Tanooki Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 I decided a few days ago to pick up a copy of Heretic Shadow of the Serpent Riders and realized I still had copies of the old DOS Sim City, Civ1, and Wolf3D lying around too and re-installed DOSBox. I don't mind using the command prompt, but I was wondering what may be the best choice for a solid GUI for it you can tweak stuff from within not having to really meddle with those annoying config files. I've seen some comments lean towards DOSBox Game Launcher which the pics look nice, but there's also the trusted D-Fend Reloaded (which brought back DFend that was canned.) Maybe one of them is the best, maybe not? Looking for any preferences if some of you use the stuff. I made that thread about having a floppy drive again and was getting into a situation where I think I'd like to find some non-GoG (or gone freeware/pd) stuff I used to care for that's stuff in licensing hell or purgatory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 Boxer on Mac is nice. I think it's a fork of Game Launcher. None of it is really needed once something is decently configured. Personally, I just use purchased pre-fab stuff from GOG because I'm lazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted February 23, 2018 Author Share Posted February 23, 2018 I am too which is why I stopped using it years ago. Problem is that licensing hell causes some stuff just not to appear I'd like to take a crack at again. Ever notice how like the large part of the Epic/Epic Megagames library is missing and there's no re-release of just the first Civilization? There are some solid holes and this is the only fix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 I decided a few days ago to pick up a copy of Heretic Shadow of the Serpent Riders and realized I still had copies of the old DOS Sim City, Civ1, and Wolf3D lying around too and re-installed DOSBox. I don't mind using the command prompt, but I was wondering what may be the best choice for a solid GUI for it you can tweak stuff from within not having to really meddle with those annoying config files. I've seen some comments lean towards DOSBox Game Launcher which the pics look nice, but there's also the trusted D-Fend Reloaded (which brought back DFend that was canned.) Maybe one of them is the best, maybe not? Looking for any preferences if some of you use the stuff. I use my own UI that can tweak config files, but I don't recall DOSbox needing many config tweaks? Seems like a single config handles most of my games? you can also specify multiple config files on the command line, so you can load your base config first, then overlay it with a game-specific file that changes a few options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 (edited) I use Windows File Explorer. Edit: Launchbox was made for Dosbox. Edited February 23, 2018 by mr_me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 I've always been intrigued by the ExoDOS collection -- a crap-ton of old games running in a custom launcher. eXoDOS_Collection_v2.0 I have probably downloaded and deleted it a few times, but never got around to doing anything with it, because ... well, it's thousands of computer games and I have enough time playing what I already have. Edit: LOL that collection is > 350GB. If you wanted to pick and choose subcomponents, I'll bet you could do so from the torrent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRTGAMER Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 The DOS Box Config file easy to modify, I use an original DOS Menu Utility called Power Menu. 1. In Windows, create "C:\DOS" in the root of the hard drive. 2. Install DOSBox; the default install which is fine will be under the Program Files (x86) directory. 2. Copy games in C;\DOS folder creating subfolders for each game. 3. Modify the DOSBox "dosbox-0.74.conf.txt" file under the [autoexc] section, adding text. -- Text for mount your created hard drive folder, disc reader drive letter and if needed a virtual floppy drive folder. -- Add the menu as the start program. 4. Use the menu program running in DOSBox to add your DOS games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 good gravy that's ugly! it's as if it were coded in DOS, for DOS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted February 24, 2018 Author Share Posted February 24, 2018 I remember Power Menu and something similar to that I used back in the early 90s before Win3.XX really started to take over from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRTGAMER Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 good gravy that's ugly! it's as if it were coded in DOS, for DOS! For me, that is the beauty of it. DOS native Menu program adding to nostalgia and keeping everything inside DOSBox. The Menu and Games folders all came direct from my original DOS 6.22 hard drive installs. Since the menu is running inside DOSBox, an easy update as I add more game folders from my CD Rom DOS hard drive backup discs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cepp Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 Dosbox Game Launcher is my preferred way to launch games now, I like the way it looks and it's easy to edit individual games. D-Fend never did it for me personally. When I had a Mac Boxer always impressed me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rorysl Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 I’m a big fan of boxer. I’ve even experimented, with some success to wrap booters in boxer format. Took some terminal work though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRTGAMER Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 Dig out your old DOS Hard Drives or CDRs of backed up DOS game folders and rediscover your old gems The old IDE (PATA) drives can easily be transferred to modern PC and even a laptop with an external USB hard drive enclosure. I put together a DOSBox Guide over at Racketboy, this utilty so easy to do and has advantages over GOG. DOSBox Guide - Run DOS Games in Windows - http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1125643#p1125643 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 The DOS(box) Game Launcher I almost loaded, but then it wanted me to put Java and other stuff on here I want nothing to do with, so I went with the reborn D-Fend Reloaded. It's very easy, just not as colorful, and added the few things I have that GoG lacks. I'll just at this point want that one dudes Thrift Store games thread as PC stuff appears in there usually DOS era at times, and other local sources along with just ebay which sucks but it is what it is. It was nice to fire up old Civilization 1 and see and hear that again after so long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMaddog Posted February 26, 2018 Share Posted February 26, 2018 Get Launch Box... It comes with it's own version of Dosbox, you can add games by pointing to the EXE or BAT files, it can get box art and other infomation for you and even makes it easy to install DOS games from a download or CD-ROM. I use it to combine my DOS games from Steam, GOG and Origin into a single launcher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 Huh you've fascinated me. I'm working (and slacking partly) at the moment but I'll try and google that here shortly and see what you're talking about. I'm not married to that GUI in the least bit and barely added a thing, but what you're saying there really seems like an ideal situation. I have quite a few DOS based GoG titles, and if I can get it to bandit that stuff and run it through something in a unified way that would be fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman000 Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 Will FreeGEM work in DOSBox? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbd30 Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 I've always used DOSSHell. http://www.loonies.narod.ru/dosshell.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honx Posted December 19, 2020 Share Posted December 19, 2020 (edited) On 2/23/2018 at 9:14 PM, CRTGAMER said: 4. Use the menu program running in DOSBox to add your DOS games. sorry for posting in this old thread. wher can i download powermenu 5.32? i can't find it anywhere. Edited December 19, 2020 by honx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonGrafx-16 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 None... But I have a real DOS PC so Windows 3.1 if I need to move a lot of files or whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youxia Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 (edited) Vetusware seems to have Powermenu 4.11. 5.30 Direct link for 4.11: http://toastytech.com/guis/powermen.zip I still use D-Fend Reloaded as DOSBox gui, it's the most powerful and developed such tool out there, also acts as a database. Edited December 20, 2020 by youxia 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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