XXXXX"'
What is the XXXX for you ? I suggest normal2x to have a DOSBox window correct. With other parameters it happens that DOSBox crashes or have some graphic bugs.

Still in the same file, there are some other parameters :
fullscreen=XXXXX
fulldouble=XXXXX
fullresolution=XXXXX

How your PC looks, it seems you selected :
fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=original

Change either fulldouble parameter to true, or fullresolution to your screen resolution. This would make DOSBox run Stunts in full screen.
Else, write fullscreen=false and run the game in a window.

[Duplode]

Just reminding: if all else fails, you should consider System Restore... often it works wonders  .

[CTG]

Thanks!

Krys: this pic was taken under XP-SP2 without DOSBox. NFS PU looked the same so it wasn't the DOSBox fault.

Solution: increasing number of cycles and a graphical setup command of my notebook seems to be the same. When I pressed it, system changed the application's running mode (with frame) independently from DOSBox. It was hard to find out but worked!

[Duplode]

Krys, you recently had a forced upgrade to a dual core... as I'm going towards the same route within a month, is there anything in terms of Stunt-ing I should be wary of? (I'm moving to a Core 2 Duo, but will keep good ol' WinXP)

[Krys TOFF]

I don't know if it's due to DOSBox 0.7 instead of 0.65, or due to dual core processor, or due to Vista, or due to all of them, but DOSBox settings (cycles to 10000, no frameskip) that were very good on my old computer are just like hell in new one.

I found an average setting (cycles to 13500, frameskip set to 1) but it's far from perfect...

Virtual PC with pure DOS installed in virtual machine not tested yet, so I can't tell so far if it's a good alternative.

[Duplode]

0.70 works almost without problems (in my current machine). Anyway, I won't quite enjoy racing in pure DOS (multitasking maniac  ), so some setting battles lie ahead... thanks!

[CTG]

For me too. I guess Vista can be blamed for everything.

[Krys TOFF]

I tried to uninstall and reinstall DOSBox, change manually the property of capture subdirectory => always the same : this directory remains read only.

BUT I finally found where the videos are stored : in a hidden directory (quite stupid, best way for people to get a hard drive full of unuseful files without knowing why) !!!

This directory is (usernameprofile)/AppData/Roaming/DosBox-0.7/capture.
I don't think it's a decision of DOSBox team, it really seems that Vista works this way with all programs installed into Program Files directory as there are also numerous other files from other programs I installed.

So I tried to install DOSBox into another directory than default one (that is, install it not into Program Files folder) and then the program works normally : videos are into the capture subdirectory of DOSBox. Normal and easier to manage.
I'll keep this new installation, so I can keep hidden all system files as my children and my wife also use the computer and I don't want to take the risk to see them delete system files accidentally.

[Krys TOFF]

Regarding DOSBox parameters, I finally found a correct setting for playing Stunts with DOSBox under Vista (at last !) : set scaler to true and choose normal3x size (with normal2x I have same problems as with original resolution I used so far, 1 hour of tests proved it...).
Then, cycles at 16000 (this depends of your processor speed) and frameskip kept to zero.

Of course, scaler3x requires that your screen resolution is high (mine is 1440x900) as with scaler3x window size is 1024x768 !

This way, Stunts is correct. Not as perfect as pure DOS (nothing is I think), but as good as I had before with DOSBox on my previous (RIP) computer.

So, I won't have to always change to the very old computer in my daughter's bedroom to play Stunts. Finally !

[CTG]

Too bad for AbuRaf and for your future opponents...

[Duplode]

*Duplode's usability report of Stunts under Linux*

• Distribution: Fedora Core 8
• Machine: Core 2 Duo E6600 with 2GB RAM, good enough to run DOSBox-Stunts on XP very nearly flawlessy.
• DOSBox setup: The original intention was to get the DBGL package, create a new profile and run Stunts from my "old" folder on the secondary NTFS partition. Problem is, the DOSBox on DBGL package needs some SDL libraries to run in Linux. Since I couldn't work out how to get them with 3-minute Google-ing, I opted for an easier solution: grab the "bare" DOSBox 0.72 from Fedora repositories, create the profile at DBGL and then add this to ~/.bashrc :
  

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alias stunts_k="dosbox -conf <path to Stunts *.conf file at DBGL profiles folder>"

Now I launch Stunts instantly by typing "stunts_k" on the terminal 

• Emulation speed: With scaler3x and 20000 cycles (similar to what I had under XP), I get perfect smoothness.
• Graphics: As good as ever  Only thing is that, as Krys described for Vista above, window size under normal3x scaler is limited to 1024x768 even when fullscreen - same settings under XP allowed me to use 1280x960, which is as close to fullscreen as I can get with correct aspect ratio. But to me that's a minor issue.
• Sound: Slightly different. Music sounds clearer, crispier; on the other hand sometimes I notice quiet clacks when pausing/restarting replays. Overall, it's about as good as XP.
• Gameplay: At least, it's as good as XP.
• Overall impression: Very positive 

[Duplode]

To BJ and the other folks having trouble trying to race under DOSBox for FTT on slowish computers: Googling casually I came across this config file for DOSBox. It was written for use in GP2X, which seems to be a sort of handheld game console/media player (thus, pretty low specs). According to the page, the game is "Semi-Playable" on 200MHz (!) and FAST graphics settings (eyecandy disbaled in Stunts). I can't really test it to tell you what it plays like, but some of you guys might eventually find it useful... To try it, just copy the dosbox.conf part of the page, save as a text file and launch DOSBox from a command line like this:

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dosbox -conf <path to the .conf you just saved>