DOSBox Configuration File

Overview

The DOSBox configuration file defines the emulated environment that DOSBox will use to launch the game.

Questions about the conf file should be research on the official wiki page for the dosbox.conf file.

Unfortunately, several functions of the conf file are not very well documented, especially in regards to some of the experimental DOSBox versions, so a brief guide to the conf file is provided here.

Machine Specification

Most of the conf file defines the machine being emulated. The primary values of interest here are

• machine type (tandy, pcjr, cga, ega, vga, svga, etc...)
• machinesize (how much RAM the computer has)
• cputype (the type of CPU emulated, important for games that relied on specific logic)
• cycles (how fast the emulated machine runs)
• midi drivers (any extended sound fonts or ROMs for MT-32 and General Midi\SC-55)
• sound options (any variations to the IRQ\port of the sound card
• ipx (whether networking is enabled)

The primary thing a user may want to change here is the cycles, if they feel a game is running too fast or too slow. However this can also be done in the game by pressing CTRL+F11 to slow down the game or CTRL+F12 to speed up the game.

Autoexec Section

The autoexec portion of the conf file is found at the bottom. These are the commands DOSBox will run upon launching with this conf file loaded. The primary functions here are

• mounting the game's C:
• mounting the games media if needed (CD image, floppy image, etc)
• changing to the necessary folder to execute the game
• calling the games executable or the run.bat file

If a user wishes to launch DOSBox and play with the command line of the game, instead of directly launching into it, then the user may comment out the final 2 lines (using a # sign as the first charactr of the line).