Are You Afraid of the Dark
DOSBox Setup Walkthrough
by Qadventuregames
Requirements:
MS-DOS 5.0 or higher
3000k of Extended Memory
500k of Conventional Memory
VESA Compliant Video Card
100% Sound Blaster Compatible Sound Card
Pro Audio Series Sound Card
Microsoft Sound System Sound Card or
Adlib Gold Series Sound Card
100% Microsoft Compatible Mouse
Microsoft Mouse Driver 8.20a or higher
1x CD-ROM
My Computer Specs
Windows XP Pro 2000 SP1
Pentium 4 ~ 3.40GHz
1Gig RAM
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra
SB Audigy Audio
This setup worked with my computer. I didn’t need to lower the hardware acceleration for my sound or video. If the sound is not to your liking, additional sound drivers can be loaded in the same manner as the VESA drivers. (You will find then on the CD in the folder labeled "Drivers"). You can also edit the SoundBlaster line in the DOSBox.conf file changing the IRQ setting from 7 to 5.
Hopefully, this setup will work as well for your computer as it did for mine, and none of that will be necessary.
For the purposes of this setup, we're going to assume a few things.
- You've
already gotten your computer in tip top shape by following Inferno's
General
Drill
- You've
read Steve Metzler's
wonderful instructions for DOSBox on GAMEBOOMERS DOSBox
FAQs.
- Most importantly, that you've downloaded DOSBox-0.63. If you haven't, go to site at Sourceforge.net and download the Windows version 0.63 with the Win 32 installer. Thank you VOGONS for a great free program.
In order to play the game, we need to do the following:
The great DOSBox team has made this procedure easy even for non-techies (myself included.) It is comprised of two steps: the installation and the edit of the DOSBox.conf file.
Step One: Install and
Edit DOSBox
Installation:
Installation is a snap.
Browse to the downloaded file DOSBOX0.63 - win32-installer.exe and double click to install the program. It should install to the default folder:
C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.63
Edit:
Now all you have to do to make DOSBOX functional, is edit a few lines in the DOSBox.conf file. Browse to the DOSBox-0.63 folder and open it. You should see a file called DOSBox.conf. This is the file were going to edit with Notepad. If you're afraid you may do something incorrectly during the edit, just copy the DOSBox.conf file. That way you always have the original unedited file.- Ready to edit
- here we go.
- Right click on the DOSBox.conf file and select edit.
We are going to start at the top of the DOSBox.conf file working our way downwards, editing as we go.
- The first line to look for is: fullscreen=false
If the line is left at its default value of false DOSBox will display in a window. If you wish your display to be full screen, you must edit this line to true.
-
The edited line would then read as:
fullscreen=true
- We continue our way downward looking for the line: cycles=3000.
The cycle value is a combination of your processor and the requirement of the game. Therefore, we can't give you a cycle number that will always work with every computer and every game. You will have to experiment increasing or decreasing the cycle number, till you get the desired result with your particular computer and game.
(Please see Steve's explanation of cycles at GAMEBOOMERS DOSBox FAQs.)
In my case, my processor is a 3.40GHz Pentium 4.
The cycle number that worked for my computer and this particular game
was 18544.
- The edited line would
then read as:
cycles=18544
We continue our way downward to the last stop the [autoexec]. It is now time to tell DOSBox what drives you wish to use. (My hard drive is C and my CD drive is H.) Please substitute your drive letters accordingly.
- The edited [autoexec] would read as follows:
[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount H H:\ -t cdrom -usecd 0 -ioctl
mount C C:\
C:
-
To complete the edit of the DOSBox.conf file ~ Click on
file and SAVE.
- To make the use of DOSBox a little easier; within the DOSBox-0.63 file locate the file named DOSBox.exe. Right click on this file and select Send To Desktop This will place a shortcut to DOSBox on your desktop.
Install the Game
Now were ready to install the game.
- Double
click on the DOSBox shortcut on your desktop.
This will open DOSBox.
You
should see your hard drive letter (in my case C:)
C:\>
-
Change to your CDROM Drive by typing the letter of that Drive ~ (in my case
H:)
C:\> H:
- Now press Enter. You should now see H:\> (or whatever
your CDROM Drive letter is)
H:\>
-
Type the word INSTALL.
H:\>INSTALL
- Press Enter again.
The game install will launch and the game will install to the
default folder \VNM\AFRAID.
STEP 3: Edit DOSBox to Load VESA Drivers.
Install the VESA Drivers
To suit the peculiarities of this game, we must do one
last thing.
We need to load the
VESA Drivers that are on the Game CD. We
will do this by adding 2 lines to the DOSBox.conf file.
- Browse to the DOSBox.conf file right click and select edit.
- Scroll down to the [autoexec] area.
Remember: my Hard Drive letter = C and my CDROM Drive = H. Be sure to substitute the correct letters for your OWN HARDWARE !!!
- The [autoexec] should read as follows:
[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount H H:\ -t cdrom -usecd 0 -ioctl
mount C C:\
C:
- with the additional lines, the edited [autoexec] would read as
follows:
[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount H H:\ -t cdrom -usecd 0 -ioctl
mount C C:\
H:
UNIVBE
C:
- To complete the edit of the DOSBox.conf file, click on File and Save.
WE'RE READY TO PLAY THE GAME!!
-
On your desktop double click on the DOSBox.exe shortcut.
- DOSBox will open.
You
should see your hard drive letter (mine is C:).
C:\>
- Type: CD VNM\AFRAID
C:\>CD VNM\AFRAID (press Enter)
-
You should see
C:\VNM\AFRAID>
-
Type:
AFRAID
C:\VNM\AFRAID\AFRAID (press Enter)
And all that
is left is to ENJOY THE GAME!!