# DOSBox Install DOSBox Staging for a more enhanced DOS gaming experience: ~~~bash yay -S dosbox-staging ~~~ ## General MIDI/Soundfonts The integrated FluidSynth MIDI sequencer has issues with some soundfont files, resulting in minor to major music playback issues in games. Timidity++ does not have these issues. To install simply: ~~~bash pacman -S timidity++ ~~~ A list of available soundfonts to install from the AUR, [sorted by votes](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages?K=soundfont&SB=v&SO=d): | AUR Package Name | Description | |---------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | `soundfonts-aur-meta` | Installs all the soundfont packages in the AUR | | `soundfont-unison` | A lean and clean GM/GS soundbank | | `soundfont-sgm` | A balanced, good quality GM soundbank | | `soundfont-titanic` | A public domain, high quality MIDI soundfont by Luke Sena | | `soundfont-generaluser` | A small and well balanced GM/GS soundbank for many styles of music. | | `soundfont-zeldamcsf2` | Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap soundfont for MIDI playback | | `soundfont-zelda3sf2` | Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past soundfont for MIDI playback | | `soundfont-fatboy` | A free GM/GS SoundFont for classic video game MIDI, emulation, and general usage | | `soundfont-arachno` | GM/GS soundbank courtesy of Maxime Abbey. | | `soundfont-sso-sf2` | The Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra by Mattias Westlund. (SF2 format) | | `soundfont-toh` | Don Allen's Timbres of Heaven soundfont | | `soundfont-opl3-fm-128m` | A SoundFont designed to simulate the classic MIDI sound of the Sound Blaster 16 (and other YM262 enabled hardware). | | `soundfont-sunshine-perc` | Five drum/percussion soundfonts from Sunshine Studios. Non-commercial use only. | | `soundfont-realfont` | GM soundbank by Michel Villeneuve | | `soundfont-personalcopy` | A large free SoundFont. | | `soundfont-jeux` | Jeux organ soundfont | Configure Timidity++ to use the soundfont of your choosing in its global config file `/etc/timidity++/timidity.cfg`: ~~~ soundfont /usr/share/soundfonts/FluidR3_GM.sf2 ~~~ Set up `timidity++` to run in daemon mode and start with user login: ~~~bash systemctl --user enable --now timidity ~~~ You need to tell DOSBox which MIDI Port to send MIDI data to. Install the `alsa-utils` package and list the available MIDI ports with `aconnect`: ~~~bash pacman -S alsa-utils aconnect -o ~~~ The output might look something like this: ~~~ client 14: 'Midi Through' [type=Kernel] 0 'Midi Through Port-0' client 128: 'TiMidity' [type=User,pid=89573] 0 'TiMidity port 0 ' 1 'TiMidity port 1 ' 2 'TiMidity port 2 ' 3 'TiMidity port 3 ' ~~~ In the configuration file for DOSBox, pass the client ID of the sequencer and the port to use on the `midiconfig` setting. The mididevice needs to be `default`. The syntax is `[client]:[port]`: ~~~ini [midi] mpu401 = intelligent mididevice = default midiconfig = 128:0 ~~~ ## Gravis UltraSound (GUS) The Gravis UltraSound cards were technically advanced soundcards with sample-based music synthesis ("wavetable") and hardware-mixing. DOSBox can emulate a Gravis UltraSound card for games that support it. To enable GUS emulation, set the following options in your DOSBox configuration file:

IMPORTANT: The ultradir references a directory within DOSBox, not your local filesystem!

~~~ini gus = true gusbase = 240 gusirq = 5 gusdma = 3 ultradir = C:\ULTRASND ~~~ Depending on where you mount your `C:` drive (e.g. `~/DOS`), the `ULTRASND` directory needs to be placed inside it. ### Installing GUS drivers

NOTE: Assumptions being made in this guide:

IMPORTANT: Make sure you turn on GUS emulation in DOSBox before starting the setup procedure!

#### Preparations GUS emulation needs the original install disks for the Gravis UltraSound, which can be downloaded [here](https://www.mediafire.com/?8mezjdsyuj3). Create an `autoexec.bat` at the root of DOSBox's `C:` drive: ~~~bash touch ~/DOS/autoexec.bat ~~~ #### In DOSBox Extract the contents into a directory and mount it as drive `X:` in DOSBox: ~~~bash mount x ~/Downloads/GUS Install ~~~ Change directory to the `GUS410` directory and start the installer: ~~~bash X: cd X:\GUS410 INSTALL.EXE ~~~ Setup procedure: 1. Choose `Restore`, **NOT** `Install` 1. When asked what to restore, provide the glob pattern `*.*` 1. Keep the default target drive letter 1. Keep the default target directory 1. Start the installation process Back at the main menu: 1. Choose `Install` (since it is restored, the installation should be quick) 1. Keep the defaults for the drive and directory * If it can't find Windows, provide `C:\ULTRASND\WINDOWS` 1. When the installation completes successfully exit out * Don't run Express or Custom Setup Change directory to the `GUS411` directory and start the installer: ~~~bash cd X:\GUS411 INSTALL.EXE ~~~ Repeat the installation steps above. #### Testing To test if setup was successful restart DOSBox, change into `C:\ULTRASND` and start `MIDIDEMO.BAT`. If you hear music being played, the installation was successful. ## Games with CD Audio You can use [CBAE](https://github.com/john32b/cbae) to save some space with games that use CD audio tracks by compressing them. `cbae` is a NodeJS package that is installed via `npm`. If you don't have NodeJS already installed: ~~~bash pacman -S nodejs ~~~ Then install the `cbae` package **globally**: ~~~bash npm i cbae --location=global ~~~ `cbae` takes .bin/.cue images as input and uses the information of the .cue file to determine what the CD audio tracks are. To convert a .bin/.cue image: ~~~bash cbae e KEEPER.cue -o ./ -enc OPUS:64 -p $(nproc) ~~~ This achives the following: * `e KEEPER.cue`: encodes CD audio tracks of the image `KEEPER.cue` * `-o ./`: outputs the resulting files into a sub-directory of the current directory, e.g.: ~~~ KEEPER.bin KEEPER.cue <-- input file KEEPER [e] <-- sub-directory ├── KEEPER.cue <-- new .cue file by cbae ├── KEEPER - Track 01.bin <-- binary game data ├── KEEPER - Track 02.opus <-- CD audio track ├── KEEPER - Track 03.opus ├── KEEPER - Track 04.opus ├── KEEPER - Track 05.opus ├── KEEPER - Track 06.opus └── KEEPER - Track 07.opus ~~~ * `-enc OPUS:64`: encodes audio tracks with Opus at 64 kbps (see `cbae --help` for available codecs) * `-p $(nproc)`: specifies how many CPU cores are used for encoding (`$(nproc)` assigns the maximum number of cores available) Mount the newly created .cue file with DOSBox's `imgmount` command, e.g. as the D: drive: ~~~bash imgmount d ~/DOSGAMES/KEEPER [e]/KEEPER.cue -t cdrom ~~~